Thing Twenty-one

As I've mentioned in previous blog entries, I love lists. So, the Assignment Calculator and Research Project Calculator were very appealing to me. Number one: easy, easy, easy to use. No long instructions, etc. Love that. Number two: very applicable. I think these tools would be particularly useful for students working on a group project, which as we all know, is the norm these days. This lists would help divide up the assignments to the group members. One thing I liked in the Teacher Guide was how the RPC pointed the teacher in the direction of the media specialist, who was labeled as a "partner." There was even an instructional planning guide for the media specialist.

I can see library staff telling individual students about these tools, but I think staff would have better luck selling it directly to teachers and media specialists. Teachers could introduce it to their classes at the onset of an assignment like a project or research paper. I'm just thinking if a whole class is told about RPC at one time, the students would be inclined to give it a try.

These tools lend themselves to being used for project management at the library also. Often divisions and departments have major programs to implement that involve staff, vendors, etc. This kind of tool could be beneficial; definitely worth trying.

Thing Twenty

I visited Twitterlit. When I laughed out loud at one of the first lines of a book, a coworker came in my office asking what was so funny. If it cracks me up, I like it. Next I visited BookStumpers because as a former children's librarian, I often received this kind of inquiry from adult patrons. "I remember this book from when I was a kid in the '70s. It had a red cover, and the little boy in it had a blue tricycle...." This site could help when a librarian can't. TheBookCalendar also has some merit by introducing members to a new book each day via RSS or email. It might be worth checking out to see if I'm interested in the titles introduced.

Personally, I'm not interested in joining a book club because I like to read for my personal enjoyment or education. There are really few books I want to dissect with a bunch of other people. I read something, enjoy it, and move on to the next one. Anyway, I looked at BookGlutton and Bookmarked. I thought LitLovers was pretty cool. The free literature courses could be worthwhile and I thought the link to Book Club menus was a great idea. I do hear book clubs have good food!

Although the One Minute Critic reviewed somewhat esoteric titles (at least the ones I saw) that didn't appeal to me, the clips I listened to were good. Kinda casual presentation, yet good. I think the site is an interesting concept. BookSwim was very interesting -- didn't know those kind of sites existed. I investigated the college textbook rental section, and thought it would be worth checking into if I were a student (which thank goodness I'm not anymore!). I still think the public library is a better bet for other stuff. But I realize lots of people want what they want now, so they might not want to wait for the library's copy of the newest best seller. I also looked at Visual Bookshelf which a coworker swears by, and SwapTree, which sounds incredibly fun. That one is worth spending more time looking into.

I had no idea all these sites existed, so this thing was incredibly educational.

Thing Nineteen

I had a blast looking at some of these recommended sites. I actually had to force myself to stop and get back to work. I'm very familiar with WebJunction thanks to NEFLIN, but all the others were brand new to me. If the site had me register before I even knew anything about it, I moved on to another one. Not that I have a problem registering for something I'm interested in; I just want to know more about it before I commit. I love love loved BakeSpace.com!! (OK, that's the one I had to quit looking at to get to a meeting on time.) I plan on registering, but I was able to find all kinds of neat things without even doing so. I got a killer recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Cake. What's not to love about a site that gives you that?! Can't wait to share BakeSpace with my teenage daughter, a Mario Batali groupie. I also visited OpenSourceFood, which has changed its name to a hipper Nibbledish. It was fine, but not as easy or fun as the BakeSpace. Still worth visiting again. And, because I work in a library, I felt compelled to visit GoodReads. It stressed me out (not really) seeing how many books I want to read and haven't yet. I liked the quotes that kept popping up on the homepage, too.

From this Thing I learned there are lots of fun and helpful social networking sites out there. I also learned that this paperwork on my desk isn't going to take care of itself on its own!!

Thing Eighteen

I'm very familiar with Facebook because both of my children have accounts. My oldest created his once he got to college, and my youngest asked if she could have one last year in ninth grade. I was concerned about privacy and security issues, so before agreeing to her request, her dad and I discussed it. We finally said yes, but set up some strict guidelines for her to follow. I even discussed some of these with my son, but because he's an adult, he can basically do what he wants! Yet, he listened and actually agreed with several of them. I'm not naive when I say I have good kids, so I trust them. So far, when they've pulled up their accounts and shown me photos they have posted, I've not seen anything outrageous or inappropriate.

I chose not to create a Facebook profile myself only because I'm not interested in maintaining one. I have to admit that my son's opinion of the site and its audience also affected my decision not to participate. He is incensed that so many adults are involved with Facebook. He does have a point; the site originated for kids in college. His actual quote when an adult family member and mother of his friend wanted him to friend them was "What's this world coming to?!" I told him to reject them if he didn't want them as friends. After further discussion, I came to realize his beef is adults wanting to be his friends, not that adults are using Facebook. I explained how some coworkers use it professionally and that made sense to him. Just don't ask to be his friend!! My daughter is of similar mind, but sometimes feels pressure to accept friend requests from older family members and friends. I think we older adults need to be mindful of what's on our teens' sites, but at the same time, respect their privacy by not making them friend us. I'm not their Facebook friend, so why should their aunt or a family friend be one? If we as adults have an account, I think we should be friends with other adults and professional colleagues unless we have a teen who is begging us to be their friend. I have a good friend and colleague who told me that she never asks anyone younger than her to friend her. But if a younger person initiates it, she'll accept. I like that.

