Friday, May 16, 2008

Thing #23 - Wrapping up

I loved the Web 2.0 awards and I love Listen NJ. I will certainly use those again.
Being that I am not a techie and don't really want to spend too much time on the computer, I found most of the other stuff a bore. Overall, this was a good experience int hat I can keep up with my children as they get more and more computer literate. I will come back to some things that I thought would require more time to REALLY understand. Didn't like the Sandbox or google docs and found some of the podcasts excruciatingly painful.
Overall though... great idea and please do it again int eh future.

Thing #22 - listen NJ

LOVE IT!!!
I downloaded Eden Burning by Elizabeth Lowell. I can't wait to burn it to a CD so I can listen to it in the car or get my MP3 player and download it there. Had to update some of the software on my computer, but it wasn't hard. Right now the book is just sitting there waiting for me. I really love this.

THing 21 - Podcasts

http://weeklyradioaddress.com/WRA_Current.htm
I signed up for podcast.com. Found the Onion (hysterical site). Nice to see that i could download this to my Ipod, but doubt I ever will. I was disappointed to find that many sites charge fo reach download (but I guess it's par for the course). Thought about doqnloading some kids music to the Ipod, but it would be too expensive.
Not a huge fan of the time involved in finding podcasts either.

Thing #20 - You Tube

I watch You Tube all of the time. I love Bloopers. Here is a link to bloopers from The Office http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrakOgWzdKs
It is really nice to be able to find the Wiggles and Backyardigans at any time of the day or night (ugh!) when the little monster is WIDE AWAKE and there is nothing on TV to keep us occupied until the sun comes up!!!

THing 19

I LOVE PAndora! It is very similar to Yahoo Music without the commercial interruptions. And who wouldn't love cocktail builder (my sister was a bartender and she usually plays one at parties). I will give it a shot (ha ha) in about 6-8 weeks!!!
This is the most fun of al the THINGS I have done. I have bookmarked a few of the sites and the web awards page. What a way to end a Friday!!!

THing #18

Tried to log into Google Docs and got the following error message
Unable to locate the requested document revision. Please check the URL and try again.

OK, so i tried again and did what I was supposed to do. I guess it's OK. If I was doing a collaborative training, it could be helpful if others could go in and edit and add items. Don't think I could use either of these for my day to day work because of the confidentiality of my job. didn't enjoy this one too much, thought it wasted some very valuable time. Just my opinion, not meant to offend anyone responsible.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Thing #17 - Sandbox

I played in the sandbox. I guess it was OK. Easy to figure out how to change fonts and colors and stuff. I figured out how to insert a picture, but honestly didn';t have the time to find one!!!
THe hardest part of this for me was figuring out how to link my blog to the WIKI. Guess if I have CAREFULLY read the directions, I might have known that I needed to change the URL. I stink at this!!!

Thing #16 WIKIs

Let me start with this.. back in the early 80s, we used a computer landuage called "basic". For those that remember it, you'll probably remember this term GIGO - Garbage in, Garbage out. A WIKI is only as good as its author.
The library WIKI had some good training tips and places to go for Staff Development. I will certainly take the time to go to each of the sites listed and see what they are doing!!!
I read the library WIKI. MAybe I'm just dumb, but I can't figure out which edits were made by OCL employees and those not. The WIKI looks OKto me, but hasn't been recently updated witht he First Lady Award.

Thing #15 - Web 2.0

Ok, so first of all, I think that Rick Anderson is a little out of date referring to customers as patrons. It's a really outdated term, especially fo rsomeone extolling the virtues of Web 2.0. That being said, he makes some good points about the "customers of tomorrow". I agree that we need to change and keep up witht he times in our knowledge of the internet and resources, which is probably why we are doing these 23 things. I also agree with Chip Nilges that we need to access the knowledge base of our customers, but I don't have the answer(s) as to how to do that. Our teens are probably our greatest resource!!! Honestly, I didn't understand much about what Dr. Wendy Schultz wrote and it really did sound like a foreign language to me.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Thing #14 - Technorati

I started with the link for popular blog searches and tags and found absolutely nothing of interest. I don't care about Star Trek, Star Wars or any of the new superhero movies. I'm not a gadget girl so nothing really grabbed me. The more of these "things" I do, the more I realize how much I am "outside the inner sanctum". In my day (I've always wanted to be able to say that) people who were Trekkies were nerds or geeks and you expected them to show up at Wizard World wearing an Imperial Stormtrooper costume. Now that I married one (except for the costume - I have accompanied him to Wizard World!!!) I can see how right I am. All of this technical stuff is kind of boring to me and that is what I learned from the popular blog searches link. I would rather be outside at the park or skydiving than spending that much time on the internet!!! That being said...I'll post more when I am done with this thing.
So I type in Library 2.0 and the first blog I get is "A NEW AGE FOR MOBILE PHONES BEGINS; HTC UNVEILS ‘TOUCH DIAMOND’. Not quite sure what that has to do with Library 2.0. Then I found out that even if books aren't at rick, librarians are, according to Steven Abram.

Thing #13 del.icio.us

OMG! I tried to listen to this podcast and wanted to tear out my eardrums! I thought I understood what this waws until I had to listen to this woman speak. Please help me, my ears are now bleeding. 5:45 into it and I just had to turn the darned thing off!!!
So then I set up an account, it was pretty easy.
I looked up disney travel and bookmarked a page and skydiving and did the same. the tags I saw were pretty much what I would have used so I didn't bother changing or adding any. I can see how I might use this for training or HR research and thins I use a lot I will have in 1 place. I could also use this for personal use (as is with Disney and skydiving). Not a bad tool. On to #14. See, I'm catching up!!!