Thing #20 - YouTube, TeacherTube, and Zamzar

From YouTube: This woman is me, my alter ego. Just viewing this segment empowered me and it felt GOOD!



My next choice: The Hollywood Librarian. I had hard all the hype and still haven't seen the movie, but I get excited just thinking about it. Can't wait till it gets to Netflix!



This one really got my attention!




From TeacherTube....I am going to use this to support our DEAR theme with District Secondary Students.

#19 Award List

Soooooo many to explore that it was very hard to choose. I decided to look at Zillow.com. We are building a new home and will eventually sell our current home and move. I wanted to see what tools are available to compare the home we are building with other homes in the same area and to see possible resale value on the one in which we are currently living.

It was very interesting to see the size and comparative value of the houses in our neighborhood. The ariel photography was fun to view as well and it was free. In my home state of Indiana, most of the farms have an ariel photograph taken years ago, framed and hung in a place of honor. These are now free or at least could be.

I have explored Google Earth. My son returned from his honeymoon with all of his pictures connected to Google Earth. Click on the picture and get a visual satellite picture of the exact place it was taken. He can track his entire honeymoon and remember where they were and what they were doing when the picture was taken.

Fun! Fun! Fun! I looked at Backpack as well. Families could use it to keep track of each other's schedules. Always a problem for us. I look forward to sharing soccer games, school programs, open houses, and other grandchildren activities on the calendar. And it is free! Ten years ago I couldn't even have imagined that we could share our lives so easily.

#18 Google Docs

I am fairly familiar with both Google docs and Open Office. My husband uses Open Office and Firefox for everything. Google docs was the topic of a workshop I took in March at the Texas Distance Learning Conference. I was so excited, I went back to the office and began promoting the service.

We haven't used it yet, but I have made plans. I chair and serve on several committees that will use Google docs to complete a final product - one of them is an RFP for library management software. We also need to update our job descriptions and evaluation instruments.

I was really pleased with the templates. I can see using them in the classroom for students to use individually or in groups. They are ways to get students focused on being "professional" and developing a good image for future employers.

I loved the wedding album template. It's not too late to post more of my son's wedding pictures! Can't wait to use the baby book template! :)

#17 Rollyo

Very interesting. I read the info, watched the video, and explored the site. I created a "roll" of my own favorite research sites - My Personal Reference Desk. However, I wasn't able to save the Rollyo site to my Del.cio.us, because I am at a different computer and have to validate via email. It has been over an hour and the email has not come.

I also tried emailing a link to myself and tried to link to my search roll. I got this error message: Doh!
We can't find the page you're looking for. If you think it's around here somewhere and you're getting this when you shouldn't be getting this, drop us a line and we'll try to get to the bottom of it.

I was also unable to drag the RollBar to my bookmark bar.

On the whole, Rollyo was a frustrating experience. It does have a lot of potential.....just got to work the bugs out.

#16 Sandbox Wiki

Fun. I enjoyed the simplicity of the entry. Just like the YouTube video. Edit, write, and save. Nice of you all to host a wiki just for us to practice! Our District is using eChalk which has a blogging feature. Can't wait to introduce it to the librarians.!

#15 Web 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

My experience of libraries has changed so much in the past ten years or so, that I am excited that we are still on the move, and while we can identify general directions, the future is still just possibilities. However, the role of 2.0 technologies and applications, is to help us "test the waters" and jump in. I have already stepped into the unknown and am just a bit uneasy. We librarians often like to think of ourselves as "in-control" when many of us are already behind.

Wendy Schultz sparked my imagination with the possibilities. Not only am I to master 2.0, but 3D and 4.0 as well----when we get there.

David Warwick is amazing. He led me to Teachertips.com and 50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers and a Florida site: Web Tools 4 U 2 Use.

The possibilities are staggering! Like Wendy, I can't wait to get there.

