Monday, March 31, 2008

Thing 14 - Library Thing

LibraryThing is really a neat concept! If every time I finished reading a book, I spent a few minutes summarizing and then reviewing it, I could add it to my Library and track my reading and relate books to one another. Better yet, I could search tags for books I felt were similar which would be a great help in advising readers. I can never remember the titles when I need to recommend them!

I like the idea of setting up an account so it could be a tool for reviewing and recommending books for young people. Of course that would only work in my school environment if this is a site that is not blocked. It really helps students to see the covers of the books. LibaryThing uses Amazon conveniently for that. I will have to see that our new circulation software does that.
LibraryThing was very easy to set up and add books. I did find that I couldn't add another book without resetting the screen. I had problems getting the customized widget to come up and so I had to settle for a preset one. I was trying to make a shorter list so it wouldn't take up so much of my page.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Thing 13 - Online productivity tools

I entered some events in the calendar on Yahoo. Rather than create more accounts, I thought I would explore tools I already “have.” Yahoo Calendar is easily accessed from My Yahoo and was very similar to the electronic calendar (part of our email service) we use in our school library to schedule classes. Compared to the video I watched about Scrybe, Yahoo Calendar is much more cumbersome. I don’t really want to create an account with Scrybe so I’ll stick with what I’m familiar with. (Do you detect overload here?)

I like that search feature on Backpack. I have a personalized page with all my online tools in one place and then there are so many of them that I need to search my page for what I need! That seems a little ironic.

Backpack and Scrybe both seem to offer a lot to keep you organized as do all the nifty tools introduced in this Thing. The objection I have to all of them is that it is assumed that you are always at a computer. Yes, there are features to help you integrate your life offline such as the synchronizing feature and the ability to print a neat little fold-up piece. Most of the time, my to-do items come up when I’m talking with people, not when I’m at a computer. I can jot a note on a paper, but I don’t carry a palm pilot. When I go home, the family computer is used first for homework by my teenagers. There are plenty of times I wouldn’t effectively have access to a computer or these tools. And if I have to note them all on paper, or carry them in my head until I can list them electronically, then I don’t see how that helps very much.

The tool I am most excited about is the converter. We are encountering many students who have the new Microsoft Office product Vista and are not able to read their files at school. I am anxious to see if this can help. I had a use for a pdf conversion just the day before I found out about this Thing. I tried it on Zanzar and was not pleased: the document had random capital letters when converted from a pdf. I do want to test it again though when I have a need for it.

I know I do not work in the most organized or productive way and I am maybe being negative because I find it difficult to change. As life moves on, I will in all likelihood adopt some of these tools. They say it takes three weeks to form a new habit and that a large change is easier than a small one. Maybe I need to make a resolution and just start out the new quarter at school with an electronic calendar.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Thing 12 - Social media sites

So much sharing going on! While the lack of editors seem to democratize content, it also is quite a detriment. Some of the most inane things are near the top of the list of things people want to share. I’m also a bit appalled at the language. The article I read from Reddit was a diatribe on inventors who stole the inventions they are famous for. We face an uphill battle trying to teach kids to support their opinions when such items are commonly dispersed. I know the internet allows all kinds of people to put in their two cents, but these social media sites seem to spread opinions quickly and easily, like viruses.

It definitely makes for eclectic reading! I chose to scan the list of stories from the last 24 hours on Newsvine and read about an 11-year-old that died because her parents believed God would heal her. They didn’t realize she had diabetes. Another article predicted the fallout Microsoft would experience dropping Windows XP. Still another commented on the cover of Vogue and people’s reaction to it. I thought Newsvine’s color-coded barometer of most voted on and most commented on articles kind of clever. Mixx just sorted articles into categories right away so a reader could read in an area of interest.

I think these sites would be a productivity detractor. I kind of got sucked in and followed link after link as interesting titles caught my eye. I can see, though, how it would be helpful to be aware of what is considered “popular” reading since people would be talking about it and wanting to find out background information. It also could alert you to coming issues.

