Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Week # 11

I played with Library Thing and liked it much more than I did when I tried it last time. The discovery exercises forced me to look around and try different things. I think this would be a good way to add books to pathfinders for my students. Using their recommendations with my knowledge, it would be easy to create the kind that say:

If you liked A Child Called It, try...

Here are some random books from my library.


Week # 10

I made this using Image Chef. It was incredibly easy, but I found the images somewhat limited.

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

I made this one as my personal icon. I should attach it as part of my email addy.

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

Week #9

Here is a link to my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/alexand278

I really don't get this tool; I can't imagine anyone being interested in what their friends are doing all the time, or having the time to post here often.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Armijo Library Proposal

Web 2.0 Proposal


The name of the technology you would like to implement.

I would like to add a blog to our library’s website content.

A brief description of this technology.
Blogs, short for Weblogs, have been around since the ‘90’s. Blogs are websites that contain the blogger’s entries in reverse chronological order. Usually readers are able to comment on the entries, making the blogs more interactive, like a conversation. Originally they consisted of personalized journals, political commentary, and news sites. Now, however, blogs are used for a variety of things, and libraries are becoming players, using blogs for a variety of reasons, including readers’ advisory, marketing, and library news.

An explanation of the service you would like to create with the technology.
I would like to design and implement a Readers’ Advisory Blog for Armijo High School using Blogger from Google.

An explanation of how this service will fill a need in your setting, including benefits.
Our students are always searching for good books to read. Some are inveterate readers just looking for their next title, and others don’t really like reading but need a free reading book for their English course. I would like to start a What should I read next??? blog linked off our library webpage. I am always suggesting books to students, but why not have them in a central location for any interested kid to see? And why not encourage students to post their own reviews? How about faculty and staff? Because the blog would be linked to our webpages, it would also be accessible from any computer with internet access. My guess is that most of our students spend a lot more time online than reading. This would give our students lots of access points to new books and would cost us nothing but a little time. I’m hoping that it would encourage more students to read also, helping fulfill our library mission, as well as increase our standardized test scores.

Evidence that this technology would be useful in your setting. This evidence can take the form of libraries that are successfully using the technology (if you feel like doing research, it could also include statistics or evidence from the library literature).
Many libraries are already using Readers’ Advisory blogs for their patrons. While the list below is not comprehensive, it gives a good sampling of what libraries are already doing.
Emma Waters Summar Library

Blogging for a Good Book Williamsburg Regional Library

Teen Corner book reviews Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

Teen Blog at the Solano County Library

Blogger Book Club at the Roselle Public Library

A plan for the ongoing maintenance of the technology and any policy issues you think are important to address. Please note that your technology may not have any policy issues.
The librarian will be in charge of updating and maintaining the blog. I will post at least once each week, on Monday mornings. Teachers and students will email me with reviews, and I will get them up on the blog ASAP, by the following Monday at the latest. Since blogs are not blocked in our district, this won’t be a problem. I will set up an RSS feed to email as new comments come it, so I can check for appropriateness and security issues.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Flikr

I already have a Flikr account from my work on the 23 Things projects. here is a link to my profile: http://flickr.com/people/8456570@N06/.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Sheeeee's Back!

Just like Jack Nicholson and Johnny Carson, I'm back; blogging again, that is. It's been a crazy summer, but I'm getting back into my Web 2.0 business in a big way. I'll be using this blog to continue the InfoPeople 43 Things online training and the new weekly online course called Web 2.0: Connecting with the Community Using Social Software.

I will design a way to keep the two purposes apart, although they may just end up comingling since there is so much crossover between the topics we're exploring.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Back from vacation

We're back from three hot weeks in Iran, so I'm going to get started again with my Web 2.0 work. It sure is nice to be back in the Bay Area with our moderate temperatures and our own house.