Summary

In Summary...

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

Discovering bloglines - I can just go to one site from virtually anywhere and view all my feeds.

Playing around with an online image generator - now I can use that to be more creative in design flyers, handouts, etc. and helping with my kids projects.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

No, this has not changed me or affected me in my pursuit of being a lifelong learner. This just enhanced it in the technological category. Thank you for giving us the opportunity and the tools to do this.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

By letting us do this individually, it gave me the chance to learn new things that I haven't done before. I was aware of most things out there and knew what it was about, but I didn't experience it firsthand. I was actually able to finish the project and did some of the challenges.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I don't think you could improve the format or concept. Unfortunately, there are people that don't want to do it, are afraid of change, or just don't care.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

Yes, most definitely!

Audiobooks and the Digital Collection

The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires, and he enjoys his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames. He never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid and a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do.

On a side note, I would love to win that MP3 player so that I can download all those books that are available to us!!

Podcasts

I have added Lansing Public Library Adult Dept. Podcast from Podcast Alley to my Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com/blog/aguilars23things). I have also added the RSS feed here. They have several podcasts - adult, youth, teen, and IT.

When browsing from Podcast Alley for library, it pulled a list of 142. Of those, several were repeats. Many were posted by universities. There were few public libraries. Some were so old that it didn't have any podcasts once you went into that particular site.

About YouTube

Look at the video I selected from YouTube (Mr Bean - Library). We can always use a good laugh working in a library. As you are watching, you can probably think of a patron or two (or more, now that's scary) that comes to mind. Enjoy!

YouTube is easy to use if you know what you are looking for. Yes, there are many uploads every day - it can be a daunting experience. My boys watch their favorite gaming characters become alive with special animation effects and today's popular music. It is very amusing.

Yes, YouTube can be used in a library. We can place commercials (think Summer Reading program) on it. Also, we can videotape children's reading programs and place them on our site as well. A lot of working parents cannot bring their child to the actual reading, but if it was on our site, then they can watch it and read it together in the comfort of their home, anytime.

Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

For this exercise, I chose to discover Google Maps, which came in first place for Maps. There is a new feature called Street View. I had seen a news clip about it on the telly last week.

The pic above is of Main. Once you click on it, it opens up with tools to see the street view, a 360 degree view using your mouse.
You can go to http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/local_news/epaper/2008/06/12/m1a_google_west_palm_0613.html to read the whole article about it. It's neat how Google did it and I wonder if anybody else will do that.

Go to Google Maps and see if your house is on Street View. If you live in a gated community, chances are you won't be able to see it in Street View.

This could be a good mapping site for patrons who are from out of town or don't know the area they will be going to, or just to see some landmarks from the comfort of being indoors.

About Zoho Writer

Blogging About Online Applications and Tools

Zoho Writer looks easy to use. You can always refer to the Welcome document for a review of its features. Google Docs also looks easy to use. Most online application systems are very similar in features. Another one out there is Microsoft Office Live Workspace.

The real test will be if I can publish this to my blog.

Online applications can be useful if used properly. Yes, there is that collaboration thing again. But what about all the other Web 2.0 things out there for us to use for collaboration? Is this just another thing we need to remember to check, not to mention to keep track of our login information?

For company documents, I would not use this because of fear of "theft" or hacking. This is not on our server where it is secure and backed up regularly. Yes, pretty much everything we do is up for public review since we are a public entity, but there are things that the public is not privy to see. This is more so the case for private companies. These types of online applications would be great on a personal level versus on a professional level.

Favorites at PBCLS wiki

I added my favorite flower, a white rose, and a picture of it. I also listed my favorite TV shows - Bones, House, Hell's Kitchen, So You Think You Can Dance, and Lost. I always watch them and my boys know not to bother me at those times.

It was fun to play in the sandbox and it was so easy to use. The discovery resources are helpful in case you get stuck.

