Thing 19: Other social Networks

Love this!!!!!!

Thing 18: Social Networking

Well, this proves it: I'm officially old . For this Thing I signed up for Facebook. Sign up was easy but tedious: All that friend searching and not one person from either of my high schools is on Facebook. Only one of my email contacts has a Facebook page (of course we already stay in touch by email...). I must be antiquated.......

I created a Myspace account a while back getting ready for Teen Tech Week. I learned to create skins, friend people, etc. I don't see the point for myself personally, but professionally I'm glad to know about this so I can help patrons be aware of Internet safety practices as well as be of some technical assistance if needed.

I do think it is important to have a Library presence on social networks because this is where many people do lots of communicating and networking. Having a library presence in the social networks is another important way for us to reach out and serve our worldwide communities.

Thing 17 Podcasting

I tried the Educational Podcast directory first. It was an easy to browse directory and I immediately found this incredible podcast: "Who Said A Literature Game Delivered as a Podcast." It's great fun to listen to the passage and guess the character speaking, the novel, and the author. Each Podcast begins with the answer to the previous passage and a listing of participants who guessed correctly. I love it.....

http://www.whosaid.org/cast/podcast.php

I then tried Podcast.com. Browsing was a little confusing at first as I did not immediately understand the "Channels." I did find a directory in the lower right quadrant that I found easier to navigate, but was having a hard time finding an interesting (to me) topic to listen to. So I tried the search feature. Bingo! I tried PBS and got lots of interesting choices and then tried NPR and got more. NPR's Florida Stories podcast is great!

http://podcast.com/show/7270/Florida-Stories-Podcast/

Podcastalley.com was easy to browse. I didn't find anything new and exciting, but that could be because its getting late and I'm tired. I went back and found some great podcasts here as well and still find the browsing and searching very intuitive.

However, I give up: I cannot figure out how to put the great podcasts i found onto this blog. So I will insert links to the podcast sites so you all can try them out from the podcast home pages. Sorry I can't get a click and go version inserted into my blog.

Thing 16: YouTube

Wow, I have always wanted to see the Auroraa Borealis!! Great video!!!!

It was fun searching YouTube for something that would be both visually and audibly stunning. I wasn't sure what I was looking for so I searched keywords such as caves, whalesong, space, and then found videos on the Northern Lights and had to share one. This is my favorite of the ones I viewed because I enjoy both the music and the pictures.

Interms of using YouTube for the library, anything that inspires creativity is wonderful as far as I'm conscerned. I would love to have teen challenges allowing teens to submit thier own youtube creations to be placed on our branch web page. And wouldn't it be great for local history projects to create YouTube shorts of local seniors sharing a favorite memory of our local heritage?

Thing 15: Rollyo

Well this is truely cool! I created a search engine of my favorite Arthurian Legend sites titles Arthuriana. This could be a great tool for us to coordinate with school projects -- if the teacher let us know what is being assigned we could set up a rollyo search engine for that class to use! We couls also use it with our teen advisory board for special projects. I love this!

Select...ArthurianaSearch The Web

thing 14: Online Productivity Tools

I already have an I-google page that I set up back in Nov 2008. Not sure how it relates to productivity but maybe I missed the point: I have several game widgets like hangman and several weather watch cities. I never use it at work, but it is nice to log in using my laptop while at the airport waiting.....

RSS feeds are great because I am finding news that I would have missed without the feeds, however, does this actually increase my productivity? While finding out about these tidbits is enriching my life, only one has related directly to work (so far).

I am thrilled to have found ZAMZAR!!!!
We often have patrons come to use our computers because their printer or computer crashed and they bring in their .wps or .docz document and our computers don't read those files. Now with ZAMZAR I will o longer have to search for converting sites, I'll just know where to get it done without searching each time!!!! Productivity Yeah!!!!

Thing 13: Library Thing

Well, this was easy, since I discovered GoodReads for Thing 12 and already set things up there. I added several more books in Library Thing than I did Goodreads and within 2 days someone marked on of my reviews as being very helpful. I started out with 7 books and then added 5 more 2 days later. I like both sites.

We could use Library Thing Or Good Reads with our Teen Advisory Board for them to post book reviews and link back to the branch website or the teen blog (once it gets going). I am going to recommend both sites to the Reading Circle and maybe we can set up our own online group....

Thing 12: Wiki

While I already knew what a Wiki is and held some opinions about them before starting this thing, I confess I like them a little better now that I have explored them more thoroughly. Before I was leery of wiki content because I could not fathom how authority could be verified and how anyone could know the information found was legit. (For example the big Wikipedia headlines recently about fake quotes making it into the mainstream news.) I realize using the World Wide Web could also be chancy if you do not use critical thinking skills and check out the authority, currency, etc of a website. However, at least this kind of checking is doable, if you take the time.

I still don't like getting my information based on popularity or from the unnamed masses, but I can now see some uses for wikis even big popular ones. Big ones that allow individuals to review & recommend books, or movies, etc might be fun. Small ones within an organization could be useful for sharing ideas, for working specific projects, or for building communication within an organization.

I signed up to Goodreads.com a social networking wiki site that allows individuals to review and recommend books, link to friends, and discuss all things books. I posted one review about John Connelly's The Book of Lost Things. After one day, no one has commented back, but I think I will continue to use this site so eventually things will get moving!