Thing 23: Final thoughts

Basically, I feel like a learned A LOT going through the 23 Things on a Stick program. Sometimes I felt (and still feel) overwhelmed by all of the information in each Thing, because I felt like I didn't have enough time to explore as much as I wanted to. The program opened up a lot of doors as far as promoting the library, offering classes, etc. It also consistently brought up issues with the filtering of the computers, which I think is something that needs to be addressed. It's pretty hard to incorporate some of these tools (such as MySpace or YouTube) if people who come into the library don't have access to them.
Some of my favorite Things were some I was already familiar with. I really liked Bloglines, because I like having everything right in front of me. Especially as more friends and family create blogs, it's nice to just add them to my feeds, and that way I'll automatically know when they're updated instead of constantly having to check each site separately. I can see myself using that for years to come.
I also really enjoyed learning about Flickr. I really didn't know anything about it, but I love the idea of using it as a backup for photos. I love pictures, and it would devastate me if anything happened to them, so this is a project I plan to undertake using Flickr.
LibraryThing and Facebook were tools I already used and loved, but I got the opportunity to explore them further and discovered aspects of each that I was unaware of before. It's made me want to keep learning more about each and really take advantage of what they have to offer.
One thing that surprised me about the 23 Things on a Stick was that I really wasn't sure I would use any of them in my daily, personal life (although I'm not sure why I thought that). I already use Bloglines and Facebook everyday, have started getting my photos on Flickr, and have begun to do even more with LibraryThing. So I've really taken a lot away from this program. And that's just to name a few.
One suggestion that I think would make things so much easier would be if the links on the 23 Things on a Stick blog could open in a separate window. It's difficult to follow directions when you constantly have to go back to the 23 Things blog instead of going back and forth. Maybe there is a way to do that and I just didn't figure it out, but that to me was a little frustrating at times. I would participate in more programs if management allowed work time to complete them.
It's difficult to sum up in one word or sentence my experience or thoughts on 23 Things on a Stick, but I guess I would say it made me feel more comfortable with all of the different tools that are out there, and it also made me want to learn much, much more. Overall a very successful program.

Thing 22: What did I learn today?

The 23 Things experience has really been a lot of fun, because some of the things I've discovered through the program I can see using in other parts of my life, besides just work. Some of my favorites have been Bloglines, LibraryThing, Flickr, Facebook, and just discovering other social networking options. Some things I don't know that I will ever use, but it's nice to know they're around.
I think I am going to keep doing a blog, but I will probably create a new one that may be more relevant to my life. I will definitely incorporate the things I've already learned, and hope to be more willing to explore on my own. It's definitely good to keep up with what's happening on the Web, and I still feel like I haven't even cracked the surface.
I'm not sure I've found a way to keep up with things; I'm still learning more about the things we have already done. There's so much to explore, and I would like to be more comfortable on some of the sites/tools I plan to use regularly (or already do use regularly). It's definitely been a great learning experience, and I'm glad I got to complete the program.

Thing 21: Other social networking sites

So it was interesting to know that there are so many more social networking sites out there; I had no idea at all that there were so many. It's so overwhelming, and I don't even know how to begin choosing which ones are "right" for me. I thought Gather was interesting; one of the things I liked about was that it had different links for different interests, like books, movies, music, etc. And some of the ongoing discussions were pretty funny, but some also seemed pretty pointless. I am intrigued to join the Minnesota Readers Group, but I haven't yet, because I'm not sure I want to join anymore sites. Again, a lot of these sites seem like good places to go and waste time. I'm not sure how many of them I would actually keep up with. I did hear some good things about last.fm, so I may check that out, although i haven't yet. I hope that the 23 Things on a Stick blog stays up for awhile, so that I will be able to expand my knowledge even more when I'm not on a time constraint.
To me, Ning seemed similar to the sites we've already explored, although I did notice that it was much more customized and specific. I did join the 23 Things on a Stick group and left a comment for someone, and I also added a badge to my blog, so I hope that it works when I post. I was a little upset that we had to join yet another site, when i already feel like I have joined or signed up for so many things I will never use, but I did it anyway since it was part of the way to complete the Thing. I cannot see myself on this much in the future, though.
I have used WebJunction before, for finding information for computer classes and such, but I'm not exactly clear on how it's a social networking site? It seemed like the most different site from all the other ones I have looked at.
Also, when I tried to read the Publisher's Weekly article about MySpace and Gather, I wasn't able to get it to come up, which was a little frustrating since I was really interested in it. Oh well.

