Week 9: Journey Reflections

1) I liked: learning how to blog, using Flickr, creating an online image generator (I love my Meez.com character!), learning how to link to RSS feeds, learning what a podcast is, and learning how to add to a wiki.
2) As part of my lifelong goal, I will more likely make a point to try more new tech things out- even if I don't decide to use it regularly right away- just to get familiar with the technology/trend.
3) I was surprised at how much fun I had creating a Meez! I also found that RSS feeds are easy to link to using Bloglines.
4) Can't think of any improvements for a future program at this time... Perhaps requiring 10 things and then we get to select 5 more things to complete out of another list of 10 (so 15 things total required.)
5) I would be interested in participating if offered in the future... perhaps as a 6 week program of 12-15 things.
6) I feel like I'm somewhat ahead of (at least with) the curve now on some new trends. Yey! I've accomplished 23 Things! :)

Week 9: Downloadable Books

Through the Maryland library consortium, Maryland librarians purchase numerous titles each month- ebooks, audiobooks, and eVideos. Most of the audio and ebook titles are brand new, which makes the service great for our customers who want the most recent books published to read/listen to on their computer. There are some great titles in the listing, but for right now, I'm looking for a book to cuddle up with. :) I like the fact that Project Gutenberg exists so that many more free ebooks will be on the web, which I can refer customers too. I've used it previously, but had forgotten about it- so this was a good reminder.

Week 9: Podcasting

I explored Podcast.net and Podcastalley.com. I does appear that there could be a podcast for everything. Merlin's site was useful in giving examples in how libraries are using podcasts. Looking at a few podcasts where librarians were facing the camera and speaking, it seems important when doing these podcasts to be very comfortable with the material you are talking about so it comes across in the best way. Podcasts are very quick way to advertise a point; Being able to have an RSS Feed to information you are waiting for on a topic could be useful in the right circumstances.

Week 9: YouTube

The video I chose on YouTube was "Battle at Kruger" which actually was shown on TV a few weeks back. It's a video involving buffalos, lions, and a crocodile... You wouldn't believe what happens in it if you didn't see it! It's better than Disney! YouTube was easy to search. I wasn't sure of the name of the file I was looking for, but just putting in the key terms "buffalo, lions and crocodile" brought it up. I like that it says YouTube allows you to embed videos right your own site. Perhaps the library could pick an amusing clip to show each week to add to the library website. Or perhaps the library could make its own amusing video and add it the library website, changing it out regularly.

Week 8: Web 2.0 Awards

Wow! I went to the short list (http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short) of awards and clicked on lulu.com- that was really cool! People can actually publish their book on this site; they can have it look exactly the way they want and then sell it on the website's marketplace. The whole concept is brilliant and allows anyone to be able to publish without having to go through high cost publishers. You can do books as well as other formats. I am totally blown away! Amazing!

Week 8: Online Applications and Tools (18)

Online Productivity Tools- I am glad I got to do this exericise. I wasn't really aware of what Google Docs was until now. I tried the various features like bold, numbering, colors. I think this is a great sharing tool. People who want to create a document can easily convert the text to commonly used formats (like Word). I like that I could use my Google account to log in rather than having to create another account.

Week 7: Wikis Continued... (17)

I added my blog to the Learning Sandbox Wiki and reviewed some of the lists of favorites people have posted.

It seems like people must have some time on their hands that put together some of the wikis that are out there on the web... Hey, it's my blog- I can have an opinion...