Thing 23 My Thoughts

Wow! I finished.
1. There were so many discoveries for me in this program. I really enjoyed playing with Flickr, making a video on Photostory, how to do a wiki, and finally blogging for the first time. The image generators were so much fun to play with also.
2. This program will enable me to do things that I had always wanted to do, like blogging and making videos and to help my teachers and students with using 2.o also.
3. I am surprised that I was able to learn online and do most of the activities. I was not confident that I could do a video. I found that it was really easy and with more time, I will make better videos to use in my library. I will probably make one as an introduction to the library.
4. I did struggle with embedding my found videos in my blog. I spent way too much time trying to do this and finally gave up and provided a link instead.
5. I would take another course like this in a heartbeat.
6. This is a user-friendly way to learn about 2.0 without getting in your car or leaving your home.

Thing 22 Nings

I checked out the Texas School Librarian Ning. This was a great forum for many things. One interesting question that got a lot of replies, was What is the most frustrating thing about being a librarian? This is a great forum for discussing and venting problems that may be unique to Texas librarians. Users can sign up and create their own member page and comment on others blogs or in the forums. Users can also share instructional or book review videos with each other. Photos can be shared also. Groups can be formed that are specific such as the group of Middle School Librarians. I am going to pass this Ning on to my librarian friends. There is power in numbers and we need to stick together especially when Texas librarians face so many obstacles with lack of funding, raising the bar on education for librarians when the job is not very secure, and as stated earlier, lack of job security.

Thing 18 Online Productivity Tools

One big advantage to using free online productivity tools is that they are free. Another advantage to using Google docs was the collaborative element one can make use of with this tool. Teachers can work together on documents to create the perfect document that is edited and updated by the group without being in the same room or leaving their classrooms. I liked using the templates in Google docs. I looked at calendars, cards resumes, certificates and more. When looking at OpenOffice, I found a drawback to be that you have to download it and this takes time. It did take more time than I would like to open the documents in Google docs because I kept getting a message that said I needed to verify my e-mail account.

Thing 17 Rollyo

This is a helpful site for organizing those bookmarked sites when you are searching for a topic. This would be especially helpful when students are doing research . They can search specific sites that you have approved rather than Googleing and getting anything and everything. I created a searchroll with Rollyo called ShannonLib. This contains three sites at this time that I found useful to librarians. http://www.rollyo.com

Thing 16 Wikis

There is so much information out there on different wikis. We are trying to get a wiki together for librarians in our district to keep from having to e-mail back and forth. This would be a great time-saver. I would like to create a wiki for our teacher book club to discuss our next books and movies. It is difficult to collaborate with teachers when you don't see them. A wiki would solve the problem.

Thing 21- Podcasts and Videocasts

This was a fun discovery exercise. I wish I had more time to spend on it without a 7 year old and dog playing in the background. This is why I added music rather than try to add my own voice as a recording. I will definitely use this for personal and professional use. I am motivated to take pictures and create videos. My mother-in-law will thank me.

Thing 20 YouTube-TeacherTube

I had no trouble finding videos for this assignment. I had a lot of trouble embedding the videos in my blog. I finally gave up and put a link to the video. I found a cute video for learning the states and capitals for social studies on TeacherTube.

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=15395&title=50_States_and_Capitals__cartoon_song_

I found another video on learning 2,0 on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd2gV9FZWd8

I tried to embed the videos for 1 1/2 hours before putting a link instead. The strange thing is that I have done this before. I could not see the directions on the blog on how to do it.

Embedded videos would be great in a blog in that the reader could watch them without navigating from the page.

Thing 19 Web2.0 Awards

I spent a lot of time on Lulu, a self-publishing site. You can publish your own books, music, calendars and more. Lulu is the #1 self-publishing site. You can also connect with other authors and those of the same interest. If you need to sell your book, you can do that through the site. You can also market and distribute the book through the site. This looks like fun. I wonder if many of these self-published books are purchased. I would like to know the number of products created and sold on this site. Otherwise, this would be a great site to publish a book for yourself or family without intention to sell to others. The site does the editing, formatting, covers, marketing and distribution. There are different publishing packages to choose from, but you can get a book published for around $400.00.

Thing 15 Library 2.0 and the Future

It is crucial for Librarians of today to embrace technology and Library 2.0 is that technology. Library 2.0 is a term used to describe a new set of concepts for developing and delivering services according to the blog from Library2Play. In his blog, Into a new world of librarianship, Michael Stephens discusses the skills that Librarian 2.0 need to sharpen. One of his points that really hit me was that a Librarian 2.0 is a trendspotter. This should certainly be true of all educators, but is especially essential for the Librarian of today. We should have a knowledge of what is going on in the technology world, whether it is what technology games children are playing to how to use the things we are learning about in 23 Things. I feel so much more knowledgable in this area of Library 2.0. This world of technology is changing and evolving at a breakkeck pace and we have to keep up.

