Thing 22:"You've Come a Long Way, Baby..."

Amazing, really, how far we've come on this journey since that first tentative and confusing step. It really has been a good thing to check out a little bit of what that wide World Wide Web has to offer, and see how fast even that is changing as people imagine new tools, or new uses for the existing ones.

I resolve to spend a little time daily to use some of these tools, and blog what I learned each day....(liar, liar, pants on fire!). Honestly, I doubt I'll take it to that extent, but I will definitely keep using and exploring some of my favorites on a regular basis, and checking in on others occasionally as well. For better or for worse, for example, I have StumbleUpon on my toolbar and Overbooked in my Bookmarks. And I will no doubt be checking in on Facebook, various You Tube videos, Rollyo's search engine for herbal and medical products, Library Thing and whatever wikis are applicable at the time. And recommend many of them to others if they haven't heard of them, such as the Assignment Calculator or Flickr. Maybe I'll even drop a few names at parties to impress friends! (or not)

At any rate, it was definitely worth the effort, and in many ways seems at this 11th hour of the project to be as much a beginning as an end.

Thing 21:Assignment/Research Project Calculator

Considering the (almost) indisputable fact that time management is the weakest link in the chain of events involving a research project, the Assignment Calculator is a great recommendation for anyone requesting help with their research projects. Who hasn't underestimated the time it would take, and ended up in an 'eleventh hour panic', with a long way to go and a short time to get there? I also think that most people faced with a research project want to cut to the chase as much as possible, and the Assignment Calculator filled that bill better than the Research Project Calculator. Both work well for organizing a plan and setting up a schedule for carrying it out, and both offer suggestions for each step of the way, but the Assignment Calculator's interface puts the step-by-step details more in the background (i.e., more optional depending on the needs and existing proficiency of the researcher).

The Teacher Guide addressed some essential topics in a very useful way, and could be used by teachers or librarians to guide students through typically sticky areas such as optimizing a Google search, using proper format, avoiding plagarism, etc. Or, the self-motivated student could just as easily us it to as a personal guide.

I wish I had these tools when I was wading through my research projects in college and graduate school, and can see where it could be useful even in projects such as high school science fairs, etc. But I definitely do not wish for any more of those projects for myself, in order to try it out, thank you very much!

Thing 20: Books 2.0

I'll admit that I, too, suffered anxiety about the Web being the beginning of the end of books. But even as I have realized that nothing will replace the comfort of curling up with a good book, I am also comforted by hearing the same sentiments from others, and by reading articles such as the one in the NYTimes regarding the increase in reading. I also think there is a fairly healthy number of bibliophiles visiting the public library-probably even morein our economy crunch as the usual bookstore prowlers have started taking advantage of the collections available in public libraries for the right price. There is a caveat, however, both in the NYT article and in my personal observations. The article mentioned the increase in reading did not neccesarily refer to good literature in the young adult age group that was polled. And I have noticed a certain polarization in readers of books towards either middle aged to older adults, or younger adults with small children. I think popular reading (like Harry Potter and Twilight, and Oprah's picks) and graphic novels have probably brought former non-readers into the fold, though.

I think Books 2.0 enhances reading- primarily because the focus is on books and reading them. Much of the information is in regard to book recommendations, book reviews, book discussion groups, etc.-i.e. all whetting the appetite to read the book. And many of the sites were smart enough to realize what Amazon had figured out a long time ago; namely, the luring 'siren song' power of displaying beautiful, creative book covers...how can the inveterate browser resist that? It's that same feeling of excitement and anticipation when walking through the doors of any bookstore: "Oh boy, what will find today?"

Overbooked and BookBrowse.com were very interesting and inspiring sites for bibliophiles to prowl. I was intrigued by Librovox (what an ambitious project-recording all those materials), and the concept of Bookswim (it really is like Netflix, only for books instead of movies-wonder how successful it is, and the demographics of who is using it?). And WorldCat in Facebook has a very user-friendly interface, too, by the way. I was a little edgy about the information-sharing warnings in Facebook-I guess I have a few qualms in general about the open- information nature of Facebook, although it is a pretty fascinating network of both people and stuff. Overall, Books 2.0 was a comforting stop for a booklover like myself, careening down fast lane on the internet highway.

