Week #23

I can't believe I finally finished. I really loved what I learned and wish I had taken my time to learn at a more leisurely pace; it would have given me much more time to explore. I really like online learning, and am signed up to do an InfoPeople Searching class in early November. I also recently completed an InfoPeople online social networking class with Meredith Farkas, so I'm getting the information in lots of different ways. I also started a Readers Advisory blog for my high school, and am in the process of bribing students into creating reviews and commenting on mine.
My favorite discoveries were:

• that I have downloadable audiobooks available to me through my local Contra Costa Library.
• how cool blogs could be as a tool for communication and marketing.
• my google RSS reader--how did I ever live without this!!!!!

The only thing I could think of that you could do differently is somehow inspire people to continue and finish all the weeks. I noticed many people got off to a good start, me included, but faded out during summer. Maybe a weekly group email with lots of positive ideas would help us keep it more on the front burner...

Week 22 Teaching

I taught my husband how to use Delicious online bookmarking. He's an IT administrator at a Cancer Center and always reading online to keep up-to-date. I thought he would really like the idea of bookmarking pages to come back to later when he had more time. What he found out was that he didn't really make the time to go back to Delicious and look at the sites he had bookmarked. For him, if he didn't read it when he discovered something, it wasn't likely to get read. I showed him that it was also a cool way to see what people with similar interests were looking at, and he rolled his eyes at me. Although this was surprising to me, I reminded myself that we all learn in different ways.

Week #19 Google Maps

I like this tool a lot, although it was difficult to use with my older computer at work. It kept getting jiggly when I was trying to focus; I didn't feel completely in control of what I was doing. I was finally able to make a map of my library, and added a photo from our website.

View Larger Map

Week #20 Podcasting

I like these and could become addicted if I could use an MP3 player in my car audio system. I have trouble sitting in front of the computer listening to radio shows I missed. I went to the suggested podcast searcher at Yahoo, but evidently they're closing down on October 31. So then I visited:

http://www.podcast.net/

This was way cooler than Yahoo. They have a search window, but like the typical OPAC, you can search by a number of different attributes, including location and keyword. You can also browse by Tags--how Web 2.0 does it get! They also have a hierarchy of subject areas, like the virtual libraries. One thing that bothered me is that the podcasts are not really up-to-date. I searched for KQED FM's California Report, and the latest one they had was from 2006.

http://www.podcastalley.com/

Super nice interface! Easy to search, lots of browsability, small search window though. Makes complex searches hard. I really like the fact that they offer podcast software and a forum. Makes it easier for newbies to get on board.

www.podcast.com

The interface on this one isn't as attractive as podcast alley, but they sure offer a lot more features. What I especially liked:

• the link to their blog on the home page
• the "freshest" podcasts on the homepage
• the featured subdomains, including BBC, NPR and CNN. I suspect I might even be able to find a KQED FM subdomain if I looked around a little.
  

Week #20 YouTube

I am already a fan of YouTube and play there erratically. I used it to to learn about web 2.0 and found some great Second Life tutorials there. Here is a very interesting music video I found, the first I've seen about libraries. A little stereotypical, but fun anyway.

Week #18 Online Productivity

I played with the Zoho Writer - Online Word Processor and was totally impressed. I looked at the Google app. last week and loved it, too. I can really see this being useful for students to use at school, especially for group projects. I told my daughter (who's at college) about it, and she will probably use to for her screen writing class for quicker access to feedback from the other students. I especially liked the fact that you can export the document in different formats, including PDF & HTML for easy access on a webpage.

Weeks 16 & 17 - Wikis

I really liked looking at the different wikis. I especially appreciated that wikis can use different formats, like the one for November's CSLA conference. For me, the conference ones are especially invaluable, since it's hard for me to get out to many of these. If a lot of folks contribute and the presenters attach their handouts and links, it can be almost as good as being there. Well, not really, but it'll have to do. I absolutely loved the BookLoversWiki and was considering doing something like this for readers advisory at my high school. But then I decided that a blog was a better way to go.

Here is my addition to the 23 Things Wiki:

I love using YouTube for fun. I was looking at some Vienna Teng videos, which led to the Wellesley Widow videos, which let to the fact that the Widows (an acapella group) played at Clinton's inaugural parade. WTG Wellesley women!

I think this could be useful for libraries, but only if we as professionals hone our video skills.