Final Thing

I'm very glad I decided to participate in the program because I didn't have any idea of all the interesting and mostly free things that are out there on the Internet. Prior to this, the extent of my Internet use outside of work was the occasional google search and e-mail. Now I can't wait to catalogue my daughter's collection of children's books on Library Thing.
My favorite exercise was working with Flickr. I loved uploading my photos, working with the image generators, and searching for interesting photos. After looking at all the gorgeous pictures on Flickr, I am inspired to learn more about digital photography. I also love browsing with StumbleUpon. I have found some interesting sites this way.
Most importantly, I understand more about the future of library services and how necessary it is for library employees to be at least aware of current and upcoming trends.
Although at times I felt like I was just muddling through some of the exercises I know a lot more than I did before and am more confident about navigating the Internet. I plan on going back through some of the items to make sure I got everything I can from the program.
I think the format and concept of the program was great. I liked having more time in between exercises because I didn't feel rushed.
I enjoyed the program and would definitely choose to participate if another discovery program was offered.

MOLDI

I searched for some of the books I have checked out now on MOLDI but could not find them, so I decided to browse for eBooks. There is not as big a selection as I thought. It's a good place to find classics. A few of the biographies caught my eye, such as 2 biographies about the Beatles. Also the book, Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man sounded interesting. The descriptions and the excerpts are very good. I don't believe I would like to read an entire book on a computer screen. My eyes couldn't take it. I guess it could be very convenient for someone who has trouble getting to the library to pick up and return books. I just like to have the book in my hand. I might try downloading an audio book sometime. It would be a good way to hear some of the classics I never got around to reading.

Podcasts

From Podfeed.net I found Just One More Book. It publishies three times a week and is an informal discussion between two parents about their family's favorite children's books. It also includes some author interviews. I added the feed to my bloglines account. This is a nice format that could be used on the library's website where customers, book clubs, and schools could publish book talks, discussions or reviews.

CML's Tool Box

I downloaded CML's tool bar which I think will be very convenient. It was easy to use and I think many customers will appreciate it. I read the Tooling around blog and left a comment on "What widgets do you want." I also tried out the highlighting feature on the tool bar. I looked over some of the links in the Tool Box such as "BoingBoing," which had some interesting products. I liked the link to "MAKE" because I like crafts and I found an interesting post (see link) that relates to libraries in "TechCrunch."

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/authors-and-publishers-associations-settle-with-google-over-125-million-lawsuit/

YouTube

I like YouTube for all the funny home videos that are out there. I think it would be great to have customers or librarians post videos of their own book reviews on the library website. The type of reviews could be creative, artistic, or down home. Here are a few example videos book reviews that I found.

Web 2.0 Awards List

From the Web 2.0 awards list I chose to take a look at StumbleUpon. I signed up, chose my favorite catagories, downloaded the StumbleUpon tool bar, and started stumbling. You get to give the sites a thumbs up or thumbs down with a button in the tool bar. When I did this it created a favorites list for me and I think it uses the information to determine which sites to send my way. It is a fun way to browse the Internet.

My discoveries about Google Docs

The best thing I can find about Google Docs is that it is free. I currently don't have Microsoft Office at home so this is great for me. It seems to be almost just like Microsoft Office. You can work on projects on other computers without copying to a disc so this would be helpful if you are working from home. The bigest benefit would be that you can share the document to work on changes and updates rather than sending emails back and forth. I guess another benefit would be you don't have to purchase upgrades.