I couldn't resist posting this...kind of scary,huh?

Letter Pop and YourMinis

I love Letter Pop - this is another really good idea. It seems like so many of these sites were created to get around having to use microsoft software - Bill Gates is an inspiration in more ways than one. But I'm really not sure about widgets - I think I have to spend more time learning about these. I'm not sure I did what I was supposed to do.

I'm back....

I have taken a break for over a month now, but decided I would move on beyond the 23 things. Zamzar is really a wonderful tool and really couldn't be easier. I'm sure that everyone will be able to pass this sight on to a lot of people.

and now we come to the end...

or the beginning, or thing 24, or whatever it is, I loved some of it, enjoyed most of it,I'll try to remember all of it, and I might actually use part of it. I'm sure that everyone who has been doing these 23 things will agree with me that it has been a good learning experience. I think I felt that once you knew how to search the internet, what more could there be? The image generators were fun and I love Bloglines, but I don't have much use for Technorati, del.ico.us, or Rollyo. Mashups gave me a headache. The picture sharing sites are fun - but I seem to break every camera I touch, so I might not use them again. Wikis are a great way to share information and I can see many, many ways we will use this technology in the future. I think E-books are underappreciated and I'm sure we will use this technology and be downloading our movies this way very soon. And as for You-Tube, well yes we can all be famous for 15 minutes (or less). Sometimes I think the hardest part was thinking of something to say on my blog. Hopefully, all of these things I have learned will help me download something to my MP3 player...

E-Books

I have been playing around with e-books for about a week or so - Even though we have had e-books for a couple of years I had no experience with them. The audio books from Overdrive are a great idea, and I am sure this will be the wave of the future with dvds, also - its so simple to download and burn these. I had no problems downloading the software from Overdrive, but I made the mistake of upgrading to Adobe 8 before I read the directions - so I had to backtrack and downgrade. Using the Adobe reader didn't seem quite as user friendly as Overdrive, but it wasn't difficult. I think its a great idea for Reference books, and this is something everyone might need to do at some point, when they need a manual or instructions for something they can't find anywhere else. I will definitely be looking at the e-book spot on our website more often to see what's new. I do have a question - Can you "return" your E-book if you finish before the due date? I tried deleting it from my downloads, and this doesn't work, and there is no option to do this from "My bookshelf". If anyone knows the answer to this please let me know.

Thing 21

Happy St. Lawrence Day (Aug 10) - the patron saint of libraries and librarians - also the Perseid meteor showers are called "St. Lawrence's fiery tears" (they occur between Aug 8 and Aug 13) - just something I learned when I was supposed to be learning about podcasts - oh well...

As with all things internet - there is a plethora of podcasts (forgive me - its Friday). My personal favorite Excerpts from the Constitution - with comments by the faculty of Yale (no really, it was extremely informative).

I was also happy to see some of my favorite NPR people have podcasts - Krista Tippett always has such an interesting program - sometimes I only catch a little of her program when I'm in the car and I subscribed to her podcast and Prairie Home Companion with my Bloglines account. It is good to know that there are directories for podcasts that can be searched for things that are of interest to you.

You Tube

I had looked at videos on YouTube before, so I was aware of the site, but I was surprised how easy it was to post a video to your blog. I chose Gore Vidal because I had listened to his latest memoir, Point to Point Navigation on CD. He was someone I knew very little about, but I enjoyed listening to the book. I found him to be a very intelligent voice for his generation - it inspired me to learn more about him and read his other memoirs.

Gore Vidal on the future

Things 18 & 19

I chose the "Yelp" website from the list of 2.0 awards. This is a city guide that allows locals to write reviews about restaurants, shopping, net life and all those other things that are good to know when you are traveling. This is a good site to visit to hear what the locals have to say about local happenings. I wrote a review of the MVR restaurant, and I added the site to my favorites in Technorati and Bloglines.

I also decided to go back today and play around alittle with Technorati and delicious - I wasn't sure I really understood these sites. I was able to export my feeds from Bloglines to Technorati and add them to my favorites.

I have been able to see the learning connection while doing these different things - just the act of doing them makes you feel more comfortable with technology. It is mind-boggling, though, to realize what is out there - there's even a name for us "bloggers" - Citizen Media.

