Thing 19 - Web 2.0

The Web 2.0 awards site was great because it had all of the best tools on one webpage. It was easy to look around and click on the familiar ones and explore the unfamiliar. By far, Library Thing is one of my favorite. As I posted before, I plan on using this to help organize the library at my daughter's preschool. I have figured out how to use the catologing tool on that site. I also saw Flickr on the award list which is another favorite.

One of the new tools I looked at was Amiglia. This site helps one to build a family tree online using pictures and videos. It's kind of like an electronic geneology guide. I thought this would be good to use since I have a large family and we are spread out. Amiglia could help us stay in touch and see each other's families. One other that I liked was iFoods (Look and Taste). There were some really good looking Mexican food recipes that I would like to try. I might be able to do this when I'm not so busy blogging!

Thing 18 - Google Docs

I am really impressed with Google Docs. I really like how many people can have access to the same document. This could be helpful in meetings or gathering information for meeting or projects. Google Docs is more productive and is a big time saver when multiple people need access to the same information. One good feature are the templates that are included in the software for each document type. I would use this, but would still use Microsoft Office for all of my other needs.

Thing 17 - Rollyo

Rollyo is a great tool to use in the library. I like how I can set up specific search topics and the students will have access to only the websites I set up. This will be very helpful in an elementary setting because the students should not feel overwhelmed when conducting research. I set up a Searchroll on "Library Characters". I specifically did this for myself so that I can have access to these websites without having to go and look for them again on my new computer at work. Now I can get to them from work, home, or my laptop.

Check out my Searchroll at

http://rollyo.com/dsummers/library_characters/.

Thing 16 - Wikis

What is a Wiki? That is exactly what I thought when I sat down in Dr. Bishop's LLLS 6336 class three weeks ago. I had no idea what one was or how to use one. Now that I know, I'm thinking I really could have used these when teaching my classes in previous years. I'll be a librarian next year, so I'll definitely be using information like this make things fun in the library. I particularly liked the teacherlibrarianwiki. There is tons of useful information on this wiki and is going to be very helpful to me. I also liked the BookLoversWiki created by Princeton Public Library. In looking through the categories, I had no idea there was a "Chic Lit" category. The books look like fun reads... Now that I feel more comfortable working with wikis, I will be using them often.

Thing 15 - The Future of Libraries

Technology is updated everday, so it's only reasonable to think that this evolving technology will be part of education from now on. As librarians, it is our responsibility to keep up with the trends in order to make learning fun and innovative for our students. I would like to think that this will not mean students won't be drawn to books. Every child loves to be read to--if children are read to, they will grow up to be readers. As a reader, I like reading interesting facts and looking up things on the web, but nothing compares to sitting down and getting lost in a good book. Yes, technology will be part of the library, but I don't think that the need for books will be obsolete.

The video, "A Vision of Students Today", really hit me hard. I was kind of sad to think that this is the way it really is for students today. With all of the electronic devices they grow up with (video games, iPods, iPhones, dvd players) they expect EVERYTHING to be technology based. Who wants to learn off a chalkboard? I can't even remember the last time I saw one in a school.

Thing 14 - Technorati

I first explored Technorati while completing Thing 9. I found it useful to search for library related material. As I previously posted, I searched library orientation videos and was able to view a few. I'm planning on coming up with my own library video for the beginning of the school year. Some things I liked about it were the news feeds and information. (Even though some of the news posted is scary.) Some things I disliked about it were that it seems like there are just random topics that seem to be popular. It is a good tool if you know what to look for and how to look for it. This would bring me to the importance of tags. Not only tagging information, but tagging it correctly, benefits the users and makes things just a little easier when your searching for something specific.

Thing 13 - Delicious

Delicious is definitely a good way to keep all your "favorite" bookmarks at hand no matter what computer you are using. I really liked exploring some of the different websites I frequent just to see how many other had it tagged on their account. This is definitely a practical way to keep track of information and be able to access it.

Teachers and librarians can use this site for research by setting up tags that relate to certain subject areas. As the video displayed, it is a convenient way for teachers and librarians to share information on academic topics and areas of interest.

Thing 12 - Creating Community through Commenting

It is important to be able to communicate effectively if you choose to comment on a blog. The two most interesting topics on this "thing" were that the blogger should invite others to make comments. In doing this, the blogger needs to make sure that the information is appealing to read--in other words, the writing needs to be good and capture the audience. I find that as I am working through the "23 things" I am learning how to do this. The other topic that was interesting to me was being able to make a name for yourself as a blogger or a commenter. I understand that some people prefer to use an alias and there is a good reason why. In this day and age, people are paranoid about their identity. I think that if one chooses to use an alias it should be tasteful and inviting.

