The End

Is this really the last Thing?! How bittersweet. I have enjoyed this journey down Web 2.0 lane, with Helene and her helpers as my trusty guides. The exploration and learning have indeed been fun, and I will miss our weekly emails and all the blog posts unveiling the new discovery exercises for us. At the same time, it is satisfying to “wrap it up” and I look forward to my reward: an mp3 playing flash drive.

My favorite discovery was YouTube and the other online video providers (Google and Yahoo come to mind). I’ve laughed aloud at some of the homegrown videos – even in my quiet work environment. I can see myself drawing entertainment from these sources for years to come. The most useful discovery for me was Bloglines. I subscribe to lots of great RSS feeds and checking them via Bloglines has become a daily (if not more frequently) routine. I also regularly use Del.icio.us (via the bookmarklets I downloaded) and foresee writing a personal blog or two to keep family and friends updated and to share spiritual musings (although I'm not sure if I'll use Blogger or another provider, such as Typepad).

This past weekend I followed a yoga podcast and got a great workout – now I no longer have to wait for yoga DVDs from the library only to return them 3 days later...I can practice in front of my computer any time I want AND find new and interesting programs (I thrive on variety). All for FREE!

I regret not having collaborated or even dialogued with my coworkers much during the Learning 2.0 experience; the anonymous blogging left me feeling a bit separated from them, as though they wanted their learning to be a private thing. I heard about other locations being more community-oriented and sharing in their learning...I would have liked that. Perhaps “do this with someone else” activities would have promoted collaboration in places where participants were flying solo?

I would most definitely participate again in a future program like this one. Bring it on!!

Thing #22: eAudiobooks

Although I haven't yet taken advantage of it, I am grateful for the service NetLibrary provides. I visited the site, registered (through PLCMC), and browsed their eAudiobook collection. They have a great selection of classics in the "Trial Program Collection." I also saw The Kite Runner, which has been on my "to read" list for some time. Perhaps that will be my first download. Or Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King & Other Stories (I love short stories).

I was disappointed with the site's search feature. It wouldn't let me search only the eAudiobooks, and I didn't want to leaf through pages of search results looking for them. Perhaps I missed the field where I could narrow down my search...

#21: Podcasts

Wow! I've only dabbled in podcasts in the past year because I have yet to own an mp3 player and would prefer not to sit at my computer and listen to someone else talk (I think I need to get over this...yes, I do). Well, now I have reason to! I've found some great podcasts via Podcast.net and Podcast Alley. By browsing categories and using their search features, I came across some very appealing programs, from cooking to anatomy! The "Education" channel at Podcast Alley offered a "Brain Food Podcast" and several options for learning languages through podcasts. The "HPN Homeschool Moment" is probably a great way for homeschooling families to connect and encourage one another. But what really knocks my socks off (which is good, because I practice yoga barefoot!) are the plethora of yoga classes available for FREE via podcast!! Some are even videos so you can see the postures (Yoga Today is one I'm definitely going to try). Maybe I SHOULD move my new computer into the living room, after all!

I see great value in promoting podcasts to our library patrons. One podcast description captures the importance of understanding and sharing these Web 2.0 tools (even though it's geared toward classroom-based educators): "Teaching for the Future is an audioblog about the importance of media literacy and the emergence of technology in the classroom and how it will change education forever." Under the "Arts" Channel at Podcast.net I saw the categories "poetry" and "storytelling". How wonderful - children and adults alike can listen to poetry and stories at any time! I imagined busy moms playing podcasts of people reading children's books aloud while the little ones follow along. A literacy training tool! I wonder if our youth programs at PLCMC could help young patrons benefit from podcasts...

Satiation 2

This was originally part of my Satiation post below, but when the Learning 2.0 rules were clarified (no two Things in one post!) I had to bring it here:

Post Addition (9/19/06): Now that we can link to the relevant posts from our Learning 2.0 checklist, I thought I should add a note about the library-related feeds I included in my Bloglines account. At first I followed Jenny Levine's The Shifted Librarian blog, but I thought that got boring so I moved it to the cute little trash can. Now I keep track of Helene's Library TechBytes and Learning 2.0, as well as the ImaginOn newsletter (thanks to Lori's how-to at LearningTrain). Oh, and I read the Unshelved comic strip daily via my Bloglines account, too!

Hand-crafted Goods

For Learning 2.0 Thing #19, I visited Etsy, the Web 2.0 award winning website in the "retail" category. Browsing the site's hand-crafted goods is like walking through an art festival or church bazaar. Artists can promote their wares on this easily searchable site - items like knitted stuffed animals, puff-painted t-shirts, pretty paper boxes, and ceramics with "character". If you're into eclectic decor or unique gifts, you might like this site!