It was extremely easy to share an article. News sites can only win as people read articles and then end up exploring other content on the site. I was glad I didn’t have to create an account to just share an article. I suppose what happens is that once my comment is posted, I will follow the discussion that could follow on Newsvine and then want to eventually become a member. I have emailed articles to targeted people in the past, which in some ways I think it more useful to me. It starts a conversation on the topic, but with people you know and with whom you share a vested interest. The whole democratic public sharing of ideas the social media sites are promoting is good in a way, but I don't see it being for me.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Thing 11 - tagging and Del.icio.us

I set up a Furl account 4 or 5 years ago and then never kept it up. I’ll see if I can get organized now with Del.icio.us.

I see two very useful applications for this site for me personally. First, I could have access to my bookmarks wherever I am. I often find sites at home that I bookmark, but then I also have to email myself a URL and bookmark it at school also. Now I could cut out one of those steps. It also would be great since I’ve lost all my bookmarks at school at least twice this year when the computer was re-imaged. I have an export file on my flash drive now of most of my bookmarks. Second, I wouldn’t have to decide which folder a site should go in, since I can add all kinds of tags so it can be found in multiple ways. What library site wouldn’t contain information in more than one area?

I also can see how great it would be for research or to create a reading list with a group of people. Because you search the tags that everyone has assigned, you are magnifying your researchers exponentially. Of course, the podcast made a good point in knowing the source and using bookmarks from someone you respect.

There were some interesting uses of social bookmarking by the libraries. I was surprised that the San Mateo Public Library used the Dewey system for tags. I would have thought it would be counterproductive for patrons young enough to be using Del.icio.us. I also noticed that Menasha’s Library did not bookmark Wikipedia under their encyclopedia tag. ;-) I’m glad that Web 2.0 tools are making it easier to catalog websites. Instead of arduously adding them to the catalog, a librarian can simply notify users of their webpage of their Del.icio.us account so they could look there. Of course, I will have to see if our filters at school block Del.icio.us as a social networking site. Then, of course, that wouldn’t work at all.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Thing 10 - Wikis

I am excited about the concept of a wiki. I am thinking how useful it would be to set one up for our Staff Development Committee at school to work on revising our plan. (Something we need to do and can never find enough time to get together on.) A wiki seems the perfect answer.

The appeal is in the amount of collective information we can amass. Booklists grow and huge amounts of advice on the various components of librarianship are all at my fingertips! It’s easy to get lost in all the things I want to read about. I can see a wiki getting so large and unwieldy that it could lose its usefulness.

From the ones I looked at, my head is buzzing with ideas. My son is a beekeeper and a digital native – I need to tell him about the beekeeping wiki. I want to let the Geography teacher at school know about the MN150 wiki. I know he is doing some staff development for the sesquicentennial. It would be neat if his students contributed to the people, places and events that have shaped our state’s history. I may also send a link for the Educational heritage wiki to the ESL teachers.

There seems to be a great variety in wikis. The Educational Heritage one looks like it’s very limited as far as contributions. The beekeeping one looked like there was hardly anything there and it needed some interested people to start pages. Many look similar to Wikipedia in format. It brings home the fact that the information is editable. I was a participant in the KVSC trivia weekend last month. One of the teams was disqualified for changing the answers in Wikipedia so teams accessing it later got the wrong answer. Now I see how going into the edit history could help.

I found it quite easy to log in and edit the 23Things on a Stick wiki. I was a little confused after I added my entry and went back to the page to see that there was a LOT more on it than I saw originally. It must have loaded very slowly.

I’m thinking it may not be that hard to set up a wiki for the Staff Development Committee.

Thing 9 - Collaboration tools

I was intrigued by the article suggested by fairpan in a comment following this Thing. The person in the article claimed they liked using the online documents better than their desktop versions and using flash drives. Now that I’ve had a little experience (very little), I don’t agree . . yet.