Visit 23 Things on a Stick

Thing 20 - Libraries and social networks

I already have both a MySpace and Facebook account. I created a MySpace page a while back because a lot of my friends were there, and I thought it would be a great way to keep up with friends who live far away. But, for some reason, I have found it to be rather difficult to figure out. It's probably like most things, I just haven't put enough time into it. And I never really actually communicated with my friends all that much on MySpace. More recently, however, I have re-discovered Facebook. I first had a Facebook account when i was in grad school and a TA; I thought it would be good to know what all of my students were up to. However, I wasn't entirely comfortable with that account, as I wasn't sure of the privacy standards. But, when I started to realize that nearly all of my friends had decided that Facebook was the "better" way to communicate and stay in touch, I opened a new account, and have liked it much better than MySpace. While all of the application invitations can get annoying, I do like that you can become "fans" of things, and it seems much easier to communicate with friends who are also on Facebook. It's also a great way to share pictures, because if one of your friends "tags" you in a picture, it is automatically added to the photos on your account, which is pretty cool. Also, it's a great way to create groups and events, and it just seems a little easier to use, and much more private than MySpace.
I looked at Hennepin County Library's MySpace page, and I really liked it. Our library has talked in the past of having a MySpace page, but we have filtering problems that would have to be overcome before that could become a reality. I liked how HCL featured music they have on their shelves, events, and all of that. It would be great if we could link it to the library's home page. I'm not exactly sure how well a Facebook page would work, since I think MySpace is still more popular, but any of these I think would achieve one goal - to get youth and teens more involved in the library.

Thing 19: Podcasting

So I've known the general definition of podcasting for awhile now, but have not been overly familiar with podcasts themselves, either creating or listening to them. And I'm still not familiar with creating them; to be honest, I don't like how I sound to myself, and so I'm not comfortable putting out a podcast that anyone could listen to. However, it was interesting searching the directory; I used podcast.net, and I liked that because it was divided into categories. I didn't have a specific podcast I was looking for, so this was a great way for me to find one. I was looking for one that was related to fantasy football, because I'm really into that during the football season and so I thought a podcast of it would give me an edge next year. I'm not sure I like the one that I selected, but I did notice that there are a lot more to experiment with, so that was nice. I also chose a podcast of a morning radio show I used to listen to all the time, but which now I don't get since the radio station isn't in Fargo. I was able to subscribe to that podcast directly from the radio station's web site, so that was another route to take.
I did add both of these podcasts to my Bloglines account, and was excited to see that they have actually been updating. Unfortunately, I think that iTunes needs to be on the computer to listen to them from that account (at least the morning radio show), so I haven't been able to listen to them yet. But, I'm excited to be able to upload the morning show to my iPod and listen to it at the gym or whenever.
Not quite sure how this would work in a library. Unless you did something like podcasts of special programs the library hosts or storytime or something like that. A teen program could also involve making a podcast, but again I'm not exactly sure about the best practices and all that.

Thing 18 - YouTube

Thing 17 - ELM productivity tools

For some reason, I had a really hard time with this Thing. But it looked like, from all the comments, that I wasn't the only one. This is one that I would really need more time to explore, I think, to really get the benefits from it. I'm not really sure how I would use it at my job. If there was someone who wanted us to do ongoing research, I guess then it would be useful. But there really aren't too many requests like that. And while I do use Ebsco more than most of the other databases, it still isn't all that much. This Thing had a lot of information that I will have to continue to digest when I have the time. I can see Ebsco being really helpful if writing an academic paper especially, and that would have been really nice while in school. There are other searches too, that may yield an interesting collection, but I struggled to get it to work. I will keep trying.

