23. Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog.

The 23 things challenge has really been a lot of fun! I have learned that there is a great big world wide web of social software available. After completing the 23 things challenge my favorites are; del-icio-us,
Zoho, and
Bloglines. I am glad that I went through the 23 things challenge. I probably would have never used a blog or subscribed to bloglines without this challenge. I will continue to blog even though the 23 things has come to an end but, I’m not sure for how long. Anyway, it’s been a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I’ll let you know when I get my “Prize”!

22. Teach someone else how to use one of the technologies described above and blog about your experience!

My co-worker Katherine (who Is also doing the 23 things challenge) and I decided to show and teach each other about one of the 23 things challenges/technologies. Since I had such an awful time with "MY Maps" Katherine showed me what she did for her My Maps challenge and showed me how to find help on the website. The help section is definitely the place to start. It goes thru each step In very basic and simple language. Also, I went In and unchecked "the automatically remember each address I search" button. I like to have control when I'm working with a program. It's Irritating to me when a program tries to tell me what to do. Ha, ha…

I showed Katherine some of the podcasting search engines that I used In challenge #21. I uploaded a small list of resources to our shared documents page In Google/Docs. That way we could use two of the technologies at the same time. I also gave her some hints about podcasting like; you don't have to have an ipod to listen to podcasts, and you can listen to podcasts online or download the MP3 to listen to on your computer, or you can listen to it on your own MP3 player. Also, if you want to use iTunes then you do need to download it to your computer, but the best part is that iTunes is a free download and the podcasts are also free!

21. Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.

For this challenge I researched podcast search engines. These are some that I found to be interesting and easy to use as well as informative.

This search engine is called plugged you can search for podcasts as well as video. It has a subject directory to help you narrow down what you are looking for.

Next I visited Yahoo Podcasts. This is a good place to start your hunt for podcasts especially if you are new to podcasting because Yahoo has everything written out in plain and simple terms. You can read about “What is a podcast,?” you can search the comprehensive directory, and you can listen to the podcast directly from the browser or download the mp3.


I also checked out podnova. At first it looks like you need to sign up for an account here but I was still able to browse without signing up. What I enjoyed here was the top 40 podcasts! It’s kind of fun to browse around and see what everyone else is listening to. Once you see something of interest you can click on the show title and link to a page with all of the information you would want to know about that particular podcast. Very informative!

These three sites are a good start in podcast search engines, but my personal favorite place to search for podcasts is in
iTunes! But I am a die hard Apple Lovin Geek!

20. Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.

When I think of You Tube I don’t think of libraries! I have been to You Tube many times to see my niece’s uploaded videos. I have also been to You tube because of links from other users blogs, emails etc.

I’m not sure how a library would use You Tube? I searched libraries and I mostly found gags and jokes about libraries, oh, and 1 from Info People although I didn’t watch it. Sorry…

I went ahead and did some research on other sites where you can view and upload videos I found one called Viddler. Viddler is interesting because you can do all kinds of things with your videos. For instance you can Tag specific moments within a video, you can search inside videos themselves. I found this to be a new and interesting way to interact with videos.

Next I went to We Show! Now this is a must see video website. You can watch videos from around the world and on any topic. There are how to videos, weather videos, sports etc. A person could get lost here for hours. Once again I searched library, libraries and this time I came up with “nothing found!” Do be careful when browsing the videos as I found some adult content.

I think it would be fun to make Library Video’s. Some could be serious like “How to find books in the library”, or a kid’s video about the “Dewy Decimal System.” I could think up all kinds of fun stuff!

19. Explore My Maps on Google Maps and create a map for your library and add a picture of it to the map.

Okay, here comes my opinion on “My maps on Google Maps"! Why? So you can personalize maps here by adding pictures etc. Not sure why this is useful? Maybe it’s just me but I found My Maps to be utterly time consuming! Plus, it keeps remembering everything I have ever typed in the search box even If it was an error! I went in to my account and deleted two addresses’ twice and then what do you know? The addresses' were still there when I retried and refreshed the browser! I am a tech savvy person so when I come across something that Is supposed to be super easy and It ends up being Irritating, It's just so frustrating! I really don't see much use personally for My Maps. I guess a library could find it useful. I'm not certain, although I may have to re-visit My Maps on another day and see what I can do with it.

18. Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.

Here are some of the online productivity sites that I visited. I liked Zoho the best because it has more to offer than the others. I'm going to try and use Zoho and so far I have uploaded a document. The thing is it's not that convienent to store documents online because you have to remember the darn passwords and sign ons. Anyway, I did a collaboration with Kimba's Connections in google docs.

You can do word processing and spreadsheets at google docs

Notesake is a really interesting way to keep notes for your college courses or any kind of notes that you would want to keep organized. You take notes online, you can collaborate with groups, you can pass notes to friends, you can organize your notes in different ways. One of the best features here is the ability to export your notes as PDF or Word documents so you can take them anywhere with you.