Thing 19: Other Social Networks

Because of the major time crunch I am suffering from at this time in my life, I chose not to sign up for any more online communities. However, I wish I had the time for the favorite reads. And I would like to come back to Web Junction for the tekkie ideas and their practical applications in the library world. I would also like to revisit the educational groups (particularly College 2.0) for the favorite teaching tools. Even though it takes time to really explore and utilize the information in groups like these, I can see the advantage of getting new perspectives of those in the field: finding tips, perspectives, and answers to questions I never even thought to ask!

Browsing the social networks is like listening in on conversations of experts (or at least people who are innovative and excited about their work). We never know what thoughts, perspectives and ideas we'll pick up. Although not particularly efficient, the rewards for time spent include the ways sharing ideas broadens our scope (and because it's interactive, the way we can do that for others, too) and the surprising unearthing of buried treasures we weren't even looking for!

Facebook: Thing 18

I was interested in Facebook because it was such a big part of my son's and daughter's social network while they were in high school (and college, to some degree), but I found out today that they have both discontinued their membership. Now that I have no reason to "police" their Facebook pages, I'm finally signing up-good timing, huh? At any rate, it was interesting looking around the site as a mode of social networking. Like most of the Things we've been exploring, I can see where a LOT of time could be spent putting together profiles, finding 'friends', and sharing thoughts and ideas (useful or not). I still am not really sure how to find information about people who aren't our 'friends', although I know people who do it all the time when they're checking out someone they may want to meet. Hmmm, I'll have to find out how they do it.

The last time I began to register (and never completed), I was deluged with emails from people I didn't know, as well as some I did know. It will be interesting to see what happens this time. Stay tuned as I check my profile later this week...

Podcasts: Thing 17

This is an interesting way to share audio recordings. I found a song I liked while exploring Gcast's GarageBand called "She Dreams in Blue", by Josh Woodward;
http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSlZFa3ZWs and an interesting interview about dreaming from Australian National Radio's 'All in the Mind':
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/mind.xml
Note: This one is long but interesting.

As a matter of fact, I thought the Educational Podcast site had the most interesting stuff to browse, and was the best organized for browsing of all the podcast sites. Without specifically looking for anything in particular, the other sites were limited in having suggestions for me beyond the top five most popular, etc. (I admit, I didn't search these extensively, but ....)

Since I don't have an MP3, and don't routinely listen to music on the computer, I don't think this would be particularly useful, but it does open up a new dimension of sharing the medium of sound in different ways.

You Tube: Thing 16

I'm not really sure how much this one could be used constructively, but it's very fun! Here is a little St. Patty's Day humor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc8pNevZitk Enjoy.



I loved seeing the one about books, but was really disappointed to not be able to view Conan the Librarian. The blond in the library, and the library musical were pretty creative, too. Some people must have a lot of time on their hands, or a burning Spirit of Creativity that overrules any sense of responsibility!

Thing 15:Rollyo

Being a closet meteorologist, I tried a weather search engine using NOAA and The Weather Channel, then searched for the weather in Denver this week. (I will be going to a conference there Thursday). Here's the link: http://http//www.rollyo.com/search.html?q=Denver+weather&sid=516079 The results were a bit different than if I just used one or the other website. However, to my way of thinking, setting up a search engine for search engines is a bit redundant. I probably am confusing search engines with websites with data bases, etc., but I think I prefer "dialing direct".

Actually, I am leaving the above statements intact, but amending my position on the relative usefulness of this. After talking to a coworker about how this could be used, and attending a conference on Chinese Herbal Medicine, I thought of a perfect example of how this could be useful. To research a particular herb or herbal preparation for safety, efficacy, etc., two reputable sources were given: the National Library of Health, and PubMed at the NIH. These could be integrated with Rollyo, and one search could use both sources. So much easier than doing the search twice, and a good source of information to share with others! As a matter of fact, I sent the Rollyo search engine to an interested fellow classmate. Here's the link to the herbal search engine: http://rollyo.com/index.html

Thing 14: Online productivity

Online productivity.....is this an oxymoron? Seriously, though, it reminds me of how all the new kitchen gadgets, etc., were supposedly designed to make our lives easier, and how instead it gave us time to further complicate them!

For a customized Start Page, I chose Google as the path of least resistance. They do things so well, and the Classic format presented most appealed to me-especially with the quick and easy way to customize it to my interests when opening the page. I did remove some of the gadgets (Google email, cartoons, entertainment news) in an effort to make it less busy..... and then turned right around and added a few back that I just couldn't resist! (Moon phases, cool places to see, art.)

