THE 23RD THING!!!!!!

Well, it's happening right now before my very eyes. I'm finishing the program. As pleased as I am to complete this (I'll receive an astounding quantity of CEUs), I'm a little sad because there's no new task, no assigned learning exercise for me to complete. I will spend much time learning throughout my life, but something I've learned about myself is that I tend to be more focused if I have an assignment to complete. It's the student in me, I suppose, the one that likes deadlines.

There is so much out there in the world of 2.0, it could take a lifetime of searching and researching to keep up with all the changes. This discovery program has opened up my eyes to applications I wasn't aware of (web-based productivity applications, LibraryThing and friends, Technorati) and has re-introduced me to things with which I was familiar, but uninitiated (blogging, Flickr, wikis). I haven't much use for some of the Things, such as RSS feeds and some of the mash-up sites (fun, but who has the time?), and I've found that I really enjoy other Things (like blogging).

Overall, my take is this: Let's never stop learning, and let's always take interest in what's new and different. This may mean we must change our pre-conceived ways of using computers and it may mean that we fumble around on what comes naturally to the next generation. Regardless, what is there to lose except maybe a little time?

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ~Alvin Toffler

Audiobooks

Thing 22

With the deadline for the 23 Things drawing near, I'm pleased to discover that I'm pretty familar with the last couple of Things that I'm supposed to familarize myselfe with. I've got an account with both NetLibrary and Overdrive, and have been using them ever since I started working with the library system. I don't actually download books, since I have an iPod and therefore can't download books onto it, thanks to somebody, Apple I suppose.


That's okay, though, because I'm not much into listening to books, anyway. I prefer to use my eyes. I might feel like I should do something else (i.e. multitask) if I was listening to my books. And as you can see from the visual media here, multitasking would take away from my ability to fully focus on the task at hand.

Podcasting

Thing 21

Everyone, everywhere, everything has a podcast these days. If you need to know how to do something, you can find out how to do it by listening to someone tell you all about it via their podcast. I was introduced to an Australian guy (or at least to his podcast) when I was confused about how to work this software that I'd recently installed. The fact that I still can't work the software is absolutely no reflection on the quality of that Aussie fellow's podcast. His accent only enhanced the instruction. Or maybe that was the problem. Those were my first podcasts, actually. I learned about Odeo, Podcast pickle, Podcast Alley, and the whole podcast gang of characters. Make sure you have a fast connection (a recurring theme for me, one day it'll happen for me at home). When I tried to learn about the whole Adobe Audition software while listening to the podcast at home, it was astoundingly painful--a word or two at a time as I struggled to piece it all together. That, more than anything else, is responsible I'm sure for my not "getting" the software. Oh well, another day.

YouTube

Thing 20

This turns out to be a pretty easy Thing for me to complete, since I like to check out YouTube from time to time. It's a pretty amazing web feature, really, and it's hard to imagine a time when we didn't have access to so many videos at a moments notice. Although back in the day, it wouldn't have mattered if we'd had access to the videos because we wouldn't have had the bandwidth to play them anyway.

A couple of my favorites:

Chris L. introduced me to this particular video:



And speaking of Chris L, here's something of interest to us all:



If he happens across this and hates me for it, hopefully he'll let me know.

I guess I'll stop there, although I could just keep adding video after video.

The end.

And the Winner Is...

Thing 19

I started off by looking at all the nominees for the Web 2.0 awards, but there was so much that I chose to choose from the winners list. And how to play around with just 1 thing? I looked at a few, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was familiar with much more than I thought I was going to be. A brief summary of what I found, what I thought.

Craig's List: I've used this before, my friends have used this before. When I first perused it I thought it was so big, how could anyone find anything? But, several events later (both hosted and attended) I've learned that people do read the List, and they will buy and sell items on it. It's a handy, area-specific, online, classified section.

Yahoo! Local city guide: This can be helpful, although it doesn't encompass everything that's in a city, just what users of the city guide have chosen to post. The reviews are good to read, and I found out about a couple of places I didn't know existed in Frederick which came as a surprise to me, being from the area.

