#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I enjoyed the exploration of wikis and podcasts the most.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
The information in these exercises helped me keep up with some of the technological advances that our patrons are using already. It whet my appetite for some of the new things yet to come.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
The biggest surprise was how much more time some of the exercises took than I expected. It was hard to complete some of them if I had a busy stretch in my work schedule and couldn't complete them in one sitting. I usually had to come back later or another day, re-group and complete the exercise(s).

What ideas do you have for using these technologies at Harris County Public Library?
I think that podcasts or video sharing for some of the tasks on our website could be helpful. Some patrons would benefit from seeing how to place a hold, or how to access a database. for example. Book review wikis could also be fun.

What else do you want to learn about?
First I would like to spend time exploring some of the exercises that I wasn't able to explore to my satisfaction.

What other web 2.0 applications are you interested in?
As new applications come available it would be great if they were added to iHCPL, a training sequel of sorts. Sometimes we get so busy in our jobs that we miss a thing or two that would be beneficial. Yearly updated training could be a possibility.

#22 Downloadable Media

HCPL's version of Overdrive offers something for everyone: ebooks, audio books, music and movies. LibriVox is just ebooks in the public domain. This type of project is being duplicated in other sites like the wiki Project Gutenburg. Pretty soon the libraries won't need to worry if they have enough titles in their Classics section, we can just send them to these sites. Wowio is a Houston-based company that claims to be "the only source where readers can legally download high-quality copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. Readers have access to a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles."

Wowio looks intriguing. I found a lot of non-fiction works that I want to explore further. Overdrive is a comprehensive online collection that offers even some of the newest bestsellers. No contest, Overdrive wins!

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

For this segment I started with Podcast.net. I looked for library news and the only result that came up was the SirsiDynix Institute. They had podcasts relating to a lot of topics in librarianship such as marketing, outreach and customer service.

Next I looked for podcasts on dog training and over 100 results popped up on Podcast.com. I switched to Yahoo! podcasts and tried to make the same two searches that I had done previously. I got mixed results. I found Yahoo! more difficult to maneuver so I rapidly lost interest in searching there.

PodcastAlley.com was a treasure trove. When I entered the search terms I had used earlier I got lots more results. Everyone got 200 results, so I'm guessing that each topic holds his 200 most recent episodes. I found an incredible variety of topics available for any term I queried, some educational, some profane, and many that fell in-between.

#20 Discover YouTube and other video sharing sites

I explored YouTube for this exercise. I tried looking for music videos but there are way too many to deal with. I did find a video of the recent Led Zepplin reunion concert that someone apparently shot with a cell phone camera. The lighting was terrible, but the magic was still there in the video despite its poor quality.

One thing that I do not like about YouTube is the tone of the Comments and Responses section. It's one thing when someone make a valid comment or even a mild joke or two. Too often it appears some immature types think it is cool to make a profanity laden comment that has nothing to do with the video, or is insulting an immature contributor who posted earlier.

I think embedding videos into the library website would really add something to it. For example, a video explaining how to use Aquabrowser, or how to search a database, or how to reserve a book online. There are many training possibilities.

Week #19 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

Zoho Writer is a great word processing tool. Its best feature is that it is accessible from any computer. I don't have to try and remember where I placed my flash drive last. It is fully loaded with all the features that I want like spellcheck and the formatting tools. It is supposed to make it possible for more than one user to work on, edit, etc. any document created on it. I wasn't able to prove that claim but everything else worked well so I think that will too.

There's a lot to like about this tool, but I felt a little overwhelmed trying to access some of the features, and there are a lot. I think that it will seem more friendly as I get used to the interface and become more familiar with each feature.

#18 Social Networking

Social networking sites are a fantastic way to keep up the important people in your life, both past and present, and to re-connect with people that you have lost track of. Back when sites like Facebook were more private there was more freedom to express yourself and show as well as tell your friends what is happening in your life. Now that anyone can sign up you need to be careful to show only the sides of your life that you don't mind your prospective employers, college admissions counselors, or the news media viewing. I'm not kidding about this last group. Lately when something happens to a younger person the media immediately looks on the social networking sites to find out about the person and gets the names of contacts to get their "insights."

The sites have so many practical uses beyond the obvious. Recently, a close relative was making plans for a college semester abroad. When she got the list of all of the students from other schools who were making the same trip she started looking for them on Facebook. She found that one person had already set up a group and had poked them to get it started. The group worked so well that when several of them ended up on the same flight out of New York they were able to recognize each other and arrange for seats together on the flight across to Europe.

I wasn't aware that there were so many special interest sites. I did visit Dogster and found out that people that have the same breed of dog that I do, are as crazy as I am about the breed.

#17 Blog About Technology

I read today in the Chronicle that the number of parents who read to their children is declining. There are children growing up today who will never know the joy of sitting in their parent's lap and listening to them read a good story at bedtime. Questions aren't asked and answered because there is no story to talk about or generational stories to tell. There is, of course, a decline in reading levels as well.