Wiki

Wiki is here to stay - for better or worse. Yes, it does have its advantages, but it also has disadvantages. Look what Library Success had to do - e-mail confirmations are needed now. I like how ALA has their 2008 annual conference set up. This would be a great tool for a first timer going to the conference.

How can we utilize a wiki at PBCLS? Well, for staff, before the budget cuts, when we had Annual Training Day, we could have set up an event specific wiki, like ALA did. That way, we could have saved on time and money - labor, copier costs, paper, etc. Everything we needed to know would be on one site.

Another way staff can utilize wiki is to have our own PBCLS site and allow current employees access to it. It would be a wonderful tool for the employees, more than our intranet, because we can add and edit. It would be a great collaboration tool.

I don't think the public would be ready for this. In looking at Bull Run Library's wiki, it is not user friendly. It imitates a regular web site. Also, if we allowed the public to edit, then we must have employee(s) to preview before it is posted online.

Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

Web 2.0 has provided education, entertainment, and edutainment. Library 2.0 has provided the same. While the 2.0 movement is great for many, there are others that aren't benefiting from it because they can't. It helps to have a computer and Internet access. If you don't have that at home or school, then you can go to your local library, if and only if you have the means to get there. That is you need a vehicle or money to pay for public transportation, if one is available in your area. What if you don't have access to any of it?

In this day and age, there are still many without access to transportation, computer, or Internet. While Library 2.0 is great, let's not forget the basics and serve our community, all of them.

Technorati

In performing URL search of www.pbclibrary.org, it displayed 74 blog reactions today. In reviewing the list, it showed most were old and outdated; some blogs were no longer active.

In performing tag search of web 2.0, it displayed 23,732 posts. When clicking on related tags, the following were listed:
web2.0 43,278 posts
web-20 2,805 posts
web20 1,287 posts
web_2.0 95 posts

That was only for web 2.0 and their variations and not the actual related tags, i.e. technology, tech, blogging, Internet, etc.

While this is great in theory, in practice, it can be pretty overwhelming. Just look at how many different ways web 2.0 has been tagged. Since there is no standardization to tagging, you can end up with too many multiple tags for the same thing. With that, you just end up clicking on related tags to see if you find the one you are looking for or want to read. It just takes too much time and effort.

Del.icio.us

The Social Bookmarking in Plain English was very informative and easy to follow; it was fun to watch. The whole del.icio.us site is very easy to use.

While the video pointed out the benefits of social bookmarking, I personally didn't like it as shown on the PBCLS account. It looked cluttered and I felt that way also.

I can see myself using del.icio.us as an easy way to create bookmarks that I can access from anywhere.

WebFeat

I want to be back in my old hometown in Clarksville, TN. Apparently, a car dealership there put into place a Loyalty Fuel Center gas island when they built the dealership in 2006. They wanted to ensure customers would come back after purchasing a vehicle. What a gimmick!

Both dealership sales and service customers with Loyalty Fuel cards get discounted fuel prices. That's a big draw, especially with gas prices these days. I can't think of any dealership around here that does that.

LibraryThing

At the moment, and for a while, I haven't really read any good books. I've only read college textbooks, business magazines, and some of my children's books. Now that I've finished college, you would think I would be reading more, but there's always something else happening. At least I actually read the newspaper everyday. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but at least I am keeping my brain cells working by doing all the puzzles everyday.

For my LibraryThing catalog, I have entered the books that my youngest child will be reading this summer for his required summer reading. I was able to only find 9 out of 11. You can see it here at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/aguilars23things. Not only will my son read those books, but I will also read it after him since I gave him a worksheet to fill out. When I have more time, I will research why the other 2 books did not show up easily when I was searching.

Image generator

I used custom picture generator from http://www.jellymuffin.com/generators/textpix2/ to put up the picture of the roses and wrote a message for all to see. Please do take the time to stop and smell the roses because there may not be a tomorrow...

This site's image generator was very easy to use and you could see what you were doing at the same time. It was great for visual effects. For those that are technology challenged, this site is for you. It provides step-by-step instructions - there's no way you can mess it up.