Week 9, Thing#23/ Summarize your thoughts about this program

Done!!!!!Well after two months of learning about the Internet and Web 2.0 I'm finished. I can't say I'll still use everything we've learned about, but I will stick with a few. I know I'll still be using my Bloglines account (after doing a little weeding). I want to do more with Wikis and try out one of the online meeting tools. Flickr has become the de facto "we want to see kitten pictures" site , so that will still get used. The one thing I don't see myself still using is this Blog. It was great to document my 23 things journey, but I don't know what else I'd use it for.

If something like this program was offered again, I'd do it. I learned a lot of cool things while participating. The only thing bad I would say (and it's not really that bad), is that I remember hearing that this would only take about a half hour per week. I know I spent, on average, about a half hour on every activity.

I guess, for me, this isn't really over though. I'm going to try and use what I've learned instead of just doing the activities and then forgetting about them.

We'll, that's it. I'm done. I gotta go put my axe upside someones head.

Baelgoul
(aka Greg Miller)

Week 9, Thing#22/ Learn about Audiobooks

I've used Overdrive at work before so this asctivity was another no-brainer. I browsed the Science Fiction & Fantasy section to see what was there. Saw a lot of the classic writers like Asimov, Bradbury, and Orwell. I only found one title by R.A. Salvatore though, and that is not a good thing as far as I'm concerned (I'm a bit of a fanboy).

I think I'm going to download The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I've been meaning to read it for months now, so I'm going to try and listen to it instead. We'll see, I don't have much luck with listening to audio books. My mind tends to wander.

Next step is to try and download a book to the Palm ;)

Week 9, Thing #21/ Discover useful search tools for locating podcasts

Went through all three search tools and came to the conclusion that Yahoo Podcasts was the only one worth using. I had issues with both Podcast.net and Podcastalley.com, such as not being able to find anything I like and having trouble trying to find an RSS link. If I remember correctly, Podcastalley was pretty adamant about downloading something to the computer (very bad).

I looked for a podcast that would have something to do with Sci Fi/Fantasy literature and came across "Geek Fu Action Grip", which I added to my bloglines account. Mur Lafferty runs the podcast, and she describes herself as a gaming geek, SF geek, and podcasting geek. Sounds good to me! I look forward to listening to her next podcast.

Week 9, Thing #20/ Discover YouTube

Been using YouTube for a while now so this activity was a no-brainer. For me, YouTube has always been nothing but an entertainment web site. I've seen every World of Warcraft video created, not to mention a few of people doing stupid things. I chose the videos for obvious reasons, both are World of Warcraft creations. As far as how we could use YouTube for library purposes, at one time I know there was a video about the Towson library. To promote BCPL, maybe we could upload a video of the Arbutus library's drill cart team.

YouTube Video

I'll post about my YouTube experience later. While searching for World of Warcraft videos I came across this one. Everything you see comes directly from the game.



And this one. Two things I love, WoW and heavy metal music.

Week 8, Thing #19/ Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list

I looked at http://www.campfirenow.com/. I wanted to look at a site that had web based group chat for meetings. Maybe instead of us driving back and forth between branches we could just have a online meeting. Campfire seemed easy enough. After you set up the initial chat room, you send an email invite to anyone you want to have access. You can have a virtual meeting, share files, pictures, and you can invite guests into the chat if needed. Of course the problem I would have is I'm not that fast of a typist. If I had something in depth to say, it could take a while before I got my point across. Although it might cut down on the long winded tirades some people get into at meetings...

Week 8, Thing#18/ Looking at Online Productivity Tools

OK, so I'm creating this post in Zoho Writer. If you can read it I guess I was successful in publishing it. I like the Zoho Writer. It has everything Word has plus a few extra bells and whistles. Templates are a little weak though. Plus, I like the idea of free software. It frees up people from having to go out and by even more Micro$oft programs (anything to stick it to Mr. Gates). Next I'm going to play with all the other programs like Zoho Wiki, Sheet, Chat and maybe even Meeting.

Just did spell check. It thinks Zoho is spelled incorrectly. Don't you think they would know how to spell their own name?

(OK, everything transfered over except the emoticon at the end)

Week 7, Thing #17: Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki

OK, between Bloglines not letting me into MD 23 things, and the directions to add your blog to the wiki being a little confusing, this activity was a little annoying. I get the whole idea of adding to a wiki, just need a little more practice.

Week 7, Thing #16: Learn about Wikis

Wikis, I think it's an interesting idea. I've had experience with wikis in the past so this was one of the easier exercises. When I went to ALA in Washington a few months ago, the ALA wiki was invaluable. I found just about everything I needed to know in one place. I also use wowwiki, a World of Warcraft wiki (enough said). The one thing I don't like about them is that on some wikis, anybody can go in and edit the info for either good or bad purposes. At times, it's kind of hard to know what the truth is.

I did bring up using a wiki at a branch meeting today. It seems a few branches are doing somewhat major shelving reallocation. Thought maybe we could set up a "best practices" wiki. We'll see.

Week 6, Thing #15: Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries

OK, after taking a two week vacation from 23 Things, it's time to get back on track.

I read three of the articles that were suggested: 1) Away from the Icebergs by Rick Anderson, 2) Into a New World of Librarianship, and 3) To a Temporary Place in Time.

I think what I got of this, or "what Library 2.0 means to me", is that Library 2.0 seems to be the big "now" thing. I like it and I think it has some interesting uses. People are using the Internet more and more, so it seems logical that we start using it to enhance BCPL. I do think we need to use a little discretion and not go overboard with it though (this coming from a self proclaimed computer geek). Not to mention the fact if this is going to be the future, we'd better get our bandwidth up to speed (is blocking My Space, a virtual community, what we're trying to accomplish). Creating a virtual library community is great, having databases online is great, but I still think having important print material is still a good idea because one question always pops up in my mind when dealing with online information...what do we do when the power goes out?