Thing 16: Student 2.0 tools

I thought these Student 2.0 tools were pretty amazing. I am really bad with procrastination, and to have something broken down into smaller tasks I think would have eliminated a lot of that. Part of the problem, I think, is when you have something that seems so huge to tackle, rather than dig in and get started, it's easier to just put it off. But with tools like these calculators, it's much easier to set goals for yourself (they're actually even set for you) and stay on track. I know as a teacher I would have found them invaluable for my students and would have encouraged each and every one of them to use them to help them complete their assignments. We do have a Teen Page on our web site, and although we don't promote that enough in and of itself, I think the Research Project Calculator would be a great addition. As far as the teacher side of it, I'm not really sure how we could effectively promote that in the library, but if a teacher were to let us know about an assignment, then we could definitely inform him or her of this tool.

Thing 15: Libraries and games

Games in the library really has been a hot topic at our library, and it's led to some tense moments and people losing their temper. We have a limited number of computers, and a person is allowed to have one reservation at a time, for up to one hour. If someone wants to use it for another hour, they would have to make another reservation. School-age kids are good at being able to make consecutive reservations, and they play Runescape. Some of the adults don't think that these games are important, so they get very frustrated when they have problems getting on the computer to do their real "work." Now, I know the system has its flaws, but it doesn't discriminate the number of reservations people can have, and it's equal for all, kids and adults. It's difficult, because to the kids playing Runescape, it's very important to them, but to some of the adults, it's "just games." I think it would be really helpful if we could have a separate area for school-age kids and adults, but that just isn't feasible at this location. I'm expecting that there will be many more complaints again this year once school is out for the summer.
I've never been much of a computer gamer, I don't really know the reason, but I haven't. I looked around the Second Life site a little bit and read about it, but I didn't really understand how people could make real money in a fictional world. It didn't make sense to me. And it seemed a little weird. That could be because the first time I heard about Second Life was on an episode of Law and Order: SVU. I didn't even know it was real until this Thing. It seems as though something like Second Life could be dangerous for people who get addicted and spend more time in that world than this real one, but I guess too much of anything is bad for people. I don't want to be too judgmental about it, because I didn't really give it a fair shot.
As far as the presence of libraries in Second Life, I guess I didn't completely understand that, either. Is it just so the people who do spend all their time in that world will have a place to go for information? I think I need to look into it more.

Thing 14: LibraryThing

I have been using LibraryThing for more than six months now, and still have yet to discover half of the options on the site. I really liked the idea of cataloging my books in one place and being able to see what they look like (having the option of changing the covers to match your exact cover is awesome). I've always been a bibliophile and just love books themselves, so this site seems made just for me. It's pretty easy to find your books on there, especially if you have the ISBN number, and it's fun to watch your library grow! I have yet to join any groups or discussions, but hope to be able to spend more time on it as it seems I will be spending a lot more time on the computer now in general! One thing I didn't know that I just found out is that some authors have their own accounts and libraries, and it was really cool to see what kind of books some of my favorite authors have - also gives a good idea for recommendations (as if I'll ever run out of things to read...) - the reviews would help with that too.
I've had a "random books from my library" link on my blog for some time now, just because it was one of the tools I was using before 23 Things started, it just made sense to add it to my blog. I like how it changes all the time, and it's fun to see the different combinations of books show up on my blog.
As far as how libraries could use it; I'm not really sure how that would work. The idea of having 'recently added books' on our library web site could work pretty well, but as far as cataloging every book, I don't even know if that would be possible. I do love the visuals, though, far better than just searching an online catalog.

