WOOHOO!
I really enjoyed this program. I discovered so many new things--some of which I will probably never use again but others that I'm very excited about. The image generators were one of the funnest things for me--I've been playing around with several of them since discovering their existence. One of the most useful for me is Bloglines/RSS feeds--it's just nice to get all of my info in one place. I guess the biggest "take away" for me is that the 23 things forced me (in a good way) to expand my knowledge and now it's up to me to continue that learning process because there is so much out there to learn about and do.
The only thing I can think of that might have improved this program is to increase the timeframe to finish it. It's hard for some branch staff to find a PC (much less the time) to work on the 23 things--and some of the things did take quite a bit of time if you were really wanting to understand their usefulness.
And I would definitely participate in another discovery program in the future. It was great!

Thing 22 Downloadable Audiobooks

Set up my netLibrary account yesterday and perused the eAudiobook offerings. I did find some titles that I will probably download once I get my mp3 player. I was going to play around with it a little bit more this morning but, alas, the "page cannot be displayed"--some sort of HTTP Error. What would I do without our HelpDesk staff? Though I can't access netLibrary right now, I have completed Thing 22...ONE MORE TO GO!!

Thing 21 Podcasts
I've listened to podcasts before but I had either heard about them (like on NPR or PLCMC Central) or stumbled across them on the web. I actually never thought about there being podcast directories that you could search. I tried all the directories listed but, with the exception of Yahoo! Podcasts, the searches didn't seem very thorough or well-organized. I still listened to a few and I like to idea of being able to search for them. I found several library-related podcasts and can definitely see how libraries could use this technology--of course, PLCMC has already jumped on that one. Found an OK Go series where the band interviews people that "fascinate" them--pulling that RSS feed into my Bloglines account.

Thing 20
YouTube

I've been receiving links to YouTube videos from friends for a while but my love for YouTube blossomed after seeing the movie Snakes on a Plane. At the end of the movie, while the credits are running, they show the video below. The song stuck in our heads and we sang it the rest of the day. Thankfully, the video was available on YouTube so we can hear the song whenever we like. The movie is a hoot if you haven't seen it.

Since then I have used YouTube quite a bit--mostly for looking for videos by and about OK Go (my current addiction). I've used it for lots of other things too--just fun goofy stuff. I think it's great though searching can be hit or miss--I think it might need a better search engine if we were using it for the library.

Enjoy the video (be warned the f-bomb is dropped once or twice)

Thing 19
I started by checking out the Visual Arts section--in this category "There were either not enough nominations or there was no clear leader to award winners in this category." It looks like people can nominate their own site and it was a very disappointing category. One of them was a broken link and another was a lame pixel thing. Here's a site that should have been nominated. It's very cool--when it opens there's just a blank page but moving your mouse around the page creates a design and clicking the mouse button changes the color.

I've already explored several of the award-winning sites through Learning 2.0 and wanted to try something new. After the Visual Arts disappointment, I headed to the Music category. I have to download something for the winner so I may try that when I get home.

Thing 18
Zoho Writer and other web-based apps
I created the "Untitled" blurb below in Zoho Writer and published it to my blog from there. For some reason the smiley face with sunglasses came through as the word "cool" with a box around it. I guess that's the cool smiley.
I can definitely see uses for Zoho and other web-based apps.

I came back yesterday from an amazingly fun and beautiful weekend at the beach--it's a rainy day but I feel all sunshiney on the inside.

Untitled

Hello--just checking out Zoho Writer. I never heard of it before but it's oh so cool. I'm just going to play around with some of its features.
I think it's funny that when I do a spell check, it doesn't recognize the word Zoho.

Thing 17

Hangin' in the sandbox
This was my first time adding to a wiki. I added my blog to the Favorite Blogs list then included something in Favorite Music. It was really cool reading the diverse tastes (in music, movies, TV shows, etc) of our staff. This is a very entertaining sandbox.

Thing 16

What's in a wiki?
I love love love wikis. I was first introduced to wikis through wikipedia I love that you can use it to find out info on all sorts of obscure things (like that band that I like whose lead singer is really cute and other in-depth research like that). Of course, it's important to know that anyone can edit the content...

I especially like the idea of using a wiki where access to it is limited to PLCMC staff. We've talked about creating one for collection management so that staff can communicate about library materials, marketing ideas, etc. I think it's a great idea--because then the staff "owns" it, has control over it, isn't dependent upon some "authorized staff member" to post something for them.

