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.