This image generator stuff is still confusing. Here is my feeble attempt.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Thing 18 web 2.0 award winners
I chose Ask.com blog. It's an obvious choice, because I love learning new things. I didn't look for any particular information, but explored the entire site. The 'spotlight' section was neat. Today's spotlight covered the Pillsbuty Dough Boy. He's really getting old! Today's birthdays covers more than just the 'for the moment' celebrities. By the way, Brendan Fraiser is now 40. There's also today in history.
Thing 23 Summary
Overall, I think Learn & Play was a good experience for me and others. I was fascinated by the way it brought our staff together--every day they were talking about Learn & Play and helping each other. I liked it, too. My biggest challenge was finding the time to explore the different 'things'. I was too busy at work and had other obligations when at home.
I would like to continue with the 'things' I did not complete, so I hope Learn & Play will remain up for a time. While the prizes were somewhat of an incentive, I am more driven by having the opportunity to learn some new things. I would probably have never explored blogging, online image generators, twitter, librarything, and the other 'things' had it not been for Learn & Play. That's the really beauty of this endeavor.
Even if Learn & Play does not stay active, I will take my log (which I printed off) and learn about those other 'things', as well as go back to some of the others.
I would like to continue with the 'things' I did not complete, so I hope Learn & Play will remain up for a time. While the prizes were somewhat of an incentive, I am more driven by having the opportunity to learn some new things. I would probably have never explored blogging, online image generators, twitter, librarything, and the other 'things' had it not been for Learn & Play. That's the really beauty of this endeavor.
Even if Learn & Play does not stay active, I will take my log (which I printed off) and learn about those other 'things', as well as go back to some of the others.
Thing 12-Twitter, or Twittering
OK, Twitter was neat. Since I am dropping AOL, this seems like a good substitute for AOL's instant messaging. I invited several of my friends to 'twitter' with me. So far, three have done so. The only thing I do not like about Twitter is the space limitation, but on the other hand, the same occurs with AOL IM's. So what am I complaining about?
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thing #11-Library Thing
This one was easy and fun. For some time I've been organizing my books and recorded music in a database. The really neat thing about Library Thing is that I can organize my books, have a picture of most covers, and more. It's also neat to see who else might have read the same titles. You can see what I've added to my library by going to mspman@librarything.com. Happy reading!
Thing #10
I tried it, didn't like it, but will try again. I had trouble working with online image generators.
Thing #9 Library Related RSS Feeds
I looked at several library related blogs but really what I saw at Internet Public Library. First off, I really IPL and have looked at it for years. The IPL blogs are organized ture to 'library form'. Everything is in subject order with subcategories within each subject. The two I most liked are IPL Blogging 101 and the Entertainment and Leisure category. Check out Blog Flux to get articles on blogging. An example is "Finding your blogging voice". In the Entertainment and Leisure category, I focused on Gaming, particularly Wii (since I just bought one).
Another interesting blog was the one from ALA midwinter 2007. It was a compilation of blogs. Even OCLC had a blog here.
Another interesting blog was the one from ALA midwinter 2007. It was a compilation of blogs. Even OCLC had a blog here.
Thing #8 RSS Feeds
OK, so I continue to take forever to get this right! I actually signed up for feeds from the New York Times and the Columbus Dispatch more than a month ago. I even checked it off on my Learn & Play Tracking log. But wouldn't you know that I didn't do it quite right. It was just one simple detail---Google Reader. I selected the categories for the RSS feed, but didn't do that reader bit. I have now done it correctly.
This was one of the easiest 'things' to accomplish. It's also very practical. I think I'll drop my subscription to the Dispatch and just get feeds from the sections in which I am interested. I'm also going to explore some other resources that might prove worthwhile in getting up RSS feeds.
I must now press on to document Thing 9.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Learn & Play Lifelong Learning
Okay, so I move fast. I completely skipped the part about writing about lifelong learning. So, back to the basics.
Learning is fun! Learning is fundamental! Learning is life changing! Learning until the end is one of my mantras. As a child, Child Craft was my friend. As a youth, I used to read the entire almanac, peruse encyclopedias and randomly pick words in the dictionary to develop my vocabulary. In other posts on this blog, I mentioned how much I like computers and things related to them. Learning enrichs my life.
People often say to me that it must be fun to work at the library and read all the time. They are surprised to when I respond that reading is not why I like being a librarian. Yes, I do read, but not hour after hour, day after day, book after book. I am not a fiction reader. I love to read to learn, hence my love of non-fiction. It is the reason I find reference so intriguing and so much fun. I learn something every day I work information. Sometimes this new knowledge is very simple; other times it is more detailed and complex. Regardless of the level, I like learning.
