Final Thoughts (Thing 23)

Several final thoughts on the 23 Things on a stick library learning program:

1. My network/filter powers that be are going to hunt me down and find out why I keep unblocking sites like YouTube, Flickr and Ning. If anyone looks at my internet usage record for the last month at work, it looks like all I do is play. YAY! Isn't it fun to play!

2. I really enjoyed learning about all of the various tools that are out there and what other folks think are ways to use these tools in the library setting. I am more and more curious about various ways, but continually frustrated by my school district. I can't add certain tools with Java or that embed into our school website software because they aren't allowed. This site or that is blocked. We don't allow kids email or outside storage devices. It's all quite maddening. How do we explore some of these great tools when they aren't allowed or we constantly tell our kids no??

3. We test too much. (Oh, that's not a 23 thing, thing...That's a thought about this week...)

4. I'd definately explore more tools or try another learning program that Metronet offers.

5. I'm not sure what my favorite tool that we discovered during the 23 things journey was. I really liked exploring all of the tools and learning new things. I liked Library Thing and Shelfari. I liked Facebook for making me actually join it since I was so anti-facebook. I liked finding the fun tools like ImageChef to make fun images online. Overall, it just felt good to learn new things and keep up with all that changes in the blink of an eye.

Keeping Up! (Thing 22)

Thing 22 encouraged us to keep up the learning, keep at it, and keep trying new things. It offered several blogs and/or sites to read that might be of interest. Curious enough, I already have several of them in my Google Reader account. For me, that is the one way I will continue to keep up with the numerous "things" we've learning about and tried out. It's a way to consolidtae information into one place and get it all at once. I like that. One login, one place to read most of the blogs I read. I haven't gotten into my Google homepage much yet, but I think that will be another place to keep up with other sources of information, too.

To Infinity and Beyond (Thing 21)

For this thing, I played around a bit in Ning and looked at some other social networking sites.
Ning is another social networking site where groups can make there own special interest forum and group. I joined the 23 Things group and here's the badge.


Visit 23 Things on a Stick


I found I did more exploring with all of the settings on Ning and just did a lot of looking around. I'm worn out from all of this "signing-up." I like that certain groups have communities on Ning, but I didn't care for the layout. And I can't pinpoint why. It's driving me nuts. It feels too cluttered, I think.

One of the sites listed to try was Shelfari and since I am already a member, I was excited. I'll be honest, I have too many logins I may never use again. I like Shelfari and am going to stick with that. See my thoughts, here.

I also scoped out some of the other social networking sites listed in this thing. I liked Bakespace.com, a site for those who like to cook and like recipes. But just what I don't need right now are more recipes to site and collect dust. :) So, perhaps that isn't the right networking space for me.

In other notes, I keep finding more friends on Facebook. I need to write on some walls, there are people I haven't talked to in ages. :)

I have friends--on Facebook! (Thing 20)

This thing made me do what I'd been avoiding for quite some time. At last, I am a Facebook user. I spent much of last evening setting up my profile and finding friends. (Ok, sending generic friend requests to folks in my email address book.) I was happy to find I had friends in less than 5 minutes. What does that say about Sunday evening computer usage? Everyone's online on Sunday night? Or better yet, what does that say about my gen, the somewhere in between X/Y's that we are...I know that most of my college friends are on facebook. I now know that most anyone from my HS class is not. Or at least I can't find them. That's somewhat interesting if you ask me. Or maybe they just won't own up to the fact that they went to school in rural WI. Either way, I sifted through the 500 some alums of my HS that are listed just to see.

In good news, it seems that I mgiht actually hear from my sibs-in-law. (Are you two reading this? :)) It seems they are just enough younger as to use facebook much more frequently. When JD joined, he was told he was, "too old!" Last night, I was more or less told, "nice to see you took the plunge." Perhaps we are just a bit too old, but I can see where the networking facebook employs can be useful. I can't get DT to answer an email, but I wrote on his wall and had a response that night! Now that's what I call networking and the power of Facebook.

Sense and Sensibility Podcast (Thing 19, Part 2)

Masterpiece offers this sudo-podcast about S&S (I argue that it is not a podcast because it does not have a RSS feed/link to download it. It is only available on the webpage to listen to and not even download. But, they call it a podcast, so there it is.) by life coach Cheryl Richardson. There are two segments, one for each portion of the broadcast of S&S.