Regarding calendars, lists and "backpack": I don't spend enough of my day on the computer (nor do I want to) for these to be as helpful as the actual lists and calendars I either have on my kitchen desk area or carry with me in my purse. These are much more readily accessible, and don't require internet access. I will say the cross-referencing and organizational tools online are pretty nifty, but for now I'll stick with the scraps of paper that often get left in my pockets and washed, or the calendar on my wall that must be obeyed the way the desk schedule at work must be obeyed!

Thing 13: Library Thing

Well, by golly, here's another whole new world for book lovers! I can now see more than ever how my son can spend so much time on the computer. It's a good thing I can't stand to sit in front of the screen (nor do I have the time)-otherwise, I, too, could become an addict!

I was interested to see that someone else chose one of my more obscure entries for a favorite book (Hannah Coulter). I couldn't help but want to see what else he liked, and given time, would like to "chat" with him about his taste in reading and what else he would recommend. This is like seeing what someone is checking out at the library, and getting into a discussion with them about what they like and dislike, and what else they've found like it-too much fun! Although the face-to-face is fun and easy, the scope of readers on Library Thing is much more broad: You not only have a larger number of bibliophiles, you know they also like to share, or they wouldn't be in Library Thing.

I doubt I would use it to organize my home library, as I would rather recheck, reread and rearrange my physical collection, but putting tags on them for cross-referencing would be helpful.....

Having the ACLD libraries listed in Local would be great, both for Library Thing users, and as one more way to get the info out there regarding what our local library system has to offer.

By the way, here are a few of my favorite things...I mean books: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/alireakes

Thing 12: Wikis

These are fun, and easier to do than I thought they would be. I can see how they are a good way of sharing more specific information, and even somewhat interactive, as you can add your own comments or corrections. Taking authority into account (as usual!), they can be really helpful or informative. I loved the Book Lover's wiki, and was thinking that just viewing the exchange of information can give really good ideas of how to do your own project-sometimes more informal, but sometimes more currently applicable than information at a fixed site. I am looking forward to following the ACLD Story Hour wiki: This is a perfect example of being able to collaberate and share the wealth of information within our system when we don't have the time or ability to actually get together for a meeting or conference.

Even though it may take you down some topic paths tangential to what you are looking for, the divergence of topics has the same advantage as browsing when researching: Even though it may take up a little more of your time, it will also you new or different ideas and perspectives, which can only enrich your learning experience. Ahhh......so many ideas, so little time to explore them!

Thing 11: Social Media

The fun part of this was the social factor-it was interesting to see what other people find interesting. Reddit was my least favorite (kind of haphazard), Digg and Mixx were very similar, and the graphic interface on Newsvine was nicely done. Looking through these gave me a way to share articles with my son, who has always enjoyed sharing and discussing current topics. It's not possible to do in person since he's moved to Hawaii, but now that's not a problem (although not QUITE as fun as face-to-face!). Since I didn't want to have to sign up for yet another thing, I cheated with sharing an article from New York Times by using Ben's (my son) existing account, for which the user name an password are still in my computer! And I still love StumbleUpon, and have gotten my daughter to sign up, too, by sending a cool artist's rendition of woman from the inside out.

Too bad I'm in a time crunch right now; I would love to explore these further.....

Thing 10: Lost in cyberspace a.k.a. Tagging and Delicious

Boy, was this ever a fun one to get lost in! I was going to take a quick look around, and an hour later, I finally realized I had to tear myself away to blog it and get to bed! It will be good to be able to save some of my favorite places to pull up from computers other than at home, a problem with traditional bookmarking. And the tagging will help with grouping and finding what I want, but the social aspect of seeing what others have tagged was REALLY fun! This especially holds true for Stumble Upon, which is a very very seductive and fascinating way to get lost.....How will I ever get anything constructive done on the computer again? So if I don't show up for work for a few weeks, you'll know where to look for me!

Thing 9

http://show.zoho.com/editor.do?P_ID=442203000000004017 Check out this link to a presentation I did on Acupuncture and imported from my Power Point documents.

