#26 & 27 Reflective Exercise and "The End", or is IT?

For the most part, this has been a really neat experience. I would say "wonderful", but I crammed too much in at the end. For some reason, the time flew by so quickly since we were introduced to this Program. It was difficult to work on during work time but I really appreciate the KCLS Administration and the support of our supervisors to allow us to try. When I sat down at my desk and got "stuck", I would sort of give up too easily. The Cram Session though made a huge difference because I realized that most things were not that hard after all.

Some of my co-workers assisted without being too helpful. At times when I got stuck, Ka, Paula and Michael would gently guide me to the next step and then I could finish everything okay on my own.

I'm surprised how much technology there is in the world that I had no idea about. This was a great learning experience because as a Reference person, it will give me more tools to help the patrons. It is so very possible for people to lose themselves in the viritual world too, so I believe balance is important when using these technologies.

I would enjoy seeing other opportunities in the future. To me, the fact that KCLS values this sort of technology enough to dangle the carrot and offer the support, is a wonderful thing. I thought it was organized very well and hope that other Library Systems use this model for their employees.

Whether or not the MP3 is in my future, I would not have skipped the learning process. Thanks to all who made this possible!

27- Listened to the podcast with David & Laurel...well done guys!

#23, 24, 25

#23- I actually explored YouTube on June 13th at the 320th Cram session. I uploaded a video clip into my blog on Weddings (yes, the same old theme again). I had seen a wedding party dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller song. Thought it was funny. YouTube could be addictive and I can see why it's so popular.

#24- I listened to some podcasts from all three sites, "Podcast.net"; Podcastalley.com; Podcasts.yahoo.com

I really like these and can see that some links to these sites could be of interest to patrons.
writingshow.com/podcasts/Jean_Tennant_5.mp3 This podcast had real authors giving advice on getting published, something some patrons may enjoy listening to.


www.audioblogger.com/media/68296/294410.mp3 This one was related to Library Gaming and I was successful at creating an RSS feed! Naturally, this will be of high interest as we move gaming into the Library.

#25 Check out a KCLS ebook. Well, this was tricky because I have dial-up at home and we can't do it within the library. However, Pam came to our library and gave us training at our stations to show us how it was done. So, I consider this good enough until I get my own MP3??? Do I get it?

#20, 21, & 22

#20 On-line Word Processing, Spreadsheets & other:

I just finished signing up for Google and Zoho and created documents in both. I really like this idea and think it would be especially handy while traveling. Since we sometimes work at various branches, it may even be nice to save a special project so it can be accessed easily without diskettes or flashdrives.

#21 The Labs of Google.

I learned a little about the Labs of Google. For example, under Google Trends, I searched for the topic, "Love, relationships." this was popular indeed and consistantly hit. I also tried searching under "buying first home." The trends were low and steady during 2004 then off the charts with high dips and lows in 2005.

I also checked out the Lab Videos. One of my favorite TV programs, "The Unit" was quickly found with the theme music available for listening. When I checked another favorite, "Criminal Minds", they actually had a 4+ minute video of various episodes! Very cool.

#22 Choose Your Own Adventure

I explored both the Web 2.0 Awards and Webware. It seems that the awards gave a short summary of content and then provided the link to the particular site. For example, I explored Digital Photography as my search. Web 2.0 Awards listed Flickr as the leading photo sharing community, followed by Picasa and then PicNik.

I executed the same search in Webware and came up with many articles relating to Photo Websites. The top three listed were: PicLens, Microsoft Live Photo Gallery and then The Real Deal.

I'm not sure that one List is better than the other, but Webware seemed to have more articles rather than direct one to the site.

I also searched for Books and discovered a couple of new websites too. Lulu.com, biblio.com, and of course, Library Thing all showed up. I want to go back and explore these as I get more time.

#18 & 19 Search Engines

I checked out Rollyo and Custom Google and decided to go with the Google. Since I'm planning a wedding for my daughter, I chose a site that I was familiar with, then added some key words to help find other similar sites.

This is the link to my Custom Search Engine:

http://www.google.com/coop/manage/cse/?cx=014985879512223494371:ez56jtpb68i&name=Google+Search+Engine

#17 On-line Image Generators

Well, this was fun! I tried to create a Simpson character that sort of resembled myself...not very flattering though. Here is my attempt to follow the exercise...

#15 & 16 Wiki Experience

This is one of the more interesting technologies that could be useful for our Library System. However, is was sort of confusing on how to do the exercise. Thank goodness for my wonderful co-worker, Paula Burton, who was able to walk me through it!

Library Thing #14

I love this!!!! It was fun to add a few titles. If I ever find the time to catalog my thousand books at home, it may be interesting to sort them different ways. This is my link to the Library Thing catalog...


http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lucyloo

#12 &13 Tagging & Technorati

Well, I'm getting down to the wire with all of these lessons. Actually, I worked on this lesson on June 13th when we had a Cram Session at 320th. I signed up to Technorati, but doubt that I will have a real need for it on that level.

Still, it was interesting to see how a system like this can organize the amazing data of blogs. It made sense how different tags can help locate the blogs.

Me and You Tube

I hadn't really known anything about You Tube until I received a couple of links in e-mails to funny videos. However, one morning I was watching Good Morning America and they showed this wedding party doing a dance to Thriller.

We are planning a wedding in the next couple of months and the kids told me that they've been practing something special. I doubt that they will come up with anything this choreographed, but what a fun idea. I'm going to try to embed this video in my blog.

#7 & 8 RSS Stuff

Wow, this is going to be fun. I just added my wonderful friend "Cash Cow Moo Moo" to my feed. This way I'll be able to track what's going on with her in Japan! It should also be a quick way to check my favorite news stories.

27 Things # 5 & 6

I'm still bouncing around with the lessons, but have finally finished 5 & 6. Flickr is fun! I was impressed last week when I looked at my friend's site and saw how she is using Flickr in her real life to stay in touch with family and friends.

I took a picture of a bicycle outside of the library. It's not very interesting, but I only had a few minutes to grab the camera and catch a shot.

Today I played with Mashups and enjoyed spelling out words. I also created my very own Trading Card.

Lessons # 9 & 10 & 11 My Space

Okay, I'm really behind with my lessons and I'm bouncing all around. However, I'm excited about MySpace because now it gives me a better way to understand how our patrons are using this site.

I've been able to make friends with my family. My neice and I communicated for the first time since Christmas! It was cool because we aren't in the habit of calling each other normally.

I can see that Libraries could use this to their advantage for discussion and for advertising programs.

Okay, now I've got to get back to work!