THING 23

23 things has been a rewarding and challenging experience for me. I did not realize that there are so many programs available to use. Trying to work on 23 things, along with our work load was sometimes fustrating. I would have liked to have more time to concentrate and fully get to learn more. My favorite thing was creating the avatar and learning about wikis. We are going to be using a wikis in our department and I think what I learned will really be beneficial. I have learned about many new technologies that I can use in my personal life and in the workplace. I have found my RRS feeds to be a really helpful. Posting to the blog has been a fun learning experience. I would like to participate in another program if it is offered. I discovered things that I would have never tried on my own.

DOWNLOADABLE BOOKS

I used MD consortium and found a wide variety of audiobooks to pick from. I had a little trouble at first because I did not have the program installed to download. After I was able to install the program, with a little help I downloaded. This is a convenient way to download things on your computer and for your MP3 player. I don't know if I will use this for my personal use but can see how it is great for getting books to listen to when traveling.

PODCASTS

I was able to go use Podcastalley.com to get a RRS feed to post. I found the instructions confusing for me to follow. I tried to listen to some of the podcast but had trouble getting them to play. The RRS podcast feeds will be a handy tool for topics that you want readily available. The cast I did get for Maryland libraries were not very interesting or informative to me. I am going to practice to become more familiar with this exercise.

Youtube

I went to a few of the Youtube video sites. Since I am an American Idol fan, I went to one of the videos about the show. I found the video amusing. I discovered that you can find a video on most anything that you are interested in. Sometimes from the titles, you are not sure what you are about to see. I like the search feature. It is easy to find most any subjects.

I did a search on Maryland blue crabs. I found a interesting news cast on overharvesting crabs and decided to try posting it to my blog. Can't wait for summertime to get here.



I also searched Maryland libraries and found a video on Maryland AskUsNow! Found it very informative.

Exploring Web 2.0 list

I chose to use the short list to explore the sites. I looked at quite a few of them on the list and played with some of them I thought would be interesting. I went to Zillow.com and had fun looking up homes that have sold in my area in the last 6 months. I liked the design of the website. It was easy to use and very informative.

I also went to Answers Yahoo.com. I like the way the catagories are set up. It was easy to navigate around and ask questions. I used it to look up about prescription drug prices and got information to compare with different places. I liked how you can email from the site to other people.

Most of the sites require you to registration. Most are free. Some required you to agree to certain terms. I canceled those sites because they are hard to figure out what you are agreeing to.

Google Doc

I used Google Doc to insert this school test document. I emailed it to 2 coworkers. They added pictures along with mine. I think I will find this to be very useful in sharing information with my coworkers. I plan to practice and plan around with it to better understand the many features.

SCHOOL BKS PROCESSED MONTHLY 2008 (Test)

January 2008

Westlake High

Northpoint High

Thomas Stone 100 books

WIKI

Wiki can be used in so many different ways. It is very useful in the library world. It can be used for scheduling programs, book discussions, book reviews, etc. I am not sure about the open access aspect of Wiki. I will have to use it to see how that works out.

It is interesting that OCLC is working on putting Wiki into WorldCat so that patrons can add reviews and comments to book entries. I think this will be very beneficial to the patrons. It will help to see if this material will meet their needs.

We are talking about using Wiki in our processing section at SMRLA to share notes and comments. I am anxious to see how it will work out.