What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Personally I thikn learning about del.ico.us. was the most helpful tool for me personally. I have tried out all the sites, resources and tools in this course. Many of them I will use. Delicous, however, is a tool that I immediatlly integrated into tools that I use frequently. have a large number of links that i can access quite easily and the list of sites continues to grow.
How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
As far as lifelong goals I think this course gave me new tools in which to examine our world, not only as a librarian, but also through the eyes of patrons. How will they use these tools?
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was suprised at the number of tools covered in the course that I was already familair with. In many case my understanding of them was deepened through the course.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
If we offered another program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
I would most certainly be very interested in knowing of any suich program and believe that I would most likely particpate
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
#22 Social Networking
From loking at the many websites listed under Social Networking Software " I saw a wide range of pratices that I believe could work in almost any library. Who are te friends in these friend lists? Mostly patrons, but definatly staff and administration. Also among the friends are other instiutions and organizations, thus on facebook or myspace all of these entities are on the same page literally and figurtivly.
The crowd that is the target group is teens. These facebook and other pages seem to be geared towards the younger crowd, with many libraries having their own sepearte YA blog or facebook page . Othwer pages try to appeal to all patrons. New books, library news, book group news, special events, andother information is shared with the friends of the library.
I don't believe that at this point facebook will overtake all your prominatinal needs, but it can make it much easier. Less paper perhaps. There is also an interative element to these pages. Pictures acan be posted, dissusions carried on and comments made.
The crowd that is the target group is teens. These facebook and other pages seem to be geared towards the younger crowd, with many libraries having their own sepearte YA blog or facebook page . Othwer pages try to appeal to all patrons. New books, library news, book group news, special events, andother information is shared with the friends of the library.
I don't believe that at this point facebook will overtake all your prominatinal needs, but it can make it much easier. Less paper perhaps. There is also an interative element to these pages. Pictures acan be posted, dissusions carried on and comments made.
#21 Microblogging & Mashups
I thought the idea behind Twitterholic was interesting at rating the top of the tweets. I guess essentially it is a popularity contest , but it is important to see who is popular
Twittervision to me seems interesting, however I do not see any practical application for this web site. It's sister site Flcker vision is interesting as it shows what is going on in the world at any given moment. It also seems to lack a practical application.
Do you Tweet? I do not Tweet although I do have an account. I find that facebook reneders twitter useless to me as I can see what my friends are up to that way. I do not follow celebrities so I do not have much interest in clebrties as I see it is important to some to follow that sort of thing. I follow blogs more than anything as there is much more substance there.
Microblogging seems to be for people who are "mobile" which I am not. Microblogging does not seem like something I would be interested in either professional or personally.
Twittervision to me seems interesting, however I do not see any practical application for this web site. It's sister site Flcker vision is interesting as it shows what is going on in the world at any given moment. It also seems to lack a practical application.
Do you Tweet? I do not Tweet although I do have an account. I find that facebook reneders twitter useless to me as I can see what my friends are up to that way. I do not follow celebrities so I do not have much interest in clebrties as I see it is important to some to follow that sort of thing. I follow blogs more than anything as there is much more substance there.
Microblogging seems to be for people who are "mobile" which I am not. Microblogging does not seem like something I would be interested in either professional or personally.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
#20 Explore Twitter
I have explored twitter. I have used the feature to check what people are talking about. I have entered the name of a few baseball players and all I have recieved is a bunch of people making less than interesting comments as well as comments that are similair to other people. I find twitter rather boring. I find that people on twitter have little to say and are most times boring or complaining.
#19 Explore eBooks and Audio Books
Exploring the World eBook was interesting. I was suprised that they covered so many genres and topics. It seems that many of the books are older books that are rare and the information was nopt readily avaible. These type of books include history and geneology books that existed only on dussty shelves in some university. There were also children's books.
The library that I am part of has many E-books and audiobooks. I personally download audio books for personal use often. There is always a catch . After the two weeks expires the audiobook will erase itself off of the computer. Old practices apply such as holds and limits to the number of books you can have at one time. They also require software installation
Which is more valuable. This is a very difficult question. Are print books backup or vice versa. BOth are vulnerable. Ebooks can be erased, whereas print books wear over time.
The library that I am part of has many E-books and audiobooks. I personally download audio books for personal use often. There is always a catch . After the two weeks expires the audiobook will erase itself off of the computer. Old practices apply such as holds and limits to the number of books you can have at one time. They also require software installation
Which is more valuable. This is a very difficult question. Are print books backup or vice versa. BOth are vulnerable. Ebooks can be erased, whereas print books wear over time.
