For all the 23 things finishers:


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Another round of mind expansion

Just a couple of words as I'm at the library doing my other thing. I don't really know if I'll get very far into this, but I wanted to register just in case I find the time. Wish me luck.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Thing 23 of 23 Things!!!

Applause...
I want to thank the producers of 23 Things On a Stick. I was hesitant if I could handle this scope of project, but with the help and encouragement of my agent, Sue Hilgert (aka Head Librarian)I stuck with it to the end and I even had learned some things that made me change my viewpoint. The writers did a marvelous job on this project and their efforts will live on and reach more people as time passes. The special effects crew was great and easy to work with. They made my job a joy, for the most part. I want to be sure to thank my wonderful husband, who for some miraculous reason, had the patience of a saint when I couldn't be torn away from this project if there was a fire or flood- almost. The food vendor (also my husband) was a life saver for without him I couldn't have kept up the strength to endure this to the end. My son willingly made the sacrifice to go without his Xbox Live cable hooked up so that my link to salvation was uninterrupted. I can't forget the costume department. They made my job comfortable all those late nights working in pajamas and a robe. I want to thank the rest of the cast that were often way ahead of me on the assignment and kept me motivated. I sought out their helpful advice each step of the way. I didn't know if I'd ever see the end at times and now I feel I'd do it all again after taking a hiatus. I'm going to cry. Could someone get me a tissue? I didn't plan on breaking down like this. And lastly, I want to thank my fans, I mean patrons, who without them none of us would have a reason to do this project. My patrons stuck with me even though they didn't know the meaning of 23 Things on a Stick, but now they will find out all the wonders of this project, along with the many new patrons the fruits of this project will attract. They may not remember the name- 23 things on a Stick, but they will be grateful for what this project will enable them to experience.....
BE-E-E-E-EP!! What's this? Oh, I must have been dreaming. Rats! I didn't win an Oscar.

If I were to participate in an online learning project like this again and I would, I would like some time to prepare for it. I would greatly appreciate knowing what I might need to purchase or have on hand. For instance, a jump drive, several photos of myself and other photos on a computer file. Forewarning which things need downloads would be nice to know. I hesitate to question the order of the things, because I am sure that was thought out thoroughly, but it seemed at times that it would have been good to know some things earlier, like the tagging.

Thanks again. Hope you don't mind my Oscar speech.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Thing 22 of 23 Things

I do resolve to keep up my blog, use the tools I learned and keep up to date with new tools. I will also give my input on how to use these things to the library's and the patrons' advantage. I will take 15 minutes each work day to fulfil these resolutions. Asking myself what I learned each day and blogging about it is a good idea that I intend to do also.

The tools I'll use that I learned about from this experience are del.icio.us, Google Reader, Sticky Notes, wikis, Remember the Milk, Digg, Google Calendar, Flickr, BigHugeLabs, ELM productivity tools and assignment calculators, to name a few. Discovering the reasons to include Facebook when the library reaches out to young people was an eyeopener and made me want to support the effort. Sites like Lifehacker, LibraryBytes, WebJunction, and the 23 things on a stick Ning page will help me keep up so that I don't feel alone and not know where to go to get information. All of the knowlege I gained about podcasts, gaming, and YouTube is valuable to me as well. It's great, as in in this case, that when you learn something that is of a ever-changing nature that the tools you learned about make it easier to keep on learning!

Thing 21 of 23 Things

I'm so happy that I've gotten this far! I had no idea that all these other social networks existed. I'd heard of Web Junction, but Gather and Ning and all of the rest are news to me. I added the Web Junction Webinars feed to my Google Reader. This must be an off time because I there isn't anything available now, but now I don't have to worry about missing them. The Web Junction article was filled with ideas on how to go about libraries to get into the social network and the hurdles along the way. The 23 things Ning is great. How fun. I get a whole other page for myself to customize. My computer kept freezing up as I tried to do this so I will have to add features later. It's always a good idea to connect with others that are concerned about the same things. I joined our Pioneerland group that my head librarian started. There are not many members, which it not encouraging. I was hoping that there would be a lot of support for implementing some presence on Facebook and/or MySpace, not to mention the more member the more the merrier. I wasn't really thrilled with Gather, but I'm glad I know it's out there. You won't see ads for Poise pads on MySpace or Facebook! The Minnesota Readers and the Minnesota Life are impressive and I know I will have reason to visit these sites again. I joined Shelfari and add some of my books to it to see what it looks like. It's so cool that you instantly see what other people think of the books on your shelf. I sent an invitation to a Book Club member and she signed up immediately. I will definitely use this for book club and it's perfect for library blogs.

