Wk 9 Thing 23!!!!: Summary of Program

I have completed the program! Yay! Overall I am pleased with the process and the things I learned. There were some stumbling blocks and some not so-clear instructions here and there but together with my co-workers, we got past them. Avatars, wikis, widgets, feeds and how to create a blog were some of my favorite parts. I think this will help me at as a librarian because I will be more aware of how the Internet works and have more tools at my disposal. BY the way, my branch manager believes that 23 things are too many things. At times I agreed with him, but I am proud of the fact that I did them all.

Wk 9 Thing 22: Project Gutenberg

I chose to explore Project Gutenberg. I am glad to know it it out there. It could prove useful for students who need a classic that we are all out of. I myself would not be interested in reading a book online like that. I much prefer books in regular book format. But the neat thing about this project is its emphasis on accesibility....and the variety of languages presented. I like that no account or software is required and that a lot of the titles have the online recorded version as well as a on-screen version. This site may be the only way that some people can get these titles.

Wk 9, Thing 21: Podcasts

I explored the three podcast directories listed in the instructions. I liked Podcast.net the least. It was not very well organized. The larger categories weren't broken down much and the descriptions were often not clear about the content. The other thing I noticed is that I couldn't find any that were current. When I was at the main "Entertainment" category page, the list of the newest podcasts started with "December 29." Quite odd. I liked the orgainization of Podcastalley.com better. It was clearer what each podcast was about. But it only gave you an option to "subscribe" and then download software. I didn't do that. (Yahoo podcasts did give you an option to "listen" rather than subscribe, right under each podcast). But then I found out that if you click "details" under each post that another page will come up which gives you the option to just "listen". One issue that was present in all directories is that none of the lists I came up with seemed to be in any order...definitely not in alphabetical or topical order. I did find some podcasts that could potentially be interesting, but all in all I don't find these directories very user-friendly. I am glad to know more about podcasts though.

Wk. 9 Thing 20: Youtube

That is so neat that you can post a video right on your blog! It worked with no problem. But I didn't have to copy and paste the code as suggested. Once you have an account with Youtube, you click on "Post Video" and it will ask for info on which site you have a blog with. Then it finds your blog, gives you an option to add text and then posts it. It put it right at the top with the correct date and the title of the video. That is cool! It also has links for related videos and a volume control.

I have used Youtube before and have had fun looking at different things. There s a lot of creative videos represented amidst the wierd stuff. I chose this video because it was good quality and packed a lot fun into a short time. It also didn't have any inance commenting going on in the background. I clicked on a video with two otters doing "it" together and a young boy was yelling in the background..."I can't believe this...I am going to post this on the Internet." I tried to find a cute video about hedgehogs but most of what I got had to do with the show "Sonic the Hedgehog." That is a of the drawback to Youtube...but it is also an issue present in most of the web.

In terms of library use, one could use Youtube videos to promote library programs. The system could put up a video of a segment of a lecture or discussion on its website to give the public a taste of what the program was about and to encourage them to come to future ones. If the branch was represented in a community event, it would be fun to show their customers what happened with a video.

Otter Hackey Sack!

Here is a cute video of an otter playing. Otters are one of my favorite animals. I have no idea if this posting will work. We'll see.

Wk. 8 Thing 19: Web 2.0 Awards

I explored the Web 2.0 Awards site and found it interesting. One site that I liked was Yelp, a reviews site for restaurants, store and services located in different cities. I looked around the New York City portion and was impressed at the variety of stores it listed. It'll probably be useful next time I visit NYC or if I am going to a city I have never been to before. I have also heard about the Pandora music site from a friend and would like to try it out sometime. Based on the songs or artists you enter it will create a radio station with selections of similar music.

The site that I worked on the most was Netvibes.com. You can create your own home page that you sign in with a password and design it with feeds, photos, videos, a calendar etc. Netvibes has an extensive list of newsfeeds on different subjects and from a variety of sources. You can preview them before adding them to your site. The site is quite user friendly. The widgets that make up the page (feeds, search, calendar, notes etc.) are easy to choose, edit, move and delete. I enjoyed creating my page. There are enough options for one to be able to really personalize it with your interests. It is neat to have a bunch of updated information presented all at your fingertips. I think it is more reader friendly than bloglines. I was glad you only needed to give an e-mail address and a password to get started...no other information.

Wk. 8 Thing 18: Online Productivity Tools

I tried out Google Docs. I am glad to know about it. I looked around at the options. I was glad to see that you could upload documents from another source like a disk. The layout of the home page seemed well organized. When I created my document, I had fun with the different options..all clearly presented...including text color, text highlighting, insert link or picture.