23 Things

I really enjoyed this project. Somethings were a little frustrating, but I did keep trying until I figured it out. I found lots of new tools that I didn't know about, and will continue to use. I like the photo hosting sites the best. Photography is a hobby of mine and these sites are very useful. I think the goal that I was afraid of (number 4) is not so scary any more. I have more confidence in trying new things, and I don't think it will be so hard now. If I can't do somthing I will just have to keep trying until I get it.

I would definately participate in other discovery programs that the library might offer in the future.

Thanks, this was fun.

Digital Audiobooks

I like the digital audio books, it was very easy to find something to listen to. I had to download the OverDrive Media Console, and it was a little confusing, but not to bad. Once I got that done, it was very easy to download the book I wanted. I checked out Blasphemy by Douglas Preston. It took a very long time to download though and I use dsl at home. But other than that I like it. I wish I could burn it to a cd so I could listen to it in the car. It would also be nice if I could listen to it on my ipod. It is a little hard to listen to on the computer if other people are home, because they don't want to listen to it. (Especially my kids)

Podcasts

It took me a little while to find a podcast that I liked and that I could find the rss feed for it. I found one called "Authors on Tour". I tried to find one for a radio show that I like, but they didn't have one, at least not that I could find.

YouTube

There were a lot of funny videos about libraries and librarians. Some where very long and some were not very appropriate. I chose this one because it seemed to represent every problem patron all in one person, and I thought everyone could relate to it. This could be useful for the library, you could have tutorials on how to use the computers, or short informational videos about services, and programs that the library offers.

The Problem Patron

Web2.0 Awards

I checked out the categaory for start pages. I already use igoogle, but checked out the number 1 and number 2 sites. They seem pretty similar to each other, and they all use google to search which I thought was pretty interesting. I'm not really sure how this site could be used in a library though. I suppose you could set up a listing of subjects, and put the top rated information sites on it.

Zoho Writer

I created my own account at "writer.zoho.com". I think it is difficult to use, the whole thing doesn't fit on the screen and there are no scroll bars to move over. I tried uploading a picture to my project, but could not get it to work. There also are not very many fonts to choose from and some don't seem to work at all. The templates made it a little easier to use, but I think I will stick with Microsoft Office for as long as I can.

PBCLS Wiki

I had fun on the PBCLS Wiki sandbox. It was also very easy to use and I enjoyed reading about other peoples favorite things.

So what's in a wiki?

I checked out the SJCPL Subject Guides and found it very easy to use with lots of useful information. Under the discussion tab there were a lot of links to websites that were of questionable content, definitely not suitable for children or some adults. Some subject discussions were actually discussions about the subject. The only problem I see with letting everyone post things is that someone is going to have to go through and check all the links. You could also post information that is not correct, like on wikipedia. A lot of the things you search for on wikipedia do not have source information to back up the content they are writing.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a wonderful way to get information. It makes it very easy to communicate with other people, and get answers to questions. I like that you can get up-to-date news and information as soon as it is available. I read the "Away From the "Icebergs"" article by Rick Anderson. I thought he made a lot of good points. If people can get any information they want from home, why bother coming to the library. The library definitely needs to keep up with what people NEED. If we can supply the places for them to find the information from home in a user friendly manner people will be more likely to use it. It is nice to go to one website and find links to everything you want, instead of having to search all over.

Technorati

I did a search for http://www.pbclibrary.org/ and found 73 blogs relating to it. The majority of them were links to the mousercise and mousing around tutorial. Next I did a tag search for "web 2.0" and found 36,333 post. None of them were similar to each other. There were many different subjects with "web 2.0" in them. Some of them didn't seem to have anything to do with "web 2.0". Some of the related tags were not anything I would have used to search for information on "web 2.0". There were a bunch of them though; web-20, web2.0, Ajax, technology, web, Internet, tech, blogging, Google, and techcrunch. I'm not sure what some of these are like Ajax and techcrunch. I could not figure out how to tag my blogs though. I tried to follow their directions but I didn't understand it.

del.icio.us

I really liked this website. I found it very easy to use. It was simple to set up my own account, I love that I can retrieve my bookmarks from anywhere. I also found a bunch of interesting ones that other people had saved. I didn't like that they want you to install it on your toolbar, which is okay at home, but not on other peoples computers. I think that it could be useful in research, you can enter a tag and find websites that other people found useful. If you don't always use the same computer (like at school or at the library) you would always have the information you were using available to you, and you wouldn't have a pageful of website written down, that you could forget to bring with you.

WebFeat

WebFeat is interesting. It brings back ALOT of information. I did a search on prostate cancer and found over 14,000 hits. Unless you are looking for something very specific, or a specific type of database, it might be too much stuff to wade through. It is nice to have all the databases in one place though.

Another Photo Generation

My creation
Originally uploaded by ChvyGrl

This is another photo I took. I like these tools, they're fun.

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/jigsaw.php

LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing, it was pretty easy to use. I already have an account with one that is similar called "GoodReads.com". I'm not sure which one I like better.

I did like the fact that in LibraryThing, I could add a widget. (It's in the sidebar.) I couldn't find anything like that in GoodReads. But GoodReads does have an RSS link.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mcbrj23things

My Photo Generation

My creation
Originally uploaded by ChvyGrl

I tried playing around with some image generators. Some were easier to use than others. I made this one on http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/beads.php. This is a photo I took of my son at the beach, and made it into little sqaures.

Bloglines

Well, where to begin? This was very frustrating. I couldn't find any feeds that I liked. I finally found three, outside of bloglines. (Once I asked a co-worker how.) I also have the same thing in Google Reader, which I think is much easier to use. I thought I would check out the Bloglines Beta, (maybe it would be better?) but it only works with Firefox (Huh?!?) Whatever that is. I'm hoping it will get easier the more I use it.

Technology

I think websites that host photos are a great idea. I love that you can share photos with friends and family easily even if they live far away. It is much easier than having to print out all the pictures and mail them.

018_08 Chrome Azz

018_08 Chrome Azz
Originally uploaded by Dmans4t4

Wow, guess you should always carry your camera. What are the odds?

Blogs and Libraries

I think blogs for liraries would be good. If you were looking for information or wanted opinions on a subject you could post a question and see what people think. You could aslo get help on where to find relevant information.

Seven and 1/2 Habits

I think the 7 & 1/2 habits are really good ones to have. I think the one I will have the most trouble with will be number 4; have confidence in yourself. I usually think I can't do something even before I try it. Like blogging. I have never done it before and I never wanted to try. I'm afraid that I will sound stupid.