Thing 22 Staying Current

"It really doesn’t take that much time." mmmmm I didn't feel that way. But it was absolutely worth it. I'd like to have a refresher about every 9 months of maybe the next 6 things! I bookmarked another library's Things that I thought looked interesting.

Going back to the beginning, blogs--I like blogs. I see blogs as a way to have real communication among people--the "among" is what makes blogs better than email or IM. You can post when you want and multiple people can read it and respond if they want. I think people take them more seriously than Facebook--or at least there seems to be more substance.

Blog search tools--don't see these as helpful personally or professionally. I can't believe I would be searching for a blog out of the blue.

RSS feeds and blog aggregators--I'm a fan and see use in the library and personally to keep up with all this stuff. Definitely like Google Reader over Bloglines since I can never seem to log in correctly with Bloglines (and that's the frustrating and time-consuming part of a lot of this--stupid stuff happening).

Flickr and Flickr mashups--yea! I use Flickr personally and professionally.
Online Image Generators--not a fan
Sharing--I'm using Slideshare in our new website
Delicious--the best "Thing"
Social Media--Digg, Reddit--don't get it
Wikis--I want to explore and use them more. I think they could be a good internal tool for information gathering and organizaton.
Library Thing--becoming too commercial (i've been stalked by one of their salesman) GoodReads and Shelfari are just as good.
Online Productivity Tools--I'll continue to keep current in this area. I know there are tons of these but I like to wait for the Top Ten lists to get ones that have been time-tested and are sustainable.
Rollyo--don't think it's particularly stable and too trendy
YouTube and podcasts--kind of the grandaddys in this group--definitely useful on library websites
Facebook&MySpace--still really uneasy about these for library use or for personal use. Think we should have left them for the kids.
The rest--some good some useless--all very time consuming

I'm going to think about how to stay current but I have a few tools now in my toolbox to remind me, alert me, keep me organized and motivate me.

Thanks Neflin....

Thing 21 Student 2.0 Tools

I realize the getting students organized is a huge challenge so if these tools help even one student I'm all for it. But generally I think that assignments have so many variables that this automated organizer has limited value. Could be wrong about this. Maybe the last thing just finally wore me out on anything 2.0.

The education experience should involve some part of personal responsibility which includes thinking through the organization timeframe needed to complete a task.

Thing 20 Books 2.0

Read Fiction Reading Increases for Adults in the NYTimes--surveys they can tell you anything--proven by the fact that the same survey had reading on the decline the year before. In Online RU Really Reading? I like the quote: "What we are losing in this country and presumably around the world is the sustained, focused, linear attention developed by reading,” I have three children in their 20s and as for reading as a past-time--one is a voracious reader (both on the internet and books, one reads sporadically and the other never reads. Yet I don't see much difference in their achievements or success so I am quite conflicted on this. "Experts on reading difficulties suggest that for struggling readers, the Web may be a better way to glean information." Having been a school media specialist I do believe that for a lot of kids with learning disabilities and just plain kids that are visual learners, the internet can be a more inviting place to learn. How Libraries Can Survive...: I like the new literacies--although I don't think they're new. Graphic literacy--visual learners have the upperhand but I think the majority of people use graphics for understanding. Navigation Literacy: having just launched a new website I can tell you this literacy is not achieved by many. Focus Literacy ?? okay this is a really oblique reference to actually thinking. Skepticism Literacy--great!

Daily Lit--if one has the time to join in group discussions this seems somewhat valuable. The rest if more a learnawordaday concept.

Reading Trails--facebook on book steroids--who has time to do this? Book Lamp--I registered just because it referred to itself as the Pandora for books and I love Pandora. But it was way too heavy into scifi. What Should I Read Next, What Next, and Which Book... I've used on the reference desk but not as good as What Do I Read Next or Novelist. Overbooked--ok. Readerville--too esteric Booktalk--looks like it actually discusses nonfiction books which is rare.

I've been in many book clubs over the years so I've used Reading Group Choices and Reading Group Guides but I was not aware of LitLovers and I'm in love...for one thing it led me to a 23things for an Auckland, Australia library that looks great except they only did 12 things and I've bookmarked it on my delicious tags because someday soon I want to go back and really look at the different things they did. I've used BookBrowse many times--great resource for book lovers and book clubs. Looking at MetaCritic, I may use that one now too.

Book Rentals? uh, gee..how about a library? Book Swaps: I have friends who do this--usually ones big into particular genres.

Thing 19 Other Social Networks

Just how many does one person need?? I've used Web Junction for its training webinars--never really considered it a social network. Guess I ignored that part of it. Still don't know if I'd return to it for that aspect. Ning: i signed up but just don't think it's for me. I see that it might be a good one for certain professional networking. Gather: I may be overdosing on signup fatigue but again how much of this stuff do you need? If your sphere of friends is narrow, the chances you can participate in new, rigorous discussion seems to be limited. Looked at the cooking ones and the film ones, both of which I'm interested in. I like Epicurious which is not just a great place to find recipes but is a social network for recipes because readers can add their rating, reviews, and alterations to the recipes--great idea. I'll stick with IMDB for film trivia and some chat. I played around with Yelp. I could play around all day on stuff like this. I do think there's a place for Yelp as a resource for patrons. I'll even go back to it myself for restaurant reviews. I'm sure one could spend days just on this one thing so looking at the endless arry of social networking systems: 50 minutes Application to libraries--it's a big side world out there.

Thing 18 Facebook and MySpace

I've got to admit I'm doing this one kicking and screaming. As my friends will tell you I can't even use a phone or write an email, so the expectation that I would randomly write stuff on Facebook or Myspace is pretty funny.

I've helped create the Myspace page for our Adult Services Department (which hasn't been updated in about two years). So I thought I'd learn more by creating a Facebook page. The first thing I saw were the potential "friends" I could have and yes, there were 3 people from my high school I haven't seen in almost 40 years. wow...didn't excite me enough to "friend" them but still. But I did ask several outofstate friends to be my friend again. I heard from one immediately who told me to get a picture on it. So I put a picture of myself on it--relunctantly. I also joined a group--Library 2.0 Interest Group, maybe it will give me professional food for thought.

Now let's see who responds and if I find I'm using it 3 months from now. Library application?? just don't see it

Thing 17 Podcasts

Thanks to iTunes, people are familiar with podcasts. But also thanks to iTunes they may not know what a "podcast" actually is. I click on podcasts to listen to my favorite radio shows on NPR when it's convenient for me or watch a Charlie Rose interview. I think NPR was groundbreaking and is cutting edge about podcasts. They have this great tool that lets you mix your own podcasts from the list of all their programs.

Podcast Alley is a much better directory than Podcast.com, in substance, ease of use and display. I searched "library" in both of them and Podcast Alley gave me much more relevant results faster and in a easy to read format. The library podcast, Didgiknow, appealed to me. Michigan State Library produces them. I would love to see how they compare with Orange County's great library of patron education podcasts but alas, downloading a podcast aggregator on our present library network would take a few hours. I was just interrupted with our new website crashing so I'm kind of sensitive to overloading the system.

I haven't done a podcast but we just had Paul Alford from the Citrus County Library System come and teach us about Audacity so I hope to soon.

Thing 16 YouTube

I'm pretty familiar with YouTube so I'll cut to the chase here. A few weeks ago I was on vacation in New Smyrna with friends and from the condo we were staying at we watched the shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral. I filmed it and posted it to YouTube and here it is.



Incidentally the YouTube video on the book--hilarious. I feel exactly the same way after launching our new website this week!