The link to the Google doc brought up the page and I was able to type and save in it only if I was very quick. It reloaded the page every 15-20 seconds and then I lost whatever I had done and not saved. I resorted to capturing a portion and pasting it in a Word document, changing it and then pasting it in the Google Doc. I wanted to shake that person in the article! I don’t think it should be that difficult. The ZOHO writer had me baffled for a moment, when I couldn’t access it the same way. I did figure out that I could sign in and then it was under my shared documents. This looked much more like a word processor that I am accustomed to. So, after my first attempt, I favor the ZoHo writer.

I have had issues with my flash drive losing documents when I work with them on the various computers in my two libraries. Since I want to be able to work wherever I am, I depend on my flash drive. I can see the lure of using online documents. I just may try it with something important in the future.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Thing 8 - Share your photos and presentations

Here is my slideshow that I have running during Open House at school.

Open House


From: jacmeyer, less than a second ago





SlideShare Link

I am excited about these sharing tools. Slideshows in school are becoming essential, but students often have issues with compatibility and portability. Accessing shows online would be a boon to teachers who want to have students present with slideshows and are worried about the technology working.

The slideshow I uploaded is one I use at a kiosk station during open house and conferences to publicize the library, since not too many parents come to talk to the Media Specialist. Since the slide tranisitions are not available, it does not work as a running show from Slideshow.net so I will still have to use it as I have been from our school's server. This site did seem to upload slowly, but then it could be the nature of PowerPoint files that makes it slow.

I browsed quite a few efolios at efolio Minnesota. This is a neat idea, but I did have trouble with the browser timing out at least twice. Electronic portfolios have been touted for quite a few years, but it seemed a bit daunting to teach students how to link documents and get all the technology working. This tool lets you (or students) concentrate more on the content and choosing what to include, which is the aim of a portfolio. I would like to work on my own efolio this summer when I have more time.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Thing 7 - Web 2.0 tools

Finally, some Web 2.0 tools that I'm a little familiar with!

Email

I don’t “live in my inbox,” as I have never used the auto check feature. But I do regret not having accustomed myself to using folders in my email. There always seem to be emails that don’t fall neatly into the categories I made, and I may need them someday. After reading the tips on handling email, I will try again to get organized. I do only check it two to three times a day, though, and that seems sufficient.

Email has become a primary way for me to collaborate with teachers and Staff Development committee members. There just isn’t always time to meet and using email is a good way to bounce ideas around whenever they pop up. My pet peeve is people that think you live on email and try to use it to call a meeting for later that day or some other such nonsense.

Online reference

I work in a school setting, so I don’t have any firsthand experience with online reference. I see the reasoning for libraries, especially college libraries, to offer virtual reference through IM and text messaging. It does meet the kids where they’re at. It seems they are either on their cell phone or their computer. And once they’ve had a good experience with reaching a librarian and getting what they need, they will use the service again, I would think.

High school kids though seem to use texting and IMing for too many other uses that conflict with school purposes. Some examples:

My own kids would always do their homework on the computer with MSN messenger on a side channel. This would always prompt a motherly message about getting your homework done faster, better, etc. without the distraction. And the lingo! It’s like a second language that I just couldn’t keep straight. I could totally identify with the parents of the girl in the video.

A friend’s daughter claims her friends send almost 10,000 text messages a day. Being in constant communication with many people must take quite a bit of time. I’d say it’s a good bet some of this is done instead of listening in class. My own daughter gets annoyed when her boyfriend is texting others when she’s talking to him. Since when does the person you're with physically take a backseat to someone not even there?

Clearly, there are uses for these services and there’s also etiquette that should be taught and observed. I really believe, though, the pendulum is going to swing the other way when this generation carries their love affair with technology tools too far and turns again to face-to-face interaction to fill a hunger for human socialization. I am not an active user of either IM or text messaging and given the abuses I’ve seen, I don’t want to be. Instantaneous gratification in modern lives is causing other side effects that are not positive.