Thing 13: online productivity tools

These sites did seem more helpful and useful than some we've had to look at in the past; however, there are still so many for so many different things that it takes time to figure it all out. In the past, I had a My Yahoo! page, so I decided to re-create one for my new email account. I really like how it turned out, and I really think it will be useful for me because I could put so much content on it, but I also know if in a few weeks I realize I'm not using some of the modules, I can just delete them off of my page. Another feature My Yahoo has is the ability to link to Facebook. Facebook is something I'm fairly new at but mildly obsessed with, so to have it right with the My Yahoo page is time saving for me.
As far as calendars go, at work we use Google calendar to schedule the meeting rooms. I've worked with it a little bit, but I mostly use it to see if a meeting room is open on a particular date. We used to have a binder that this information was kept in, so having access to it online makes it much easier to communicate with people about the availability of meeting rooms. As for my own calendar, I actually used Yahoo for that as well; since that's my main email, it just made more sense to me to use the Yahoo tools for these other things as well. It's very helpful to have all of these productivity tools in one place, and because of that, I actually feel like they are being a help rather than a hindrance.
Yahoo also has To-Do lists, so while I looked at a couple of the other ones, again I decided to stick with Yahoo. One way I could see a shared list being useful is when we are doing a large cleaning or something, and everyone is supposed to keep busy with that. Rather than having a piece of paper floating around, an online list that people could check when they had time and cross off when they were finished seems as though it would be much more efficient.

Thing 12 - Social media sites

I was feeling a little hesitant to sign up for any of the social media sites, as I feel that I need a folder just to keep track of all the things I've signed up for so far. I don't know anyone on earth who has enough time to really work with all of these Web 2.0 tools on a really regular basis, although that could be because I'm still learning how they work. I signed up for Newsvine and Digg. Newsvine seemed appropriate for me since I used to work in the news industry and enjoy reading news stories, but I'm still trying to figure out the navigation. There are a lot of boxes with headlines in them, and I'm trying to differentiate what's what. I did "seed" a couple of articles, which basically meant that I liked them and voted for them, but I didn't leave any comments and I haven't done anything to my profile. One unique thing about Newsvine is that the users can write their own columns or stories, and then if a lot of people look at them, they can get paid based on ad revenue. Not really sure how it all works, but it was a twist I hadn't seen before. That gives the users of these sites what seems like incredible power, which could be both good and bad.
Digg I didn't spend quite as much time on, and basically only opened an account so I could try and post a story to it. It was pretty easy to do, but then to find that story I actually had to try and Digg it again, and then I saw that my second Digg was a duplicate. So I think it will just take some more exploring to get familiar with these sites. I'm actually not sure how a library could really effectively use these tools; I would have to figure out their full potential more to see how that would work.

Thing 11 - tagging and del.icio.us

I will admit, I have been somewhat skeptical about some of these Things, and if they really do serve a purpose. Some I have been right to be skeptical about (mash-ups), but others have really surprised me with their usefulness and efficiency. Del.icio.us was one of those things. It was fun to explore different sites and other people's bookmarks, and I could see how this would be very useful in an academic setting, but also as a supplement to library materials. I loved how the San Mateo library had their tags divided according to Dewey Decimal number; it was like searching the virtual library shelves for URLs according to subject, and it was pretty cool. When I searched under 000books, I got links like NoveList and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database, which really just expands the resources that are already in the library. I wondered, though, if the library system had anyone who checked out the sites before they were bookmarked in del.icio.us, or if any site could be bookmarked? And what would be the "criteria" for a site to be added? These are questions I think a library might face when deciding to use del.icio.us. Also, I have no idea if it's possible, but when I went to the library's homepage, I didn't see any link or way to get to the del.icio.us bookmarks. Not sure if there is one, but it seemed odd to me.
As far as tagging goes, I'm still a little intimidated by this whole idea. I'm just not sure exactly how to choose the proper tags to use; I tried to tag my books in LibraryThing but it was so overwhelming that I gave up. I also never understood the point of tags, but after this Thing, it makes more sense to me than it did before.

