Thursday, February 28, 2008

Bud #23: Evaluation

After major grad school burn out, I took a much needed break from researching and reading about technological advances. I'm thankful to the folks who put "23 things" together for bringing me back up to date. Now I'm no expert at any of the things, but I feel knowledgeable enough to carry on a conservation at a cocktail party about RSS feeds, Flickr, etc. Whether or not utilizing these things becomes part of my mainstream existence remains to be seen. I'm certainly more willing to explore the applications now that my feet are wet. I'd like to thank Katie for taking the 23 journey with me; it was great to have her emotional, spiritual and technological support through this whole process. Thanks also to the group who put this adventure together.

Please know that my more negative comments to a few of the "things" were not meant to offend. It's just that I tend to critically anaylze the information put before me and keep looking for the application over the "oh, cool!" element.

I am sincerely concerned about the future of a generation that can only communicate through some sort of plastic, technological device. Recently, a friend's cousin committed suicide over a vicious blog post -(Medical Examiner Rules Ad Exec Paul Tilley's Death a Suicide)..Now, perhaps more than ever, our role is to teach the critical analysis of these sorted technologies. Best of luck to us all!

Bud #22: Lifelong Learning

I resolve to maintain this blog, my library thing,
my igoogle page, my Second Life, my Facebook...seriously,
I can not at this time make such a promise. But I WILL resolve this:

I, Bridget Blogger, having maintained some sanity after completing the 23 things on a stick, do on this tax day (is it April 15th already?) firmly resolve
to review over the next few months each of the 23 things. I swear to shift and sort through them and seriously consider ways to implement these technologies into our library. This summer I hope to add several new features to our library webpage that
encourage more interaction from our users.

P.S. I did just sign up for a Webinar on 2.0 next month. Several months ago the
whole concept was rather vague, but today I feel confident in my understanding of the
changes that are underfoot...

Bud #21: Social Networks

Since I am so running out of time to finish, I went straight to
Gather, a clean site that impressed me with its simplicity, its
ads for non-profit organizations and its emphasis on books. I searched
for local people and found several with very similar interests. I
would ping them if I had more time to dedicate to meeting new friends.

(ping, ning and thing...oh, how my head does ring!)

Added my 23 ning thing. Will go back, customize and explore these
sites when I have more time.

Bud #20: Facebook & MySpace

Much to my young adult children's dismay, I now have a FaceBook page. I'm familiar with both MySpace and FaceBook because my children have shown me these sites since their development. I was a "Mom over shoulder" grounding my young teens for posting inappropriate messages and pictures. Many of the other parents never knew about all the juicy junk these middle-schoolers were generating.

Both children still maintain sites. My son is strictly a Facebook fan because he is in college. He did delete his account a few months back because he was tired of people creating false personas on the internet; he reinstated because friends were complaining they could no longer connect with him. We continue to have discussions about the inappropriate material that is posted on his site, mostly photos of underaged drinking. He insists a person can not attend an event these days without camera coverage.

My daughter prefers MySpace for the cool graphics and colors and frequently helps her friends improve their pages. She was disappointed I choose to do a Facebook for this reason.

As for my own page? I now have 2 friends and am fairly excited about that! I was
somewhat shocked to learn that 25% of Duluthians have Facebook accounts. I'd like to
add them all to my friends list. We will be exploring the possibility of a Facebook
page for the library. We are considering the pros and cons of each of these social networking sites and the discussions have been very interesting. I think it will boil down to which ones we feel most comfortable using and which ones will reach the most of our patrons. I admit we do need to move in this direction.

Bud #19: Podcasts

I listened to a few podcasts staring at a white screen on
my computer; reminded me of old time radio. Found an interview
from the director of my old library on Minitex site; wished there
was a clock so I could see my listening point. (I'm running short
of time to finish the 23 things and can only dedicate so much.)
I listened for awhile to an extremely monotone speaker I selected
under "humor" from one of the directory sites. It put me to sleep;
not at all funny or interesting. (If you're considering producing a podcast, I suggest a little background music.) Here again, I ask for quality
control over the hordes of items being posted in this new mediascape.
I quite honestly don't have the time or desire to sort through
thousands of podcasts to find a gem.