#18 Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts
Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed (or iTunes) and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.
Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your blog reader account.
Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?
I choose to check out the NPR podcast page, becausr I had never visited before. I think the most helpful thing to find on this particular library of podcasts is book reviews. I subscribed to a book review podcast called NPR Books. What is great about this podcast is that they review books and talk to authors about books. This will be a good podcast to pass on to the patrons as they can can listen to a review before (or even after) thy read the books. It would also help for book clubs to gain more information about the book to make the discussion more interesting.
Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your blog reader account.
Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?
I choose to check out the NPR podcast page, becausr I had never visited before. I think the most helpful thing to find on this particular library of podcasts is book reviews. I subscribed to a book review podcast called NPR Books. What is great about this podcast is that they review books and talk to authors about books. This will be a good podcast to pass on to the patrons as they can can listen to a review before (or even after) thy read the books. It would also help for book clubs to gain more information about the book to make the discussion more interesting.
* #17 Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos
I typed in "library" and this is what I got. This video is from the official Sesame STREET YOU Tube site. There are tons and tons of official videos on You Tube. There are also tons of copyright infringement. Someone is policing it because many clips end up with the message "This video was removed due the insistence of such and such company. What vcan libraries use You tube for? There are a ton of instructional videos on everything from cooking computers. Linking to them mght be helpful. You can also upload to You Tube and perhaps record a few activities the library has done to generate interest
* #16 Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list, play with it and write a blog post about your findings
Google Earth
To begin with Google Earth one must know that they do have to download a good portion of the program for free.
What Google Earth does that is unique, and mind blowing is that you start with the globe. You use the controls to zoom in. You can zoom in virtual anywjere on earth. For emample I entererd my home address . The POV zoomed from outer space right down to the point where it showed my house. I could see the car in the driveway and the rhododendron bushes. You can move in any direction and see the neighbors house. You can longitude and latitude to get to specfic points.
It has many of the feature of Google Maps. You can get driving directions. With google earth you enter your start point anf inal destination. You can have Google Earth play a video of what your drive will looklike from many angles including a bird's eyeview. On certain major roads you can click an adress abd see a 360 view photograph of wheree you are. This is handy as it shows the buidlings to the right and left to you so you see where you are going before you get there.
You can literally stick a pin in the map and save it as a point. For Example: My House, MY High School, Gramma's house. There are already so many of these saved points that you can look at fascinating points from around the globe. Just for fun I found the following places just to have a look: Fenway Park, the Gaza Strip, the Garden of Gethsemane, and Quebec. There are so many features to google ewarth that I have not had the time to fully explore it.
And id that was not amazing enough there is google Mars,
I think people in the library can use Google Earth for a variety of reasons. Travel planning appears to be themost appropriate. One can literally see their trip before they go. They can familairize themselves with not only street names but images. Googl Earth has great potential for students studying geography. There are features on Googl Earth that can show street names, famous places, political boundries and so much more.
To begin with Google Earth one must know that they do have to download a good portion of the program for free.
What Google Earth does that is unique, and mind blowing is that you start with the globe. You use the controls to zoom in. You can zoom in virtual anywjere on earth. For emample I entererd my home address . The POV zoomed from outer space right down to the point where it showed my house. I could see the car in the driveway and the rhododendron bushes. You can move in any direction and see the neighbors house. You can longitude and latitude to get to specfic points.
It has many of the feature of Google Maps. You can get driving directions. With google earth you enter your start point anf inal destination. You can have Google Earth play a video of what your drive will looklike from many angles including a bird's eyeview. On certain major roads you can click an adress abd see a 360 view photograph of wheree you are. This is handy as it shows the buidlings to the right and left to you so you see where you are going before you get there.
You can literally stick a pin in the map and save it as a point. For Example: My House, MY High School, Gramma's house. There are already so many of these saved points that you can look at fascinating points from around the globe. Just for fun I found the following places just to have a look: Fenway Park, the Gaza Strip, the Garden of Gethsemane, and Quebec. There are so many features to google ewarth that I have not had the time to fully explore it.
And id that was not amazing enough there is google Mars,
I think people in the library can use Google Earth for a variety of reasons. Travel planning appears to be themost appropriate. One can literally see their trip before they go. They can familairize themselves with not only street names but images. Googl Earth has great potential for students studying geography. There are features on Googl Earth that can show street names, famous places, political boundries and so much more.
