Thing 23: Summin' It Up

Woo hoo! I made it, an especially sweet thing since this is my second attempt at this. :)

Library2Play and the 23 Things has been a marvelous learning experience. I know I won't incorporate EVERYTHING into my repertoire right away, but the opportunity to become familiar with all the tools has been priceless. My favorites are podcasts, YouTube/TeacherTube, Rollyo, blogging, Google reader, wikis, and the wide world of mashups. There a couple that I think are awesome, but I've found it more difficult to internalize their use. Del.icio.us, for example. I see the potential, and I know it's really easy to use, but for some reason it hasn't become part of the "way I do things" yet. I'm confident it will, though. It will just take more repeated use for it to become second nature to me. I can't wait to get the students involved in podcasts and online image generators and wikis. Actually, the entire faculty!

What I think is great about all this 2.0 stuff is that it's in its infancy. New applications are being developed by brilliant people everyday, meaning that there will always be something new for people like me to learn. I never want to be the "oldster" who's out of touch. I guess that means the kickball captains will have to host new "games" on the "playground" each year! I wanna play! I wanna play!

(And the anthropologist in me is fascinated by the way our world is changing...how our social interactions are changing, etc.)

I'm going to keep working on commenting more. For some reason, it was hard for me to do. And as I try all these great, new Things with my students this year, I'm going to post my experiences here on this blog.

Keep "Two-point-oh-ing," everyone!

(photo courtesy of Emile! at Flickr)

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards

I really enjoyed checking out the list of Web 2.0 award winners. I saw names I recognized and a bunch I didn't. Over the course of the next months, I plan to investigate even more of them, but for this "assignment" I chose to check out Twitter, which won first place in the Social Networking Mainstays category. First, I'd read about it in several other library professionals' blogs or seen links to their Twitter pages, but what really caught my attention is that it came in first place over Facebook and MySpace, which seemed like quite a feat to me since those names are immensely popular, verging on eponymous with social networking. I wanted to see what Twitter had over them.

If I had to describe Twitter in one sentence, it would be, "It's a social network where people post 'updates,' little blurbs of 140 characters or less about where they are or what they're doing, or their latest observations about life, etc.) as often as they like that other people can sign up to follow and vice verse."

I signed up, posted a tweet (what folks call the updates about their lives), and thought, "Now what?" The directions page said the whole point was to tell people what you're doing at any given moment. That's what it's all about. I thought it was all rather anticlimactic. Just a few days earlier, I'd set up a MySpace page, which was a whole lot more fun since I got to write a few paragraphs "about me" and choose music and a skin and embed other cool widgets.

I spent some time looking for friends on Twitter, but I didn't find anyone I knew. I wasn't keeping up with anyone else and no one else was keeping up with me. It seemed rather pointless, and I was disappointed.

Then, I was reading the Houston Chronicle online, and a headline caught my eye: The tweet life is all about the social. How timely! It was an article about Twitter! After reading this article, it all makes much more sense now. The part that was missing for me was the most essential: the networking! Duh.

Now the question is, How does this benefit me professionally? I can see it as a great way for librarians and/or teachers to let others know about successes they've experienced. On those days when I've facilitated a lesson that went well...beyond expectation...and I'm riding the high that comes with it, I want to share it with others. Not just my emotions, but how it all worked, what caused it to go so well, even what could be done better next time. In the past, this sharing usually took place via impromptu chats with other teachers in the hallway after school. That was great, but I see Twitter as an opportunity to share with even more people. And now that I'm a librarian, and a "one-of-a-kind" on my campus, I don't have the opportunity for hallway chat with colleagues (meaning other librarians...of course I still chat with the teachers). Blogs are a wonderful way to share, but sometimes I don't feel the energy or committment to a blog. There's a feeling that blog entries should be longer, more in depth. With Twitter, I can jot off a few sentences and not feel the pressure of the "fully-loaded" blog entry. Twitter is like the sticky-note version. Likewise, I can see what successes and frustrations my fellow librarians are experiencing. And the best things is that it's asynchronous, so we don't all have to be in the same place at the same time to offer each other support.

Anybody else on Twitter? Let me know so I can add you!

Thing 18: Online Productivity Tools

Wow! After a looooong vacation from the 23 Things, I'm ready to get back to it and finish things up.

I like using Google docs because it's accessible from any computer and it's free. People working on a group project can have access to the docs they need without emailing them back and forth to each other--wish I'd known about this for those group projects in grad school! It doesn't have quite the functionality of Microsoft Word, but who really uses all the tools Word offers on a regular basis?

There's also OpenOffice.org, which for the most part, is almost exactly like Office, except you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for it. It's great for those people who are on the wrong side of the digital divide and may not have access to Office. I tried out the Word equivalent and liked it very much. It had all the functions that *I* use in Word, plus you can choose which format you want to save in. It's compatible with all the versions of Word. I admit, I'm not a spreadsheet expert, so I didn't really check out that part of it. At least not yet.

