To Summarize...

I have lots of different thoughts as I come to the end of the Learn and Play experience, and I'd like to share a few of them here.

First, I enjoyed the VARIETY of web technology that we covered. We didn't just play around with one type of thing, but discovered many. We delved into the world of pictures and how to create unique images. We looked at how to share ideas online with tools like Delicious, Wikis, and newsfeeds. We explored the potential of communication as we discovered podcasts and Twitter. We also had some fun with videos on YouTube and the image generator. (Since, after all, wasn't the whole goal to have fun?) :0)

Second, I appreciated the opportunity to BE HONEST about how we felt about the different technologies. There were some that I really enjoyed like YouTube (my favorite), podcasts, and wikis. Then there were others that I either didn't find as interesting or I didn't see as personally relevant to me like Library Thing and Library 2.0. The thing was, I didn't feel pressure that I had to enjoy everything. If I didn't enjoy something, I could say so, and it would still "count". The option to agree or disagree is all a part of the discovery process, and I was grateful that we had that freedom.

Finally, I'm excited about the fact that these discovery excercises don't end here. Discovering them was just the first step. Now that we've discovered them, we have the opportunity to USE THEM and incorporate the ones we liked into our daily lives. For some, Twitter has become an addtion to their online life. For others, they now have a way to share photos online with friends and family. For me...who knows? Maybe one of these days you can listen to one of my podcasts, read my book published through the Web 2.0 tool Lulu, and watch it on YouTube after it's made into a movie...all without leaving your own living room. :0) Yay for Learn and Play!

Books Go MOLDI (but not like they used to!)

Not only did I log in to the MOLDI site, but I also selected a few items to download. The more I discovered about this cool site, the most excited I got about the potential that it holds. With sites like MOLDI, you can make a trip to the library at home just by getting on the internet. I'm anxious to see where this type of library service goes in the future. One feature that I thought would be neat to add is for "requests". That way, patrons can let their opinion be known about what kinds of things they'd like to see converted to a digital format.

Podcasts

Well, I had a hard time figuring out how to add the RSS feed to my blogreader account. However, I found reading about how to do your own podcast VERY interesting. I didn't realize that it was so simple. Amazing how not that long ago you really had to be somebody to have your own broadcast over radio. Now, you can be just anybody and the whole world can listen if they want. Another great thing about podcasts that I've found is it's usefulness to current radio programs. If you happen to miss it, all you have to do is go to their website to download and listen to the broadcast you missed. Talk about cool! ;0)

YouTube! :0)

Ok, so YouTube has probably been my favorite "Thing" so far. Mainly because, when else do you have an excuse to watch movies at work...and get paid for it. ;0) Anyway, I decided to post Deanna Durbin's and Judy Garland's very first 10 minute movie "Every Sunday". I'm a big fan of old movies, so it seemed appropriate, besides the fact that Deanna and Judy are two of my favorite actresses from the 40's. Enjoy!

More Fun Stuff...

I enjoyed looking through the items on the Power Tools page and even downloaded the Catalog plugin...neat tool! The latest post was on Google, which I currently use both as my homepage and email server. I thought that Google Lively was interesting, though I imagine that it will appeal more to kids and teenagers than adults. However, I'm interested in downloading and exploring Google Talk, since I chat with friends ALOT on Gmail.

Finding a "Real" Lulu

I mostly explored the site lulu.com, which specializes in assitance with self-publishing and online marketing. As a person interested in books, I also naturally have an interest in writing and publishing. In past years, I've attempted to get some of what I've written published. However, the writing market is competitive, and it's hard to crack into the world of being a published author. As time has gone on, and the potential of the World Wide Web has increased, I believe that sites such as Lulu will enable little-known writers to publish and share their work without the hassle of soliciting big-time publication companies.

And, since I'm in the business of quotes, I thought I'd quote a quote from the Lulu community itself:

"Lulu.com's goal is to be a global marketplace for our users and letting the community decided the best sellers. Our hope has been to have 1 million users that sell 10 books instead of 10 authors that sell 1 million books -so far over the past five years, we're on the right track."
- Lauren B. Parker, Senior Communications Specialist

Playin' Around with Wikis

This one was probably the hardest as far as trying to figure out how to add my blog to the Favorites blog page. I almost had to ask for help on this one, but I kept trying and finally did it by myself! :0) I'm learning to see the value for wikis as I work more with them.

"It is a new day and a new chance to try again."

Google Docs

Wow! I loved Google Docs. :0) I've had a Google account for a while, but never knew about this feature. (Guess that shows how much I really know...) Even though I don't have an immediate need for it right now, it's definitely something that I'm sure I'll use in the future. There's endless possibilities with what can be done...


“We all have possibilities we don't know about. We can do things we don't even dream we can do.”
- Dale Carnegie

Wikis - And Other Fun Stuff

I'm still in the process of learning about wikis, so I can't say that I have a full grasp of what they're all about. However, I have enough of a grasp to understand their use and the potential of what they can be used for. I use Wikipedia all the time, so from that standpoint I understand and appreciate the use of wikis. As far as how wikis would/could be most useful to libraries, I actually found the idea of annotating the catalog to be the one I was most excited about. I like the review feature on Amazon.com and when I want a review of a book or movie, I usually look it up there. I think adding a review feature on library catalogs would be a great improvement and also beneficial to patrons. I've appreciated the format of Aqua Browser, which is similar in nature to Amazon, and hope that patron reviews is something that could be incorporated in future editions.


