Thing 12: wiki

Wiki's are great when you're able to access them. Our circ wiki and I have unresolved issues--for some reason it keeps locking me out and we have yet to determine the cause. In spite of this, I see so much potential for open communication using this tool.
I posted on Nelfin's 23 Things wiki.

Thing 11, Social Media

Thought you'd might like to view the latest in fashion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7942906.stm

Anyway, after scrolling around in Mixx, Digg, Newsvine, Reddit it seems to me that mixx and digg have similar stories while newsvine and reddit have different similar stories. If I were to use this at work, I'd choose two to review: most likely Mixx and Newsvine. I see the positive aspects of knowing what's "popular" by the viewers--however, the most popular viewings are not necessarily the most newsworthy.

I have read articles because they were listed as "top news." These were on my yahoo page.

Thing 10: Tagging, Delicious, Social Bookmarking

Wow! This is fabulous.This could be a terrific resource to share materials...but, could also be an easily abused resource. For example, if I am a student preparing a thesis on John Lennon and I research all pertinent databases and information--bookmark it in delicious, and it's public...the next student who needs to work on this subject could have all the research available without any of the "work." It would cross over into the professional world as well. Of course, if the bookmarks are kept private rather than public this could be avoided. For task forces and teams working together, however, this is powerful. It will let people work smarter--not harder. Think of the possiblities for reference folks--when the kiddos come in needing x, y, or z for that specail school project...the data is easily accessible without each librarian needing to go through all the information to reinvent the wheel. The possibilities with this one are limitless. I created a delicious account and found it easy to navigate. I've started putting in book discussion websites to peruse for potential titles for the Bartram Trail Book Discussions.

Thing 9

I can see lots of possible, effective uses...presentations, slideshows, photos of events. I visited slideshare and uploaded a slide show consisting of two recipes (I'm working with what I have here at home). I attemapted to access Lazybase to set up BT book club info, but was unable to access..,.something on their end was funky. I plan to dabble a little more in this one when time allows.

Blogbadge (SlideShare is the best place to share powerpoint presentations)

Blogbadge (SlideShare is the best place to share powerpoint presentations)

THING 8

Library staff and administrations will need to remain flexible in order to meet the changing needs of library patrons. We need to be able to get the information to the patron in the format the patron is comfortable with...not necessarily the same ones we are comfortable with. Instant messaging could become a powerful tool in inter-branch and inter-office communications. The concept of a more "feeling" way to express things as well as not having the e-mail paper trail is appealing in that it may allow staff who are hesitant about voicing their concerns a "safe" approach.
We have access to meebo and practiced instant messaging one another.
The OPAL archive had some interesting data. I visited the Teen tech week Gaming and a couple of the book discussions.
I'm off now to set up a FaceBook account. Looking for friends!

THING 7: Online Image Generators

Okay, I played around with this one for a while. Couldn't really get what I wanted and wasn't able to copy code and get anywherewith it. Will ask some of the workmates who have already completed this how they fared. I think it's got great applications if I could simplify my process. First I tried a "badge" -- It says "Ask--Buy Me". I was unable to edit out the buy me portion. Then I tried creating a post-it that said Nefllin's 23 things Have Fun With It!, but was unsuccessful in uploading it. From there I went to adding captions to pictures, but als and alak the photo file was too large to be uploaded, so no captions for me. I thought this one was cute, so settled for it.

thing 6

Spelling with flickr is fun. Is there a faster way than saving each letter on the desktop and then uploading it onto the blog?

I could see using flickr spell for a scavenger hunt...letters having to be all the same colors, or same style, or only out of bricks etc. It's great for names, too.

THING 5

flickr. Blogging. Uploading photos. Photo Gallery. Did it. Working from home, so I didn't have photos from the library (gee, I still don't know how to download the photo on my phone to the computer...it's a great one of all our carts at BT empty....everything shelved.) This is the photo I tagged for Neflin's 23 things. On to Thing 6!

Thing 4 RSS Feeds

This one is going to be very helpful. Completed all the reading but was not able to watch the "videos"--we are still awaiting the installation of Flash. I may watch the videos at home. The information provided will be great for both home and work use. Am looking forward to adding feeds for a number of subjects. Let's see, created both a yahoo and a google reader account. Added all the BT bloggers to the google reader account and added Neflin's blah blah blog to the links on my own blog.

Thing 3

Thing 3: Blogosphere
Blogosphere. Cool word. It's all out there, isn't it? I wasn't too impressed with using blogs for searching. Went to Technorati and about.com and looked up shih tzu (yep, my Cooper is one). Neither site provided much user-friendly information. It is interesting to note how many folks are actually blogging and the demographics that were provided.

Thing 2

Library 2.0. Wow. Sounds a bit intimidating but the concept is very real. Libraries do need to keep in touch with what's going on and how best to meet the patrons' needs...or there won't be patrons and libraries will become the storage facilities mentioned. How to find time for 23 Things? We've made a commitment to staff at our branch that they may dedicate one hour per week of their off desk time to pursue 23 Things. We're working as a team to ensure everyone is able to utilize "their hour." I'm excited about the new learning experiences that we'll be able to network and share.

Creating the Blog

Posting 1: Good gravy! First my home e-mail address was unacceptable. Then trying to create a new e-mail address with gmail was interesting....the word I was supposed to type in to confirm was illegible--three of us were stumped.
Looks like I'm good to go, though and looking forward to 23 Things!