Thing 23: The End?

I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the 23 Things activities. I went from a Web 2.0 illiterate to a Web 2.0 maven. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration. Some of my favorites were the RSS feeds--something I look at almost everyday, the Image Generator--it was just fun, and the URL shorteners--I always wondered what "bitly" or "tinyurl" meant.I can see possibilities for using Chat and Screencasting here in the library. The "In Plain English" video were very helpful and made concepts easy to understand. Thank-you to all the participants who went before me--I read all your blogs to get help and insight on each of the activities. I look forward to doing something like this again.

Thing 21: Mashups Revisited

An addition to Thing #21 Mashups

Thing 22: Podcasts

I used the NPR podcast directory to download and listen to Culturetopia. It is great to download and listen at your leisure. And how wonderful for a student who misses a class to be able to listen to a podcasted lecture. I don't think I will be subscribing; I have all those audiobooks to listen to first! If I had a beautiful voice and something worthy to say I might make my own.

Thing 21: Mashups

The site FD Flickr toys is blocked here at John Tyler. So instead I explored Wheel of Lunch and Instantwatcher.
I had fun with Infinite Comic. I may have to try creating my trading card at home.

Thing 20: Tagging and Social Bookmarking.

Delicious reminds me of establishing a folder in the Ebsco Databases. And like that folder you can access it from any computer--a big leap from bookmarks. On the negative side you have another user name a password to remember (when will it end?). This is another of the 23 Things that works for both home and library.

John Tyler has Delicious on the library web page. These are the web resources that library staff have found useful and think could be useful for students. By using Delicious the links remain current.

Thing 19: Multimedia

In honor of Valentines Day coming up next week, I found this on YouTube:


I am amazed by the tutorials found on Youtube. Last fall I learned how to make tutu for John Tyler's Full Moon Madness. But I'm also amazed by the amount of time-wasting I can do.

I liked the Library Minute clips from ASU. Just the right amount of time!

Thing 18: Audiobooks

I have been a long time audiobook enthusiast. When Net Library became available in a neighboring county I hurried to get myself a card in order to start downloading. Now my own county offers OverDrive. I agree with Beth Farrell's article, "The Lowdown on Audio Downloads" that downloads have become simpler. From her I learned that audiobooks are expensive--not too surprising however I was surprised to learn that electronic formats are no cheaper that CDs.
 I listened to "Tyger" by William Blake on LibriVox. The sound quality was good, but the interface doesn't have the pizzazz that OverDrive does.

Thing 17: Social Cataloging

I am currently on Goodreads. I like keeping up with my reader friends. I can connect with friends that I don't see very often but value their reading recommendations. I have recently started making my own shelves and I find that I like that feature. With LibraryThing I would really have to think hard about whether I want to add a title if I want to keep under the 200 book limit.

Thing 16: E-Books

I have been desiring a Nook for a few months now. After seeing/borrowing/using a relatives I was impressed by the both its size and readibilty. Also, I loved being able to look up a definition while actually holding the book I was reading. But I don't want to buy a book that I cannot later loan or give to someone else. For me that is where the e-book issue gets sticky. When libraries hold ebooks do they really own them? As with other digital content how much control will the library have--determing the check-out periods, for example.
I have heard some students say they would like all textbooks in the e-format ( lower cost, easier to transport) some say they want nothing to do with e-format textbooks (can't write in them, can't re-sell to the bookstore).
Finally, there are issues with privacy--will Barnes and Noble know and remember all the titles I have read?
I think/hope there will be a place for both print and digital books in the future.

Thing 15: Creative Commons

As with the previous exercises I find myself musing on ways to put Creative Commons to use. Most obvious to me would be using images in presentations. And that could be a useful for students. So yes, an explanation of Creative Commons licensing could benefit students. But students are often overwhelmed by the volume of information presented to them. An explanation on the library site rather than part of a library orientation would be best.  I would have to come up with something share-worthy before putting it out on Creative Commons.

Thing 14 : Online Surveys

Not only being the nosy person I am but also to gather information for future reader's advisory these are questions I frequently ask people:

Thing 13 : Document Sharing

Right away I can see how Dropbox could make things so much easier. Sometimes I am working on something on the workroom computer. I don't save it to a flashdrive or email it to myself, but when I get out to the idesk I think, Gee, I would like to take a look at that. Now I have a way to do it.

Currently I am working on a wish list of DVDs for the sections of the collection I am responsible for. A google doc could turn that into a collaborative effort. Many students work on group projects both in the library and at home. Google docs would make collaboration easier for them. Or a family could contribute to a multi-perspective Christmas letter.

Thing 11 : Shortening a URL

To practice shortening a URL I chose the library webpage: http://bit.ly/gF75hQ and the library blog: http://bit.ly/edEZfv. This would be valuable if you tweeted or if you needed to give someone a web address verbally, such as over the telephone. It would be less helpful for email--instead you could hyperlink a word to serve as a URL(Thank-you Suzanne!). I found bitly easy to use. By shortening the URL you conceal the identity of an address--is that sneaky or smart?

Thing 10 : Searching Twitter.

Twitter as a research tool?  I was reading a few months ago that Twitter has donated its entire digital archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress. As a primary source of popular culture Twitter would be a fantastic research tool sometime in the future. Although with only 140 characters is is difficult to get any context. I searched several topics but I kept feeling like I was missing the story. I suppose if I became a devoted follower the story would be clearer but like the RSS feeds and the Image Generators feels like a huge time drain.