Midwest Library Technology Conference Session Web 2.0

Here I am at the session on Web/Library 2.0 at the Midwest Library Technology Conference at Macalester. So far the conference is great and I'm learning more about Web 2.0 which is a win win situation. I have a long day because this afternoon I have to set-up exhibit and present an ELM session at 4:30. I will be very glad when the day is over and I can go home and relax.

Thing 23 Conclusion

I thought this was a great experience and though I knew about most of the tools I never would have actually tried all of them. I feel more competant and comfortable now as far as web and library 2.0 go. These tools make so much more sense once they are actually used. Thanks for the opportunity!

Thing 22 What I Learned

I learned a heck of a lot. I knew it was easy to do all this stuff you just have to have a chunk of time, whether it's 5 minutes or 20 minutes just make a move. I will definitely be keeping up with Library 2.0 since my job requires me to stay abreast. I will also be adding a lot more feeds to my Google Reader since I've found that is the best and most time-saving way for me to see what's new. It can also be really fun to use some of the 2.0 tools, though I do wish I had more time to play with them.

Thing 21 Other Social Networks

I like Ning and I think that it is a good idea, but like most of these social networking sites, you need to have time to spend on it in order to get anything out of it. I like the idea that within a social network you can create a smaller and more specific social network. I checked out Flickster and that's cool. I use the "community" feature in Netflix with my sister and friends so I recommend movies for them and vice versa.

Thing 20 My Space

One thing I noticed at HCL's My Space page, or it might have been Denver PL's, anyway, was that authors could post announcements, like, "Hey, my book is coming out in just a couple days!" That a great, and free, way for them to advertise. My husband has a My Space page and he uses it in a lot of ways. He can exchange ideas, information, and thoughts with friends, and friends of friends, he can post announcements and get announcements from others, he can meet people, and converse with them. There really is a lot you can do with these sites. That YouTube Common Craft episode really did a great job of explaining social networking sites. I briefly had a My Space account but never used it and forgot about it. I think it is a great way for libraries to get in touch with generation that used Facebook and My Space. I think it's a great way to make announcements and to get information out to a specific audience.

Thing 19 Podcasts

I have not used / listened to many podcasts. I really like how Kristen Mastel, here at MINITEX Reference Services has used them. I guess I didn't realize that I could add them to my Google Reader service. I added The Current's Song of the Day to my blog and that was so easy! I thought that the podcast directories were really easy to use. I'm just not sure how useful they would be in my day to day life.

Thing 18 You Tube

You Tube can be educational but I really feel that is more for entertainment purposes than anything. I tried to embed a couple You Tube videos in my blog but it seems to keep cutting them off. I'm not sure why or what the fix might be. I like the video that I chose because it really demonstrates how things change and stay the same. It is so antiquated it's really interesting to me.

Thing 17 ELM Tools

The ELM Productivity Tools are great! I use search and journal alerts and the RSS feeds as well. The Web Page (Page Composer) feature of EBSCO is a great tool for teachers who want to easily incorporate articles, images, sources from the EBSCO databases into class reading. I use them all on a regular basis and I train teachers, media specialists, and staff on them as well.

Thing 16 Student 2.0 Tools

RPC and Assigment Calculator are great tools, especially for those students who need more detailed direction. I was always the type of person who got my work done the day it was assigned so I probably never would have use it. I do wonder just how many students are using RPC? I'm pretty familiar with both tools since I have had to present them as part of the Cool Tools for the State Fair and other conferences.

Thing 15 Games and Gaming

O.k. that was annoying. I created a log in, etc. for Second Life and then tried to install the software or plug-in or whatever and it said that it wasn't allowed because I'm not an administrator so I'm not going to try Second Life. Also, I don't know if I can keep track of another login and password. I also tried the Pirate game too and that took forever to download. For teens and some adults I can see how games would have major appeal. I have played online Scrabble before with my sister who lived in Milwaukee and that was great fun. It's another way to be social, without really being social. You can make up names, avatars, etc. so you can be anonymous. I think for teens it has such mass appeal because alot of them are at that shy, awkward, and uncomfortable stage so it's great to be anonymous or be someone else for a while.

Thing 14 - Library Thing

What a great thing! That is a great way to promote books in your library! I really like the blog widget that's available. I think that libraries could use this tool to promote recent additions to their library or really any book for that matter.

Thing 13 - Productivity Tools

I just tried that Countdown Widget and it doesn't seem to be working. The numbers just stayed at 0. I really like it, I think it could be a very fun and helpful tool, if it worked. Also, I have had a My Yahoo and an iGoogle page for sometime now and I think they are great time-savers! And they are really easy to set up!

Calendars, (I must be crabby today) ughhh, how many calendars does a person need!? If you don't already have a calendar system, then these are a great bet! If I get another calendar, I will be spending half my day just making sure all of them are accurate and up-to-date. I have an online calendar through my current employer, and, I also have lots of things posted on our wiki, and I have an actual paper desk calendar too.

I chose iGoogle as my start page since I use Google Reader then it's all right there for me. My personal email is Yahoo so I also use My Yahoo when I'm at home.

