thing 23

My thoughts on Library 2.0
I wish I was starting Library 2.0 now with the knowledge and experience I have gained though these exercises. Every exercise was so new to me--blogs, rss, flicker, youtube that is was overwhelming and frustrating at times.
Today I went back and tried things that were very challenging for me. Such as adding a personal photo. Here is my daughter on our vacation to my sister's home in Wisconsin. Buster is the pony that Danika is sitting on. I was hoping he would live long enough for her to meet. He died this week at the age of 38. What a good guy he was. He was the first pony all the kids in our families learned to ride on. My oldest nephew is now 27.

Back to Library 2.0. Thing 9 asked me which method of finding feeds did I find the easiest. When I did the exercise originally I didn't think any of them were easy. Now I can say I prefer Technorati. Most confusing is still Feedster. I like going to the website I am interested in and seeing if they have a news feed.

Thing 10. The fun image or gext generators I selected originally weren't that great. The glitter for Sandra's Happy Birthday sign wasn't very glittery and the old card catalog was boring. I love how excited my 3 and 5 year old get when they see real glitter and shinny paper. These new text generators are nice and very useful when writing and adding to blogs and I will try some more soon . they just can't replace the 3d stuff.

Thing 11 I saw that the YouTube Awards are the new Grammy and Emmy Award hoopla. I can't wait to see who won.

The other exercises I did this week so not too much has changed other than I listened to my new NPR podcast of the day. That's fun.

So which were my favorite discoveries? Definitely Podcasts and Flicker. How has this program assisted or affected my lifelong learning goals? It has inspired me to try new things especially in the area of technology. to take more risks and to eplore more because there are so many people willing to help me if all I do is ask or try. The unexpected outcome for me was that it was so time consuming and I didn't give up. I feel a nice sense of accomplishment. Do differently-- maybe divide it into segments. 23 things seemed like it was going on forever. Maybe limit to 10 exercises at a time. Yes, I would definitely do another discovery program like this in the future. Not only would I participate I would want to be one of the guinea pigs and be there from the beginning.

I'm bored with my thoughts so let's end with have a wonderful three day weekend. Your retirement is just around the corner, will you be spending much time at a computer or is it time to garden, travel, read, write, explore? Keep me posted, Bye
and thanks again for being supportive.

Exercise 22

Ebooks.hummmmmmmmmmmmm
Such a great idea and yet so unappealing to me. I like the idea that so many books are available and won't be "out of print." So that in years from now I could come back and share a beloved story/book with grandchildren. but there is something lost in this format. The feel and passion one has when holding a "real" book--a real connection with the author. Sometimes I feel like the author spent a lot of time putting the words together just right so I would have them. I don't feel that way with email, or reading it on a computer etc. Instead I feel more anonymity and isolation. So I see ebooks as something super and something not that great. Can't wait to see if over time which way I end up viewing them. A fun little mystery to explore.

Exercise 21

I went to the directory and immediately went to the NPR site. WOW. What a treasure, I listened to several pod casts (just a minute at each one). I could easily see myself as a podcast junkie. i think I will ask my husband for an Ipod for my birthday. I think it only took 21 exercises to make me happy to join the technology era. Thank you.
First I added a rss feed for a gardening pod cast but now I think I would rather listen to NPR's Story of the Day on my break. I'll tell you tomorrow what I think. bye

Exercise 20

Today was the first day I ever went to YouTube and I watched 5 videos. One about a monk who doesn't know how or what to do with a book. He called in tech support. I sure could relate to that. it was very funny and well done. then I watched one about people exercise and singing on treadmills. It too was clever. Then I wanted to try viewing a video that might be helpful in my job--finger plays for story time. There was a few done by a Miss Lori. It was so-so but I am so glad it was not me. I practiced embedding it on my blog. I guess there are people/children out there who would be willing to watch someone do a finger play if they couldn't make it to a real live story time.

Exercise 17

Favorite Book :Whenever I need a feel good book I choose Tisha The story of a Young Teacher in Alaska Wilderness. Robert Spect is the author.
The book is based on the real life of Anne Hobbs. Anne is a prim and proper 19-year-old schoolteacher who yearns for adventure. She finds this and much more in a town with the unlikely name of Chicken, located deep in the Alaskan interior. It is 1927 and Chicken is a wild mining community flaming with gold fever. Anne quickly makes friends with many of the townspeople, but is soon ostracized when she not only befriends the local Indians but also falls in love with one.

Favorite Vacation : It was definitely my visit to Australia and having the opportunity to snorkel (for the first time in my life) at the Great Barrier Reef. Since then I have snorkeled in Hawaii and the Bahamas. Neither place was as wonderful as that first snorkel adventure.

Exercise 15

I enjoyed reading all five articles. This was one of the most enjoyable exercises so far. I especially liked "To a temporary place in time" because she talked about the benefits of Library 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 (goodness and I'm struggling with learning 2.0) but she ends up reminding us what people really want is a good library 1.0. A place to relax, learn and explore. The other ones: 2, 3, and 4 will be means to get us there in today's world. that felt reasssuring.
Stewart's article, Into a new world of librarianship also reminds me that tools and technology without the particiapation of librarians isn't much. Librarians and others will need to learn and help others use these social networking tools but critical thinking skills is where it's at.

Exercise 14

I looked at Technorati and did a search for "Learning 2.0" in blog posts there were 27, 860 hit. Yikes! then when I used tags there were only 588 hits that's a big difference and lastly when I choose Blog directory there were only 191 blogs about library 2.0 listed. It definitely teaches me that a lot of people are willing or choosing to post via blog posts. There doesn't seem to be as much interest in using a directory. I guess this is another example of convenience overriding improving standards or developing a skill set. Just as I learned in those ancient cataloging classes we attended in library school,the key or subject words used determined the likelihood of someone finding exactly what they were seeking. The key words or tags are so critical in creating successful hits. The advantages are: the more specific the concept the better the chance of finding what a person is looking for and thus feeling more successful. Finding things you never knew you were looking for. Seeing possibilities from other tags but some tags are so bizarre I wonder if anyone would ever find a specific blog. Disadvantage is that there in no one authority, no sense of consistency. more of a feeling of "anything goes". I wonder if we are creating a more creative society or a more thoughtless and stupid world. A lot is misleading, go nowhere junk. Even though technology has changed the mechanics of how to find things, it still requires creativity,persistence and human ingenuity. So there is still hope in the technology era.