Zoho has a plethora of online processor, spreadsheets, presentations, project management just to name a few.

17. Add an entry to Infopeople's Our 23 Web 2.0 Things wiki

My contribution to the 23 Things Wicki is on Library Thing.

This is what I shared on the 23 things Wicki:

I have an important tip to Library Thing users: When logging into Library Thing for the second time make sure that you are using the correct user name and password. For some reason if you use a different name or password Library Thing registers you as a new user and you will have a blank page with no books cataloged to your library. This happened to me and I thought that Library Thing lost all of my hard work at cataloging my book collection. I wrote about this glitch on my blog”Squeaky’s 2.0 because I was so disappointed. Thank goodness “ Tim” founder of Library Thing was kind enough to leave me a message as to what happens if you put in the wrong user name or password. Whew, I was so relieved to go back and sign in with the correct user name and password and to see my virtual library.

16. Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them.

Wiki means "quick" in Hawaiian! So a wicki is a quick way to get information up on the web and it’s also quick to edit & or add information to. One does not have to know HTML to use, or start a wicki. Adding information to a wicki is as easy as using word processing software. The fun part is that a community of people can add information to the wicki. So it’s a big collaboration salad!

The St. Joseph County Public Library uses a Wicki as a Subject Guide.
Subject Guide

This wicki shares library instruction resources.
Sharing Resources

This Library has a staff wicki.
Staff wicki



Some of the ways that libraries are using wickis; as a readers advisory, as a way to communicate with the local community, to tell about happenings and events at the library, to plan events with staff.

15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.

15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.

It seems like everytime I turn around there is more to read about Web 2.0. So basicly Web 2.0 is any kind of software, or site that promotes collaboration or sharing. Is it useful? Some of it is useful and some of it is just a way to waste time on the Internet. What I find most useful are: del.icio.us, Wikis, RSS feeds and blogs. What I find the least useful is Twitter, and the most entertaining is YouTube and Flickr.

I read an article the other day on Web 3.0! Yes, that's right. And I am starting to wonder if this Web 2.0, Web 3.0 is mostly hype?

Exercise 4 Web 2.0 Class Info people

In the info people class that I am taking I am supossed to post 5 RSS feeds that I subscribed to using the Google/Reader. So here they are:

David Lee King
Information Wants To
Library Garden
Library Stuff
Tame The Web

You can see what some of these recently siubscribed to blogs are saying by looking at my shared items to the right of my page.

Library Thing Part 2

I received a comment from Tim who is the founder of LibraryThing. You can read it here:

"Hey. This is the founder of LibraryThing. I found this on Google Blog Search.

I'm quite confident that what you ran into was about your user name, not about LibraryThing. Members often forget their name and type in something different. For ease of use the sign in and sign up box are the same, and some users don't notice when they've created a new account."


So I tried to sign in again and guess what? Duh, I payed closer attention this time and my Library is still there! Sorry Tim, Library Thing is not a dissapointment. I just freaked out when I signed in and I had zero books. I had actually created a new account like Tim said.

I guess I need to read the book "Library Thing for Dummies"!

I still love Library Thing!

Library Thing?

Okay, I decided to check out my library at "Library Thing" remember it was one of the 23 things? Well, I sign in and I have no books cataloged! What? I spent at least 45 minutes to an hour cataloging my library and when I go back I have nothing listed? Great! What good is it if the program does not even save your information? It's all virtual! It's there today and gone tomorrow. It's so disappointing.

Info People Workshop/class

I signed up for an Info People workshop/class online about Web 2.0. It started on Tuesday and so far we have covered a bit of history on web 2.0 (o'reilly coined the term) a bit about social software etc. It's a bit repetitious. So far what I have discovered to be the most useful tool (for me personally )is the social bookmarking website del.icio.us! I have used this website at work and at home and it is so useful. I can access my favorites from any computer anywhere! It's really incredible.

Anyway, Just got back from vacation so I need to get back to work on the 23 things. I have not posted since July 18 is it?

Twitter again.....

I have been looking at Twitter again. I don't know what it is but I feel like I have to find something useful about Twitter. I have looked and I have read but all I can really say is "it is not something I would use". I think it may evolve into something more useful in the future, or I hope it evolves, but as of now I believe it is more of a play-thing for teens.

I did find a short article by Roy Tennent on Twitter and you can read it here: http://libraryjournal.com/blog/1090000309/post/20010002.html

Another item to read at Lifehack.org on twitter:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/twitter-use-it-productively.html

Number 14 of the 23 things.....

Number 14 of the 23 things challenge is: Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.