Friday, May 1, 2009
#15 Take a look at some online productivity (wordprocessing, spreadsheet) tools
How does the application you chose compare to word processing software you’re familiar with? What features did you like/dislike the most? Can you think of any ways the application you chose would be useful to you?
I think this would come in handy in I was ever cauht somplace without my computer. The best thing is you can access it from anywhere. However you cannot do any presentation more than 10mb. That is kind of small compared with some of the things I do . Google docs is basically Microsoft Office without the frills. If you are just trying to make a simple document or spreadsheet thats fine. One thing that really impreessed me was the form that you can set up and send to whomever. I have tried making forms with plenty otrher softwre and found it confusing.
I think this would come in handy in I was ever cauht somplace without my computer. The best thing is you can access it from anywhere. However you cannot do any presentation more than 10mb. That is kind of small compared with some of the things I do . Google docs is basically Microsoft Office without the frills. If you are just trying to make a simple document or spreadsheet thats fine. One thing that really impreessed me was the form that you can set up and send to whomever. I have tried making forms with plenty otrher softwre and found it confusing.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
* #13 Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them
1.Ok
2. Create a blog post about your findings. What did you find interesting? Would you use a wiki for information? What are the benefits and drawbacks to finding information this way? What do you like or dislike about using a Wiki? What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?
What i found intersting aout these wikis is that they are able to hold up all the information that you would want on the frontpage of your website. This is something that I have never before seen done for a public liobrary website. It seems as though this would be a quick effiecient way for a library to do a website. They would not have to upload tons of files. They could edit it from virtually any computer. All the files would not be hosted for one website. I myself have used pbwiki to create a wiki in which I have the titles and summsries of books listed by genre. They are not the typical genres (Horror,Romance, Action) These genres are more specfic (Vampires,Complicated Hearts, Action?survival.
It has made my job easier as I do not have to upload the page when I make changes. Before I submitted changes to the webmaster at our library. Now the link on the main page goes to a wiki page I can edit. No middleman.
I think thereARE A FEW DOWNSIDES TO WIKIS. People are sometimes confused with what a wiki is. Seeing all of prompts to edit the page and also asking for the patron to sign in is confuisiing. Patrons don't know that this sign in is for editors only.
2. Create a blog post about your findings. What did you find interesting? Would you use a wiki for information? What are the benefits and drawbacks to finding information this way? What do you like or dislike about using a Wiki? What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?
What i found intersting aout these wikis is that they are able to hold up all the information that you would want on the frontpage of your website. This is something that I have never before seen done for a public liobrary website. It seems as though this would be a quick effiecient way for a library to do a website. They would not have to upload tons of files. They could edit it from virtually any computer. All the files would not be hosted for one website. I myself have used pbwiki to create a wiki in which I have the titles and summsries of books listed by genre. They are not the typical genres (Horror,Romance, Action) These genres are more specfic (Vampires,Complicated Hearts, Action?survival.
It has made my job easier as I do not have to upload the page when I make changes. Before I submitted changes to the webmaster at our library. Now the link on the main page goes to a wiki page I can edit. No middleman.
I think thereARE A FEW DOWNSIDES TO WIKIS. People are sometimes confused with what a wiki is. Seeing all of prompts to edit the page and also asking for the patron to sign in is confuisiing. Patrons don't know that this sign in is for editors only.
#14 Create a wiki or add an entry to the 23 Things - NELINET sandbox wiki
This is a wiki I put together for recommended reads.
http://esmyareviews.pbworks.com/
http://esmyareviews.pbworks.com/
Thursday, April 23, 2009
* #12 Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts
The Cult of Twopointia
I found this article to be most interesting. I feel more like the articles author than I do the librarians he describes. i feel that personally that those who can benefit from what 2.0 has to offer will and will not get behind. I like the blogs author am "annoyed' with the self important arraganet techno dweebs who are not open to the many ways in which you can get many things done. T I feel librarians need to meet people on different levels. When a person isn't caught up with 2.o it is there decision. Make yourself available to every kind of user
There is no wrong way to eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
I found this article to be most interesting. I feel more like the articles author than I do the librarians he describes. i feel that personally that those who can benefit from what 2.0 has to offer will and will not get behind. I like the blogs author am "annoyed' with the self important arraganet techno dweebs who are not open to the many ways in which you can get many things done. T I feel librarians need to meet people on different levels. When a person isn't caught up with 2.o it is there decision. Make yourself available to every kind of user
There is no wrong way to eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
* #10 Learn about tagging and discover Del.icio.us (a social bookmaking site)
I think that delicious is a great tool. It seems to be an improve over on bookmarking as we knew it. The fact that you can easily view and share the great number of links to others makes it easier to find information and will make the process of finding sources quicker. The tagging feature to me is helpful. Sometimes when I save websites into folders the old way I am not always sure of where to put a link. With tagging I can make it part of two separate lists.