I can see the calendars and other tools being helpful to someone who has a laptop and is virtually paper free. This way everything from doctor appointments to grocery lists will be right there in their computer. I still need paper. I'm not ready to move to putting everything online. Right now the online calendar would be beneficial because I could have access to it wherever I have access to the web, which is really just at home and work, where I actually have a print calendar that I use. I think I'll write more another day when I'm in a better mood.

Thing 12

I must be in a really bad mood today because these just seem like the same old thing, just with a different twist, as Facebook or MySpace. It just seems like another way to get news and information that you want, but is it news and information that you really need?
* Do these tools seem to be a productivity enhancer or a productivity detractor?
With Digg you have the ability to weed out certain subject areas like sports or celebrity news which can be a time saver. I do feel that these tools can be a productivity detractor though. There is so much news and information floating around out there in cyber space that I think it can only be beneficial if the user really knows how make the service work for them -showing them news/information that is relevant to them. There were some postings on Digg that just didn't seem very important to me but were highly rated by others.
* Have you ever read a story/item as a result of seeing it on one of these sites?
I have never read a story/item as a result of seeing on of those sites. In fact, this is the first I have heard of that type of site and I'm not impressed.

Thing 11 - Del.icio.us

I tired to watch that 8 minute video on Del.icio.us but it didn't seem to work. That was a bit frustrating. I think I'll try again in a bit. I created a Del.icio.us account over a year ago but I have not used it since. I do see the benefit of it though. To take your favorites or bookmarks wherever you go is a great way to save time and energy when looking for information or trying to get back to something that you had viewed earlier. I think this would be something that would be great for me to use at work and home. The whole "social" bookmarking thing is still beyond me though. I haven't had time to play around with it but I can see how it might beneficial.

Thing 10 - Wiki's

I just spent the last several minutes playing around in MPR's Minnewiki. I found it very frustrating! Even after reading the help and instructions several times I still could not figure out how to link a wiki I created for a person to their list of people. It's the same thing I get hung up on at work. I just cannot get a grip on how to link wikis to one another. I can create them and that's not a problem I just can't figure out how to link them, and that is almost more important to me than creating them. Here is the link to the wiki that I created through work.

Thing 9 - Google Docs

Since I use Google on a regular basis I prefer working with Google Docs over Zoho Writer. It is a lot like using a Wiki and there is a great need for tools like this in the library world. These collaborative tools make collaboration much easier. At work we have several wiki's which help keep us all on track of upcoming training and conferences and we can all edit them whenever we'd like.

Thing 8

I created a Flickr Badge which you will see to the right. It was pretty easy to do. I can see this being a great tool for libraries to highlight new books, to highlight areas in their library, to highlight staff photos. There are really alot of great ways one could use this Flickr Badge.

Thing 7 Web 2.0 Communication Tools

I think I've got all of these down already. I use Meebo and IM at work on a daily basis, I have a Yahoo email account, and I use text messaging on my cell phone (just occasionally since they charge me $.15 per message). I have already set up a Meebo Widget from my blog so people can IM me right from my blog. As far as all of these tools go I think that IM, and of course email, are great applications for libraries. I have to admit that in most cases, I will send someone an email before I would pick up the phone to call them.

My Trading Card - Thing 6?

My Trading Card
Originally uploaded by fried004

O.k. here's my very unexciting trading card. That is really cool though there is sooooo much you can do with all those web "toys". I will have to spend some more time playing around with it. This was pretty easy to do!

Flickr Thing 5

Flickr

Edward
Originally uploaded by fried004

So this was really easy to do. I already had a Flickr account since I email through Yahoo. Everything was just a simple click here and click there. I doubt I'll use Flickr much because I upload photos through another provider but it's good to know how to use it.

Thing 4 Flickr

Next week I will be uploading some photos but I have already used Flickr via some friends that have posted photos of my 20th High School Reunion. I have searched Flickr and played around with it quite a bit. It's a great service and it's wonderful that it is free. I'll spend some more time today searching and then next week I'll upload some pics.

Widgets

I'm not sure if adding widgets to your blog is one of the 23 Things but I just did it anyway! After some playing around I figured out how to add a MeeboMe widget and the WorldCat search box to my blog! I have a sense of accomplishment from that. All this stuff just really takes a lot of playing around with.

Thing 3 - RSS Feeds#$@%^&*%$

After quite a bit of time and going back and forth between MyYahoo and Google Reader I have finally set up feeds in both. This is all supposed to be pretty easy but man it's frustrating! When I would click on the universal orange RSS icon it would automaticlly create the feed in MyYahoo when I wanted it in Google Reader. So much of this is time consuming and it really entails a lot of "playing" around. I am glad that I now have these feeds created because it will save time, in the long run.

Thing One Completed

Alright so I finished setting up an avatar and creating my blog and registering with the 23 Things. It was all pretty easy except the avatar part was a bit confusing. It took me longer to export my avatar then expected. I tried several different ways until I finally realized that the 23 Things have step by step instructions on how to do that. I also did one of the challenges and added links to a few other blogs on my blog (you'll notice them to the left). I'll move on to Thing 2 tomorrow, I think.

My First Entry

This is my first blog entry and I'm very excited to be participating in 23 Things on a Stick! It will be a great way to communicate with friends and family as well! I've never been big on writing or actually having other people read what I write. I've never kept a diary or journal so this will be an interesting challenge for me.