What is technorati? Technorati is a search engine that monitors web-blogs.Technorati claims to be the largest source of fresh information. Although technorati started out by searching only blogs they have now expanded to searching "citizen media" which includes, photos, videos, and other live communities.Technorati searches blogs by the tags that the blog author has used to tag their blog posts. Remember that tags are keywords that are made up by the blogger.

I started thinking about tags and realized that tags are also what is written in "metadata." Okay, that does make sense. When I took a web page development class last semester I had to include my own metadata. The search engine searches for these tags that users have defined, just as the search engine searches metatags that are placed in the head section of the web page in xhtml. I knew that html class would come in useful! Ha, ha...

Del.icio.us follow up!

Okay, here is the link I promised to post.

http://del.icio.us/cdvilla

I have 3 web 2.0 bookmarks so far. If you really want to discover some really awesome web 2.0 social-software/applications click on the "Go2Web20.net" link. This is "The complete Web 2.0 directory." One could spend days here just browsing all of the great and free web 2.0 applications. Another link that is very informative is "David Lee King" Who has a blog with very intelligent information on Librarians and web 2.0. He has a list of competencies that will give you a good idea of what one should know about web 2.0 and technology. I am going to do a follow up on "twitter" very soon. As I have learned a little bit more about this instant communication tool.

Enjoy,
Carla

23 Things Challenge #13 Social Bookmarking

23 Things challenge #13 Learn about social bookmarking then create a Del.icio.us account and add and tag some Web 2.0 sites.

Social Bookmarking:

Things I learned about Social Bookmarking:

1. Social bookmarking is not new as it has been around on the internet since 1996.

2.Users store links that they find useful and name the links with Tags/keywords that the user makes up.

3.Then the book marks/links are shared with the WWW.

4.Bookmarks can also be exported/imported, rated, commented on, noted, subscribed to,emailed linked etc.

5. There are many social bookmarking web sites out in the www. Such as: Bloglines, Blue Dot, Chipmark,Stumble Upon to name just a few.

Now that I have learned about Social Bookmarking and have signed up for a del.icio.us account I am off to find Web 2.0 websites to Add and to Tag. When I am finished I will post a link.

Article on Second Life

I read an article today about University College Dublin opening a library in Second Life. You can read it here:

http://www.ucd.ie/news/june07/062707_second_life.html

I learned a few more things about Second Life and libraies such as: There are over 40 libraries in Second Life and most are located in Cybrary City which is on Info Island. Some of these libraries are offering services and at the same time the librarians are learning new library skills for the 21st century. This is very exciting!

#12 Roll your own search tool with Rollyo

June 26, 2007

Today I rolled my own at "Rollyo"! Rollyo? this is where you can set up your own search engines of the sites that you yourself trust. Do you need to know how to code? No, all you need to do is sign up (user name and email) and then start typing in your bookmarks that you wish to add to your custom search engine. I have not tried out my rollyo yet. I was wondering How a Library would use this sort of thing?

#11 Library Thing

What is Library Thing? Well it is a site for book lovers where you catalog your books and get connected with people who share the same interests in books.
This is a very fun site. You add your books to make your own virtual library. Next, you can compare your books to other Library Thing users that have the same interests as you. Some other things you can do: get book suggestions from the book suggester or try the un-suggester which gives you a list of books that you will most likely not like. (Very Amusing) You can join a book-group, join book conversations. It's also fun to see what Authors have a virtual library too.
I still need to learn more about Library Thing. I have only added about 9 books so far. The bonus: You can add up to 200 books absolutely free!

Online Image Generator! #10

Today I played around with the online image generators! They are kind of fun but very time consuming. Mostly I wanted to see how they work so I thought up sayings on the fly (which makes my images not that creative) I found hundreds of the generators which made it even harder to choose. Some of them, like the fortune cookie, that I tried didn't work for me. Anyway, I got a: ipod, angels & cherubs, i-love banner, intel inside logo. I am wondering about the copyright on the ipod image and the intel logo. I would hate to get in trouble by posting these to my blog. I can see the headline now " Web 2.0 challenger fined for copyright infringement!" News at 11:00!

ps. take a look at my ipod image below! This is one example of what image generators can do.

Wht the Twitter? #9

#9 of the 23 things is to sign up for a Twitter account and blog about your Twitter experience. Okay, I am not excited about Twitter. First off I don't think it is very useful. What is it? This is from the Twitter FAQ: "It is a community of friends and strangers from around the world sending updates about moments in their lives." You can send messages by text message, the twitter site or Instant message. Okay, so what? I can't think of any reason to use it. How would this social software help in a library? My answer: I don't know????? It seems to be another way for people to expose themselves to strangers worldwide. Just because it's one of the Web 2.0 23 things does not mean it is useful. Besides, people need to be careful on how much information they submit over the web.