I feel as these links can be most helpful to me in the public library. When we get assignment that the kids are going to have there is always a mad dash for materials. While using delicious not only can I give the students the best and most basic sites, but also encourage to share their findings with the rest of the class.
I do think it serves as a great way to have your bookmarks at any computer, but that is only the beginning.
I feel as these links can be most helpful to me in the public library. When we get assignment that the kids are going to have there is always a mad dash for materials. While using delicious not only can I give the students the best and most basic sites, but also encourage to share their findings with the rest of the class.
I do think it serves as a great way to have your bookmarks at any computer, but that is only the beginning.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
#11 Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts
I.On the home page on the Headlines tab, what are the "Rising Blog Posts by Attention"? How about "Rising News Stories by Attention"?
The Top three blogs were:
1. TWC to Customers: You Don’t Want Tiers, You Don’t Get Super-fast Broadband
2. Beyonce's Daddy to Haters: You're All Idiots
3. Senate Report Confirms Top-Level Officials Authorized Torture
The Top three news stories were:
1. First look: 'Wolf pack' actors grin and bare it for 'New Moon' - USATODAY.com
2. LAP IT UP
3. Newsweek: A miner's daughter battles the industry
II.Click on the "Rising Posts and Stories" tab, then choose "Blogs" from the drop-down menu. How do the results differ from choosing "Blogs and News" from the drop-down menu?
It seems as though the top headlines are from blogs, rather than news sources
III.On the right-hand side of the home page, check out the section called "Tags from What's Rising." What are bloggers talking the most about right now?
• alistair darling
• budget
• business
• businessnews
• comment
• economic policy
• fox soccer
• free
• guardian.co.uk
• money
• nba
• news
• politics
• society
• tax
• tax and spending
• the guardian
• uk news
• united states
• world news
VI Click on "Blogger Central" from the top menu bar. Click on some of the top blogs and examine their tags. Note the use of everyday language in the tagging - this is called a "folksonomy."
V On the top right-hand corner of the page, click on "Advanced Search." Scroll to the bottom and under "Tag Search," type "libraries" into the "Find Posts Tagged" field. How do the results look?
VI Now click on the "Blogs" button in the top menu bar of the home page. Spend some time browsing the blog directory and clicking through some of the categories. Are the results as accurate as those produced through searching tags?
The Top three blogs were:
1. TWC to Customers: You Don’t Want Tiers, You Don’t Get Super-fast Broadband
2. Beyonce's Daddy to Haters: You're All Idiots
3. Senate Report Confirms Top-Level Officials Authorized Torture
The Top three news stories were:
1. First look: 'Wolf pack' actors grin and bare it for 'New Moon' - USATODAY.com
2. LAP IT UP
3. Newsweek: A miner's daughter battles the industry
II.Click on the "Rising Posts and Stories" tab, then choose "Blogs" from the drop-down menu. How do the results differ from choosing "Blogs and News" from the drop-down menu?
It seems as though the top headlines are from blogs, rather than news sources
III.On the right-hand side of the home page, check out the section called "Tags from What's Rising." What are bloggers talking the most about right now?
• alistair darling
• budget
• business
• businessnews
• comment
• economic policy
• fox soccer
• free
• guardian.co.uk
• money
• nba
• news
• politics
• society
• tax
• tax and spending
• the guardian
• uk news
• united states
• world news
VI Click on "Blogger Central" from the top menu bar. Click on some of the top blogs and examine their tags. Note the use of everyday language in the tagging - this is called a "folksonomy."
V On the top right-hand corner of the page, click on "Advanced Search." Scroll to the bottom and under "Tag Search," type "libraries" into the "Find Posts Tagged" field. How do the results look?
VI Now click on the "Blogs" button in the top menu bar of the home page. Spend some time browsing the blog directory and clicking through some of the categories. Are the results as accurate as those produced through searching tags?