Part 1: Richardson offers these questions in relation to JA and S&S.
What speaks to you from this film? What is it that you might be longing for?
She notes several points that speak to her and I thought they were well thought out.

Simplicity: The simplicity in the film (and perhaps all of JA) speaks to her. It should make us stop and think about what we really want and how we might go about clearing our life from all of its clutter. I think that the film does a good job of showing the simplicity of life in the Regency era compared to the busy lives we lead now. I think that can be why JA still appeals to readers. Somehow we find refuge in the simplicity of the stories. There does not seem to be as much clutter and complications make from numerous committments and time constraints. Life was simple--a bit of gossip, wit, find a husband, Life was good.

Importance of connections & relationships. How do you relate to others? Do you have a support system in place for tough times. She notes how Mrs. Dashwood deals with the loss of her husband and the lack of her stepson's follow through of duty to she and her daughters. What did the others do?

She also notes that amount of containment or repression of emotion that takes place in the film. You just want to scream out and yell at the women who don't speak up and say what they are thinking or meaning. Instead, the stay proper and refined as a lady should. It can be maddening to watch!

Food for thought: Richardson points out to watch for the ocean and how it shows emotion in the movie. It connects certain periods in the film and certain character's emotions. She also says to pay attention to some of the characters and how the film uses light and dark to portray certain issues or certain sides of some of the issues or conflicts that arise in the story.

Part 2:
She asks us to identify which character of the book/film we identify most with? (In terms of obvious, free qualities and in terms of hidden qualities and similarities, good and bad.) I would have to say that I agree with Richardson and can identify with Elinor the most, but know that at times I exhibit (depending on the situation) parts of Marianne's personality. It is dependent on what the situation is. Mostly, I would argue, however, that the level headed, thinker would be easier for me to relate to. :)

The plot also makes a point of how important telling the truth is throughout the entire story. Pay attention to this theme and you begin to notice how it runs throughout the whole of the story. (Think Edward, think Willoughby, think Margaret, think Elinor and Marianne. All have points where this theme shines through.)

Podcasting (Thing 19)

I am not new to podcasting. We listen to certain podcasts fairly religiously in on our iPod in the car--NPR's Sunday Puzzle and A Way With Words.

In searching out some new podcasts, I discovered a blog that has a post that lists numerous links to, what else, Jane Austen Podcasts!! HURRAH!

I looked at some of podcasts the author lists and found one from NPR when they intereviewed screenwriter Andrew Davies on Morning Edition about his numerous Jane Austen adaptations. It was from the Morning Edition: Interviews portion and I added that feed to my Google Reader account. I also have Nancy Keane's booktalks podcast feed in my GR account as well.

I think iTunes is so simple and easy to use. I did do some exploring in PodcastAlley and Yahoo Podcasts, but I am partial to iTunes.

I have tried podcasting on my media center website for bookreviews. I have published 1 and have 1 waiting in the works. (I just need to sit down and take the time to finish it.) I am trying to get some 8th graders to do some book podcasts with me, but they just aren't biting at it right now. I think the only way I'll get them to try it is if it is with or for a class activity. Here is the link to my podcast, which I made using the software GarageBand on my computer. I have also played with Audacity.

Online Video Tools (Thing 18)

I thought this page that lists 62 sites for online video sharing was cool. Has anyone ever heard of many of these?



Check out the video above from YouTube titled, "A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto." I thought it was appropriate given 23Things and what I am learning about all of these tools. It's a bit long, but fun to look at.

You Tube is great and I am quite familiar with it. The hardest part about this thing was that I decided to do it at work and YouTube is blocked. So...I had to go around the server about 20 different times and it just took a bit. BUT the videos do load faster at worker than at home, so that was why I chose to do that. At least as the media specialist I have the rights to unblock certain sites.

ELM Productivity Tools (Thing 17)

This thing asked us to explore ELM (Electric Library of MN) database special tools. Most of the databases now offer special Web 2.0 tools like RSS feeds & webpage development tools.

