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.

CML Favorites Wiki

The CML Favorite Wiki was an ok site for practicing editing a wiki, not really a site I would visit otherwise. I was kind of frustrated when I couldn't edit right away and had to get approved first.

Wiki for libraries

It seems that wiki's are being used in many ways. The wiki, "Library Success: A best practice wiki" was elaborate and interesting. It had many links to articles by librarians and reports on topics related to librarianship. Then "Book Lovers Wiki" - developed by the Princeton Public Library was very simply a list of reveiws created during their 2006 summer reading club program. I think there could be a few good uses for this tool in libraries. I could see this being used by committees to share and organize ideas and infomartion without physically meeting. More people could be involved in brainstorming with more creative ideas playing off and melding with other creative ideas.

library 2.0

I thought the article "Away from the icebergs," by OCLC's Rick Anderson was informative. He proposes three potential icebergs for libraries.
1. 'The “just in case” collection"
2. "Reliance on user education "
3. "The “come to us” model of library service"
Libraries are not a place for dusty unused books, but will be needed to provide easy access to the information that's out there where and when the patrons need it. "Into a new world of librarianship," by Michael Stephens is also a good article. The new Librarian will need to be prepared for and to spot information trends, be selective with those trends and quick about implementing them.

Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarking in del.icio.us

This is a great tool for both doing research and for bookmarking favorite sites. I like the idea that you have access to your favorites no matter what computer you are working from. I also see what a benefit it is for CML employees to share library related favorites and tags for easy searching. This is somthing I would really like to use.

Twitter

I am not crazy about micro-blogging. I can see where if you have a job where you are tied the computer constantly it would be great for passing along bits of info, but thankfully I am not the tied to the computer. As entertainment I find it boring reading about what people are doing. I wasn't sure how to find any interesting conversations to follow. It was interesting to see how other libraries are using Twitter to update followers about computer use or programs. My user name is whitebird1.

Library Thing

I created an account with Library Thing and add some of the books I am reading and am planning to read. I think this is a really nice way to keep track of your own personal library. http://www.librarything.com/home/btanner

Image Generators

This is a picture of my dog Frodo, using the image generator "Old Time Photos." http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds

RSS feeds

I created a Blogline account and added some feeds. I'm not so sure I will use it in the future, but I can see that it would save a lot of time for people who use the internet for keeping up to date on various subjects. It could be a real time saver.

Here is the link to my Blogline account

http://www.bloglines.com/public/btanner@columbuslibrary.org

http://rpc.bloglines.com/blogroll?html=1&id=bonnieltanner

My experience with blogging

I really did have fun experimenting with and searching flickr. But I am really not getting into blogging. For one thing, as a beginner, this project has become time consuming for me. And on the darker side, I am not so sure it is such a good idea throwing out information about yourself, such as your interests, opinions, and other seemingly innocent information into the hands of who knows who (soliciters, prospective employers, etc.) Even though it's not my favorite passtime I am glad for the opportunity to learn something new.

It was fun creating a mosaic using fd's flickr toys. It allows you to choose photos from your photo stream on flickr and to choose a layout, then presto.

7 &1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

I just watched the slide show of the 7 & 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners for the second time. After experimenting with blogging and flickr I feel understand more about what my learning habits are. I need to believe more in my abilities as a learner and to not give up when I run into problems. I haven't had a great interest in learning new technology but I am beginning to have some fun (just a little) with this project.



7 ½ Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners
Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3: View problems as challenges
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective
learner
Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox
Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7: Teach/mentor others
Habit 7½: Play!

Flickr

This is one of the pictures I posted on Flickr. It is a veiw of my garden that I planted on a steep bank that is made up of some soil and lots of coal dust & gravel. On top of the bank is a bike path that used to be a railroad track. We had to bring in lots of medium to large stones to hold back the soil in places and we added top soil and compost. I had trouble adding this picture from Flickr because it took me a while to figure out that I didn't have to use the add image button first. All you do is to click on "share this" and "embed this" then copy and paste the code.

Here it is. My first blog. I haven't come up with anything interesting to blog about. I'm just getting my feet wet today.