Here's an invitation to read my latest post on my "real" blog: Read, Learn, and be Happy
Which fictional character would you vote for as President??????? Comment, comment! I dare ya!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
MySpace, Facebook,& Social Networking
I've had a Facebook account since a much younger friend asked me to be her Facebook friend. I didn't realize when I replied affirmatively that I would have to create an account. It is bare bones with few friends (no comments, anyone), and I am not active on it unless I get a message from my younger friends who live on the site. For this assignment, I did invite a couple friends and updated some stuff.
The layout is not attractive, and I may be missing something, but I don't see how to change it.
I don't get the things like sheep, cupcakes, etc. that people can "give" to each other. A friend has tried to send me stuff like that, but since these items are not created by Facebook, you have to agree to all kinds of stuff before you can "receive it." I have not complied.
I like that there are settings for who can access your account. Still, I would not put myself out there in the way young people do. Who cares what my favorite anything is? When I write, I consider the audience, and I will tell some people things that I would not tell other people. So to have a generic site where you spill your guts is not for me. I guess my mom's saying, "Fools' names & fools' faces are often found in public places" rings in my ears!
I can see libraries using the site as a way to introduce themselves to the Facebook/MySpace set. (But do they really search for libraries?) A social network presence could be a good way to promote teen activities, especially.
In theory, I like the idea of social networking as explained in the Common Craft video. Social networking sites connect us to people we know and people they know, making larger and larger networks. In reality, I'm not going to ask strangers (friends of friends) to be my friends because they aren't, well...friends. The young people I know have scads of friends on their accounts, but I am not going to invite a bunch of 20-somethings to be my friend. (Though I do have friends who are 20-somethings.)
I do enjoy a different kind of social networking site, Shelfari, where you can post the books you've read, invite friends and follow their lists, and discuss books. I get good reading recommendations this way, and it helps me keep track of what I've read. Still, I'd rather read or write than update Shelfari.
Another site people have recommended to me is Jacketflap, but I haven't taken time to look into it much. It is another bookish social networking site.
Social networking is a phenomenon that's here to stay. How will it change as time goes by?
The layout is not attractive, and I may be missing something, but I don't see how to change it.
I don't get the things like sheep, cupcakes, etc. that people can "give" to each other. A friend has tried to send me stuff like that, but since these items are not created by Facebook, you have to agree to all kinds of stuff before you can "receive it." I have not complied.
I like that there are settings for who can access your account. Still, I would not put myself out there in the way young people do. Who cares what my favorite anything is? When I write, I consider the audience, and I will tell some people things that I would not tell other people. So to have a generic site where you spill your guts is not for me. I guess my mom's saying, "Fools' names & fools' faces are often found in public places" rings in my ears!
I can see libraries using the site as a way to introduce themselves to the Facebook/MySpace set. (But do they really search for libraries?) A social network presence could be a good way to promote teen activities, especially.
In theory, I like the idea of social networking as explained in the Common Craft video. Social networking sites connect us to people we know and people they know, making larger and larger networks. In reality, I'm not going to ask strangers (friends of friends) to be my friends because they aren't, well...friends. The young people I know have scads of friends on their accounts, but I am not going to invite a bunch of 20-somethings to be my friend. (Though I do have friends who are 20-somethings.)
I do enjoy a different kind of social networking site, Shelfari, where you can post the books you've read, invite friends and follow their lists, and discuss books. I get good reading recommendations this way, and it helps me keep track of what I've read. Still, I'd rather read or write than update Shelfari.
Another site people have recommended to me is Jacketflap, but I haven't taken time to look into it much. It is another bookish social networking site.
Social networking is a phenomenon that's here to stay. How will it change as time goes by?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Google Docs Rocks!
I did look at the other applications on the list, just to be fair, but since I already have a Google account, Google Docs was my preference to begin with. Then I got in there and started mucking around! Wow! I like:
* the wide variety of editable templates
* how easy it is to use!!!
* that it includes documents, forms, spreadsheets, and presentations
* how easy it is to use!!!
* that you can set (and unset) who has access to your documents
* how easy it is to use!!!
* its versatility--it offers many options for format, style, font, etc.
* how easy it is to use!!!
* it doesn't take up my own computer memory
How will I use it in my personal life?
My mind is spinning with ideas: household budget spreadsheet for my husband & me (yeah, as if); use with editors and critique group members for writing; create, save, and share presentations, and post any of these to my blog. That's just off the top of my head.
How will I use it for work?
We "remotes" may find this to be an efficient way to communicate, develop & share forms and presentations, create and share plans, etc. What do you think?
How can libraries use this?
Internally for sharing all kinds of documents, spreadsheets, & presentations. It may be a place to post training materials. It would be a great tool for documents requiring input or editing, such as a strategic plan or a statistics spreadsheet. Externally, I see lots of potential for school use for papers, projects, reports and such. Libraries could make a public file for posting book reviews, an online suggestion box, and tutorials or how-tos.
