Wednesday, April 30, 2008

OMFG!

I'm a winner!

I won the upgraded Web 2.0 account.

I'm not sure what that will do for me, but, w00t!

And I got a call for a library job interview today.

Wish me luck.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Thing 23. Final Thoughts

Took the survey, set up the RSS feed for the next tools and maybe you'll hear from me again.

I hate to blog - I don't feel that I have much to add to the conversation except "Me, too!"

Had my say in the previous post.

See you on the funway!

Thing 22. What Did I Learn Today?

I have to say that I was surprised at how current I am. Not bad for an over-the-hill boomer teetering on the brink.

Wait, I'm only 52. I'm not dead yet.

"I feel happy!!"

I guess being part of science fiction fandom has contributed to that. We tend to be a forward looking crowd and on the edge of all the technology trends.

I did email when the only program was sendmail. I was on Compu$erve over 20 years ago. Electronic bulletin boards & Usenet used to be big.

In fact, what folks call Web 2.0 has always been there - the tools just keep catching up to what people are doing.

And Libraries have always embraced the new technology. The first place I ever encountered a computer system was at the Stamford, CT Public Library. I used Dialog on a TI terminal with acoustic couplers and chemical paper. The big improvement was being able to craft your search while off line and upload it.

It's a question of mindset.

Thing 21. Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

Gather, WebJunction & Ning.

I'm a member of Gather, but have not devoted anytime there. Most of my social group is on LiveJournal, so that's where I tend to devote my spare time.

And Gather is pushy. It's always asking me to join one group or another and there's a lot of commercial involvement. It annoys me.

I'm part of WebJunction, since it first appeared around here. I haven't been as active as I should be.

I joined Ning as soon as this project started, but hadn't heard of it before.

I joined Flixster, but use it via Facebook

I joined Last.fm, but don't use it much

LinkedIn is another group where I keep in touch with people I used to work with.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Thing 20. Libraries and Social Networks

I must confess, that since I'm not currently working as a librarian, Facebook is where I keep in touch with former colleagues. And friends from far away. And nearby. And family.

And I can quit anytime I want.

I have a MySpace page too, but I'm hardly active there.

I'm already a member of the ALA, Librarians and Facebook, and Library 2.0 Interest groups.

I just added HCL to my friends in MySpace.

Thing 19. Podcasts

I'm not too much into the podcasting thing, although I did win State Fair passes from a contest from the MN State Fair Podcast (Thanx Laurel!)

I subscribe to one podcast on my Blogline - Jet Streaming from MPR. It's about MN weather.

I'd have to have something I wanted to say for me to have a podcast - and I don't right now.

Thing 18. YouTube & Other Online Video and

Find a YouTube video I like and link it to my blog and tell why. Here goes!

I've chosen 110 Stories, a dramatized poem by my late friend John M. Ford. He died last year - yesterday would have been his birthday.

He was a brilliant man and I was privileged to know him. The Minneapolis Friends of the Library has a memorial fund set up in his name - he loved libraries.

Thing 16. Student 2.0 Tools & Thing 17. ELM Productivity Tools

I have an advantage here because I worked at the MNLink booth at the State Fair in 2006, and we promoted all these wonderful things like crazy. The teenagers would glare at me when I showed their parents how to use the Assignment Calculator, especially the email reminder feature.

My kids are tired of my showing them all the neat things libraries on the web can do for them.

The Support Materials for Teachers on the Research Project Calculator are a gold mine!

W00t! I remembered my user name & password for ELM.. Ran a search for the company I work for now and set up an RSS feed.

Remembered my EBSCO name & password, too. - Finally found the link to PageComposer

Already a user on NetLibrary. I'm not able to access the 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site through my HCLIB content collection. bah, humbug

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Thing 15. Online Games and Libraries

As I've been avoiding Second Life, being warned in advance that it's a huge timesink, I'm giving Puzzle Pirates a try.



Arrggh! My pc won't run the java. Let's see if hitting the big red button will help.

Let's see: 3 power failures in one day and almost a half an hour to download the game. ick.

I'm not very good at those kind of puzzles. Now crosswords or jigsaw - any kind of logic game, is my cup of tea. But my eye/hand coordination sucks.