Upon searching for blogs that interested me, I stumbled upon a blog for kids activities and great information for moms. http://www.blisstree.com/playlibrary/ This has information from nutrition tips to back to school ideas. This is definitely something I would use. I also found the Money Coach's Blog at http://themoneycoach1.wordpress.com/. I was really looking for low cost vacation ideas, but this site looked interesting. There was information on buying cars, houses, and ways to save money. I'm really going to explore this one further.

Thing 11 - Library Thing

Library Thing is going to be very useful for me to catalog my children's books at home. This will will be helpful just in case I need a book from my home collection for something I am doing at school. I am really excited because I would like to help my daughter's preschool catalog thier books. They really don't have a system and are constantly getting book donations. This would be useful for them to keep track of the books they have in their small library. I added some of my favorite books to Libary Thing and am going to explore some of the groups more. This may lead me to some great reading!

Thing 10 - Online image generator

I love the online image generators. They are a bit addictive. I really enjoyed creating a word mosaic using Image Chef to create it at http://www.imagechef.com/. I am most proud of the trading card, which I had a lot of fun doing. I created the trading card at http://www.bighugelabs.com/. Both of these sites have tons of fun things to do using pictures. Users can also use photos from the creative commons section of Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/. I got my Batgirl picture in the trading card from Flickr, creative commons. You know, Batgirl really was a librarian! I can use these tools in the library to make posters, signs, and use images for different lessons.

Thing 9 - Useful Library-related Blogs and News Feeds

Finishing Thing 9 was useful to make more sense of Thing 8. (Confusing enough for you?) In other words, it was good to learn about searching for more relevant blogs to add to my Google Reader. Technorati was really useful to me because I could actually type in specific blog topics. I was able to find some video samples of library orientation videos. This gave me lots of ideas to create my own video for the beginning of the school year. Sindic8 was a bit more confusing and looked really intimidating. I liked Topix.net for news feeds. There was a variety of news from entertainment to politics. I will definitely use these.

Thing 8 - RSS

Honestly, I had never used an RSS before. It seems like it is a very useful tool. I see myself using this in the future because I frequently find myself visiting the same websites day after day to check on information. This will definitely be a timesaver for me. On my Google Reader, I added some useful blogs, focusing on information from School Library Journal. I'm hoping that by using this, I can keep up with some good information. This tool would be useful for administrators because it is a big timesaver--it makes sense to have the information come to a person, rather than the person searching the same sites over and over.

Thing 7 - Google Tools

I really liked exploring Google Tools. I particularly like the Google Calendar. There is a feature that will allow me to connect my calendar to my iPhone. The information on either device will be recorded both on the computer and my phone. This will be very helpful, being that my schedule is hectic. This will help me get away from recording my events using paper and pen. The other tool I was really interested in was the Google Advanced Search. I found it interesting to get the detailed information quickly. I also really was excited about being able to find PowerPoints. Great tools!

Thing 6 - Mashups

I had a lot of fun playing with the mashups. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I thought about using the Warholizer, but noticed that so many others had already used it. I really wanted to make my own trading card, but could not find the right picture. I decided to look at the other options that Big Huge Lab had to offer. I used a picture of my daughters and made a sketch out of it. This picture was taken on Cinco de Mayo and they were going to dance ballet folklórico at their school. (I made their skirts--they picked out the colors for the material and ribbons.)

Thing 5 - Flickr

I was surprised at the amount of photos in the creative commons section of Flickr. I enjoyed searching for different types of photos but selected this photo of a butterfly. I love butterflies and thought this photo was beautiful. Teachers and librarians would be able to use photos of insects during a science lesson. I thought I might be able to use pictures of the different stages a caterpillar goes through before it becomes a butterfly and tie it into "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", by Eric Carle.

Thing 4

Registering my blog: It was really easy to do this. I was able to e-mail my information and get a response back the same day! Now, I'm ready to play!

Thing 3

I really enjoyed creating the blog and making my avatar. It was a little difficult because I wanted to add lots of things to my avatar. I decided to keep it simple and keep it relevant to my career. It was a good experience but I was a bit irritated with trying to get my avatar to show up on my blog.

Thing 2

I really enjoyed learning about the 7 1/2 habits. I would say that the easiest of the habits for me is habit #7. I love teaching others and really enjoy it. The most difficult for me is habit#3. It is really hard for me to view problems as challenges. I need to do that more. It would definitely change my outlook on things.