I like learning about so many different things, from cooking to cars, from music to make-up, from biography to technology. The subjects could go on and on. I recently learned, for example, how the valve lifters work on an automobile. This will be good to know when I take my vehicle in to the dealer.)
As I looked at the '7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners', I thought about how I can apply these habits to my own learning behaviors. The easiest habit is to view problems as challenges. Just as with difficult reference questions, I like the challange of 'passing the test', or finding the answer. I start with the premise that there is an answer, the job is to find it. This requires creative thinking and more than one stragegy. The payoff, however, is great! I haven't quite figured out which habit is most challenging. In different situations it could either #1 - Begin with the end in mind, or # 7 -teach/mentor others.
Learning is fun! Learning is fundamental! Learning is life changing! Learning until the end is one of my mantras. As a child, Child Craft was my friend. As a youth, I used to read the entire almanac, peruse encyclopedias and randomly pick words in the dictionary to develop my vocabulary. In other posts on this blog, I mentioned how much I like computers and things related to them. Learning enrichs my life.
People often say to me that it must be fun to work at the library and read all the time. They are surprised to when I respond that reading is not why I like being a librarian. Yes, I do read, but not hour after hour, day after day, book after book. I am not a fiction reader. I love to read to learn, hence my love of non-fiction. It is the reason I find reference so intriguing and so much fun. I learn something every day I work information. Sometimes this new knowledge is very simple; other times it is more detailed and complex. Regardless of the level, I like learning.
I like learning about so many different things, from cooking to cars, from music to make-up, from biography to technology. The subjects could go on and on. I recently learned, for example, how the valve lifters work on an automobile. This will be good to know when I take my vehicle in to the dealer.)
As I looked at the '7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners', I thought about how I can apply these habits to my own learning behaviors. The easiest habit is to view problems as challenges. Just as with difficult reference questions, I like the challange of 'passing the test', or finding the answer. I start with the premise that there is an answer, the job is to find it. This requires creative thinking and more than one stragegy. The payoff, however, is great! I haven't quite figured out which habit is most challenging. In different situations it could either #1 - Begin with the end in mind, or # 7 -teach/mentor others.
Learn & Play Thing 7
I combined Thing 7 and learning more about Flickr. The comments were actually done on Flickr, then uploaded, which was an interesting process.
If I would give this photo and comments a title, it might be 'We've come a long way, baby.'
Click on the photo to see my comments.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Thing 5 (better known as Explore Flickr)
Learn & Play Thing 5:
Today is 9/16. I tried Flickr about two weeks ago. Actually, I explored Flickr before my last post on 9/3/08. I guess I sort of got ahead of myself.
Flickr was fun to do. I emported some pictures that were stored on my computer and got some others from the internet. Editing photos is something I like to do. Picnik worked pretty much like any other editing features. Other features that I tried were adding and deleting photos, creating sets, creating groups and entering comments.
I also played around with marking my photos for friends and family only, making them private. I am leery about making personal photos available to anyone. You hear so much about photos being used inappropriately, that it makes one take a second thought.
The one thing I did not like about Flickr was to search photos. Full text gave too many hits; tag searches sometimes yielded none. Doing these searches was very much like doing typical reference searches. The more I refined the search, the better my chances were of finding photos I wanted.
Overall, Flickr is OK.
Today is 9/16. I tried Flickr about two weeks ago. Actually, I explored Flickr before my last post on 9/3/08. I guess I sort of got ahead of myself.
Flickr was fun to do. I emported some pictures that were stored on my computer and got some others from the internet. Editing photos is something I like to do. Picnik worked pretty much like any other editing features. Other features that I tried were adding and deleting photos, creating sets, creating groups and entering comments.
I also played around with marking my photos for friends and family only, making them private. I am leery about making personal photos available to anyone. You hear so much about photos being used inappropriately, that it makes one take a second thought.
The one thing I did not like about Flickr was to search photos. Full text gave too many hits; tag searches sometimes yielded none. Doing these searches was very much like doing typical reference searches. The more I refined the search, the better my chances were of finding photos I wanted.
Overall, Flickr is OK.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Readings on Library 2.0 and Web 2.0
Although I really like computers and technological stuff, the 'book librarian' in me still surfaces.
Today I added a book list to this blog. As I stated in my first post, I started reading about Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 a few months ago. The books I listed have been very helpful in providing general information. Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide is the one I'm more into now. Why? I'm glad you asked that question.
I was getting very confused with RSS feeds, bloglines, and newsreads. I kept reading the help sections of blogger.com, but it wasn't quite doing it. I realize that the main reason was that I couldn't easily get back and forth from my blog screen to the help screens. I didn't want to contribute to destroying the environment by unnecessarily printing off a lot of information ( all of which I'd discard after learning the process), so what could I do? As I held my head in my hands and released a sigh, I had an AHA! moment. It is in situations such as this when a book is most helpful. I can keep the screen up and move from page to page in the book.