Thing 10: Learn about wikis

To be honest, I was pretty interested in learning about wikis, because I've heard them talked about often and really didn't know what they were or how they worked. So this Thing has been very educational for me. Staff in our library have talked about the potential a wiki could have, but I think there are some policy issues that would have to be addressed first. We talked about how a wiki could get teens and younger people onto the library site more, and how it could be used, but I think we're still a while away from implementing something like that.
I first heard about wikis last year, when I was an English department graduate student and a teaching assistant. The writing program administrator was very much into technology and these Web 2.0 tools, and so he was always encouraging us to try them out; in fact, he's the reason I knew how to blog before this challenge. He encouraged classes to devise their own wiki pages, but I was nowhere near that technologically adept at that point, so I never did create one. But now that I've explored it a little bit, I can see the benefits of having one. I really liked the library wiki that had book reviews by patrons, and I think that would be one way to use that in our library.
One thing I'm still trying to figure out is how I feel about Wikipedia. As a writing instructor who was trying to teach students how to do research and evaluate sources, Wikipedia posed a bit of a problem, because anyone can edit and add information to the site. After reading more about how Wikipedia actually works, I think it would be most effective as a starting point for research. I still wouldn't want students to cite Wikipedia as a source in their papers, but I do think it would be helpful for finding sources they could cite, and that would also show them how to decide on the effectiveness of that particular Wikipedia entry. I know that I use it often when people want information, and if it doesn't seem that the information is good, it often does give some kind of reference. I think actually using Wikipedia as a focus in evaluating sources would be a great lesson for students. I do like the idea that anyone can contribute and become an editor, and may be something I will have to look into in more detail!

Thing 9 - Online collaboration tools

I explored both Zoho Writer and Google Docs, but I wasn't really sure how editing the Declaration of Independence would work. And, to be honest, it really didn't. I wanted to try Google Docs, so i followed the directions to request permission to edit the document. When I got the email from Google Docs telling me my request had been approved and to follow a link to edit the document, I clicked on it and then was required to sign in. So I signed in to my Google account, but kept getting the message that my username/password was incorrect. I tried to create a new account, and that didn't work either. So, I ended up not actually having the chance to edit the Declaration. I toured around Zoho Writer but didn't edit that document either. I'm pretty sure I get the basic idea of the programs. One thing I could see this being useful for is for policy writing and that sort of thing. However, I'm not sure how secure these are. The scary side of all of these Web 2.0 tools is the potential for people to hack into it or access your private information. It makes me a little wary of some of these tools, but in the end I think the benefit outweighs the potential cost. But, I wish they would have been a little bit more user-friendly; I'm definitely advancing outside of my comfort zone with some of these Things...

Thing 8, conclusion

By far the most fun Things so far have been those involving photos. I LOVED Picture Trail, and think it offers so many options for ways to display your photos. I've seen what must have been this program used on friends' My Space pages and could not figure out how they got it to work; I guess I now know! This was another site that made uploading to the blog really easy, as it AutoPosts to certain blog sites (including Blogger). Another nice thing is that even if you make changes, you don't have to re-post it or anything, they are automatically made on your blog as well. Anything that doesn't require a lot of computer language is good for me.
As far as how my slide show went, I don't really like how it looks on my blog, but I still think the idea of it is great, and would probably use it for presentations in the future, just not on my blog.
I wasn't able to get Lazybase to load for some reason, so I may have to go back and check that out at a future date. And I looked through the Minnesota eFolio site and saw some sample portfolios, but I'm not sure that's something I'm ready to dive into yet. Plus, since I'm working on this at work I definitely don't have all of the information I would need to make it a cohesive site at this point. Maybe in the future.
I could definitely see the library using something like PictureTrail to exhibit photos taken from events; I could also see something like a Staff Picks database through Lazybones, even though I didn't personally get to learn much about that site - at least not yet.

23Things

Thing 8, part 1

So I decided to try and create a slide show about 23 Things on a Stick, mainly so I could practice embedding it in my blog. I used Zoho Show because it seemed like the most user-friendly, and it was pretty easy. It's pretty cool that you can create a slide show without needing actual PowerPoint software or a jump drive. I could definitely see that coming in handy for things like teaching computer classes and that sort of thing.