When a tool is online, it makes it much more accessible to everyone and "collaboration friendly," for sure.

Thing #17: Rollyo

Way cool! This is one I'd NEVER played with at all, and now I wonder why it's not more "out there." Or is it just that I'm that out of it? I love this tool, especially being able to search any site with the Rollyo roll bar. That way I can always search from the same place and not have to look for each individual web sites search window. Plus, being able to add sites to a search roll on the fly is just awesome.

Rollyo allows educators to create kid-friendly search rolls or subject specific search rolls for their students to use. It's also fun to make subject specific search rolls for your fellow educators. I made one that includes some blogs that do reviews of children's and YA literature: http://rollyo.com/infogoddess2b/childrenya_lit/.

Thing #15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

How exciting it is to be a librarian in this age of technological and informational revolution! What 2.0 means to me...

1. It means the library as a network of people sharing, using, creating, manipulating information. The library is not necessarily about physical space.

2. It means collaboration. Not just collaboration among library professionals to make information more accessible to patrons, but collaboration between library professionals and patrons and among patrons themselves.

3. It means continual re-evaluation of the information needs we information users have and the information tools we have, and adapting our methodology. It is constant evolution.

4. It means the librarian as innovator and integration specialist, a person who can take new technologies and create ways for them to improve the way we find and manage information, and therefore, the way we live.

Thing #14: Technorati and How Tags Work

Technorati is another one of those places where I could end up spending hours just surfing around. Anyone else out there sometimes feel voyeuristic?

First, let me give a little summary of what Technorati is in my own words to be sure I have it right. It's a search engine to find a particular topic in the millions of blogs in the blogosphere. You can search for blogs, blog posts, or simply by tags. Unlike Del.icio.us, where users/readers create the tags (post-publishing), bloggers/publishers create the tags in Technorati (pre-publishing). It's a way to find what the "unwashed masses" are talking about, what they think is news. It's a way to keep up with your favorite blogs (but don't I already have Google Reader for that?) or to see what everyone else's favorite is?

How can this be useful to me? Well, I do like to keep up with current events, and as a long-ago anthropology student, I'm interested in culture and pop culture, so I'm fascinated by what everyone is blogging about. I guess that's why I can get lost for hours poking around, moving from link to link. More specifically, though, I can search the topics that interest me and see what other "real people" think rather than "elitist" news, review, and publishing sources. AND, with the nature of blogging, I can actually converse with the writers! It's almost as if, rather than being consumers of news and information prepared by small numbers of people, the masses are actually the news MAKERS and information CREATORS now. I think that's very cool.

Can I see a use for this in the classroom? Not so much, at the moment, but then I haven't given it full thought, I'll admit. It WOULD be great to show students that "real people" write everyday, that there IS a purpose for being able to express oneself. No, we're not ALL going to be Judy Blumes, Stephen Kings, or Stephenie Meyers. But we ARE all writers in some form or fashion. Also, I can see myself using it to find appropriate topic-related blogs for students to follow. Say, birds again. Surely there are some bird-watchers and bird-lovers out there who have blogs about, well...birds. I could turn students on to those. Real-life learning through real-life interests.

As for tagging, I think it's great. I see benefits to both Del.icio.us type tagging and Technorati type tagging. I think bloggers should be able to categorize their own work with tags, but I think it's important for users/readers to be able to create their own meaningful tags, too. Now that I've explored tagging, I'll be doing much more of it!

And you may notice, dear reader, that I have added an "Add this to my Technorati favorites" button in the upper righthand corner of this blog. :-)

Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting

I enjoyed reading the articles about commenting. I've commented on blogs before but never really thought about WHY I was commenting. It just seemed natural, as if it were "conversation." I guess I'm a basically nice person because it's never occurred to me to be less than courteous when commenting on others' posts. Most of my commenting has been to encourage others or to share my similar experiences with the blogger. Doug Johnson at Blue Skunk says, "Don't be a troll." I'd never heard the term before, but I don't know why not. Now that I think about it, I've seen trolls in my travels through the blogosphere.

The two things that stuck out to me as I read about "commenting conventions" is that 1) comments should contribute something to the discourse, and 2) they should be courteous. I panicked a bit when considering the first one because I've left the "You go, girl!" kind of comments that don't add anything new. I think it was Cool Cat Teacher who advised staying away from those. After I reconsidered, I felt a little better, though, because I came to the conclusion that CCT didn't mean that we can't leave simple words of encouragement. She meant that we shouldn't just leave it at that. We should be specific. Just as in teaching when we give students feedback. "Good job!" is not that helpful. It needs to be followed up with "You recognized every pattern correctly on your first try!" or something like that. When I was helping students develop their writing, I would say things like, "You've captured the moment here perfectly with your vivid verbs and the sentence structure you've chosen," (and I'd name that structure). It WAS a good job, and I admired the way they'd crafted their work, but I had to tell them specifically what made it work. It's the same if I leave a "You go, girl!" I need to point out exactly why I agree or feel the encouragement is deserved. As for the second thing that struck me, courtesy...well, even when we disagree, we can do it constructively. I hope that with this group of people, I don't have to explain that one much.

