Thing 23: Summary of 23 Things

I've been impressed--it's often been eye-opening--with the amount and kinds of information, entertainment, and creative thinking on the Internet. I feel at the end of the day that I know more about where to find good books and book reviews, as well as author interviews; can find and explore some pertinent and lively discussions on blogs, podcasts, wikis; can use and follow tags to sort out my discoveries and input to such sites as Library Thing and Delicious; and can have as much fun as my kids in exploring You Tube or playing with an online Meez. And I also discovered some cool sites on the Web 2.0 awards list. It's been a bit rushed for me (I started in October) but well worth it, despite the sense of cramming for a test. On the negative side, I got bored with all the little info-"bytes," the time drain, and the facile content: you begin to feel all life begins with the worldwide web. Still, it was well worth the journey!

Thing 22: Downloadable audios

I looked through Overdrive titles with some interest and will revisit titles in the future, especially hard to get, popular audios, though I see we would have holds on these titles even at such sites. The NetLibrary podcast was helpful, since we get questions from time to time about downloading problems with our own NetLibrary and Maryland Consortium. I find the Project Gutenberg site to be a little jargony and hard to follow, though the project itself is momentous. The titles I found on NetLibrary were ones I would tend to put a hold on here, rather than try to download. I may find myself more interested in downloading audios after I use my new MP3 player for awhile!

Thing 21: Podcasts

I visited podcast.com and was surprised at the varied topics and level of expertise of the podcasts. I especially gravitated toward the book reviews (including Diana Gabaldon and a reading of a Defoe novel, Roxanna) or educational podcasts (one called ShakesPodosphere was a discussion of early sonnets) and also like the how-tos (how to play piano included a fairly informal discussion of chords, with everyone chiming in from around the country). The most polished podcasts I listened to I found at the online Washington Post site, where I listened to an interview with Oliver Sacks on music and the brain (how music is somehow wired in the brain of stroke victims, even Alheimer's patients). On this same site I found a link to a National Geographic video of elephants in an African wildlife sanctuary that were being systematically poached for their ivory tusks. It was horrible seeing what happens to the elephant families, but was a graphic statement that probably would not have made it to television--the images were amazing. These podcasts are an excellent source for students (lectures, directions) and are also often (not always) entertaining.

Thing 20: You Tubing

This is great fun and should be wonderful for book groups seeking video interviews with authors. I watched Mary Lawson talking about the genesis of her book, "The Other Side of the Bridge," the book I'm discussing with a library group. I'm also reading "Loving Frank" and discovered a you tube video of the author touring Frank Llloyd Wright houses,and, in particular, the one he built for Mamah (his second wife) and the family she raised before running away with Frank. I also checked out LibVibe to watch library news--a report on missing items at L of C and an Internet filtering debate (a little boring, actually). These videos would be great for our author visits and could expand our audiences. We could also use You Tube to promote our services and collections.

Thing 12: Rollyo

I like the idea of Rollyo and signed up for the choices (health, libraries, and books +authors). I may use these, especially the book websites, for recommendations. I like the simplicity of bookmarks, however, and maybe Rollyo is a little redundant unless you're writing for the NY Times or are Arianna Huffington. I went back to Rollyo simply to refresh my memory of it: I decided to do a rollbar of favorite libraries, to find books and book club ideas. It's still a little overwhelming to think about the numbers of sites you can peruse through, if you have the time and stamina.

Thing 11: Love the Library Thing

Library Thing is my favorite thing so far. I think I'll add to this list forever, both favorites from now and my childhood. I also like that I can tag them by categories, since it will be useful to find recommended titles for book clubs.

Thing 9: Merlin and library blogs

Merlin seems packed with resources for techno-impaired librarians. I like the links to library blogs, some of which I need to peruse when I have more time. I was also impressed by the online courses available, from "how to handle difficult customers" to technology-related courses and wikis. I'll definitely visit Merlin from time to time to see what's new.

Thing 7: Cellphones

Cellphones are wonderful but sometimes dominating technology. A friend tends to call me from her car on the way to a meeting and it's almost as though she's got a checklist of items to run down. My kids call me on cellphones fairly frequently, for which I'm grateful, yet it's awfully easy for them to ask me about stuff they could probably address on their own. And, yes, I tend to call at the drop of a hat; our plan allows us unlimited calls. I love that I have a cellphone when I'm driving or walking alone. This little device is both lifesaving and sometimes a nuisance when it goes off in the library. Now we have memory stored in it, tv, internet: we will never be disconnected or quiet again.

Thing 19: Web 2.0 award winners

I spent about an hour looking at various sites and was intrigued with some of the social networking sites, such as 43 things, where you list goals and get other people to cheer you on or share experiences. I also will boomark some of the health sites, like medstory, which seemed to have some recent research, and I especially enjoyed the listdump site, which referred me to great food websites such as epicurius.com. Great pictures and slides!