As far as work applications go, I know a voiceover would help
students in online classes.

Applications for our campus...lectures, library interviews. I wish we would have recorded recent authors' visits. I need to update our library homepage for April's Poetry Month; think I'll add a podcast if I can find a good one.

Check out Stanford's EdCorner Podcast page if you get a chance.

P.S. iTunes is everywhere.

Bud #18: ITube, YouTube

Thank you Katie for helping me to embed this YouTube video into my blog. I suppose I could just read the directions myself. I'll admit I love YouTube and have been looking for ways to
incorporate it the work environment. One of my current projects is to develop a library orientation for new students and I think videos are a great way to introduce our services and a little humor. The cell phone Ninja librarian would be perfect if it didn't contain the f-word. I'll continue to search for videos to incorporate in my classroom sessions. This video was selected to share with all my fellow 23 stickers as a tranquil escape from the 23 tasks. Enjoy....

Bud #17: ELM Tools

I worked for years in a small rural school library with no budget.
You can imagine how excited I was when I learned about the
ELM resource. It truly is a gift to Minnesotans that, in the age
of Google, gets too often overlooked.

Now I work daily to train students on advanced methods of
using these databases. They really appreciate the free
"My EbscoHost" account they can set up. This allows users
to save their searches and articles on Ebsco to retrieve later.
Check out the "Visual Search" with your terms for a more
visually appealing results list.

Thanks again to all the librarians and lawmakers who make
ELM funding possible.

Bud #16: Assignment Calculator

We added a customized version of Assignment Calculator
to our website last fall with mixed reviews. Instructors
seems more excited by it than students. A few instructors
have made using Assignment Calculator an additional
assignment; ironic, huh?

A recent look at the statistics from UM's other online
research helper, Research Quickstart, revealed our students are using it, although the resource hasn't been promoted. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this. Seems older students prefer help finding information over organizing their plans.

Bud #15: Library Games

I registered for the Pirate Game while at work, felt
guilty with the gaming and got off quickly. I was looking
for applications for work and a scantily dressed pirate
didn't seem to apply, sooooo I decided to take the games home
where I registered for Second Life.

Here's my Second Life story:

10:00 pm. Hope to hop on Second Life, take a look around,
check out the library and leave.

10:15 pm. Finished a few introductory items in Second Life.
Bumped into a few people. Sorry. Picked up torch. Decided
to try to change my looks from the hip-hop rock star to something closer to my own more conservative look before I venture further.

11:00 pm. Standing naked and bald at the entryway to Second Life
am mortified to ask cyber mentor, one hulky muscular
thighed male to help me put my clothes on. Wow. Discover
my Second Life is as much of a challenge as my First Life.
How do I get myself in these situations?

11:30 pm. Even Cyber mentor is avoiding me; talking with everyone
else around me as I continue to twirl naked and bald. What's with
the selection of clothes, hair, etc. Cyber mentor placed an auburn
wig in my folder, but I could not get it on. Tired and too humilated
to continue, I call it a night.

The next evening, after worrying all day about greeting new Second Lifers in my exposed condition, I resume my mission to dress myself. This night I have more luck and select a simple jeans and shirt ensemble. Feeling a little more at ease, I set out to explore more. I attempt to talk to people, but no one seems interested. Creeped out by a fox-like tailed creature that keeps following me, I notice the fly button. Flying was freaky, especially when I crash-land on a nuclear wasteland site with large mutant rats in a grey, scummy city. Flew out of there only to plunge into the water! I almost drowned! Wet, lonely, depressed, I decide to beam back to my real
life.

Applications for work....
We do have instructors who use Second Life in their courses. I do see the applications especially for sociology and psychology courses. The interactions alone
were thought provoking. I understand how people who might love gaming and cybersituations would get into Second Life. Personally, my First Life provides more than enough excitement for me these days. When I have more time, I will attempt to go back and seek out the library!

Bud #14: LibraryThing

I have a virtual bookshelf! I can think of
several ways to utilize this site. Personally and
professionally, I can keep a record of my favorite books as
a quick reference when asked for recommendations;
I tend to forget titles as I'm always reading something new.