I tried ZOHO, because I could see where it would be very handy to run class lectures in Power Point style from a remote computer, without saving to disc or sending to the computer at school or having to make sure the computer I was using had Power Point capabilities, etc. I was also interested in using the Lazy Base (?), and would like to try that, too. Had a little trouble navigating the site, though. Both would be very useful teaching aids (which I'll need starting this May).

They would be good ways as well either to present (as a slide show) or summarize (in a database) information for library use, such as reading recommendations or researching strategies for specific topics or areas of interest. One could make a database, for instance, that would list and evaluate internet tools like the 23 Things and provide the URL links to each tool. Wouldn't that be handy?

Thing 8: Web 2/0 tools

As with everything else about the Web, the communication tools covered in this Thing were a two-edged sword; cutting through barriers with technology to make communication easier and (sometimes) more fun, while at the same time either making it too easy (to waste your own time or someone else's with a lot of fluff), or getting caught up even tighter in the "Web" while struggling with all the technological glitches hidden behind the "fast, easy and convenient" propoganda(!)

Let's start with IM: I did not IM anyone in ACLD, as I have already experienced using this tool, both with my kids and a couple of friends, and with "HELP" services offered in some of the online shopping sites. The best part about them was the instant reply-whether it was an answer to a question or a response to my thoughts and comments, it's comforting and gratifying to get an immediate response. The only thing better would be face-to-face, which of course isn't always possible-hence all these other communication tools. Oh, and I guess sometimes a phone call is nice to actually hear someone's voice when they are not-so-near but dear to you. On the other hand, BECAUSE it's so easy, one can be tempted to blurt more than is good for either themselves or whomever is on the receiving end without thinking through what they are saying, which to me has always been an advantage of the written word as opposed to real time conversations.... From a library standpoint, I would liken it to my experience as a page: On the one hand, there would likely be a lot more people to seek help if they could get a quick answer from the floor and didn't have to either wait in line or "bother" someone at the Reference Desk. But there are always those who abuse the system by throwing out questions in hopes of the having the librarians do their work for them as opposed to thinking it through for themselves, and it seems to be pretty labor intensive to have someone manning (or womanning) the Help Desk 24/7.

SMS, or text messaging, is another quiet and effective way of getting in touch. My daughter lives on her cell phone, and I do have to say that although she sometimes carries it to the extreme, I am fascinated by the concept of her having her circle of friends so easily available to chat with, whether they are down the hall or in another state! She's definitely never alone, but the flip side is that she's never alone-sometimes being too available prevents focus on the issue at hand, such as having an uninterrupted conversation or listening to an instructor, etc. I like it for personal use when I need to contact someone with a question or comment as soon as possible without intruding or "calling at the wrong time"-this gives whomever I'm calling a chance to open the message and respond as they are able. It would also be a good option for the library to notify overdues or holds, but I have found that long-winded sales messages from Verizon, for instance, to be as annoying as recorded sales messages on the telephone.

Web conferencing is a very useful tool where classes or conferences are concerned. The graphics and sound options of the sample webinar I reviewed (Scott Nicholson at the Library Game Lab at Syracuse) was far advanced from the classes I took for the MLS program at FSU, but the concept of getting a group of people together in real time from all geographic corners of the globe remains the same. Although nothing beats the experience of interacting face-to-face in a classroom...with the body language and after-class networking that goes along with it...how else could we all get together for class after a day of work in Gainesville, FL; Tuscon, AR and Toronto, Canada? Although the added voice and video options have vastly improved since my class experience, I would like to mention that I was still jettisoned from the website by clicking on the wrong thing, though, so some things haven't changed!

Thing 7: Image generators

I had some fun using an old photo to generate a trading card. I was intrigued with this tool as a great idea for a creative teaching device. There could be unlimited projects to make learning fun.

Thing 4: RSS

Yep, you read that right....or should I say, "Oops, missed one!" I couldn't seem to get Google Reader to work yesterday, but was successful today in adding 3 Blogs from the ACLD bunch, as well as some news feeds from Fla. newspapers, NPR, and Google Earth. Also added the NEFLIN blog. Now, we'll just see how much I can keep up with (bwaa ha ha ha!)

Thing 6: Flickr mashup

On Flickr

This one was the most fun and has the most ideas for fun and creative ways to waste time so far! I am beginning to feel like Lucille Ball in the "I Love Lucy" show where she started out with the seemingly simple task of adding a decoration to a moving line of cakes, and things got really crazy as she failed to keep up! Oh well, hopefully there will be a few Things I will actually be able to move through quickly, so as not to run as fast as I can just to stay in place....