Thing 14 Technorati and Tags

Technorati is a search engine for finding blogs. You can use tages to search for blogs or search by post. I did not find a lot when searching school library 2.o. I did find four videos and a couple of blogs. I like that tags are used as they help us find what we are looking for, whether it is on Technorati or searching for books on amazon.com. I found a blog by a fellow librarian doing 23 things also. A couple of blogs that looked useful to me was one called Reading Rocks and Booklady Speaks. I also bookmarked and added another blog that looked like a good source for reading program ideas.

Thing 13- Tagging and Delicious

I think that Delicious is a very valuable tool for everyone to use. It is a social bookmarking site that can be used for keeping up with your bookmarked sites as well as for sharing resources from and with others. I found many things to use by typing in the tag elementary librarians. This brought me to sites and directories for librarians. I found lesson plans, research guides, sites that read books aloud and more. This would be a good tool to share with teachers for researching and organizing bookmarks. Students can use this for their own bookmarks and research also. I could provide a link on my library webpage or blog for students and teachers.

Thing 12- Commenting

The articles and blogs advise us to comment only about topics of interest too you. Comments also tell the blogger that they are being heard. It is also a good idea to invite comments to your blog and ask open-ended questions. I had some trouble posting comments to some blogs due to my openID could not be verified. I had to try over and over on some blogs. I found some bery interesting blogs by other librarians. The twitters are interesting also. Some of these blogs seem to be very self-promoting.

Thing 11- Library Thing

This is a fun way to catalog and keep up with your favorite books or have a book club or group. I added five books to MyBooks, including Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides and The Time Travelor's Wife, by Audrey Neffenegger. I was checking out a few other groups and found another of my favorite books, The Pillars of the Eartch by Ken Follett. I tried to remember the name of that book just yesterday. I wrote down some names of books that I would like to read. The two groups that I looked at were What are you reading now? and Historical Fiction. I am looking forward to looking at those two groups when I have more time. "So many books, so little time."

Thing 10- Online Image Generators

These were fun to play around with. There are so many possibilities. I made an image with my name on the walk of fame. I created a "library open" neon sign. I also created a comic strip from another that I modified. You can create signs, banners, mosaics, art, and so much with these resources. You could spend a lot of time doing this, but it would be fun. I particularly liked using Dumpr and Big Huge Labs.

Thing 9- Useful Library-Related Blogs and Newsfeeds

I liked using bloglines and Technorati to search for Blogs. I found a lot of blogs for librarians. I added about 7 blogs to Google Reader. One of these was David Warlick 2cents. I could not find much in Syndic8 under elementary librarians. It was not as user friendly. I added Hey Jude, Hip Librarian, and others to my reader. I added CNN and MSN as news feeds. I am glad there is now a standard feed icon.

Thing 8- RSS Feeds and Readers

I liked that readers allow you to view these sites without going to your favorites or searching or hours on the Internet for sites that interest you. The feeds come to you. I can look at weightwatchers.com, current news and Librarian blogs all on the same page. This can save time if you are accessing these sites already or it can take up a lot o time because you can have so much at your fingertips. I would use readers at school and at home to keep up with the current news and to see what other librarians are doing. The problem is having the time to look at these blogs and news items. Do I really need to look at the latest news while at work? Readers would be a plus for teachers who wanted to keep a site handy, such as live feeds at a zoo or in space. There are so many applications for this kind of technology.

Thing 7- Cool Google Tools

These were fun to explore. I will use Google Docs to redo my resume. I did not know these document templates were available. I used the calendar to set up appointments for the week and had a text message set up to tell me about a doctor's appointment and a librarian's get-together for this week. I changed my homepage to iGoogle with links to the weather, news and the humor of the day. I liked the jokes and comic strips. I need some humor in my day. There are many possible educational uses for these Google tools. The advanced search option can help with searching for information. Google Scholar would definitely help when searching for scholarly literature such as peer reviewed jounals, professional magazines, thesis's, etc.

Thing 6 - Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

This was a lot of fun to explore. I liked looking at the Mappr with the distructive weather alerts. It seems there is a lot of earthquake activity happening in California. This would be a great resource for teachers teaching weather. I checked out Making mosaics and Warholizing. I created a trading card and a Warhol picture from my son's 7th. b-day party. Librarian can show students how to use photographs on Flickr or elswhere to create things that are personal. I would like to take more photographs of my son and create some art for his room. He would think this is cool. I will also pass these sites and resources on to other teachers that I work with. I am always thinking of art projects to do since I am a former art teacher.

Thing 5 Flickr

It is raining, so I chose a picture of a tree in the rain. I used a photograph from the one of the Commons groups in Flickr. This is a great site to use in education for sharing photos to teach photography or other visual arts and get feedback from other in that community. I like that it is interactive in that one can comment on other's work and look at comments on their own. Also, the site seem fairly easy to navigate. I typed in rain in the Commons section and found many photographs to use. These pictures could be used to make presentations, Blogs, web pages, etc. more dynamic. There was a lot of resources to use for librarians. I liked the art projects that promote literacy as well as art. I can definitely see the value of Flickr in education.

Thing 4 Registering Blog

I registered my blog.. I hope I have enough time to finish the 23 Things since I need to get a certificate to prove that I have completed 18 hours of comp time. I hope to get some feedback soon. My avatar links to the entire page rather than just showing the picture itself.