#24 My thoughts

Well, it's been quite a journey through technology! I'm not sure I really believed that I would complete the whole thing. I can't say that I understand (or remember) everything I did, but as several of us have discussed, at least we've been exposed to it. Because of this, I have had several ideas that will help be accomplish some of my goals for 2008. There are so many opportunities to share with others through blogs, wikis, etc. --they seem almost endless! Because I have benefited from other libraries who use these technologies, I want to put them to use for us so that others can benefit from what we have done. I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to Jerianne for putting this all together and keeping us motivated all along the way. I also want to thank Laurel for supporting us and to the Friends for providing the MP3 incentives. I also want to say thank you to all the staff who participated and supported their co-workers in their endeavors to accomplish what for some of us was way out of our comfort zone. If you haven't finished or even started, I want to encourage you to take that leap into the unknown. I can't wait to see what great things come out of this!

#23 Podcasts, Smodcasts

After listening to an introduction to podcasting by Jason Rhode from NIU, I took a look at Podcast.net. The type of presentation he did I think could be used for online staff training (then you wouldn't have to look at someone like me!). I first went to entertainment and listened to an 1938 broadcast of the Lone Ranger--"The Abilene Horse Thieves"--pretty cool to listen to an original broadcase that's almost 70 years old! It was very easy to search the sites and listen to just about anything I could possibly want to listen to. I decided to type in "library" and got quite a lengthy list of choices. I picked one called "Engaging youth on their own terms: instant messaging & gaming in libraries" by SirsiDynix Institute. I guess my computer was tired because it never fully downloaded. I have marked it to go back and listen to because I would like to hear what they have to say since this has been a hot topic among libraries lately. I have seen podcasts on the NPR website and they frequently mention it on their broadcasts daily.

#22 MyLibraryDV and R.E.A.D.S.

Interesting that this should be the next exercise. When we first got the free trial for MyLibraryDV I "checked out" several old movies. It worked fairly well, but it was slightly distorted. I don't know if it's my computer (it is slightly old and slow) or what. I did try downloading it to my computer at work, but still had the same problem. I have talked with several people who looked at some of the how to films that worked quite well. Hum, I'm still not wild about watching a movie on my computer screen though.

I have downloaded a few audios to my computer, but I'm not much of an audiobook person--I tend to prefer print books. I guess I'm just more visual. Since I don't have an MP3 player, only an iPod, I don't have a way to take it with me when I walk or work out at the gym. I do know that we have one of the highest usage rates in the state for R.E.A.D.S. --and how cool is that?!

#21 You Too Can YouTube

YouTube has lots of choices, but I decided since part of our assignment was to see what we might could use for library projects I put in "library" and got lots of choices. The sight seems quite easy to use and it was simple enough to search. I chose the "UNT Libraries' portal to Texas History" to look at because I have always wanted to create some form of digitized historical photographs that could be searched and looked out without having to dig through them in the Historical Research room. This might also be a good tool for online training. We could produce video clips on different segments that we want to train staff on. I am going to try to put the clip on my blog--we'll see how it goes!
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#20 Discovering Other Web 2.0 Tools

In looking at the award winners, I went to the organization category. I had used google docs before so I chose zoho to play around with. I liked the fact that most of the formatting tools were right there on the toolbar--very easy to find the tools you needed without a lot of menus. I added a template for a booklet and played around with it thinking it might be a good tool to use for the staff directory. I think this might work--not really sure though. I wasn't quite sure how to get back to things I created--maybe I was just too tired! I plan to go back and work with the staff directory idea and see if it would work although the privacy issue might be a problem. I looked at the spreadsheets and planner. This particular site got the best ratings. It's really an interesting process. I am amazed at how bright these folks are that created all this. My mind just doesn't work that way. I'm interested to see what others picked and their thoughts on it. So much to learn and so little time!

#19 Social Networking

I took a look at the different library "spaces" and enjoyed finding out how they used this new technology. The online instant messaging reference "librarian" was quite interesting and seemed to be quite popular among all the libraries. Browsing from any screen, book reviews, and even discussion areas seem to be quite the standard. I was a little disappointed with the look--there wasn't much flexibility to provide a more unique look. They all had that "canned" look. I think it might be fun to begin with maybe some book discussion lists and the online reference (available during certain hours--not 24 hours to start with).

I was surprised at all the different venues that were available--everything from religion to music to books and movies--just about any subject you want to explore. I never realized that there were comparable networks for different age groups. I decided to try the Eons site (for over 50!). It was easy to sign up, although I have to say I was a little uncomfortable putting in much personal information. I know there are security measures in place, but I didn't fill in a lot of personal information. I'm not sure how many "friends" I will have, but I was interested in some of the other features like the health articles and in particular the brain games. It sounds like a lot of fun. I'll keep you posted.

#18 Web-Based Apps Increase Productivity

Well, this is my first attempt at one of the web-based applications--Google Docs. It seems to be set up much like Microsoft Word. I like the idea of creating a document or spreadsheet that can be shared with others no matter what "version" anyone has or program. You also don't have to know HTML or try to create a PDF version to send, read or edit. You don't have as many options as you do in other specific programs--your fonts are limited, but many of the other features are the same. I think this might be good to use for LINK articles--especially if we start producing it online. I can also see it being very valuable for presentations so that you don't have to make sure that it works on a specific computer or load it on a flash drive, etc. I think I'll try out a presentation next. I'll be interested in seeing what kind of options are available there.

Well, I tried to post the above doc from Google Docs, but I didn't have much success. I changed my blog settings, but couldn't put in Blogspot.com as the blog provider. I don't know if that's the problem or not. Oh, well. I'll keep trying!