Zohowriter

I am excited about Zohowriter and the possibilities it offers me! As a part-time (on the side) student, I am often working on writing assignments in multiple locations: at home, at work, and at friends' homes. Sometimes I email drafts to myself so that I can open them in my next location; other times I save to my flash drive and carry it with me from computer to computer. But now I can compose, save, edit, and export my documents in one place (online) with fewer steps!

One really cool feature I found was a bookmarklet which would allow me to post selected content from any page directly to a document in my Zoho Writer account. I may have to try that out from my home computer.

I was eager to see how easy it is to post to my blog from within Zohowriter...unfortunately, it didn't work for me the first time (it claimed to not be able to connect with Blogger). Maybe next time!

Bringing it home

At last I forced resigned could no longer hold myself back from reading the perspectives on Library 2.0 and sharing my thoughts. ;p

John Riemer's hope for broader and richer - and, ultimately, more USEFUL - bibliographic data/services has me marvelling at the way Google and other popular information distribution websites can influence future library offerings. Riemer believes "The features of Amazon and Google of interest to students and scholars ought to be incorporated into the services libraries make available." So do I. And it will likely happen, too. But isn't it strange, learning what our patrons want from these dot com giants and adapting ourselves to provide that same thing on the home turf?

Well, I recently discovered how libraries are also putting themselves into Google. I am eager to see more libraries use the Go-go Google gadget that won Talis' Mashing Up the Library Competition recently. I would LOVE to have that information (my checked out items and their due dates, my holds and their statuses, new library catalogue additions, etc.) pop up with my Google homepage.

Come on, libraries! Step up to the plate page!

PS I just figured out how to strike out text with HTML! Neato! (Helen, you were my inspiration on that one!)

Wiki world

So, I did it kind of backwards, but I still got it done! I hereby complete Thing #16: I visited a handful of the library-related wikis. Great stuff! I particularly enjoyed the Book Lovers wiki sponsored by the Princeton Public Library (I'm going to have to read one of the titles I discovered under the "5 star reviews" heading). I also see the benefits of the "best practices" wiki for librarians, Library Success. It provides a way for librarians to pool their good ideas and point one another toward useful resources. Rather than keeping track of hundreds of blogs or websites or email lists, librarians can visit the wiki and get all the info and ideas in one spot!

As an amateur editor, I am particularly fond of wikis' openness. Whenever I spot typos or organizational inconsistencies, I can just hop on in via the edit button and tidy up. So satisfying!

Favorite Animals

After a couple months of playing with and successfully utilizing a wiki for work purposes, I feel pretty comfortable with this Learning 2.0 tool. So I hopped right into the PLCMC Learning 2.0 Favorites Blog and added a link to my blog, a few personal favorites on the various pages, and a whole new page for visitors to note their favorite animals. Lo and behold, I've already learned about a cool little creature called the green anole - thank you, fellow wiki user! Wikier? hee hee

beep beep boop boop EE-er-EE-er-schkschskch-beep! (modem noises)

Reading about Web 2.0 and thinking about the future of technology strangely makes me nostalgic about my initial experiences of computer and internet technology. I remember typing sentences into terminals in early grade school, printing them out on the old dot-matrix printers with the holey strips down the sides, and coloring them with fat crayons. I remember playing Lode Runner on my family's first computer, an Apple IIE with green font. At one point, I knew all kinds of DOS commands - I actually had to use them to run programs! In the sixth grade I took a BASIC programming class at a local community college; I believe that training in logic boosted my math comprehension and problem-solving skills for everything up through calculus and paved the way for me to understand HTML when I created a personal webpage on Angelfire in 1995. But my first introduction to getting "online" was with a plodding, noisy modem that connected our family to TinCan, a local internet provider where I had my very first email address. My dad discovered Bulletin Board Systems and we took turns dialing in to interact with other users and participate in role-playing games. We were on the cutting edge, it seemed, and I enjoyed my dad's interest and encouragement as we learned and applied the "next best thing". That adventurous spirit drives me still, and I have been sharing many of my Learning 2.0 discoveries with him during phone conversations.

Perhaps what strikes me most about the difference between those humble beginnings and this stage of my technology-life integration is how comfortable I've grown in interacting with the same people in both worlds: online and offline. After several months as a participant in that first BBS, I discovered that another user was also a student at my junior high school. We "talked" frequently through our keyboards, but when we met each other at school one day, the encounter felt so strange. Who was she, really? I wouldn't have chosen her as a friend if we had only met in person. What does that mean about our relationship? I ended up interacting with her only over the modem connection and shyly avoided her in the school.

Far cry from today, in which a majority of the Web 2.0 tools are all about social networking. In our culture it seems people have as many or more virtual relationships (business and personal) than face-to-face friends and colleagues. I would be very interested to see statistics on that.