I can see myself spending time at this site and learning
more about it once I work my way through the 23 things.

Bud #13: Productivity Tools

I've changed all my homepages to an igoogle page
with a beautiful sunrise and set over the beach.
Now if I could just stop monkeying with the gadgets.
The few people at work who have seen my ipage planned
to create their own and my daughter and all her
techy friends have customized their homepages. Obviously,
this is a popular option.

Of this thing, I particularly appreciated the resource
websites. I found an interesting mix of tips
from streamlining your RSS feeds (hey, I'm just adding
to mine) to ironing plastic grocery bags, both techy
and homespun at the same spot. I think I will add
these links to my RSS feed.

Bud #12: Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon

"See a theme here? No editors to decide what information is important." OBVIOUSLY! If we are to start trusting the collective conscious of internet users for what information is important, we are in trouble. I visited all of these "social media" sites and was quite disheartened. Perhaps it's because I work at an academic library and spend a lot of time trying to steer students away from crud on the internet that I was disappointed by the results of my social site surfing.

Here are the results of my search for "libraries":

  • Digg: Result #2: 6-year-old raped in a public library.
    Result #3: "Library Porno" Oh, Great!
  • Reddit: Hits seemed of higher caliber including technology sites;
    iTunes articles are popular. Result #2: World Cat!
  • Newsvine: Kind of like Ripley's Believe it or Not with the "World's Tallest Man"as today's lead story.
  • Mixx: Result #1 was LibraryThing! Hey, I know that one.
    Result #2: Study: Young adults heavy library users, but I couldn't connect to the site.

Note to self: Explore Reddit and Mixx further. Leave celebrities and scandals behind.

Bud #11: Tagging and del.icio.us

I'm all set up with a del.icio.us account.
(I'm beginning to lose track of all my accounts,
so I wondered if there was a site that could
help. Check out Passwordsafe.com if interested.)

Pros:

  • While it was a little creepy to look at other people's
    personal bookmarks, I can see the advantages. Same
    with the group that created their own list of sites.
  • I like how this also ties into the RSS feeds. Now
    we're saving time!
  • Glad to have one location to host my sites, especially
    when I work from many locations and computers.

    Cons:

  • What's with the ee cummingish spelling? Is this
    another new thing we'll be seeing more of? If so, I vote to
    STOP it right now!
  • My del.icio.us list looks long and unorganized. I so want
    to file it!
  • I find the pastel colors difficult to read and couldn't
    find anywhere to change them.

Bud #10: Wikis!

You gotta love the name, Wiki, but it doesn't seem to fit
the job it does. I added to the group wiki a hidden,
secret message, only to discover that everyone was
alerted that I added a message! Didn't expect that.
Next I received dozens of email notifications that
23 things people were adding to the wiki. Took me
awhile to turn that off.

So, what about wikis? As I proceed through the
23 things, I keep asking myself, when and where
can I apply these tricks? I see similarities
between Yahoo groups, Zoho writer and wikis
as places where groups can collectively work.
As with any application, I believe the need for
its use must first be defined. All users must be
trained and comfortable with the technology.

Bud #9: Collaboration Tools

Does anyone have to own a home computer any longer?
Seriously, if I can store my writing and photos on
someone else's server, do I need a hard drive?

I'm currently serving on a committee struggling
to write a mission and vision statement. We're going
to give ZoHo writer a whirl. For some reason, it
wouldn't let me log on at first. I think I'll give
Google document a try as Google is always so
user friendly.

My first encounter with online collaboration was a Google Group designed for a teaching trip to China. It was a wonderful way for the group to gather resources,
hold discussions and learn about one another. The best part was recognizing these
total strangers half way around the world from the photos they had posted. That was
three years ago and we continue to post updated photos and news.