Pandora: I became a subscriber to this site, and I'm a big fan. I love being able to create my own "radio station" based on artists I like. They're remarkably perceptive as to my music tastes.

About Wikis, again

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, the authenticity of wikis is, on occasion, dubious. I just came across this article dealing with a new creation, Wikiscanner, that might help with this problem. Wikiscanner is a site that tracks the edits on Wikipedia and lets you know who's behind the words on the page. No more hiding behind fake credentials.

test document

Thing 18

This exercise has to do with web-based productivity applications; in other words, office software that you can use and save online. I just wrote a few sentences about it and then used the publish feature to send it to my blog. My goodness, everything has become so easy and so integrated.

Here's what I wrote in Zoho Writer, pretty cool (the application, not the entry so much). I'll check out Google.docs next. Maybe I'll throw away all of my old 51/4 inch floppy discs.

Here's a simple document that I'm currently creating, simply because it's a part of the exercise I need to do for this particular step in the 23 Things program. I think this is pretty neat, however, having the ability to create documents and not need to have the proper software loaded on your computer. I recognize all the icons, this seems fairly obvious to me and would hopefully be explanatory to others. How simple, to have your documents always available to you even when you've forgotten your disc or your flash drive or whatever it may be that you use.

Hey, where's the spell check?

Aha.

Going to the Sandbox

Thing 17

Even though this entry's title includes the word "sandbox," I won't be inserting any pictures of cats in a sandbox for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure). I will, however, include this cake recipe.

I've taken part in the PB Wiki, made my own deposit in the sandbox. I was mildly intimidated at first because I'd never made a wiki entry before, but once I got going and figured out what I was doing it was really simple. I even made mine a little bit fancy. Can you find my blog link?

The Wonderful World of Wikis

Thing 16
I browsed through the wikis on Friday and now it's Monday, but I think I can recall enough to formulate some enlightened observations on Wikis and their World. I used wikis for a long time without really understanding what they were. What I did understand, however, is that I should have felt ashamed about using Wikipedia as an occasional reference. I get some good information from Wikipedia, though, don't you? I don't plan to write my master's thesis using Wikipeida as my sole reference, but if I'm looking for some info I'm pretty sure I'll find something good there. Typically I end up finding something else to spark my interest and then I'm off and linking away. A linkfest, so to speak. But, I digress.

People everywhere are a wealth of information--information they store in their heads. Wikis are a perfect resource for sharing and disseminating that info until that inevitable abuse happens. There are methods in place to counteract this abuse within wiki communities (which seem to be, in some ways, stronger than many of the communities that we live in) . Wikis allow everyone to take part in information sharing and are a perfect example of what this whole Web 2.0 thing is about.

There are a couple of ways to use wikis in libraries that would be handy. First, the idea of annotating the catalog via patron input is a great one. I frequently refer to amazon.com to see what people are saying about the books they're reading, and I think our patrons would appreciate the same service with that friendly hometown touch.

Second, a subject guide with links for staff might be very handy. I've been introduced to good websites by my co-workers. Not the least of which is Stuff On My Cat.

Library 2.0

Thing 15

These articles were informative and interesting. The world is changing, the internet is changing, and libraries are obligated to change right along with them or else fall into a state of obsolescence. We will remain relevant as long as we keep up with the dialogue that's happening all around us. The dialogue that you can find in 2. 0 websites like Flickr, Myspace, Facebook, etc.... The traditional methods of answering reference questions may be heading out the door, but our obligation is to meet the patrons elsewhere, in the cyberland where they live and where librarians don't say shhh.


Already, people ask What do librarians do now that there's Google? The truth is, people, Google doesn't have all the answers. And there's always going to be someone who's intimidated and needs help navigating what's out there. That's ultimately what we're here for--we help patrons navigate information, therefore we have to be familiar with what we're talking about.