Technorati

Technorati is useful. It provides a great way to search the web for blogs focused on a specific subject of interest. I've been enjoying its "popular" section, especially the videos.

I was intrigued by the decreasing number of results as a searched for a subject (Learning 2.0) in blog posts, tags, and the blog directory. Makes sense.

Including the "Technorati tags" on the bottom of blog posts seems a bit cumbersome to me. I don't think I'll be doing that. But, should I change my mind, I know where to find the info about it now!

Do your LIBRARY thing!

Thanks to Learning 2.0, I am now a member of LibraryThing. I added the required five books to my catalog. But I'm not sure I'll be using this Web 2.0 tool in the future. I don't know how it could be useful to me. If I want to know what books I have, I can just walk to my bookcase and look at them. My collection is not that extensive...I work for a library, after all! Why buy books when I can check them out?!

Rollyoing along...

I'm a high roller! Well, not really. But this Google devotee has actually explored Rollyo's customized search engines and even created her own. Check out my personalized Catholicism search:

Select Search Engine...CatholicismSearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

Rollyo has its pros and cons. On the one hand, you can customize your search experience with familiar websites that have proven useful to you. You prevent the hassle of sifting through hundreds of useless search results. On the other hand, when you use your own little rollyo search, you're limiting yourself; Google or Yahoo could help you stumble across just the right bit of information from an obscure website.

Another thought: I've had to delete the modifier "little" several times as I've been writing about Rollyo. This leads me to believe the customized search engines are for small needs - not the BIG ticket items. Hmmm...

Potential uses? I can see why online shoppers with particular tastes/preferences might like a search engine that explores only their favorite stores for their desired items. The results pages would allow for quick comparisons of similar items.

As for me...I've added my Catholicism Rollyo to my Foxfire search page for future use, but I'll probably stick to Google (and its subdomains - I especially like Google Local and Froogle) for most everything else.

Image Generator

I made this at Letter James to show my appreciation for this whole technology-promoting project. Thanks, Helene, for all your hard work!

Wouldn't it be interesting to use a "text into an image" generator like Letter James to send messages like this one?

Silver Knight Card

Silver Knight Card
Originally uploaded by shepherds.lamb.

I did it! I used fd's Flickr Toys to make a Yu-Gi-Oh like card for my boyfriend, printed it out on an index card using my great new printer at home, and presented it to him as a gift yesterday. I don't think he liked it as much as I did (I should have given him more attack strength), but I'm still happy with my creation.

Abundant laughter

All moms and the young at heart will love this video of giggling quadruplets:



And now I've learned how to imbed links to videos! Cool!

Satiation

I am FED! I have created a Bloglines account and set myself up with about 15 feeds. Today I enjoyed organizing my various feeds into folders like "Comics" (I am psyched to be able to follow "For Better or For Worse" again!) and "Library". I even used Blogger's search tool to locate some special interest blogs to add to my feeds. One, YouthMinistryBlogs, is actually just a host site for a ring of youth ministry related blogs. Instead of adding the blog to my Bloglines account (pointless, since it's author doesn't write new posts), I tagged the blog with my handy dandy del.icio.us icon and will use that link to visit the page often and check out all those listed blogs. I have so much WORK to do when it comes to sorting out which blogs I want to follow - there are just so many to explore!

Visiting Technorati is definitely on my "to do" list. I also want to browse through more of my coworkers' blogs for Learning 2.0 and see if there are any I want to keep tabs on.

You (better be careful) Tube

This week I have been exploring the wonders of YouTube, which hosts movie trailers, television program clips, music videos, and hilarious homemade videos online. At times, I've been very disappointed with the website. The offerings are abundant, yes...perhaps too abundant. Browsing the popular videos and even searching for harmless subjects can present visitors with R-rated material - both in the text descriptions and in the videos themselves. YouTube visitors with a conscience must be very careful and specific in seeking decent entertainment and information.

Such is the case throughout the Internet, I know. But I found I must be especially vigilant at YouTube and similar sites, such as GoogleVideo.

However, I do have some fun videos to share! First, a homemade music video about making pancakes (it SO reminds me of my time in Oxford, where I celebrated "Pancake Day" - their version of Mardi Gras - by eating lemon and sugar on crepe-like pancakes).

Next, a black and white clip of Victor Borge's Phonetic Punctuation routine.

And lastly, a flying dog! (Made you look!)

Please direct me to any more that you enjoy by pasting the link into a comment! Thanks.

Yahoo! Avatars

Yay! I figured out how to create and customize a Yahoo! Avatar for myself, AND how to download it, AND how to display it on my blog sidebar! Go me! Well, actually, I must give a nod to the Questing Librarian, whose description of her venture into the unknown charted my path.

I want to use my avatar as my profile picture; the Blogger help files instructed me to first post the images so I can link to them. Here they are!