“A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.”
- Henrik Isben

Library 2.0 - An Effective Tool, but not an End All, Be All

My thoughts on this are going to be very brief and succint, since there was alot of information to think through in regard to Web and Library 2.0. While I believe it's important for libraries to keep up with current trends and not ignore the potential of internet usage and how it can enhance library service, I believe that there will always be a need for an acutal library. I enjoy my time spent on the internet, and devote a small portion of my day to keeping up with emails, Facebook, and favorite web sites. However, at the end of the day, when my eyes are tired from looking at a computer screen both at home and at work, often all I want to do is curl up with a good book before going to bed. Call me old-fashioned, but there's just something about walking into a building filled with books that I can actually put my hands on, open up, and discover for myself what they contain, without always having to use a mouse or stare at a computer screen. The same goes for bookstores - esp. the used, old-fashioned type, but that's another story...

My essential thought is...while I think that keeping up with online technology is essential for any institution, especially the library, I don't think we need to go overboard and relegate everything to cyberspace.

This post, I'm going to give you two quotes since last post I didn't list any:

"No possession can surpass, or even equal a good library, to the lover of books. Here are treasured up for his daily use and delectation, riches which increase by being consumed, and pleasures that never cloy." ~John Alfred Landford

"Libraries: The medicine chest of the soul." ~Library at Thebes, inscription over the door

Deliciousness

I was primarily impressed with how Del.icio.us is a combination of a newsfeed, "favorites" file, and social blog. It seems to work almost like an online catalog for favorite sites that you want to save but may not have the time to puruse until a later. The only aspect that I wasn't too thrilled about was the ability for others to see your bookmarked sites. I'm personally big on privacy, especially on the internet, so I probably would not set up my own account and bookmark my favorite sites. However, I did see the benefit for librarians, teachers, and people dealing with large amounts of infomation that need to be saved for public and shared reference. For the library in particular, I see social bookmarking being helpful for those dealing with reference questions. Librarians can bookmark information-related sites which would then be available to other librarians in the same system, or even those in other systems.

Twitter-pated :0)

Though I don't see myself using Twitter on a regular basis, I think it's a great tool for those who want to be continuously connected to the web world. Part of my problem is that I don't know anyone that uses Twitter. The one person I know who does is just a casual acquaintance. Other than that, Twitter hasn't hit my web world as yet. :0)

"Nearly everybody gets twitterpated... You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head's in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you're walking on air. And then you know what? You're knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!"
- Friend Owl from Bambi

LibraryThing - Personal Online Library

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=the-quote-queen

"Libraries are not made; they grow."
- Augustine Birrell

Image Generator...through the generations.

This one was probably my favorite so far. I spend most of my time on The Generator Blog and played around with some of the fun stuff on there. I ended up using the old photogragh converter to see what the South High Branch Library looked like 150 years ago. As you can see from the picture above, it looks pretty much like it does today, except for the fact that it was black and white. Of course, everything used to be black and white in the "old days", until we got modernized and everything switched to color. But that's another story... ;0) And in case you're interested in seeing what your own pictures would have looked like in the old days, here's the link:

http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds

I thought it would be fitting to have some sort of quote about black and white photographs:

"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between."
-Karl Heiner

Discovering Newsfeeds

While the last "Thing" focused on adding feeds for news sites that you would normally peruse on a regular basis, this one expanded it to looking for other feeds about topics of interest. I found Technorati to be helpful in the area of narrowing down the interest fields. For each topic (Lifestyle, Politics, Sports, etc.), there were several sub topics to choose from. I liked this approach from the standpoint that it gave you a list of suggested news blogs that you might not come upon on your own searches. I also liked the front-page set-up, which gave you the most popular blog posts of the day (which just happens to be mainly about politics right now). However, I liked the main page of Topix better, which seemed to supply a wider variety of topics and news to choose from. I suppose if you're a real news connoisseur, then sites like these would give you a wide array of options. So, while I think these sites would be helpful to some, I personally did not find them to be something that I would use on a regular basis.

And while we're on the subject of news, here's an interesting quote from Homer on that subject:

"For you are goddesses, inside on everything, know everything. But we mortals hear only the news, and know nothing at all."
-Homer

RSS Feed: Everything at Once

This has probably been the most helpful "Thing" so far. I knew other people who used RSS Feeds, but had never taken the time to create one for myself. I was the kind that had my favorite websites, and just went back to them time and time again to check for updates. Now that I've had the chance to play around with it, this is definitely something that I'll be using everyday.

And the quote for the day:
"RSS 'brings websites to the user, who would otherwise have to chase the website.'"
Keith O'Brien, PR Week

Technology...I never had that as a kid

As I think about all the technology we have, I'm reminded of the fact that many of the things that are common to kids today (iPods, the internet, cell phones, etc.) weren't even heard of when I was a kid. And it wasn't all that long ago that I was. :) It's amazing to think about how much technology has been developed in the last 20-30 years, and then to wonder how it will continue to develop in the next 20-30. My generation is one of the last to grow up without knowing what the internet is. And who knows...maybe one of these days cell phones will be outdated.

In looking for quotes on technology, I found several that I really liked, but this one seems to help puts things in perspective:

"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." ~Elbert Hubbard

Flickr Fun

Wow, I was impressed with all the different things you could do with Flickr. My first introduction to it led me to assume that it was just a place to upload photos and keep them organized. Little did I know... I had seen Mappr used before on other sites, and like the concept. The retrievr also looks fascinating, and I can't wait to bring in some photos and try it out.

And now for a quote:
“An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows.”
- Unknown

And I quote...

Thought I'd start my blog with an appropriate quote ;0) :

"A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list."
- Unknown