Web conferencing

My last experience with web conferencing a few days ago was just short of disastrous, because of the technology. We had a group of teachers in our elementary library for some training on Accelerated Reader since we went to the web version Enterprise lately. Having to wait until just beforehand to plug in a different phone (to use the speakerphone) and using a slightly older computer made for a half hour delay in starting the presentation. We never did get the computer to connect to the site right and ended up just using the printed slides and other materials in the packet sent by email. I was impressed with the presenter’s poise in working with us. She could not be sure we were on the same page as she was (literally) since she wasn’t controlling what we were seeing.

I have also participated in very smooth-running webinars where I felt I got all the information without having to travel and spend the extra time. I appreciated that. It can be difficult to avoid distractions though, when done during the school day. Web conferencing is a very nifty tool and it seems companies are making easier to set up all the time.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Library sign









ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and moreImage Chef


Here are a couple of things I created using tools I found out about in this program 23 Things on a Stick.

Thing 6 - Online image generator

This is the trading card I made of my kids. I didn't use the icons because they didn't fit and I didn't want them on the picture itself. I know this isn't exactly how you would use trading cards, but I have an idea for using them in school.
I would really like to use the trading card maker with a second grade class where we talk about superhero powers after reading Anansi and The Seven Chinese Brothers.

I also just had the idea a few days ago to have my third graders create their own catalog card as a way of teaching what information is included on the card. From the comments under Thing 6, it seems there is a library catalog card generator that may work. Whenever you incorporate technology, the kids are so much more enthused. They also can get so much more frustrated, though, so I have to proceed carefully.

There are so many cool things out there and ideas! I will have so many new lesson plans I want to incorporate when I get done with these 23 things!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Thing 5 - More fun with Flickr


I uploaded this puzzle from within Blogger. I thought the puzzle maker was going to be moving the pieces into place, but this is just a jpg. I will try another API when I have more time.

Now it is March 15 and I have been playing with Splashr and do not like any of the results, so I won't post them. I am a little lost with many of these mashups. I am going to leave them for now. I can see the possibilities for creating usable images for advertising and getting students' attention, but I am going to need some serious time to look further into them. Right now I need to move on to the next Thing.

"The Library"


"The Library"
Originally uploaded by The Department
I thought this photo of shelves bulging with books in disarray was a good representation of my mind most days.

It was taken by Kate Andrews of Sydney, Australia. I had a hard time finding it again on Flickr even knowing that it is named "The Library." That amazes me. Her tag cloud doesn't include either the tag books or library in the top 150!

"The Library"
Originally uploaded by The Department

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Thing 4 - Flickr

I had heard of Clemens Library's use of Flickr to promote books in their library. What a cool way to encourage let patrons know what's new.

The concerns I would have with sharing things on the internet seem to be handled well by Flickr. The usage license lets the person choose how much of their copyright privileges they want to retain, and the terms clearly tell users to link back to Flickr when they use a photo from it. I was very glad to see that they moderate the publishing for safe searches. It is really neat that the community involved helps keep inappropriate content off the site. I'm sure there must be a community somewhere on the web where they share such pictures!

I was slightly familiar with Picasa already. A teacher I used to carpool with used it. It was very handy for her, since she didn't own a photo-editing program and could then work on photos at home and at school for the yearbook. As with most freeware, the free version does not do all the cool things the programs you pay for do, but it does enough.

The point the common craft video made about at least backing up your photos is a good one. The tags available would make finding photos so much easier! It sounds like a lot of work to begin with if you have 3-5 years of digital photos to back up, but to maintain your albums after that should be fun.

Online communities are great for sharing things and I'm sure that more photos get shared when you can send a link and make comments online. But it doesn't hold the same fuzzy feeling as seeing a knot of people clustered around a photo album laughing together about a picture there.

I had a little trouble getting a photo from Flickr to upload, but eventually realized I had to follow the links/directions on Flickr. I still have not figured out how to put the link back to Flickr on the blog post and give credit to the photographer. The line and the html are shown on the draft, but not when I publish it.