Gale Info Trac Student Edition RSS Feed: I did the search on "youth smoking" and clicked on the link to add an RSS feed. I'd read a lot of other blogs that said the original link was dead or that the link once posted in an aggregator did not work. The first time, I pasted it into Google reader, it did not work, but then I noticed it had 2 extra spaces after the last character. I deleted those and it worked perfectly.

Ebsco Page Composer in Academic Search Premier:

This part of the thing asked me to created a web page. The tool has features to search specific databases (I chose Ebsco Animals) and created a link my media center wepage, and added a blue background. I struggled with this one. What would someone use this tool for? I already have a media center webpage and already create webpathfinders for classes and their projects, so when would I use this? (I already to direct links to search the databases on my pathfinders.) Here is an example of one of my pathfinders.





Proquest: To the left is the page that I created using Proquest Newstand. This tool was simple, it was just saving articles and then choosing to save the articles to a webpage or to email them. I liked this because it was easy and didn't require me to do a lot of work like the Ebsco one did.


Netlibrary: I viewed the Netlibrary book and checked out different parts of the book. I could see this being helpful to students in college or above for serious research when the content you want is only available in an eBook. The ability to mark pages or portions of the book and just jump back to them would be very useful. In my day to day use right now, however, I'm not sure I'd use this or could get my MS students to use it.

Arrrr, matey, I'm a pirate! (Thing 15, Part 2)

I have successfully played several games in Puzzle Pirates. I created my own personal Pirate, BlogginBB (sorry, no creative names last night) and learned to Bilge and Carpent the ship. I lost interest in Sailing. This was a site to use and the games were fun, but I am not much of a game person. (This said from someone who did NOT grow up with a game system in her house.) The site was easy to start (creating said pirate) but not so easy to follow after that. There were too many text boxes all over the place and it wasn't the most intiutive to follow around. I felt like I was clicking here and there with no direction at all. I also could not the to "intereact" with the other sailors. Again, not as intuitive as it seemed or maybe I just missed something. It was cute, but not something I need to do again.

Student 2.0 Tools (Thing 16)

I have looked at the Research Project Calculator before. I like that it offers one the real planning capabilities and shows ALL of the steps research involves. But, I find that when I work with my staff, they are not willing to take this kind of time to spend on their projects. I just can't seem them working with this tool. I feel like I've made great strides in getting them to plan and do the the research correctly (spending time, like several days! on research, using citation, taking time to teach kids how to take notes) and that this is just something that they don't need.

When I created a login about 2 months ago, one of the things that distracted me was that it (the RPC pages) seemed to cluttered and hard to follow. I like teaching tools to be very simple for my MS kids. I don't think this is very simple in a visual sense. Working with 6-8 grades on a daily basis makes me realize how simple you have to make everything. It just needs to be extremely simple and the RPC is not.

The assignment calculator from U of MN libraries is great. I just pretended to have a project due in 15 days and chose a subject area to see what would happen. I like that it really breaks it down and says today you should...and then offers you links to the tools that will help you accomplish this step. HOWEVER, do students, rather most students work like this or think like this? I'd argue no. I'd say that it's a great tool and we need to work on getting more to use it, but the majority of students or parents helping kids do a project need the material bc it's due in 5 days or the next day. These tools are great to empower folks, but how many are using them? Just food for thought.

Online Gaming & Libraries (Thing 15, Part 1)

I have to skip this one for now. We are traveling and I can't get either to download with our laptop and internet connection. Saving it for home or school.

LIbrary Thing (Thing 14)

This week I tried both Library Thing and Shelfari! (Thanks to Frenzied Media for letting me know about Shelfari!) I'd just discovered Goodreads, too.

Library Thing & Shelfari are great ways to make lists of books and show what you are reading, have read etc. After trying both sites out, I like Shelfari better. Shelfari is a fun tool that allows you to make lists of books--what you've read, what you own, what you're currently reading, what you want to read or your favorites. But it's not a just a list. You select the title and it's a book cover that gets added to your shelf. A visual representation of what you are reading. It also has a widget option that allows you to post your Shelfari shelf to a blog or other webpage. If you view the actual blog (not in an RSS reader or email :) ) you can see my shelf. I haven't had time to actually add reviews to any. But it's fun. I decided to just do a "What I'm reading" shelf on the blog here, that way, I can blog about what I've finished reading in a blog entry. (Should the spirit move me, that is.)

