23 Things #15

Wikis are wonderful! We’ve had one for our library for several months now and have found it to be most valuable.

The short-cut link to our wiki is on the desktop of all of our staff computers. It contains contact information, library policies & procedures, calendars, how tos, children’s and YA information and a bulletin board/notebook  so we can share info, experiences and ideas. As we all become more accustomed to using it on a daily basis, we’re hopeful that it will make transitions between shifts easier and help keep everyone, especially those working evenings and weekends “in the loop”.

The wiki is easy to edit/update. This is one tool I plan to make better use of in 2009

23 Things #13

Technorati is an amazing site with an overwhelming amount of information. While I was able to poke around and find some fascinating blogs, and useful sites, I found it  almost too big to be easily maneuvered.  I was unable to find a “tour guide” to make things easier and was frustrated early on. Playing with a site to learn about it  is not my idea of fun. I prefer a tutorial – and then the pleasure of exploring on my own.

23 Things #12

Delicious! It really is.  Setting up this account was quite easy. (Usually is when someone who has already done it helps.) Guess the hardest part was finding a user name that wasn’t taken and I had a prayer of remembering.  Once done,  I really enjoyed the organization this site gives me. I’m anxious to add more sites and expand my network. And to know that I can access my favorites from any computer and free up all that “brain memory” for something else is, well,  freeing!

23 Things #11

What fun! Library Thing really captured my attention. It was fun playing with it and creating a book shelf of a few of the books I have enjoyed .  What really sparked my interest  was knowing that this is exactly what my brother needs for cataloging the books in his personal library, something he has wanted to do for years. I shared this idea with him and he is very excited.

23 Things #10

Fun! Fun! Fun! I can see where these sites will allow for lots of fun and creativity. The ALA Read mini poster was easier for me to use, but captioner, although challenging for me and co-workers to figure out, promises to be useful.

Now I want to try some of the other options. Would love to do a calendar!

23 Things #9

At this point my head is spinning. This exercise seems a continuation of #8. I’ve looked at all kinds of  blogs. It was very nice of Bloglines to post their top 1,000, and it is all very interesting – AND time consuming.  Guess like becoming familiar with any new- to- me technology, I need to get comfortable and put in the exploration time to find those blogs that appeal to me most. Then all this will become effective and useful. While I perused the technorati site, I have decided to wait to really delve into it until #13.

23 Things #8

After reading the PS at the bottom of the #8 posting, that this was the most difficult of the 23 things to do, I was a little intimidated. Following the instructions listed made it easy enough however, that I was able to do the first RSS feed myself. After that I ran into a couple of sites that were not quite as straight forward, but co-workers helped me out. This actually seems really neat and now I am anxious to see whether or not I remember to incorporate looking at the feeds into my daily regimen.

Hopefully, this will turn out to be a real time-saver and help keep me on top of things.

23 Things #7

While shopping last weekend, my excited daughter insisted we go into the Sony store so she could show me something “really neat”. It was the new Sony Reader. I didn’t mean to burst her bubble. Honest I didn’t. “Oh”, I say, “Looks something like the Kindle”.  “The What?”  So I explained. The only immediate difference I saw was that it looked like the Reader allowed you to store pictures and I didn’t think the Kindle did.

Intrigued, I did a little research to see what the real differences are. www.myebizreviews.com/Top5ProductReviews did an eBook Reader Comparison of the 5 best, most reliable and affordable eBook Digital Readers for 2008. They found the Kindle to be their number one choice. The main reasons: It is the only one with wireless connectivity, it stores up to 200 full books (40 more than the Sony), it has more than 190,000 currently available titles (140,000 more than Sony), books cost considerably less than Sony’s, AND the Kindle costs about $40 less than the new Sony. The Kindle also gives you the opportunity to subscribe to magazines, newspapers and blogs. Sony does not. And one more thing – the Kindle has a built in 250,000 word dictionary.  WOW!

23 Things #6

Today I spent some time searching flickr mashups and web ideas. Wow! There are an amazing number of interesting opportunities out there. I particularly liked the idea of making pencil sketches from photos. I think kids would love to have them as coloring pages. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any of my photos to work. I’ll have to try again later.

Flicker Cover Flow at http://www.tinou.com/coverflow.jsp is a fun way to present a slide show.  The photos march off to the side and have a reflection underneath them that is really cool. We created our own and really liked the outcome. Just have to figure out how to save it for future use.

23 Things #5

Flickr is amazing. I’ve had lots of fun taking the tour and playing with picnik demo.                      Found this stunning photo when I searched for pictures of autumn.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/moosehead/2056095661/