Thing 7 - Web 2.0 Communication Tools

This "thing" had some new information, and some not-so-new information. One of the frustrations with a lot of these Web 2.0 tools is the restrictions on the computers at work. We are not allowed to download any new program, and have to always make sure our computers are unfiltered. This is somewhat limiting to the different things we can do.
One of the blog prompts was to talk about how e-mail has improved productivity, and I guess I'm unable to answer that question. Since I've been here, email has been a very important way to communicate. I think it often makes reference work easier than over the phone, because there's not the pressure of someone on the other line, waiting for you to find the answer. Instead, you can find the answer and then get back to the person without feeling quite so rushed. I don't know what I would do without email, in my personal life or at work. There are so many people I'm able to keep in touch with that I wouldn't have probably been able to before, and at work it does save a lot of time.
One thing I really thought was interesting about this Thing was the potential of text messaging and library service. I think it would be great for people to get text messages when their requests are ready to pick up; it's quick, and if they're not at home or near a computer, they would still be able to stop in at the library to pick up their materials because they would know they were there. I think the limited character count SMS allows also makes it an ideal medium for notifications.
I also like the idea of a library catalog accessible through SMS, but I'm not as convinced that something like that would be as effective as would SMS notifications for patrons.
Web conferencing is interesting; I'm not sure it would be my preferred way of learning, but when participants are geographically far apart from each other, it seems like the most interactive way to 'meet.'
The IM video that was part of this Thing was difficult for me to understand, and I used to be a fairly proficient IM'er. I think that would be a problem and many librarians would probably need an IM dictionary to know what all the abbreviations stood for; I know I would.

Thing 6, part 2

So this is actually a pretty cool site, and it was only because I feel like I'm getting really far behind that I forced myself not to spend too much time browsing around. I could definitely see this being used for event programming and creating signs, posters, etc. The fact that it doesn't take much time is also helpful.
I also played around a little bit with Toondoo and created my own comic strip; keep in mind this only took me about 15 minutes, so it's by no means a work of art (although it kind of is to me, and I do like it).

Thing 6, part 1 - online image generators

Okay, so creating this trading card was not nearly as frustrating as some of the mash-ups, and my understanding is that we have to upload more image generated things for this Thing, so it may be divided into a few parts. I could definitely see using a program like this for events, or promoting reading programs by doing series cards or something along those lines. And the fact that it doesn't take long at all is also appealing. I'm not sure how the printed out quality is, as I didn't get that far, but it would be interesting to see.

Thing 5 - More fun (?) with flickr

I really do not understand the point of all of these mash-ups, besides as a way to waste time. I mean, I guess it's interesting that you can do these things on the web, but really, I don't see how they would benefit libraries all that much. If, for example, you used Spell with Flickr to create posters for events, the posters would look more like ransom notes than anything else. And if that's the look you're going for, then great, but if not, then it seems like a bit of a waste. And I feel like I did waste a lot of time on this Thing. Sure, Retrievr is fun (drawing on the computer and seeing the images that "match" what you drew), but as for the practical value of it, I guess I'm just not seeing it. And, contrary to what the 23 Things instructions said, there were NOT easy-to-follow instructions on how to upload any of these creations to my blog, which just added another level of frustration to this Thing. I see the benefit of Flickr itself and how that could be useful in a library setting, but as for all the mash-ups? Seems like a waste of time.

Thing 4 - exploring Flickr, part 2

Yay! The Blog This! feature on Flickr is awesome. I've never known how to upload photos into a blog, and this is SO easy. It includes the attribution and a link to the original page the photo was from for you, so you don't have to worry about any of that. It was so much easier than trying to manually upload it, and I have to say I'm glad that I linked these two tools. I can really see myself utilizing both of them personally, but I can also see how it would work great for libraries. The staff here have talked about starting a blog (and I know there is a blog policy in the works), and I know that for events we do take a lot of pictures, so knowing that this option is available, and that both can be incorporated together, really opens up a lot of options. One thing we always talk about is how to get teens in to the library, or more involved in the library, and this seems like it could be a great way to do that. It was fun to play around with, after the initial frustration, and now it seems like it would be so easy.

Thing 4 - exploring Flickr, part 1

Night London Panorama with Full Moon,
originally uploaded by Dimitry B.

So I finally was able (I think) to figure out a way to upload this photo from Flickr to my blog. I originally tried to do it through the URL address, and when I did that nothing showed up except a date on my blog (like I should have something there, but I don't). I was confused about how to add attribution to a photo taken by somebody else, so I guess I'll see if this works. What I ended up doing was selecting the Creative Commons link on Flickr and choosing a photo from there to upload. I then chose to Blog This! and ended up linking Flickr and my blogger account. So now, I'm doing the experiment to see if it actually works, and was asked to post something to see if it all flows together nicely. So, here goes...