I spent time looking into MySpace because I hadn't really done that before. I know my library system has a page, which I looked at for the first time in awhile. I even found a picture of myself on it! OK, well it was the back of my head, but still! We have some neat video and audio clips on it, which were fun. The publicity was about a month behind, but it's probably one more thing for someone to keep updated. The audience was all ages. I then went to JPL's MySpace page which targeted teens only. I really liked that about it. They also promoted the use of Library Thing, which, thanks to 23 Things, I knew all about. Then I looked into some college pages, but one was geared strictly for the college students in a particular program at the school. The page was all black and white, which at first was kinda cool, but then it was boring. A search for Colby College MySpace just led me to a place for job postings, which I think is a great way to use this site. Lastly I investigated an Ellen Degeneres site, but it wasn't created by her show, but by a fan. Still interesting.

MySpace is a great tool for libraries to use, and I think Facebook can be used for groups that you have something in common with (committees, projects, librarians). I liked how JPL targeted a particular age group with their MySpace page -- perfect for teens. We need to use any available avenue to reach patrons, and social network sites are another opportunity.

Thing Seventeen

I used Podcast.com and YahooPodcasts to look for interesting health-related/running podcasts. The hits I got were really broad, so instead I just thought about websites I visited regularly, radio programs I like, etc to determine a podcast I wanted to add to my blog reader account. Every morning driving into work, I listen to the Bob and Sheri Show out of Charlotte, NC. I know they do the podcast thing, so I went to their site and added a RSS feed directly to my iGoogle page. Somehow I added it 3 times (still don't know how that happened!), but it was simple to remove the extra 2. I didn't link it to my blog, though. I took a look at Gcast mainly because I liked their slogan "it's so easy, your grandma can do it." Personally I'm not interested in podcasting, but I appreciate all the ways this format can be and is used.

Thing Sixteen

I absolutely love YouTube!! I choose this particular video "The Evolution of Dance" because it is the very first thing I ever watched on the site. Plus it remains one of my favorites to this day. I visit YouTube on a regular basis either to view something someone has sent me or to just look around on my own. Mostly it's for fun, but I do use the site to educate myself. For instance, my son recently recommended I go to YouTube to look up the Cupid Shuffle, a dance he said his group was using during a presentation in one of his marketing classes. Let's just say he was impressed when I demonstrated my dance moves while he's been home on spring break. I didn't even have to tell him what I was doing; he knew! Thank you, YouTube! Don't worry, I'm sticking with my day job!

I think the site is easy to use, and the only problem -- if you can even call it that -- is slow loading at times. But I just pause the playing, let it get ahead and click play. Very minor issue. This site has so many personal and professional uses. Our library even used a library recruiting video found on YouTube as our inspiration for a commercial we filmed last year. What's not to love?!!

Select...Song lyricsSearch The Web

Rollyo was interesting, and easy to use in terms of creating a searchroll. Mine is song lyrics and I imported 4 websites to search. When I did a test search, 2 of my websites gave me a message saying they couldn't find anything. And this week and next are pretty crazy work-wise, so I don't have time to see what's up with that. I did have trouble getting the Rollyo icon into my blog. I searched awhile through the website looking for answers and trying some things, but I couldn't make it happen until I enlisted the help of a very smart coworker. He said he had a little trouble himself with this same process, but figured out a way to make it happen.

I'm really not sure how a library could use this site. I guess doing reference work with a patron, but there's probably other search methods library staff would go to first. I see more personal uses for people, I think. Oh, and here's hoping you can search my searchroll now that it is linked to my blog. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works!

Thing Fourteen

I had a great time investigating the online calendars, lists, etc. Plenty of extremely neat things out there. Awhile back I created an iGoogle account, and had fun personalizing it. Incredibly easy to do, too. Because I'm a Google fan, I choose Google calendar for this thing. Easy, liked it. Went back into it and edited some entries with no problem at all. I can see myself using this handy dandy tool.

Like I've mentioned before, I'm a big list maker. So, I was very interested in exploring the online list tools. Remember the Milk is a cool name, so I picked that one to look at. I think I'll stick with my primitive paper lists, but I can definitely understand the appeal of using the online tools especially if you're attached to your blackberry or cell at the hip. Backpack looked pretty neat and appeared to have application in the workplace. I can see people using it for meetings, sharing info -- kinda like wikis. Didn't get into Zamzar. Am sure I could figure out ways that it would be helpful to patrons, but kinda lost interest.

I spent some time looking at the Online Education Database (or Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps...) and found the list to be pretty impressive and useful. I can definitely see students utilizing the various tools.