Library Thing is much the same, however, the cataloging is much more in depth than Shelfari. Here's what it looks like:I think this is great, but the librarian in me isn't much of a cataloger. I don't need this much information. I am quite a Type A, but that person inside me doesn't need to catalog all of my books at home or make a list of everything I personally own. From what I can tell, Library Thing seems to have a more vast selection of books (with cover images) than Shelfari. It seemed that I had several from Shelfari that did not have cover images. Both LT and S allow you to make "friends" and see what they are reading and tag your books for easy finding. Another reason I like Shelfari better right now, I already had friends signed up for it. :) I also liked the widget better in Shelfari. Rather than just show a "random" selection from my shelves like the LT widget does, S lets me pick which list to share. I like that better, too.

I think that using either tool in a library setting could be useful. Rather than make handouts (brochures, lists of what to read or if you like this or that), a library could tag books that are similar. The hardest part of this is getting patrons to use the site. There are also databases (What to Read Next, NoveList) that allow patrons help in finding materials, too. I'm not sure which site would be better, but for making lists and sharing the tags, LT would be easier to use and offers a bit more flexibility. However, the widget from S, looks a bit more fun and clever on a webpage as an extension of what someone is reading (maybe what this or that librarian is reading) or or what the top checkouts are for that week?

All in all, both are fun tools!

Online Productivity Tools (Thing 13

Customized Home Page: I chose to use iGoogle simply because I am familiar with the customized Google products and already have a login and I am getting "login" overload. I like the options in the Google homepage. I loaded my Google Reader feeds, along with news and cooking feeds. I found a fun header and there it was. Creating a google homepage is easy and to me this is nothing new. I've been a Yahoo user for a long time and the MyYahoo main page is essentially the same thing. Although, I think that iGoogle offers a lot more choices and more tabbed pages. I like the drag and drop features, the ability to move the feeds around as much as you want.

Calendars: Again, I used the Google calendar for ease of use. It is very easy to use and I am tempted to share my calendar with JD's and then we can have a combined family calendar. I do like printed, calendars and like to write stuff down, so I'm not sure if it is something I want to use or will use on a regular basis.

To-Do Lists: I quickly tried Remember the Milk just to see what it looked like. It also had the option to import it into the Google calendar. I thought that it might actually inspire me to use it at a later date. HA! For me, to-do lists are a tactile thing. I like to write them out and rewrite them and cross things off. There is something in scribbling, though, isn't there?!

Backpackit: I'm on login/tool overload. I looked at it, but didn't sign up or try it.

I think that these tools can be useful. But there comes a point when I'm just sick of being on the computer. (And I'm really getting to that point tonight, so I need to finish this blog entry.) I want to use a piece of paper and a pen.

JD and I discussed using calendars at work for scheduling. In my school, I have a print calendar for the media center and for my personal calendar. Our computer labs use the electronic calendar in our email client. I hear people complaining about them all of the time. People want a calendar to view in front of them, not on a computer screen. They want to flip through the weeks and see it quickly and in front of them. I've thought about going to an online calendar but I don't think folks would use it and I'd get stuck with more scheduling that I want to deal with or have time to deal with.

Best of Social Bookmarking--Diigo (Thing 11, Part 2)

This School Library Journal article, Best of Social Bookmarking Article, was one I'd saved from a while back for when del.iciou.us came up. It mentions Diigo and the author of the article says it his favorite social bookmarking tool. Because of that, I thought I'd take a look.

Diigo is very similar to Del.icio.us, except that is has more features and tool for a researcher. These tools were what appealed to me from the article. Diigo allows one to import bookmarks just like Del.icio.us, so I just imported my bookmarks complete with tags from there to speed things up. There are two ways to have the sticky note and highlighting tools that Diigo offers. You can download an extension for your web browser, which of course, I didn't have the latest and greatest Firefox, so I couldn't. The other way is to create a Diigolet on your bookmarks toolbar (simply a drag and drop) and then you click on it when you are on one of your bookmarked pages and the tools appear in a navigation bar at the top of the screen. I can then add a sticky (post-it) note to anywhere on the page and also highlight text and have it saved for later. Then I can come back to the page and look at what I'd marked up. If only this had been around for my senior undergrad paper... Below is a screenshot from the Republic of Pemberly. (Which btw, is a great JA, site if you need one!) See the yellow sticky note and the yellow highlighting I did? Diigo remembers what you've done on that page in your bookmarks. Kinda cool, eh?