I have a question about time. What time frame is considered "still okay" when commenting on a blog post? For example, let's say I happen upon Blog XYZ and see a post that was made two weeks ago that I'd like to respond to. Is it too late? What's the "expiration date" on these things? Or maybe it doesn't have to do with time but how many posts have been made since then. What if there are 2 or 3 newer posts? Does it mean I shouldn't comment on the older post because it's lost currency? Help!

Thing #9: Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

Hahaha! You can tell I hadn't looked at Thing 9 when I posted about Thing 8, but what a great lead-in!

Well! I certainly found some "odd" blogs out there as I tried out the different blog and feed "finders." It makes the post at Cool Cat Teacher about choosing your circle of wise ones highly pertinent. Be sure to know what it is you're lookikng for in a blog, too!

I found bloglines and google blogs to be the most useful for me, perhaps because they both shot me directly to an uncluttered search page, whereas Topix and Technorati's home pages were filled with busy text and images. I felt as though I had to wade through all of that to find what I needed/wanted: the search function. It was a bit intimidating. Also, I think I have a form of ADD or something similiar (plain ole lack of focus, hmmm?)because if I end up at a page that showcases blogs or news sites, I'll get super side-tracked and forget what I was there for in the first place. I'm a marketer's dream. Hehe...

I also discovered that bloglines and google seemed better for finding blogs while Topix (I think...I'm a bit addlepated at this point) was better for finding individual blog entries that are relevant to your search.

I couldn't help but search for feeds related to my personal interests as well as my professonial ones, so I checked out some crochet blogs and even discovered The Crochet Dude! I don't mean to be sexist at all, but it IS unusual to find a man so dedicated to crochet and crafts that he'd have a blog.

I also searched my own name at these sites, and eek! Amazing what they brought up in the search results. I created several blogs as part of grad school classes, and posts from each of them, as well as this one, popped up. As you can tell from this blog, I'm not shy about putting my real name out there, especially since all my blogs have been a part of my professional realm, but bloggers who're more secretive, beware!

Thing #5: Flickr

Neat. A photo sharing COMMUNITY where people actually network about their photos. This site is a bit like YouTube for me. I can "waste" hours at a time just looking, reading comments, and jumping from one thing to another. It's a sickness.

I'd like to upload some photos. Actually, I'd like to transfer photos from another photo sharing site, but I don't seem to have that option. Grrr.... I uploaded some photos I had saved on my hard drive, but I still can't figure out how to import photos from another site. I already have all my photos in one spot, and it would be nice to just transfer them over. Otherwise, my photos are all over the place, saved here and there. What a hassle it would be to to upload from different hard drives and discs!



It IS very cool that you can take a photo with your cell and email it to Flickr to have it instantly published in your photos. I didn't know that! I can't wait to use THAT feature.

On to Thing 6...

Things 1-4: Violating the Rules Already

I think somewhere in the directions for the 23 Things, I'm reminded not to combine Things...to make a separate post for each one. Perhaps the Kickball Captains will forgive me for combining these first four...

Things 1-3: The creation of this blog and my previous entry completes Things 1-3. So far, so good! No complaints, except I can't seem to make my av any bigger. I want it as big as possible so I can admire it (since I don't really look like that!). What other avatar tools are out there--besides using a REAL photo (Eeek!) of me?

Oh, and it seems that the hardest part of starting a blog is coming up with a clever name for it. I've encountered this before when having to create usernames. As soon as I finally pick something, I see other people's great monikers and think, "D'oh! Why didn't *I* think of that??? Or something just as clever???"

Thing 4: Registering my blog with VWB was easy. The only thought it took was creating a suitable email title and keeping the blog name vs the blog URL straight. *gives self thumbs up*

Now on to Thing 5: Flickr...

23 Things: Just short of two dozen...

23 Things. I love it. Not 24. Not a round 20. That would be way too "formal," "structured," "ordered." It's a high enough number to feel a sense of accomplishment, but not so high as to seem unattainable.

What IS (or should it be ARE) 23 Things? Simply and in my words, it's a way for me and other people to explore and play with 23 different Web tools/applications that the average 10 year-old to twenty-something probably uses daily but that I've been cluelessly in the "duh" mode about. Okay, yeah...I've used some of them, but by no means have I attained "goddess" status in any of them.

23 Things, specifically, was created by Spring Branch ISD Library Information Services (A.K.A. the trio of "Head Honchos" of the SBISD libraries, led by Texas Librarian of the Year (TLA), the fabulous Dr. B.) for librarians and other SBISD employees, and even non-district folks, to get out of the larval "duh" stage when it comes to Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. They modified and adapted it from other sources like Stephen Abram's article, "43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year" (Information Outlook - February 2006) and the website 43 Things. You can find out lots more about it at Library2Play and this blog entry.