Thing 20 of 23 Things

I got way more satisfaction reading about MySpace and Facebook than I got being a registered user of them, granted that I'm a very new user. On the surface it didn't seem that I connected with more than two people, I did join a 23 things on a stick group on Facebook with a select group of 18 others. It will be interesting if that group continues to correspond. I wrote on "the wall" with my group. It feels odd to write "my" group. I'd like to have more time figuring out what all these sites have to offer, but I do see that they are meant to be one stop shopping for all your needs and not just socializing. The book section in MySpace was very complete. I see that there are "100% Free James Patterson layouts" available to download. This gets me thinking that if the big name authors are creating a presence in these sites with all of the marketing expertise available to them, than it must be a worthwhile platform.

If the teens and twenty somethings are using FaceBook and MySpace to create content that is at least adhering to the policies of these sites, than it is a positive way to spend some of your time. If all the user is doing is clicking and scrolling for hours on end, I find it a great waste. The library can make a difference by adding content that gives them a voice in their local library. They can offer suggestions of books and movies and as I read about, even be told when they are ordered and available. The Facebook and Myspace user may also be asked if they would want any classes for web surfing, for instance, or anything like that. The Information Wants to be Free blog by Meredith Farkas had great ideas and great reasons to do them. She advised libraries to not set up an account on Facebook that wasn't interactive. She told of one library that had a search box right on their page so the user did not even need to go to the library's website. That is s-o-o-o cool.

In the 7 things you should know about Facebook article the author referred to the term "information literacy". (I've read this term before in researching during this learning process.) This article defined it as: "The ability to negotiate opportunities and risks of the the internet age." I was virtually "information illiterate" before learning the Things. As a librarian, I'm particularly proud to say I'm no longer information illiterate and I plan on trying to keep up with the internet age.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Thing 18 of 23 Things


I am not going to be addicted to YouTube. I had never gone on it before and I would not go on it again for anything, but library purposes. You can imagine how I felt that the angry computer man was fitting to choose for my video clip. I'm glad I know about the workings of YouTube and I saw a few other video sites also. In fact, the Thing 18 example of an appropriate library video was emailed to me right about the time I started 23 Things and I was waiting to get to a thing where I needed to put it on my blog. Needless to say, I was frustrated that it was used on the mother blog. I'm still going to use it at near the bottom of my blog because I looked at videos for a long time that I found inappropriate for my blog. I had wanted to find something clever, but time does not permit it.

I saw videos that were excellently done to tour libraries and show movies that the library had available, which even had a few short audio clips of the movies with music filling out the rest of the video. There are even some great how-to videos that will be helpful for me if I forget some 2.0 skills that I learned. Our library doesn't own a video camera, but I can see that this would be a good use for one.

Thing 19 of 23 Things

http://www.epnweb.org/index.php?request_id=1362&openpod=2#anchor2

My things and posts have gotten out of order now. I've had difficulties with playing podcasts and videos and downloading on my home computer. I'm one of those people who don't give up easily, which sometimes can be a fault and definitely takes more time.

I did't find any of the .com podcast directories easy to navigate all, but if my tastes were different I may have been able to find something right away. Yahoo was about the same thing. I listened to a podcast on the Educational Podcast Directory called Google Tips that was very helpful. The site is at the top of this blog. When I learn how to link it within my blog with just an underlined word, like I've seen other 23 things participants do, I will do that. I'm very frustrated that I don't know how to do this.


I spent hours looking for another podcast that would interest me and ended up back at OPAL, which I found out about in a previous thing. I had listened to a author interview podcast then and wondered what more I could find. I ended up listening to a book discussion with several participants on a book by Alexander McCall Smith. I enjoyed this very much since the book club I lead has discussed this book also. I ran across several instances where I wasn't able to get the feeds for the podcasts in my searches. I don't know why that happens.

I would consider hosting a podcast for a book discussion, but I would not want to do one on my own. Maybe that's what I'll do when I retire? Anyone who ever had the urge to be on live radio is probably chomping at the bit to do a podcast, if they haven't already done one. I read a bit about creating your own podcast and the 5 skills that I needed to learn scared me off at this time.