Zohowriter and STARS

I imported the STARS mission statement into a document at Zohowriter. I shared it with the other STARS trainers - so I hope John, Linda, Marian and Diane will be able to access it with their zohowriter account. Lets try editing the document this way - it will be fun and give us some practice using these new tools. I was not able to post to my blog from Zohowriter, but I'm going to try again

Its pretty cool when you figure something out on your own (see last post) - yes I did create and post my last message from Google Docs and Spread sheets. I did not know these documents were available and I can see how this could make expensive software like Microsoft Office unnecessary for the average consumer who using the computer and internet to manage their personal business.

I am (hopefully) going to post this from Google Docs & Spreadsheets to my blog. It may take a while to think through some of these things to fully understand how we can use the programs and different software at work.

I recommend...

I have been listening to The Diana Chronicles" on cd and it is wonderful. I have never read any other books about Diana and I must confess I didn't pay much attention to her when she was alive. I was curious about this book because of the author, Tina Brown, so I decided to listen to it. It is read with a wonderful British accent and it truly feels like your listening to a fairy tale.

I also just finished reading New England White by Stephen Carter - a really good book. I read his first book Emperor of Ocean Park and it was good, too.

Be sure to read A Thousand Splendid Suns - you will really appreciate being an American.

Wikis

I was finally able to sign into the PLCMC wiki so I could add an entry about my favorite books and favorite vacation spot. There are so many things that library staff could do with a wiki. I can envision every committee or department using a wiki for meeting notes, reminders, rules, etc. We could replace our staff section of the web site with a wiki to make updating forms, supply lists, SIBs and schedules very easy to do.

Well I'm finished with all of the Week 6 things. I think Library 2.0 has been a great opportunity for people to learn about new software and new technology. I didn't know most of these things existed. It was fun learning about them, and they are very useful- and when people ask "May I please see your Library Thing" - I can say yes,but I still think I'd rather lay on the couch and read a book.

We have heard before that the internet makes libraries obsolete, but we know thats not the case. Libraries have been the great equalizer when it comes to technology - We have given people access to computers and technology who might not have access any other way. In this rapidly changing environment, we are more important than ever. I know that everyone who works here can tell the story of someone who came into the library and said" I never knew you had this here!" And as long as thats the case, we'll be around long after "Google" has ridden off into the sunset.

technorati

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I guess its obvious I figured out library thing - and thank you Barb, for showing me how to post htmls - I had to do the same thing with this!

http://www.imagechef.com/ic/final_widget.jsp
This was fun, simple and the possibilities are endless!

I'm still playing with RSS - I have to confess, I thought I knew something about technology - but I think I stood still for the last 5 years with some of the things I have discovered. I really had no idea that some of these things were out there. Now I find myself looking for the little RSS icon on every website I visit.

Okay, so I lied - I like RSS - I just added a blog that I found all by myself to my list and I'm hooked.

I'm really not sure about RSS feeds - being a news junkie, I thought I would be more impressed, but I guess I will have to play around with it some more. One of the benefits of doing these excercises is finding out how really easy it is to do some of these things, and why I might never do them again. Just last week I had no idea how to blog, flickr or rss - now I've done all 3.

Sunrise at Nags Head

Sunrise at Nags Head, originally uploaded by scottlenger.

My third most favorite place (besides home and work, of course) - Beautiful Nags Head, North Carolina - where I will be in 24 days, unless, of course the first big hurricane of the season decides to blow on in!

7 1/2 habits

I can really relate to the philosophy behind the 7 1/2 habits, especially accepting responsibility for your own learning. This habit always stands out when people are curious beyond the simple mechanics of learning a process or procedure. Knowing why we do it or what the end result will be is a very powerful learning tool, whether we are learning something for pleasure or its work related. It is also very satisfying when you have learned something, to help someone else learn it, too.

Just sharing with you a website I've subscribed to called urbandictionary.com - keeps you up to date on all of the new and cool words that often don't make it to the dictionary - and how appropriate that today's word is ....technolust -
The constant desire to have the newest, flashiest, fastest, shiniest gadget available, even if the one you just bought is only two months old and still works great.

Your [iPhone] makes me horny with uncontrollable technolust.

I'm up and running and it was pretty easy! I hope everyone who participates will realize they know more about technology and computers than they think they do.