Thing 23 Final Thoughts - sounds ominous

I think that some of the ideas about Library 2.0 are good and some are not very useful. I'm not sure how many of the emerging ideas we will see implemented or how fast. Sometimes things change very fast and other times they never really arrive.

My favorite things I actually mentioned in my last post - LibraryThing, Blogging itself, and photo manipulation.

Quite a few of our staff are doing the 23 things on a stick. It has been generating alot of conversations. We talk about what works, what doesn't and some of our frustrations.

Unexpected outcomes -I learned about file conversion sites. I had never heard of those. They could be very handy since our software is often older than what people are using elsewhere. I learned that my Western relatives like to play poker on Facebook, also.

My biggest peeve was having to open account after account. In some ways it would almost be better if we could have some joint accounts that people could go in and edit, rather than having to open another account.

I would be interested in participating in similar programs if they are held again. I like that you can go at your own pace and work on it when you have time.

23 Things on a Stick is an interesting and educational path to exploring different ways of using the web for professional and personal interests. Try it, you may not like all of it, but you'll probably learn something new.

Thing 22 What Did I Learn Today?

I looked at the links mentioned on this thing. I added Web 2.0 Directory to my my links. I also added the blog Information Wants to Be Free to my RSS Feed- I enjoyed reading her blog.

I plan on continuing to check my RSS Feed, which has many of my coworker's journey through 23 things on a stick. I plan on using some of the accounts I signed up for. Some I probably will not visit again, due to the fact I don't think they are too useful to me. These activities will be worked on, maybe not as often as I'd like, but I have found most to be interesting and educational, even when I got tired of opening another account.

The most useful to me in my personal life will be the ability to open and write a blog, using the photo sites for picture sharing and manipulation, and LibraryThing for organizing/cataloging a special collection I own at home.

Thing 21: Ning & Social Networking

Ok, I joined another social network called Ning. It appears to be more adult orientated than Facebook which reminds me of kindergarten asking for "friends".

I added the badge to this blog. I uploaded my standard Cinque Terra photo for me. I'm hoping against hope that this is the last "social network" I need to join. I'm not a social butterfly. I prefer bbs or websites I can be anonymous on and do not have to "join".

While this may be useful, I feel old and antisocial after having to open way too many accounts, most of which I don't see myself using past this educational opportunity. A few are interesting, but I prefer lurking to particapating usually.

I did enjoy the articles on PW & Webjunction. They were my favorite part of this exercise. "My Guide to Social Networks" was fun also.

Thing 20 Facebook , Social Networking cont'd

Ok, I've been checking the Facebook account. I now have 3 friends, 2 cousins and a co-worker.

It's been interesting reading the blogs and articles highlighted on Facebook. I did look at HCL's and Denver's "My Space" sites. Denver's is certainly noisey. I found out that HCL is single and a Capricorn.

I can see the appeal, but I really don't have the time or the interest to do this regularly.

Thing 20 Facebook continuing

I became a fan of Hostelling International today. They mentioned in an email newsletter that they were on Facebook. I posted to their wall.

I made my first friend, a cousin I found listed on another's cousin's friend list. We emailed back and forth a short bit. I like her whale photo.

Thing 20 Facebook

Facebook would not acknowledge my High School. It closed in 1982 and keeps telling me I went to Armstrong or Cooper. This was my first peeve. I finally got it in, but either I'm the first person in the history of Facebook to go to Robbinsdale, or something is messed up.

I found another coworker who had an account so I could add a Friend. It turns out one of my younger cousins also has an account. She probably going to wonder what that old lady cousin of her's is doing asking to be a friend. The things we do for work. Most of the contacts the "friend finder" found from my looking at emails were relatives. My 70+ something uncle has a Facebook account.

I posted to the wall of Librarians and Facebook's Wall and joined that group. I'm too old for this. I think or just don't care much so far for the format, maybe I'm too anti-social. I uploaded my pictures from Italy again. They are getting alot of exposure from 23thingsonastick.

Thing 19 Podcasts

Ok I've been listening to Heroes of Science Fiction & Fantasy podcast. I found it from the Podcast.com directory. There are certainly alot of podcasts out there on the web.

I looked at a bunch of the directories. None seemed that hard to navigate. I don't plan on regularly kooking for podcasts or adding one to my RSS feed. I have better things to do with my time in my opinion.

Depending on what you want out of the podcasts there are lots of possibilites. I have other things I prefer to do myself.

Thing 18 YouTube/Videos

Ok, I added the Conan the Librarian to my blog. The instructions were ok, once I opened a couple windows and opened yet another account.

I have seen some of the videos before (links from various websites when on my own and playing at home). Quiet a few of my co-workers came over to see what the devil I was doing. The music on some of these is quiet loud. I'm glad I was not in a public areas.

I chose this video because it was wasy to find. It was more interesting than playing around in Ebsco or ELM, but probably not quiet as useful in day to day interactions.

Thing 17 Elm

I've been using ELM databases for years. No big suprises. I have done custom searches and had updated articles sent to me before from CNN and databases.