We have a wiki lesson coming up, I see, and I have created & participated in wikis. Though I'm sure wikis have their place, I find Google Docs so much easier to use I wonder if it could replace wikis.
And because every post should have an image, here is one:
* the wide variety of editable templates
* how easy it is to use!!!
* that it includes documents, forms, spreadsheets, and presentations
* how easy it is to use!!!
* that you can set (and unset) who has access to your documents
* how easy it is to use!!!
* its versatility--it offers many options for format, style, font, etc.
* how easy it is to use!!!
* it doesn't take up my own computer memory
How will I use it in my personal life?
My mind is spinning with ideas: household budget spreadsheet for my husband & me (yeah, as if); use with editors and critique group members for writing; create, save, and share presentations, and post any of these to my blog. That's just off the top of my head.
How will I use it for work?
We "remotes" may find this to be an efficient way to communicate, develop & share forms and presentations, create and share plans, etc. What do you think?
How can libraries use this?
Internally for sharing all kinds of documents, spreadsheets, & presentations. It may be a place to post training materials. It would be a great tool for documents requiring input or editing, such as a strategic plan or a statistics spreadsheet. Externally, I see lots of potential for school use for papers, projects, reports and such. Libraries could make a public file for posting book reviews, an online suggestion box, and tutorials or how-tos.
We have a wiki lesson coming up, I see, and I have created & participated in wikis. Though I'm sure wikis have their place, I find Google Docs so much easier to use I wonder if it could replace wikis.
And because every post should have an image, here is one:
Monday, August 11, 2008
Blonde at the library
For the video component of Lesson 5, I did some searching using the term "libraries" on both Google video & YouTube. I found it interesting that many of Google video's videos came from YouTube. There's a lot of good stuff out there--funny, smart, educational (and sometimes all 3). There's also a lot of junk. I watched most of one "video," which was really only a PowerPoint presentation that someone taped with their video camera. To me, they missed the point.
Anyway, to practice embedding videos and for your viewing pleasure, I present "Blonde."
This was not intuitive for me, and I had to go to Blogger help to figure it out, but--Ta da!
Anyway, to practice embedding videos and for your viewing pleasure, I present "Blonde."
This was not intuitive for me, and I had to go to Blogger help to figure it out, but--Ta da!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Podcasting
Podcasting is an area I had not explored. I had the best luck finding & listening to podcasts from podcast.com. I tried mediafly.com and couldn't get the search box to work--at least not the way I thought it should. At podcastalley.com I found something I thought would be interesting, but it took me to a software download page. Finally (I'm thinking about the 3 Bears story here), podcast.com was just right. It had a simple tutorial and was intuitive for me to use. I added Transformation Education to my blog feed, and listened to a podcast called "Skyrocketing Learning: The Hidden Power of Informal Learning - Aug 05,2008 ."
I was unsure about how long any of these podcasts lasted, as I couldn't see any indicator until I hit the Play button. Also, some voices are more pleasing to hear than others.
Podcasts would be great resources for auditory learners and the visually impaired, whether young or old persons. Podcasts from conference sessions would be a wonderful way to "attend" a conference from home--or anywhere else. Schools could post lessons on their web sites. Libraries could record event speakers and post podcasts (with the speaker's permission). They could podcast storytimes, book reviews, "commercials" for future events and meetings. If the library is facing a controversial issue in the community, board members and the library director could address it in a podcast (as well as other means). Libraries could also host appropriate podcasts found on the web.
When I left my previous library, the generous staff gave me an ipod. With everything else that's been going on, the ipod is still in the box. This session empowers me to take it out of the box and get going!
I was unsure about how long any of these podcasts lasted, as I couldn't see any indicator until I hit the Play button. Also, some voices are more pleasing to hear than others.
Podcasts would be great resources for auditory learners and the visually impaired, whether young or old persons. Podcasts from conference sessions would be a wonderful way to "attend" a conference from home--or anywhere else. Schools could post lessons on their web sites. Libraries could record event speakers and post podcasts (with the speaker's permission). They could podcast storytimes, book reviews, "commercials" for future events and meetings. If the library is facing a controversial issue in the community, board members and the library director could address it in a podcast (as well as other means). Libraries could also host appropriate podcasts found on the web.
When I left my previous library, the generous staff gave me an ipod. With everything else that's been going on, the ipod is still in the box. This session empowers me to take it out of the box and get going!
Flickr 4b
Wow! Flickr is a great place to download your own photos and upload others. The list of 50 ways to use Flickr in the library from collegedegree.com was inspiring! Every library should be using Flickr (or something like it) to make their libraries easier to use (virtual tours), easier to recognize (building photos, map mashups), and easier to experience (PR and events photos).
