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.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
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...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
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.
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