Thing 18: Word Processing on Zoho

This could be a great way to do collaborative editing of a document or to create a document you want posted to a blog or an email, especially with the many editing features of Zoho. Students or small business might find the templates handy as well as the accessibility of Zoho from any computer. Will I use it or suggest it to customers? Might be useful for a group of students doing a collaborative report or adding data to a spreadsheet on Zoho, and the result would be much more efficent than email attachments. I typed this up on Zoho and tried to post it to my blog...I may have missed a step, since it never appeared. I ended up just pasting it here.

Learning 2.0 Sandbox--Thing 17

I finally got my book review of Eden's Outcasts up on "favorites," on the Sandbox. It took me awhile to get the sequence of steps and to import a picture of the book. I'll have to go back and look at some of the other favorites someday. Ach, so much to read superficially and without more than a fleeting thought for any of it, yet so much more to read and write for the nanosecond, definitely not for the ages.

Wikis and Social Networks-- Thing 16

I can see the potential for wikis in a variety of projects and appreciate the instanteousness and spontaneity of such sites. The open-endedness of all these projects makes you think differently, more collaboratively. The wikis seem especially useful for lists, increments of information, or brief analyses (such as short book reviews). I liked the Princeton Library site and will visit it again, I think, for "late breaking" reviews! Wikis seem to advocate democratic participation which leads to a lot of mediocre or inaccurate and opinionated content, such as you hear on C-Span or find on Wikipedia. Many of the wikis do not seem so open-ended and democratic--they filter what they accept

Library 2.0: Brave New Library

I'm dubious whether I'll find myself swimming through the blogosphere with ease. Somewhere on the way to libraries of the future I find myself checking out the latest star gossip (what'sup with Lindsay in the last 5 minutes?), then suddenly gagging. The articles on Library 2.0, building on Web 2.0 , were fascinating, as they focused on the morphing of libraries into user-centered, more technically friendly gathering places. Yea, we will be both a place of information and a conduit for information. Meanwhile, we spend much time on recommending and acquiring books for bookclubs, talking about books, reading books and reviews of books, helping our favorite older customers find and enjoy books, setting up displays of books, placing dazzling books in the hands of our youngest customers, attending workshops about books, and shifting books around. I love thinking about technorati and de.licio.us and the brave new library of the future: information strategically organized by the techno-librarian for the "Starbucks"-caffeinated customer. Where'd I put my progressives?

Del.icio.us and moi

After several tries and much fumbling around, I finally got this bookmarking tool to work for me. I hope I will remember to add to it with a few tags: libraries, literature, books. I expect I'll diversify my tags (money, money, money, rich, wealthy, retirement...along those lines). What initially seems such a complicated process, suddenly becomes quite obvious and logical.

Thing 10: Avatars--let the good times roll!

They're fun if you have a lot of time to play with them, but not so fun if you're pressed for time. Some of the ones staff generated were really cute, and I did my best to generate a cute meez but then got a little impatient with the options. I'm glad I know about these things, because I won't be so clueless when someone asks me to help them export their avatar (it'll really come in handy).I found this dancing penguin Avatar and put him onto some Alpine trail. It doesn't look much like me, but I do like his attitude. I've tried several times to import my Meez, cause it's really funky, but something goes haywire with my computer each time. Maybe I need a new computer?

Thing 8:RSS Feeds and Clutter

I'm fascinated and a little dazed by all the sources of information available through these feeds. I subscribed to four or five literature and wordsmithing feeds I found through bloglines and also added Merlin, which should prove interesting ( and, hey,there was our own Beth Tribe!). Since I've done a whirlwind tour of RSS feeds--what they are, how to add them to my list, what some of them have to offer--I almost don't remember any stuff I learned from the feeds, themselves. I hope over the next few weeks I'll be able to take my broom to the clutter of information drifting through, and find a few fun and pertinent sources. This process is a little frenetic and time-consuming, but I'm glad I know about some of these feeds.

Thing 4: Wivenhoe UK

Wivenhoe
Originally uploaded by ginny.leslie

On Flickr, I found my favorite place of the decade, Wivenhoe, England, a small village just north of London with a bakery, a bookstore, restaurants, and a few pubs. Near the quay, we sit and have a pint and watch the sun set. We have a small garden with an apple tree, a swing, roses and a rosemary bush, and a handsome brick garden shed once used as an outhouse. From the second floor of Folly Cottage we can see the quay, where the tide rises and falls with the sun. Just 20 years ago the village had a huge shipyard where the boatmaking industry flourished.

Thing 2: Lifelong Learning and openess

I think the trait I'd most link to lifelong learning is creativity, which means openess to experience. People hold onto rigid "flat earth" perspectives, because they just aren't comfortable thinking about another point of view or changing their way of doing things. And the other point about learning and staying open is that no one has to be a pro at every task. We can play the piano with one hand or be less than a gourmet cook and still have fun. That's my take on lifelong learning.

Thing 1: Embarking on 23 Things

I'm late to this blogging game but am also game to try it out. I kind of like the idea of it being a game, a folly, not too scientific, a little bit messy. I have a lot of catch-up to do but can do some of my "things" at home. And my goal? I want to find out what looks most worth visiting in the vast old blogosphere.