I had never seen the Library Success wiki before--it has a lot of "best practices" ideas for libraries--not so much in the Materials Selection area though.

Thing 15

Library 2.0 Ramblings

I've read these articles once or twice before. Each time I read them I think about new things. I always find myself relating them to whatever is going on in my job at the time. When I read them today my first thought was "what is a public library, if not an ever-changing, ever-adapting entity"? We are here for our public and our public's informational and recreational wants and needs are constantly changing.

I consider myself pretty liberal when it comes to library collections. When I was in library school, I was under the impression that all librarians were pretty liberal. To my chagrin, I've discovered that is not the case. In fact, it is often librarians who attempt to censor materials. I could go off on a rant here but I won't.

Instead, I'll talk about the thing that struck me most today when I re-read the articles. The idea of a "just in case" collection is one area that I think PLCMC is doing a fairly good job of correcting. With our regular weeding schedule, we have at least made staff more aware of items that aren't circulating that are more than worthy of being removed from the collection. In my opinion, if it's not being used, it's just taking up valuable space--doesn't matter if it was published in 1965 or 2005, if it's not being used, pitch it.

As a public library, we have an obligation to be customer-focused and responsive to public demand for materials of contemporary significance and interest. This applies to books, technology, outreach--everything that we do. And it's more important today than ever. I may babble about this more later.

Thing 14

Exploring Technorati
So, I started by searching "Learning 2.0" in Blog Posts, then Tags, then Blog Directory and the results were quite different. Of course, searching the Blog Directory brought up the most relevant results and by relevant I mean related to PLCMC's project (ie relevant to me).

It's very odd to me that "Battlestar Gallactica" was the Top Search--I must be outta the loop on that one. I was glad to see the Huffington Post in the Top 5 Blogs. I looked around some but I'm not that interested in random blogs--I mostly read blogs of friends and family--and occasionally a few others (like Arianna Huffington). But, like del.icio.us, I'm glad to know Technorati's out there if I want or need it!

Thing 13

Del.cio.us
Played around with this for a while. I can see how it could be very useful if you're doing some in-depth research, working on a group project, or if you travel a lot and need access to your bookmarks from multiple PCs. I don't see myself using it for anything...at least not right now. But it's nice to know that it exists should that change.

Thing 12

Explored Rollyo today and set up an account. What a great idea, this Rollyo! I can see a lot of potential for work-related searches. However, I chose to start by creating a search roll for digital camera reviews. I've been saving up for a digital camera and every week I find myself scouring the sales in the Sunday paper and then checking numerous web sites for reviews of the on-sale cameras. So, this should save me some time in my research!

I love that someone has created a search roll for quotes. When sending cards to friends and family, I often search for an appropriate quote to go with the situation or occasion, I found several quotes today using this Quick Quotes search.

Thing 11

I created my Library Thing account.
I started by just adding five books that I reviewed for Readers Club so that I could link to my reviews there. Library Thing is extremely easy to use and I'm looking forward to adding books to my catalog as I read them. The older I get, the worse my memory gets...I'm hoping my Library Thing catalog will help me remember what I've actually read!

Thing 10



I enjoyed exploring different image generators. I created all sorts of things that probably aren't appropriate for posting here :) but it was lots of fun.
The above image was created here
The image below was created here



Oh, and I created the "Lynn's Blog" image here.

Things 8 & 9

I just set up my bloglines account. I can't believe I didn't do this one sooner! It will be so nice to have one site to go to for info that I look up all the time. I tried Feedster and Topix.net which both brought up tons of listings. Blogline's search tool also had all of the news feeds listed that I was interested in. I also added a couple of library-related blogs that I found. I'm looking forward to this one-stop shopping for work and fun.

Thing 6

Spell with Flickr is pretty cool. Trying to figure out how to post my image...



Don't ask :)
The Frankfurter trading card was created here.

Thing 5
Flickr
I just realized that I should be blogging about each new "thing" we do with Learning 2.0--yes, sometimes I'm a little slow. So, here's my blog about exploring flickr. I've been in flickr a lot over the past year and I had never even noticed the "Explore Flickr Through Tags" section before--yes, sometimes I'm unobservant. I went straight for the beach tag because I love the beach. And though there are some cool pictures of beaches, I realized I don't really care to look at photos of a beach (unless they are photos of MY beach). No, I don't want to see a beach, I want to be at the beach--particularly Topsail Beach--in the family beach house that my grandfather built in 1949. It's a cottage that has weathered many fun times and many hurricanes and I love it.