#14 Technorati

I am not nearly as excited about Technorati as I was about Del.icio.us. I am struggling with how to use it for my own benefit and the benefit of librarians. What I did learn from Technorati was that we, who are are doing the 23 Things through Spring Branch are not alone. Everyone, including NEA and School Library Journal, and 170 others are blogging and exploring all the networking possibilities of Web 2.0. We, at least some of us, were listed, thought it was hard to tell. I went to the top blogging spot, Boing Boing, but was not too impressed. What I am learning is that there is a lot of blogging activity going on out there!

Tags are very helpful, especially because you self-select; no reason to memorize a key list of any type. The suggested tags on side menus are very helpful, particularly related to size of the type. The bigger the more popular. I did learn however, that just because the tag is large doesn't mean that it is what I am looking for.

Thing #13

What a gift! I had signed up for a Del.icio.us account a few months ago and a friends suggestion, but then didn't have a clue as to what to do with it. Finally, I can clean all those really important links off my desktop! It's the tags, the wonderful tags! The Common Craft videos from U-Tub are so great - so simple, even the technology challenged can get it.

I can see great possibilities for sharing not just professionally, but also with family, friends, Church, etc. "favorites" folders never seemed to work for me. I saved and saved and saved; then couldn't find them when I needed them.

I thank you for including Del.icio.us as one of your 23. I would like to see it moved closer to the top of the list. I wish I had it to use early on...

Thing #12 Creating Community

I am finding that I am probably not a great blogger. I love exporing the 23things; just hate having to write about them. I move ahead to the next "thing" and "forget" to blog my comments. Then I have to go back and try to remember what I did.

I have to confess that I am a lurker, not an active participant. I have to get really excited to join in a conversation in a blog or a list. I have been a member of LM-Net, TLC Listserve, and read many blogs without ever commenting unless asked directly. So, to go to some of our group blogs and comments was really work. Loved to read them though and especially loved seeing examples of their work - especially the image creators. I had to make myself comment, but I did do it and left my personal stamp (picture) so the recipient would know who I am. I feel safe doing that within this group. I loved The Mean Old Library Teacher's blog. So beautiful, creative, flowing, and very different for the rest. I would have told her but I couldn't find any place to comment. Comments were posted on Life's a Garden, Born to Travel, Karen's Space, and Practicing what I Preach - Teach sites. They were all way ahead of me .... finished even.

I am still struggling, knowing that time is short and I have a lot of blogging to do. I have listed some of my favorite blogs on my site and am adding as I go....Put Library Thing on this morning. I am always interested in any and all conversations about books and reading.

Thing #11: The Library Thing

What an amazing website! I signed up, catalogued a few of my books, and took them up on their offer to evaluate some free books. I am on the email lists, and found an invitation in my email this morning to join their bookstack picture contest.

In addition to personalizing one's own book collection - it will take quite a long time to catalog or even list them all - this is a site that might appeal to young bibliophiles, with particular reading tastes.

I added it as an RSS feed. I am still struggling with feed concept. E-mail or Reader?

Thing# 10 Image Generators

I found Image Chef easy to use and created both trading cards and a magazine cover to celebrate my son's recent wedding. The wedding and summer break has focused me on family and family celebrations and I think how wonderful it is to be able to generate magazine covers and trading cards to commemorate such happy occasions as a wedding, or a birth and post them on the web for the world to see. There are so many wonder family things to celebrate!

Sign generators were also very helpful. We are temporarily without our graphic designer, who has always helped me with Drop Everything and Read (DEAR), our annual District reading promotion. Using sign generators, I can create and show librarians and school staff how to create easy individualized signs to promote our reading event.

Thing #9

Ok, I'm back. I admit to being a bit distracted. I have been traveling on my brief 3 week break and am not back in the swim. I understand that I am going to have to hustle to finish up with Library Play on time. I did set up a Google "reader"account and have daily updates to check. Love The Onion! Like getting the "quote of the day" and Colbert Report videos. I go to bed early so I don't get to watch him "live" as often as I would like. I like the U-Tube and Newspaper headlines....let's me select what I want to read without filling up my mailbox.

I realize I have to get a move on, so I will be working on Thing #10!