#11 Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts OPTIONAL
East Smithfield Public Library is one of 4,000 libraries across the country selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) to receive free hardcover editions of 17 classic books as part of the We the People Bookshelf grant program. The theme of this year’s Bookshelf is “Picturing America.”
he We the People “Picturing America” Bookshelf is the literary complement of NEH’s Picturing AmericaSM visual arts project. With the “Picturing America” Bookshelf words are the media used to portray significant themes in American history and culture. Readers are invited to steer their way across the continent by river with Lewis and Clark in 1802, travel the railroad with Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879, or drive along the open highways with John Steinbeck and his dog Charley in 1960. Through the life and poetry of Walt Whitman emerge powerful images of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln; through the life and lens of Dorothea Lange we witness the impersonal forces and human faces of the Depression.
National Endowment for the Humanities
ALA
East Smithfield Public Library
>
he We the People “Picturing America” Bookshelf is the literary complement of NEH’s Picturing AmericaSM visual arts project. With the “Picturing America” Bookshelf words are the media used to portray significant themes in American history and culture. Readers are invited to steer their way across the continent by river with Lewis and Clark in 1802, travel the railroad with Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879, or drive along the open highways with John Steinbeck and his dog Charley in 1960. Through the life and poetry of Walt Whitman emerge powerful images of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln; through the life and lens of Dorothea Lange we witness the impersonal forces and human faces of the Depression.
National Endowment for the Humanities
ALA
East Smithfield Public Library
>
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
* #9 Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds
The blogs I subscribed to Librarything, Rhodarian, YALSA,Academic Librarian ACRLog, RILA, and the Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Day,
I found Syndic8 difficuklt to look and understand. It to me seemed to cluttered and was not effic9ient compared to the others.
I think Technorati is a great tool if you don't know what you are looking for, and can just browse around until you find something interesting. I would ue this one if I wasn't looking for something really spefic.
Google allows you to browse through sites, bot unlike TYechnorti, but I feel if you know the organization or group or even person ypou want to read about google blog is excellent for more spefic searches
I found Syndic8 difficuklt to look and understand. It to me seemed to cluttered and was not effic9ient compared to the others.
I think Technorati is a great tool if you don't know what you are looking for, and can just browse around until you find something interesting. I would ue this one if I wasn't looking for something really spefic.
Google allows you to browse through sites, bot unlike TYechnorti, but I feel if you know the organization or group or even person ypou want to read about google blog is excellent for more spefic searches
Monday, April 13, 2009
* #8 Learn about RSS feeds and setup an RSS reader account
Check out my bloglines blog
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/mcardinlib
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/mcardinlib
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
#7 Create a blog post about anything technology-related that interests you this week Assignment
Wimba is a tool used in conjunction with programs such as Blackboard. It has been dubbed the virtual classroom, but it's possibilities seem to suggest it is more than that. Users sign in and are able to communicate through a mic, typed test, as well as an area where a powerpoint presentation can be displayed. Users are also able to post pictures and use a tool in which they can draw on the screen.
You have the ability to record a session on Wimba (voice,text,powerpoint, etc) which might be a good way to archive YART meetings to look back at or to share with those who could not make it to the meetings.
If that sounds interesting to you you should check out the link below for more information . It goes into greater detail.
http://www.webjunction.org/wimba
There is also a demo on the following webpage.
http://www.wimba.com/products/wimba_classroom/
You have the ability to record a session on Wimba (voice,text,powerpoint, etc) which might be a good way to archive YART meetings to look back at or to share with those who could not make it to the meetings.
If that sounds interesting to you you should check out the link below for more information . It goes into greater detail.
http://www.webjunction.org/wimba
There is also a demo on the following webpage.
http://www.wimba.com/products/wimba_classroom/
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Week 2, #3 Set up your own blog and add your first post
I had st up a blog before on blogger, but I hadn't done much to set it up. This time around I did a more through job of it. I found it extremly easy to gwet use to. I dio howeverr think that the initial layouts abd backgrounds to be limited. But what do you want for free? I think there are many tools in which to personalize this blog.
I personally do not feel a strong urge to set up a blog for my own personal use, but I would like to know how to do it just the ssame. I thibk what makes blogger great is that you do not need to know code in order to get it up and running. It also ties in nicely with an existing email account and other add ons.
I personally do not feel a strong urge to set up a blog for my own personal use, but I would like to know how to do it just the ssame. I thibk what makes blogger great is that you do not need to know code in order to get it up and running. It also ties in nicely with an existing email account and other add ons.
Monday, March 16, 2009
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