I especially liked the puzzle making option-saved the link so I can have one made for my parents (puzzlemaniacs) using a family foto.

And by the way, I would like to thank Katy Harris, my coworker and personal internet guru, for her help and perspectives on Things.

Thing 5: flickr

I decided to search images in Flickr, looking for ideas for a watercolor/woodburning project for my daughter's birthday. She specified the colors and theme she would like, so I searched "blue morpho", and found many beautiful and interesting photos of this butterfly, (and some I really wondered what the story was behind the picture!). My favorite photo (I was fascinated by the perspective) was this one, in gwennie2006's photostream (here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grfxdziner/2938950355/). If anyone reads this blog and is interested, the other photos in this collection were also beautiful-what an eye the photographer has!

The tags were pretty much essential, and well organized and relevant. And as much as I am so NOT one to take pictures (although I love having them!), I was tempted to give it a try after looking into Flickr and all the possibilities for keeping, organizing and sharing images, and thinking about how much fun it would be to share good pics! Just one more thing to add to that wish list for ALL our spare time(!).

Thing 3: Blog Search Engines

As far as I'm concerned, Google Blog Search beat the others hands down in regard to finding relevant information. It was the most user friendly, and had the best relevance compared to Technorati or Sphere. The "Search" window was easy to find, and when I searched "choosing a dog", the results were far more relevant with Google than Technorati or Sphere; in fact, for this particular topic, Technorati had only one relevant hit, even if of dubious authority. However, many of the Google hits were not actually blogs, making it useful for finding relevant information, but not neccessarily relevant blogs. I guess this would vary depending on the topic searched and the terminology used, but I had similar results with searching a more general topic (travel). I liked the way Google had popular recent blogs on the home page, and I also liked the organization as well as the relevance of the results of my search. Like Amazon, it also had related topics that were useful and interesting. I couldn't even figure out how to search in Sphere(!), and although the directory was interesting and helpful in Technorati, the scope of topics browsed was pretty limited compared to Google, and there were no appropriately related topics-in fact, some of the topics weren't even vaguely related to my query. As good as Google is for searching relevant information, though, it may not be especially effective for searching blogs. But considering how seldom I would be inclined to search for blogs beyond those of people I know and would actually be interested in following, I don't think for my purposes a blog search engine would be a particularly useful tool.

Thing 2

Ahh, growth...both exciting and painful, (and much less daunting when I was younger!). This world of expanding technology and the accompanying potential for communication and access to increasingly vast amounts of information is both wonderful and terrible. It's like being at Publix, and being both grateful and overwhelmed by the incredible number of choices we have. Without any motivation, I have the tendency to stick with choices I've already made: Tried and true, and the path of least resistance. But when I do decide to get outside my comfort zone, I have to admit that the fun of a new discovery usually makes it worth the effort to get there.

I'm doing 23 Things to better familiarize myself with what's out there....when family members or my friends share their favorite websites or "something cool" they found on the web, or blog a trip they took to somewhere in the world, I want to know what they're talking about. To me, 23 Things is like a guided tour; it may not be everything that's out there, but it's way more than I would otherwise even know to look for. The price is the time I will expend (I still haven't figured out how to get on and off the computer in a timely fashion-I'm always off on a million tangents), and the overload of stuff I'll have to weed in order to keep it from being too overwhelming for my personal 'hard drive' to handle. Without the motivation of 23 Things as a 'mission', I would be much less likely to ever get around to actually exploring, as opposed to thinking about it.

Yes, technology is just a tool, but as with all technology to date, it is a world-changing tool, and as the upcoming generations grow up with these tools, so their uses will continue to expand exponentially. Just as technology changing the way we as a society are evolving, so will we change the way technology evolves. Like it or not, ignoring it will not make it go away. So our choices are: test the water, jump right in, or sit on shore and wish we had just stayed home!

The Time Has Come, the Walrus Said...

THING 1: OK, so I'm off on this journey. Aside from the initial feeling of being overwhelmed with too many things to remember, and the knowledge that all of the user names, titles, passwords, addresses, etc. will continue to mystify and elude me, I think even I can follow step-by-step directions and fill in the required boxes. Anyway, I guess I'll find out, and hopefully be a savvier surfer by Thing 23.