Finished at last!

I have now FINALLY and almost a year late, finished 23 Things!!!!! OK, I've learned quite a bit and see the point of doing this exercise. I think it could have been improved by breaking it up into thirds, so you could still earn some of the CEUs if you just couldn't finish.

I think my blog is now done. Will I blog again? I'm not sure. I've never been a diary or journal writer. I like the idea of pulling blogs you like to follow into one central place. But I'm still not so sure.

Thing 12: Rollyo

I have played with this in the past and did again today. It just doesn't do it for me. I can see it's upside: search only from sites you want and not just the entire web, which will bring you gobs and gobs of stuff you don't want.

Thing 20: You Tube

This is from a rehersal at my synagogue of the 2011 Purim Spiel (play) NPR: National Purim Radio. My husband and kids are in the production and it is sure to be full of laughs.

Just today I gave some books to a child doing a report on the career of movie maker. The books talked about how to do digital movie making, such as seen on You Tube. Like other aspects of the web, there is a lot to sift through to find quality! Some things bring news events to your desktop, such as the Japanese tsunami videos. Others bring laughs.

Thing 19

I looked at the Web 2.0 awards list link, which is several years old and saw many popular things, like Google docs, Twitter, Flickr.

I decided to see what else was out there, making comments on Web 2.0. Discovery Education has an easy to use and easy to explore site on Web 2.0:
http://web2011.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools.cfm

Thing 18

Google docs, a great way to not be tied to MS Word!

Thing 6

http://www.flickr.com/photos/george/23754/

Thing 2, done late

Thing 2 has to do with Learning 2.0 and the 7 1/2 habits of productive learners. I thing sticking with a learning goal is probably my hardest thing, since it often can take a long time and a lot of interruptions.

As for the easiest, I think teaching and mentoring others. When I have learned something that I think others will benefit from, I often share it. For example, I took an Overdrive webinar last fall and learned a lot. I told my coworkers about it as well as shared with the public.

Thing 23, my summary

I think this was, overall, a good learning experience. Some of it was beyond my personal comfort zone and interest, like Rollyo. Others, like Library Thing, are useful and might actually get more use from me.

I think was worth the time.

Thing 17, the Sandbox

A dead link, so I explored what "Cloud Computing" is.

http://www.20thingsilearned.com/ offers a concise, humorously illustrated e-book-like explanation of many web things, such as cloud computing, web apps, and javascript.

I still don't really understand it all, and probably won't but I do understand that Gmail and google documents are ways of doing cloud computing. I am not tied to a single computer, rather can access my email and docs anywhere.

Thing 15

I think everyone should read "Away from the Icebergs". It is true. We can't hold on to all of our old ways of doing things, every print reference book, expect people to come to us in our buildings during our open hours if they don't fit people's info need hours BUT we are also a business and must remind the public of that.

I never cease to be amazed by people who are regular, life-long library users, who are just in awe of our resources when I show them the databases we have and how they work. We have to find a way to promote this more, not just by having them available, but through demos, on the website (highlights), or even through outreach PSAs ( in better financial times).

Thing 13

Del.icio.us

Some of the links no longer work, so I played a bit on the Del.icio.us
site itself and also went to some of the featured libraries using tags. The Thomas Ford Memorial Library (Illinois) offers a nice, simple layout and way to use tags. I know that we (MCPL) also have tags on the Teen Site and have explored that, too.

I can see how using tags instead of "official" subject headings or terminology is so much more user friendly. But can also give the user some overload at first.

Thing 5

http://www.flickr.com/photos/annarussell0713/2950419830/in/gallery-terriek-72157622468701648/


A beautifully composed photo from Flickr. My former next door neighbor is a fan of photography and would love the use of color in this one.