Library related blogs #8

#8 of the 23 things is to locate and subscribe to some useful Library related blogs and add them to your bloglines account. I added: Librarians Internet Index which gives you the heads up on the newest websites that are added to the lii each week. Updates post on Thursdays. Another library related blog is: the Shifted Librarian, Shifting libraries at the speed of byte. I am on the look out for some library para-professional blogs also. PS. if you do not check your bloglines everyday they add up into the 200's.

RSS Challenge # 7

7. Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Bloglines newsreader account.

Checked out RSS and bloglines! What is RSS? RSS = Really Simple Syndication. What does it do? It provides web content so you can stay current with a ton of information right at your fingertips or (eyetips).

Signed up for bloglines account. How fun is this? I could just sit and read all day. I love having so much information at my fingertips. Love this so much I am going to also read this from home.

I checked out other Library's

I checked out other library's to see and learn about what they are doing with social technology.

Some of the web 2.0 ideas that I found most interesting to use in the library:


1. "My Library DV" is cool but you must have a windows system. What about all the mac users? In this day and age Mac users should not be ignored! (besides, how can this be social if we are ignoring a large percentage of users?)

2. We want to find out what motivates you! "Big Blue Labs Image Generator" offers everything you need to turn your favorite photos into a motivational poster.(This was a very fun way to promote the library, have users use the generator with pictures of their family reading etc. I really liked this one)

3. Teen Library in second life! Very cool virtual world where librarians are meeting with teens and turning an entire Library island into fun and entertainment for teens. (So much like the Sims game that I used to spend hours playing; only difference is this has real significance) This would be alot of fun to participate in. I'm very curious to see where this project goes.

The 23 Things List

I decided I needed the list posted here so I can reference it whenever I complete one of the 23 things or am working on the 23 things.

The 23 Things


1. Read this entry (that's right, the one that you are reading now), and this FAQ to find out about the program and to make sure that you are eligible to participate. Remember: to take our challenge you must take or participate in at least one of our Web 2.0 events.
2. Set up your own blog on Blogger.com & add your first post.
3. Register your blog by sending an email to infopeeps@gmail.com with your blog's URL and begin your Web 2.0 journey. We will then add your blog to our blogroll that you see on the sidebar of this blog so everyone can see what progress you are making.
4. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image-hosting site. Set up an account and join some groups! And remember, blog about what you learn!
5. Have more Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & third party sites.
6. Look at some of these library websites that are using Web 2.0 to enhance their offerings and create a blog post about anything Web 2.0-related that you think would be useful in your library.
7. Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Bloglines newsreader account.
8. Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds and add them to your Bloglines account.
9. Sign up for a Twitter account. Track your activities using Twitter for a few days. Think about how Twitter might be useful linked on a library website and blog about your Twitter experience.
10. Play around with an online image generator. Blog about your experience(s).
11. Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books.
12. Roll your own search tool with Rollyo.
13. Learn about social bookmarking then create a Del.icio.us account and add and tag some Web 2.0 sites.
14. Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.
15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.
16. Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them.
17. Add an entry to Infopeople's Our 23 Web 2.0 Things wiki.
18. Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.
19. Explore My Maps on Google Maps and create a map for your library and add a picture of it to the map.
20. Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.
21. Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.
22. Teach someone else how to use one of the technologies described above and blog about your experience!
23. Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog.

Flikr

23 THINGS UPDATE:

Signed up for flikr and played around with 2 mashups. The first one is called "Spell with flikr" and you type a word in the blank and hit enter,the software then scans flikr for the letters of the word you spelled out! It was very interesting. I spelled out Carla and I really liked what turned up. I took a screen capture of it and maybe I can post it here. The second mash up I tried was called "Colr Pickr" and I just had a blast with this one. You Select a color from the color wheel; the color wheel scans flikr for photos that match your chosen color; it comes up with 12 photos that match, or closly match your chosen color. You can even view your chosen colors by themes like: doors and windows, urban decay, color box. If you click on one of the photos it takes you to flikr to see where the photo came from. This is where I got lost in the web of photos. I have never seen so many wonderful photos as these. I read some of the flikr photo bio's. It was fun. I felt like I was peeking into another persons life. Kind of like a fly on the wall.

Day 2 Web 2.0

Day 2 of 23 things. I signed up for fliker. I feel uneasy by submitting so much personal information. I know web 2.0 is all about social software, but the information that you have to give (like your birthdate) just makes me uneasy. Besides that the hard part was trying to find a user name that was not already taken. This took a little longer than I thought it should have been.

Other things I did once I was signed up:

Read the Rules and guidelines.
Thought some of the rules to be very strange.
Explored Interesting random photos from the last 7 days.
Hit reload and get more random photos.

23 Things Challenge

I decided to do the 23 things web 2.0 challenge and begin my Web 2.0 journey! I love technology so this is bound to be fun!

#1. I listened to the Web 2.0 "What Library Managers Need To Know."
#2. I am signing up for this blog. And now I will register with the Info People.