Thing 3 - RSS

I had set up a Bloglines account last year as a graduate teaching assistant, because I had my students set up their own blogs, and it was a great way to keep track of their postings. But even though I had set it up before, I really didn't know exactly what it even meant. I didn't know what the RSS link I saw on web sites did, or that it meant Really Simple Syndication. I was still able to use Bloglines, but knowing more of the background on it really does give me a better understanding of what it is I'm doing, which is always helpful.
The problem with Bloglines is that it is addictive. I chose some general areas of interest and before I knew it I had 30-some feeds - which I think is way too many. I don't have time to look through each one when new things are posted, and so I managed to get it down to about 16, with the understanding that as my colleagues add their blogs, they will be added to my account. It's hard to pick and choose, because I always feel like I want to have an abundance of information at my fingertips, which is what Bloglines provides, yet I never have time to go through all of that information. My fear is that it could end up being more of a time-waster than a time-saver. But I guess I'll see how it all plays out. I think it's also difficult to pick and choose what is going to be quality - there are so many library/librarian blogs, that I don't know which ones would really work for me? I do have The Shifted Librarian, About Contemporary Literature, Unshelved (that comic is sweet) and of course Stephen King as feeds for me. I also included news feeds (in-forum and CNN), and have a feeling I will continue to add as interesting sites and blogs come up.
While I still am not convinced I have a complete understanding of RSS and how it all works, it is exciting to once again have all of my interests "aggregated" in one spot for me to enjoy. This is another "thing" I hope to continue after I finish my 23 things.

Thing 2 - now that's a lot of information

I just completed Thing 2, which was basically reading about Library 2.0. I'm really glad I did that, because to be honest, I wasn't sure exactly what it was about. But all of the difference perspectives on it helped me to find my own, at least a little bit.
It seems to me that it's going to be imperative to incorporate these online social communities somehow into the library. There's been talk here about setting up a My Space page, or something along those lines, to get the younger demographic more involved. Here's the problem, though:
All of our public computers are filtered, and no one under 17 can have access to the filtered material. That material includes MySpace. How does one go about getting around that? I would be curious to know what other libraries that have MySpace pages have done. My understanding is that filtering is a federal requirement, so how does one get around that catch-22? It's one of things that really got me thinking as I read about all of the 2.0 tools.
I'm very excited to continue on with the Things - some of them I'm somewhat familiar with, and some I've barely even heard of. As far as time to get them done, I agree with Steven Abram, who says that 15 minutes here and there should be utilized for 23 Things. It's great to explore, and it's fun to be able to play and learn about things that could end up being utilized in some form in the library, and make things more user-friendly for the patrons! As long as we don't forget about people who do not embrace technology, and do not accept change, because there are people like that who come to the library, and we can't force them to embrace technology. I see it everyday. We have a self-checkout system that is not quite a year old, and there are still patrons who refuse to try it, simply because they don't want things to change. And we respect and accommodate that, and I think that's important as well.
All for now, on to Thing 3!

Thing 1 - continued

So I guess last time I didn't quite finish with Thing 1; I wasn't able to upload my avatar onto my blog. I have since taken care of that problem and I'm actually pretty surprised how easy it was. I had an avatar for my Yahoo! email account, but I had no idea you could actually use that same avatar on other types of accounts, such as blogs. It's pretty cool how so many of these online tools interconnect and interact, and I never realized it before. And, you don't even have to understand the HTML code - you just need to copy and paste! (Which is great news for me).
More to follow after Thing 2.

Thing 1 and done

Aside from the frustration of having to deal with filter controls on staff computers, setting up a blog and completing Thing 1 was pretty easy for me. It helps that I have done it once before, for graduate school, on blogger.com no less! I didn't post nearly as much as I should have for that one, and one day I would like to have a personal blog of my very own, not related to my work in any way. But, for now this will do, and I look forward to blogging about the other 22 things on a stick.