23 Things #23...Musings

Hot-diggity-dog, I'm done! I've learned a LOT but it was very time-consuming and all of it was done on my own time at home--I'm too busy at work to complete these assignments. But I got an MP3 Player! And I got 1.8 ceu's--I've completed the 6.0 ceu's I needed by January 2009! Hot-diggity-triple-dog!

23 Things #22

I set up an account with Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortium through HCLibrary's website using my library card. After exploring the audio books, I chose Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil and added it to my bookbag. I downloaded OverDrive Media Console v2.1 and the Windows Media Player Security Upgrade and was then able to download my chosen audio book to my computer.

23 Things #21

I found the Yahoo Podcasts to be the easiest podcast directory but it's closing down on Oct. 31st! So, I examined Podcast.net and found some interesting pods on dogs. Please note my RSS feed for podcasts on dog behavior.

I clicked on some of the podcasts from Kankakee Public Library but didn't listen to them because of the long viewing time. I certainly can see the value of libraries using podcasts to broadcast popular library programs.

23 Things #18 Continued

ZOHO WRITER--BETTER THAN OFFICE WRITER?

 

    Zoho Writer is great!  The toolbar is so easy to use with icons for everything from line spacing, to ≈ (special characters), _subscript, ^superscript, inserting images

 

to using FAQ and forums to answer questions.  This is word processor is SO much easier and more intuitive than Office Writer!

    There are still some bugs in Zoho Writer, though.  I could not figure how to change the page to landscape size, even after I found a "so-called work around fix" in the forum pages.  I also could not figure out how to crop the above image--I could only reduce the size overall.  Well, for future versions...

 

23 Things #18

I thought Zoho Writer was great but still, in some ways, a work in progress. See my Zoho Writer Document.

23 Things #20

This is a totally cute video about a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Beattie. When I watched this video, Lola was on my lap and started growling when Beattie did!

I like the Youtube site--I'd heard about it and I was interested to explore the site. Obviously, I chose the site from the Cavalier King Charles spaniel videos (yes, there are many on Youtube) I found using the search box. I was a little disturbed to see that there appeared to be a way to link to porn videos if you clicked on some of the comments (I can't be sure since I didn't try.)

I can see posting videos of library events or even blurbs about the Summer Reading Game, etc. on the HCL website.

23 Things #13

While examining Del.icio.us through the PLCMCL2 account, I could see why the site is so popular. Using Del.icio.us takes some of the guesswork out of research and websurfing because people have found and tagged the websites already. The search box on the site really helps with its use and using the tags to find related sites is great.

The comments by individual users of Del.icio.us could be helpful but by clicking on a particular user's notes, you can access all of the user's websites tagged on Del.icio.us. In fact, anytime your username appears on Del.icio.us all of your tagged websites can be accessed. I realize this is described as a "social bookmarking" site, but I can see some privacy concerns using this site for anything but research or professional bookmarks.

23 Things #19

From the Web 2.0 Award Winners, I chose Zillow, the winner from the real estate category. This is a great site for homesellers. You can post a property for free and include any pictures or info you want. You can even put a property on the website as a "Make Me Move" property. That means you describe property and list the price you would like to receive. Potential buyers can contact through an e-mail. You are testing the waters to see if your house would sell--a great idea!

For homebuyers, there are many great features--there is instant links to recently sold homes in your area of interest, there are "Zestimates", an estimate of the current value of the home, and there are links to other real estate websites that include MLS home listings, such as Realtor.com, etc. There are the usual introductory info on buying a home found in most real estate websites but the new Discussions portion is an interesting feature.

On the whole, I can see why Zillow was the winner!

23 Things #16

Wikis would greatly enhance our library's website. I have used Enoch Pratt's subject pages extensively but have been frustrated by webpage addresses that were no longer valid or "holes" that I detected in the list. Of course, I had no way of addressing the problems. If Howard County Library developed the subject pages as a wiki that our customers could use, experts from the community could give information that librarians might not have.

Also, allowing customers to add reviews of particular books or movies on our catalog would be great! I've always read customers' reviews of books on Amazon or Barnes and Noble's website while preparing a booktalk or including a book for a bookclub list.

Including a community wiki on our website would be helpful, especially if all the communities had separate entries.

Of course, there could be a problem with vandalism and inappropriate comments. Controls would have to be instituted from the start. However, I see more positive value in using wikis in our library website than negatives.

Please note my 23 Things #17 can be found on our Staff Internet.

23 Things # 15

After reading the perspectives on Library 2.0, I was amazed at how well Howard County Library already incorporates many of its philosophies and is implementing many of aspects of Library 2.0. We certainly embrace technology and use our customers needs and wants to drive our current and future plans ("Into a New World of Librarianship".) I do worry about forcing us all into areas that might expose us as individuals to personal danger--such as establising myspaces, etc. Our privacy must be respected and our personal lives and opinions should be protected. I, for one, do not feel comfortable publishing on the web my personal opinions and experiences for the world to access. I want my private life to remain that--private.

23 Things #14

When comparing a search on "Learning 2.0" in Blog posts, tags , and Blog directory in Technorati, I found there were 4,447 in Blog posts, 3,945 in tags, and 310 in Blog directory. After exploring under Technorati's Popular section the Top Favorited Blogs and Top Blogs, I realized I'd heard of almost none of them. The current top searches in Tehnorati came as no surprise. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of the posts from the Popular section were in non-English languages--just an example of how the Internet is bring the world together. Of course, I had to wade through all the porn entries before finding useful ones--an example of the Internet's darker side.


mdlearn2

23 Things # 12

Creating and using Rollyo is logical and timesaving--similar to the Favorites on your toolbar. I do not like all the commercial websites added to the searchroll. Also, I added this blog to my searchbox on Rollyo but it didn't seem to work. Anyway, the link to my search roll is in my link area.

23 Things #11

LibraryThing looks great! It can help with readers' advisory and we may want to tell our customers about it! the link to my LibraryThing catalog is in my link area.

23 Things #10 My Avatar

I created my avatar on http://uk.avatars.yahoo.com/