The page composer was sort of interesting but not really for me. Some of the examples on Ebsco could be useful in an educational enviroment.

Thing 16 Assignment Calculator & Research Calculator

Back to the 23things after a week off due to illness at our branch and no time to think. The Assignment Calculator & Research Calculator are interesting tools. I can see where they would be handy for students.

I liked that the A.C. has areas that introduce students to new data sources. Libraries of any type, that have databases could use this to promote their databases and give patrons a better idea of what the database is capable of doing for them.

For disorganized people the email reminders would be nice. I guess I come from a different world/century. My K-12 emphasized writing, so many of the tools and reminders seem redundant or silly to me. However, these days, I do see too many students who don't seem to have a clue where to start or what is expected of them; these tools could be a fantastic start for them.

Thing 15 Gaming

Ok, I tried some of this on the CD version of Sims a friend had a couple years back. I looked over the 2 games. I enjoyed reading about it more than doing it. I know it's very popular, but personally I prefer a good game of solitaire or hearts. If I really want to zone, Cubis does it much better for me. If I want to think more, I prefer a good book.

I can see the appeal and a library on Second life or the ilk, might gain a new audience with teens and other gamers.

Thing 14 LibraryThing

LibraryThing, I like. It would be a much easier process to catalog my personal special collections using this than the Access database I created a couple years ago. It's visual and easy to use. I was able to add 5 titles I own easily. I like the public or private feature. Sorry, my titles are under private not public.

I like the idea of using it to promote new titles or special collections. I love the isbn feature. It's so much easier for me to ten key versus type.

Thing 13 Online Productivity Pages

Online Productivity Pages. I played around with igoogle and myyahoo. I looked at Pageflakes. I did not save any of the pages. I prefer using a generic sign search place to start so I don't miss something that might not show up on a "special version".

Calendars - I already use this on aol. I don't need another online calendar. I've tried others also, including the one at work and yahoo's. I prefer the aol or yahoo one.

As to lists, paper and pencil is alot faster.

Backpacker and the ilk don't hold much interest to me personally or professionally at this time. Maybe it will be useful in the future if I get a busier life, but now paper and pencil is less time consuming.

Thing 12 Social Media Sites

Ok, I went and looked at the "popularity news sites". Depressing. Only popular news gets posted? You can get your news tailor-made so you only have to see your viewpoint or only items that might interest you. Personally I prefer to sample from various places, to get differing viewpoints and find stories I might not normally read.

I saw where you could link a story from a major newsite to one of these designer sites. I'm tired of signing up for accounts, so I didn't do that part. Since I don't plan on going back to them personally and kind of doubt I would for work either.

Thing 11 Tagging

Tagging, ok I tagged all my previous posts and this one.

I've seen sites before that keep your bookmarks. Downloading toolbars is frowned upon in our library system by our Computer staff. So I just explored the examples. This could be handy assuming it's your computer and you are allowed to download toolbars.

Tagging is nice to find all posts on a topic, especially when you get pas the first page on a blog or other site.

Thing 10 Wikis

Ok, I posted on the Sandbox site. I'm the one who had no idea what they were doing, but was told I couldn't mess it up, per 23thingsonastick instructions. I use wikis like Wikpedia, but have little interest in creating one, or editing it.

It seems kind of a fad to me, since so many are started and worked on for awhile, until the new "in thing" comes along, or the creator loses interest and they languish out in cyberspace.

I don't think schools/educators should ban wiki information, but I do think that students should use more than one source, preferably both electronic and print format.

Reader's Avisory could be done with wikis I guess. The applications are only as limited as your imagination. If I had to use it more, I'd probably feel more comfortable with it, but somedays it feels like there are too many new formats to learn.

Thing 9 Collaborative Tools

Ok I tried both Google & Zoho tools with word processing. I preferred the Google one, though I'm not sure why. I didn't have any problem in using either. Maybe their features change when you are doing more sophisticated documents than I did.

As to what Founding Fathers would think, I think this century would astound and confound them.

Thing 8 Picture Trail & Big Lab

I liked Picture Trail & found it easy to use once I got past the advertising blitz on registering. I tend to see using these items more for personal use than professional. Maybe if I worked more with promotions, I might use it at the library.

I'd recommend Picture Trail as long as you don't mind being hit with ads to begin with. I liked Big Lab also.

Thing 8 part a Hexagon - rotating

Check out the Hexagon at the bottom.

Thing 7 Communication Tools

The library has had email for years. We have "Ask a Librarian". Sometimes it works well and other times you end up calling the patron anyway. Email works well when you have part-time or even full-time staff that don't work the same hours, so it can help in communication efforts. It also can be real time waster.

Online reference has both positive and negative features. The email part works ok. Many of the other applications are costly and outdated soon.

I use im at work. I don't have a cell phone so I don't do text messaging.

I have attended various Webinars over the last couple years. Again with mixed results. Some are very well done and others don't work due to technology or really don't have much useful content.

I tried "Twitter" previously. It drove me nuts. I do not care for it all.