We may now have answered the question about whether books will soon be obselete. My unofficial, raw guess is that it won't happen for some time. Some of us will still need something to physically hold on to, to write in (not the library books, of course), or to quickly consult (don't have to wait for it to power up, log in, etc.).
But let's go back to my first statement. I like computers and technology. I'm having a great time learning about Library 2.0, Web 2.0, blogging and all that comes with it. But my recent AHA! moment, reminded me that I am comfortable in both environments. Is that great or what!?!?
Today I added a book list to this blog. As I stated in my first post, I started reading about Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 a few months ago. The books I listed have been very helpful in providing general information. Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide is the one I'm more into now. Why? I'm glad you asked that question.
I was getting very confused with RSS feeds, bloglines, and newsreads. I kept reading the help sections of blogger.com, but it wasn't quite doing it. I realize that the main reason was that I couldn't easily get back and forth from my blog screen to the help screens. I didn't want to contribute to destroying the environment by unnecessarily printing off a lot of information ( all of which I'd discard after learning the process), so what could I do? As I held my head in my hands and released a sigh, I had an AHA! moment. It is in situations such as this when a book is most helpful. I can keep the screen up and move from page to page in the book.
We may now have answered the question about whether books will soon be obselete. My unofficial, raw guess is that it won't happen for some time. Some of us will still need something to physically hold on to, to write in (not the library books, of course), or to quickly consult (don't have to wait for it to power up, log in, etc.).
But let's go back to my first statement. I like computers and technology. I'm having a great time learning about Library 2.0, Web 2.0, blogging and all that comes with it. But my recent AHA! moment, reminded me that I am comfortable in both environments. Is that great or what!?!?
Friday, September 5, 2008
Oops! A Blogging Error
I tried posting a comment to another person's blog, and ended up adding a new entry to my own blog. Blogging itself is fun, and I am becoming eager to engage in it daily. I guess if I am to be truly technologically proficient about blogging, I must learn how to post to another's blog. Well, that will be the next chapter in Blogging @CML.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Getting started with blogging!--Things 3 and 4
LibraryI finally got my blog set up as part of Learn & Play @ CML. I just couldn't seem to find time to get it going. About a week ago, I decided to just make it happen. I look at Blogging as another opportunity for me to learn something new. After all, the Columbus Metropolitan Library promotes lifelong learning.
Who knows what the libraries of the future will have. After hearing Helene Blowers' 2007 presentation at CML, I became interested in social networking. I started reading some books about blogging, social networking and libraries. I really liked one book entitled Library 2.0. It is a very readable book that aptly explains social networking and libraries. I kept looking at the name Elizabeth Black, who was one of the contributors. When I read the brief bios of the contributors, I realized that this our own Beth Black, most recently of IT. According to her bio, Beth is now at OSU.
Some say technology is the future. I say technology is today. Sure, there will be new technological advances, but there is no doubt that technology is an integral part of today's library. It can come in the form of Internet, Office 2007, blogging, scanning on the RICOH copier, e-mail, Vocera, dedicated and shared computers, and so much more. No matter the format, I like learning about it, then incorporating what I've learned into my daily work routines.
It's 2:00 am and I blogging. I'd say that I'm becoming obsessed with this technology. I've read some blogs created by CML staff, as well as checking some with labels that interest me.
By the way, I have another blog--http://musical-librarian.blogspot.com. Check it out if you're into music.
Who knows what the libraries of the future will have. After hearing Helene Blowers' 2007 presentation at CML, I became interested in social networking. I started reading some books about blogging, social networking and libraries. I really liked one book entitled Library 2.0. It is a very readable book that aptly explains social networking and libraries. I kept looking at the name Elizabeth Black, who was one of the contributors. When I read the brief bios of the contributors, I realized that this our own Beth Black, most recently of IT. According to her bio, Beth is now at OSU.
Some say technology is the future. I say technology is today. Sure, there will be new technological advances, but there is no doubt that technology is an integral part of today's library. It can come in the form of Internet, Office 2007, blogging, scanning on the RICOH copier, e-mail, Vocera, dedicated and shared computers, and so much more. No matter the format, I like learning about it, then incorporating what I've learned into my daily work routines.
It's 2:00 am and I blogging. I'd say that I'm becoming obsessed with this technology. I've read some blogs created by CML staff, as well as checking some with labels that interest me.
By the way, I have another blog--http://musical-librarian.blogspot.com. Check it out if you're into music.
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