Overall, I liked Diigo. Although, I think Del.icio.us has a more simpler user interface. I also noticed that I was pretty much the only person that had some of the bookmarks I do and on Del.icio.us, I was one of several hundred. I guess that means more people are using Del.icio.us right now. I will have to play with Diigo a bit more but I could see real applications for use in high school and colleges and how students do research.

I'm Not Sure I Can Digg It (Thing 12)

All of these news/information sites seem the same with a few exceptions.
Mixx homepage sorts by subject (Popular, Tech etc.), Digg and Newsvine were not anything special to me. Although, Newsvine's homepage is a bit much for me. They could do without some of the content to clean it up a bit. But that's just me... Reddit's homepage was simple, but almost too much so. It is almost hard to tell the stories apart because they seem very close together on the page.

I also noticed that the Reddit help lists four ways to use Reddit. The first one being, "Read: User-submitted links, it's more fun than being productive!" Ok, so isn't that right there the crux of the matter?! When do I have time to use these sites and do I care? Ok, so some of the more "news" content I find interesting, but I don't know that I need to read about all of it. And whatever happened to good ol' newspapers? Seriously. Is it is a good thing that people are stuck on their computers reading all of the time. They might be well informed but do they have social skills.

Ok, sorry about that rant. I think for me this is really about that I do not need 20 different service to bring me information and find web content I enjoy. What I am learning about some of the Web 2.0 tools is that we really need to pick and choose what we like and just stick to that. Otherwise, where does the rest of your life kick in? When do you eat? Exercise? Have hobbies? If I'm stuck reading all of the various information sources, I wouldn't have time to go for a walk (speaking of which, it's almost spring in MN!...) or cook dinner! So, can you tell I think that these tools are a productivity DETRACTOR?

That said--I am still struggling to figure out how to use these sites in a library setting. If anyone has any good ideas, put them on your blog. I'm going to start looking at what others have said, because I am drawing a complete blank.

Tag! You're It! (Thing 11)

Tagging and Del.icio.us is not a new thing for me. While it was the first time I'd actually created my on Del.icio.us account, I've used it plenty because of work and friends. This thing, for me, was more about sitting down and making the time to do the tagging. It took some time and a good hour and a half was spent just puttering around looking at other sites that people tagged Jane Austen related. I disovered some fun new fanfiction blogs. Yes, there are numerous people out there that read more JA fanfiction than I do and are even a trillion times more obsessed with it than I am. GASP! Here's a link to my Del.icio.us account.

I haven't used Del.icio.us at school because I already have a system to create links/bookmarks for classes. While I think that the tags can be great, I like what I've done on my school library website (not to mention the time it's take to create the links) and I am not going to start using something different just be using a web 2.0 tool. I am essentially doing the same thing, but without del.icio.us.

In exploring del.icio.us I realized how valuable this site could have been to me when I was working my my senior research paper in undergrad. It was a topic (Women as Other in literature and magazines.) that was hard to find solid information on and the web didn't have anything as organized or as helpful with links from others on it like del.icio.us does now. I remember searching and searching and it took time to find valuable information and it wasn't out there. I think this site could be useful in that sense. What others deem insteresting or valuable might be for someone else doing a research project, too. Of course, there is a lot of junk out there, but it is another tool to use and put in the research toolbox.

Wikis (Thing 10)

Wikis can be a fun tool. They are not new to me. I think that they could be useful, but some of the features in Google Docs could be just as useful or equally useful. (If I make a word doc in Google Docs, doesn't it serve much the same purpose--of course, depending on the purpose of the document you need a group to edit.) The link to the St. Joseph County Public Library system wiki pathfinders was excellent. That was the idea that I most liked and found applicable to what I could incorporate into what I use at school. JD shared this link about Web 2.0 merging into Web 3.0 and the joys of editing forums like Wikipedia. It's interesting--basically stating that people are getting sick of others editing becuase it's the same old people again and again and some do it for personal gain. A new generation calls for more fact checking! Hurrah!--Fact checking? A librarian's dream! (Yes, JD, I just linked to Slashdot. Aren't you proud?)

