Thursday, May 28, 2009

Thing 47 Evaluation

For a while, I didn't think I would get back to this. I started and then February and March were very busy, but when I got back, I stuck to it. It was worth it. There were many fun things and many informative things. I didn't like Twitter, and I still don't see the point, except as a link to other places. Maybe that is the point. I learned new things, at my own pace, which is my learning style. I would do this again, if there is the opportunity.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Thing 46 WebJunction Minnesota

I am familiar with WebJunction (Minnesota). I've been to a couple of workshops and have browsed it quite a bit. I am getting ready to inventory the library computers in Tech Atlas. It really offers a lot of information in the library business. I hope to keep up with it often.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Thing 45 Cloud Computing

I didn't know that it had a "name", but I've been participating in cloud computing for awhile, anyway. It's a handy thing to have, for instance photos, parked somewhere else for use anywhere. When I was doing the Halloween scrapbook of my grandchildren, I accessed my daughter's photos on Snapfish. I read a few of the articles and found them informative. It's really nice to learn more about what's inside the web.

Thing 44 The Economy

This was interesting. There are so many options for maintaining your budget and saving your money. I really liked the coupon sites and the "deals". I'm going to go against the tide of people putting out gardens this year. I decided to just go to a Farmer's Market instead.

Thing 43 Online TV & Video

I had heard of Hulu, but not Joost. I really don't want to watch tv on my computer. I don't watch tv much in any case, but it is a place to find an episode of something you really want to see, or you may have missed. I have heard people say they watch many episodes of shows every week, so it does have a place these days.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Thing 42 Music 2.0

I've really enjoyed learning about these. I often listed to MPR online, but I haven't gone beyond that. This really expands the options. I did set up a radio station, which is fun, and I will try out other genres of music. I have Googled music lyrics for patrons in the past, but I bookmarked a couple of the sites for lyrics.

Thing 42 Music 2.0

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Thing 41 Mashup Your Life

I signed up for FriendFeed, invited a friend and added a few of the Web 2.0 sites to it. I will check it out for awhile.

Thing 40 Mashup the Web

Monday, May 11, 2009

Thing 40 Mashup the Web

This mashup links Twitter and Google: I Googled Hubble and the results were side by side--kind of neat.
http://linkstore.ru/got/

This was fun: You put in your Twitter name and it brings in photos based on what you've searched lately in Twitter: (I got this at mashupawards.com)
http://portwiture.com/

The picture from the BigHugelabs turned out to be very small, but it does link to a bigger one on their site.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Thing 39 Digital Storytelling

This would be great fun to do. The scrapbook pages I made didn't quite fit with the pictures. But the idea is there.

Thing 39 Digital Storytelling

Click to play this Smilebox scrapbook:
Create your own scrapbook - Powered by Smilebox
Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thing 38

Registration Form

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Thing 38 Screencasting

This was a challenge. And I would like to try it again. I think it could be a helpful tool in a number of ways. I just had a hard time understanding it at first, and then trying to get the video into the blog wasn't easy. I didn't have a mic, or I would have added audio. I tried to embed the video into the blog, but it didn't work, so I put in a link to the video. Maybe I'll be able to try again to get it. I watched all of the tutorials and tried a couple of different ways to do this, but finally just had to finish.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Thing 37 Photo Tales

I thought that SlideRocket was very nice looking. That would make a nice presentation. I spent too much time writing captions for our Art Show montage on One True Media, because they wouldn't upload the captions without paying for them! WASTE OF TIME. I've worked in Flickr quite a bit, so I wanted to try out another photo site. I did the mosaic and Picnik--they were fun.

Thing 37 Photo Tales

Thing 36 Comic Relief--Generate Some Fun

Today will be a better day, I'm sure. I was able to upload the cartoon!

Thing 36 Comic Relief--Generate Some Fun

\Toon\

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Thing 36 Comic Relief--Generate Some Fun

I made my own cartoon, honest I did, but so far I can't get it to come up. I'll try again. It was a fun little project and I did quite a few of the things on this. I think there were a few things that could be useful, besides being just fun.

Thing 36 Comic Relief--Generate Some Fun

\Toon\

Thing 36 Comic Relief--Generate Some Fun

Your fairy is called Columbine Goblinfilter
She is a bringer of riches and wealth.
She lives in mushroom fields and quiet meadows.
She is only seen on midsummer's eve.
She wears lilac and purple like columbine flowers. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Thing 35 Books 2.0

Most of all I think this Thing proves that people love books and are going to read, no matter what format. I don't know if the paper book will ever go away, or if it matters, as long as people want to read. I can see in our library that books are bigger than ever. The more I buy, the more they read. It's fantastic!

I followed most of the links in the Learn section. I bookmarked many of them. I set up some apps in Facebook, and I'll check them out further.

I think the future of libraries is an interesting one. Our community is using the library in many more ways that when I moved here thirty-something years ago. There have been comments about how many people just come here to sit and read. Maybe there's a need for a "get-away" place in our busy lives.

But back to books--I'm very hopeful that all of the online sites are encouraging books and readers, so it does come back in a circle--what fun it will be to see what happens next in the book/library world.

Thing 34 Is it Competition? Online Answer Sites

This is a very interesting topic for librarians. The articles had good things to say about libraries and how to change with the times. Reference work has changed a great deal. The internet is enormous and has a lot of information of varying quality. The key is knowing what information is true and what is not. Kids especially seem to believe anything that is online. I don't really know what will happen to the reference desk. I think it is a part of libraries, but these days, libraries are so much more. The answer sites were kind of fun. There seemed to be quite a bit of advertising on the ones I looked at, but there certainly seems to be a need for people to find answers to their questions. I hadn't heard of Slam the Boards, but that's in the "if you can't beat'em, join'em" arena.