I found the trading card easy to create. I could spend days there fiddling around with all the choices! To put the card on my blog directly from bighugelabs would have been easier than sending it to Flickr first, but in the spirit of the assignment, I did send it to Flickr, so it is now part of my photostream (who ever thought we'd be using words like that?).
I found the trading card easy to create. I could spend days there fiddling around with all the choices! To put the card on my blog directly from bighugelabs would have been easier than sending it to Flickr first, but in the spirit of the assignment, I did send it to Flickr, so it is now part of my photostream (who ever thought we'd be using words like that?).
Flickr 4a
Some things are just meant to be. When I got to the Flickr home page, it welcomed me with a big "Howdy." Seems I had registered for an account in February, never did anything with it, and forgot all about it! So here goes. I downloaded photos from my computer to Flickr, which was very easy.
Here's the moose we saw on our honeymoon at Isle Royale in Lake Superior:
Getting this loaded was a little more convoluted than I expected. I did it from the blog post "add an image" and got a box with a little red X. I realized the file must have been too big, so figured out how to change it to small in Flickr and grab that url to put into the blog edit.
I was going to use the "Blog this" feature directly from Flickr, but it looked as if I would be doing the blog post there with their templates, and that's not what I wanted to do. Good option to know about, though.
I notice that due to the size of the file (I suppose--Wynn & Quynn, let me know if I'm wrong), the photo resolution is rather choppy. Learning, learning, learning!
RSS
I use Google Reader regularly, so for the Challenge I tried Bloglines. Both are easy to use. It will take a bit to get used to Bloglines, but it isn't difficult. Whoever thought of RSS is a genius, because it really does save time. It's simple to scan the new stuff, dig into what's of interest, and save stuff for later. It helps me stay current in areas of interest to me both personally & professionally, especially libraries!
Here are some of my favorites, in case you don't already know them:
http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/ (children's library services)
http://www.lisnews.org/ (a wide variety of library-related news. High traffic)
http://www.resourceshelf.com/ (another high traffic, wide variety of library-related news)
http://tametheweb.com/ (what Michael says about libraries GOES!)
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/660000266.html?nid=3340 (Shelf Talker, a children's bookseller's blog)
and just for fun: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ Pioneer Woman Cooks (yum, yum!)
Here are some of my favorites, in case you don't already know them:
http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/ (children's library services)
http://www.lisnews.org/ (a wide variety of library-related news. High traffic)
http://www.resourceshelf.com/ (another high traffic, wide variety of library-related news)
http://tametheweb.com/ (what Michael says about libraries GOES!)
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/660000266.html?nid=3340 (Shelf Talker, a children's bookseller's blog)
and just for fun: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ Pioneer Woman Cooks (yum, yum!)
Blogging for Library 2.0 Challenge
This is my second blog on Blogger, so setting this up was not nearly as difficult or intimidating. (See my other blog at http://www.readlearnandbehappy.blogspot.com/). A challenge with this blog is that I would like to change the About Me picture here, but leave it the same in my other blog. I searched Help, but was unable to discern how to do this. If any of you know how, please let me know.
How I came to Blogger in the first place fits in with the 7.5 Habits. My walking partner/neighbor/writer/artist/friend Linda did hers (her home page is http://lindajarmstrong.com/) and challenged me to do the same. "5 minutes!" she exclaimed. "Just 5 minutes! You can do it in 5 MINUTES!" She sent me the link, so I gave it a try. I think it probably took a tad longer than 5 minutes, but it is fun & rewarding.
How I came to Blogger in the first place fits in with the 7.5 Habits. My walking partner/neighbor/writer/artist/friend Linda did hers (her home page is http://lindajarmstrong.com/) and challenged me to do the same. "5 minutes!" she exclaimed. "Just 5 minutes! You can do it in 5 MINUTES!" She sent me the link, so I gave it a try. I think it probably took a tad longer than 5 minutes, but it is fun & rewarding.
7.5 Habits of Lifelong Learners
One job of a teacher is to help students become lifelong learners. Teachers and librarians seem to have an innate love of learning, and we can't help ourselves--we have to pass it on! In fact, I will be passing this list of habits on to my teacher friends.
The habit that is hardest for me is probably #3 View Problems as Challenges. This has gotten easier as I have matured and successfully navigated through many problems aka challenges. But often I still have to stop myself and say, "How can I change this or accept this?" or "What can I learn from this?" to turn a problem into a challenge.
The habit that is easiest for me is #2 Accepting Responsibility for Your Own Learning. A curious mind is full of questions, and a persistent person must ferret out the answer!
The habit that is hardest for me is probably #3 View Problems as Challenges. This has gotten easier as I have matured and successfully navigated through many problems aka challenges. But often I still have to stop myself and say, "How can I change this or accept this?" or "What can I learn from this?" to turn a problem into a challenge.
The habit that is easiest for me is #2 Accepting Responsibility for Your Own Learning. A curious mind is full of questions, and a persistent person must ferret out the answer!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