Bud #8:Slide Sharing

Lots to choose from here in thing 8: from photos to efolios.
I love photos, have a life time of them stored safely in boxes at
my house. Here comes my issue with our celebrity culture.
Call me crazy, but I'm leery of posting photos on the internet.
I am working on my efolio for professional reasons, but other
than that am not quite sure about posting my mug or personal
information over the internet. And yet, I love to connect a face
to name. The 23 things photos show faces of real library people
enjoying their work. That's a good thing. We can show how
much we really enjoy our work, our space and use photos
to promote our mission.

What about privacy rights and permission to publish photos?
Are individuals asked? told that their faces will be online?

Bud #7:Communication Tools

I've always had a love-hate relationship with technology. When I'm introduced to something new, I love learning about it. But soon I witness the losses...mostly the loss of quality contact time with people and nature. I think it's important to identify the personal and professional uses of these technologies, because the boundaries are easily blurred. Our students carry laptops, ipods and cell phones as everyday hardware. I know the aim of some of the "things" is to reach patrons where they're at, but we mustn't forget down time, away time, time to reboot, if you will.

Email: Fourteen years ago I was fortunate to have a pioneering tech person at my school set up my email account when the rest of the staff swore it would never catch on. I was thrilled when the first listserv I subscribed to flooded my mailbox. I felt oh so popular! Since then, I've run the gamut of hoovering near the keyboard to not checking personal email for days. Email serves a certain purpose. It works for mass mailings and recording details of important correspondence, but can't replace the quick communication of a conservation. It's easy to see why fast-acting IM and texting have grown in popularity in the age of instant gratification.

IM: We've discussed adding this feature our library's reference service, but are short staffed and don't want to make promises we can't keep. For now, the Ask a Librarian link, personal visits and phone calls seem to suffice. We do use this feature among staff. Our library is so small, it's sometimes easier to just get up and walk over to a person.

Txting: OMG! I need to learn a new language! The video of the students texting the librarian in the library--Why didn't they just get up and ask her? My most recent pet peeve is trying to carry on a conversation with my daughter while she is constantly interrupted by text messages. This begs the question of techniquitte and boundaries of users. Boundaries again? Yup. It's obviously an issue I have with technology.

Webinars: The few I've attended worked just as well when I downloaded the slideshow and watched them myself. No one wanted to interupt the presenter and ask questions along the way.

Bud #6: Online Image Generator

Sorry Katie. These were the only photos I downloaded from the camera. We'll have to remember to try to take more horizontal photos. I did figure out a way to rotate the photos in Flickr, but it took awhile. I love this mosaic. I think I can make great gifts with it. I only wish I could switch the photos without having to download each time. I selected the largest image to display; it's still rather small.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Bud #5: More Flickr Fun

N O W
T H - Higab House I S
I S
Pewter Ransom Font f U N Exclamation mark

Bud #4: Flickr

What I really like about these photo places is the
ability to save space on my hard drive, especially since
my old computer can't hold much more. I downloaded work
photos at work with a different log in, and now I can't
access them from home. I guess I set up two yahoo
accounts, but who's counting?

Bud #3: RSS

Once again, I'm glad for the opportunity to learn about
technology I've been meaning to research. I've noticed
the RSS logo on websites and wondered what it meant.
Now I know.

I set up my RSS account over the weekend during some
precious free time. I found myself reading blogs, adding
blogs and using up my precious free time in front of
a computer! Maybe it's because I sit at a computer
most of the work day that I treasure time away from it.

I had wanted to finish a friend's manuscript over
the weekend and instead became obssessed with
my RSS account. I suffered major information overload
from a source that's set up to ease my mind. I'm
sure this is just my initial reaction to possibilities
of the RSS system. Once I weed and prioritize my RSS
accounts, I hope to save time in the long run. With
the valuable time saved, it'll be back to the books!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Bud #2: Library 2.0

I've been following the term Library 2.0 over the past few
years with every intention of finding time to learn more about
this new software. Consider my thing #2 lesson learned.

Librarians are noted for being introverts. Could this be
why they don't have enough "trust" in their ability to
implement social technology?

Bud #1: Creating a Blog

My mind's in a fog while I type this here blog.
There's so much to do and so much that is new.

Did anyone else notice the common background
theme of the users in our group? I must comment
on your good taste.

Avatars are way too much fun! I travelled all over
the world and wound up back at the library.