Sharing Docs (Thing 9)

Thing 9 asked us to explore sharing documents online using Zoho Writer and Google Docs. I tried both or at least attempted to try both. Google Docs is very easy to use and was extremely straightforward to use. I created a new document in no time and shared it with JD (knowing he'd get the email at work and actually look at it). In minutes he'd commented in it and edited what we'd created. I also asked to be included in the 23Things doc (they just had to share it with me--a simple click and soon they'd added me) and added a word to the Declaration of Independence and made a comment about what I'd added. It was slick.

Zoho Writer, however, was not slick. I tried to use it and while many of the buttons looked the same, something was not loading correctly because I could not get it to work properly. I kept getting these weird purple lines through things and strange windows appeared out of nowhere and I couldn't edit. I tried and tried but finally gave up. It wasn't worth it.

That said, I might find a use for Google Docs, but right now, I don't know if I will. We'll see...

Will Weaver Author Visit

Will Weaver visited my school yesterday for I Love To Read Month. His talk was fun and the students did a pretty good job of listening. (As a teacher you get nervous about half way through when they get fidgety, but that's just MS students.)

Will talked about his new book, Saturday Night Dirt, which is part of a trilogy about dirt track car racing. He brought the driver of his car (Will sponsors a car) and they talked about racing and safety etc. The book will be released at the Mall of America on March 24 at 5pm in the Rotunda. See MotorNovels for more details.

I created this little slide show via Picture Trail with the help of two of my 8th grade student workers. They picked the border and transition. They agreed we didn't need glitter. :) I tried to post it to my school webpage, but the program my district uses does not allow for additional javascript codes, so it will not post. (SO VERY ANNOYING! If you ask me...) So, I'm stuck just using it here. Oh well. As another side note, this is also why I cannot post Twitter to my school webpage. Nrrrrr......

Sharing Information (Thing 8)

Slideshows: I thought that Zoho Show was the better of the slideshow options. It seemed to offer different clipart and transition options that I found appealing. I watched one of the demo videos (or maybe it was just a page about how great the tool was, it's all starting to blend together tonight) and there was this image of being able to access the slideshow from all over the world via the site and bc it's hosted on the web. And I thought that maybe I just don't get it. You can post it online (website, blog etc.) or email it to that person bc it is not as if this slideshow is a live slideshow and it is a presentation you are giving to someone around the world. It is not synchronous learning/viewing. It is still on one's one time. Another "benefit" was to have it all online and have it accessible from anywhere. Ok, I have a flash drive. And sometimes the internet connection doesn't work. The web crashes or just comes to a complete standstill. Doesn't matter who you are or where you are or where you work. That happens and counting on that for the big presentation that might get you a big deal, promotion or maybe it's just your lesson for a class of unruly 13 year olds---if the web is down, that site isn't going to help me. But my flash drive will save me. Maybe I just don't get it.

Sharing Photos: I thought PictureTrail was a fun site and I am thinking I will use this one more often. Although, did anyone try the bling section? Whoa! That's a bit much for me. I can see my middle school kids liking it, though!

>Database: Ok, I just didn't see the need here. Why do I need to post a list or database online? A wiki would work just as well...and perhaps seems a bit easier to use?

eFolio MN: Ok, I think this is a great site. It's just not for me. I do not need another place to have a website--I maintain a school website, I have a blog. It could be useful to post ones information online and perhaps have a professional site for marketing oneself rather than having a personal account on a blog or a Facebook account. I am going to recommend this site to my B-in-L, who is just starting out looking for an internship and job. I think I could see him using this site for professional networking.

I really found the link to this site, 50 Ways To Tell A Story, to be really unique and really informative. It overwhelmed me a bit, though, with how few this Thing asked us to explore and how many there actually are! Yikes! I thought the webslides from Diigo was a cool tool to show the various tools. It's a good tool to use in presentation to show websites you talk about.

One other thought: I was surprised that Google Docs didn't get a mention in the online communication and sharing tools portion of 23 Things...Oh wait, that's part of Thing 9....Nevermind. :)