I think that technology has enriched our lives tremendously, but at what cost? If we are glued to the computer screen, or a game controller, or a TV screen then we are neglecting the fundamental closeness and interaction that we as humans need to thrive and survive. What message are we passing on to the next generation? And is it the same when you say, " come over and sit in my lap and watch Dad download a audio story book that you can listen to while I play Warcraft." It warms my heart.

#16 So what's in a wiki?

The iHCPL wiki was very simple to navigate, and super easy to make contributions.

I have watched the growth of wikis over the years, especially Wikipedia. I have read some of the entries that had to be "edited," and waited to see what Wikipedia would do when Stephen Colbert launched his "Nation" on them. I think that was the first time that everyone realized how easily information could be manipulated on wikis, and the resulting safeguards have only made it better, and there is increased awareness of wikis through stories in the news. Wikipedia's experience has been a cautionary tale for other wikis to learn from, and an introduction to wikis for the uninitiated.

When I think about the popularity of wikis, I believe it is because everyone likes to know that they have something valuable to contribute and there is a public forum for their contribution. The contribution can be made at any time that is convenient, in a public or private venue and others who are interested in the same information will see it.

If you work in this library system you are already familiar with the Printing Wiki. It serves as a public bulletin board to keep you informed on the progress of any printing jobs you have requested.

I think that a perfect use for a wiki would be a teen discussion forum. There could be one on new books, old favorites, books that deserve more attention, required readings for school, fantasy lit. and so on. There are a lot of teens who use social networking sites, so wikis might prove intriguing for some. At the reference desk it could be introduced to reluctant readers as a means of getting them interested in reading, because contributions on the wikis would be from their peers.

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

After reading all of the perspectives, I have to agree with the authors. Libraries must embrace new technology as it evolves, and plan the growth of library services to accommodate each leap forward. The library customers, or patrons if you prefer, of tomorrow are already perched in from of our system's computers from 3PM on each day. They embrace each tweak of their favorite sites, and rarely check out a book unless it is required for a school assignment. If the libraries do not evolve with the online content that appeals to the new generations we will cease to be a relevant part of their lives.

I understood what Rick Anderson was saying about the "just in case collection." If circulation drops 55% that is a significant number. However, the 45% remaining are customers that may be unconcerned, or uninterested, or just plain terrified of the technology that bombards them every day. We need to continue to serve this segment of our aging population as we have done in the past. They will probably learn to live with a request list as we continue to weed out collections, some may even come to accept some aspects of technology, but we should continue to offer quality services to that customer base until it is a truly insignificant segment of our users. After all it will just be a few more decades.

Let's not forget that as librarians we are to offer services to all segments of our communities, not just the technologically savvy.

Week 6: #14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

In doing the advanced search for this exercise I found that Blog Posts got the most results, while Blog Directory got the fewest results of the three.

In exploring the popular blogs I found an unlimited number of fascinating postings there are out there, and how many of them are for the techies among us. I sense that the techies among us still rule the blogosphere, but not for long. Since I am not a techie I explored a lot of different subjects and found out quickly that one hour is not enough training time for this exercise. I was late to get on duty at the ref desk!

I always like to gravitate to the Political blogs. Over the weekend there were a some political rallies up in New Hampshire in the middle of a snowstorm. Today I see lots of blogs about the candidate who was the focus of the rallies. It makes me wonder what role blogs will play in the '08 presidential race.

Week 6: #13 Tagging makes the web 2.0 world go round

I love Del.icio.us! I only wish it had been available when I was in library school. I was going from home computer, to library computer, to classroom computers, to lab computers, and all my nifty bookmarks were on the home computer! Then there were all of the group projects . . . and we were constantly emailing links to each other. Those days are "the good old days" with this fabulous new find.

I am interested in YA librarianship so of course I looked to see what might be new to me. I found hiplibrariansbookblog which will provide another resource for YA book reviews. Alternative Teen Services gave me some great ideas for connecting with teens. Pop Goes The Library is a good resource for keeping up with what's going on in the real world when you work nights at the library.

I think this will serve me best as a source where my bookmarks are always accessible.

Week 5: #12 The "Library" Elf will remind you!

Library Elf was relatively simple to set up and use. First, the usual account creation. Deciding which warnings I wanted, how far in advance they should start, and whether they needed to be repeated, and how many times, were the biggest decisions in this exercise. This is the easiest exercise thus far. I have a number of materials out, and a large number of things that I've requested so I'm anxious to find out how this works.

What should be interesting is that HCPL also sends you hold notices, expiring holds notices, as well as reminders of due dates. My inbox may get crowded if I have too many holds arrive or books due on the same day. Time will tell if I like the old tried and true, or the Library Elf. I don't want to get Inbox warnings because of the additional warnings.

I have a card with Montgomery County but I did not register it, because I don't use it.

Week 5: #11 A Thing about Library Thing

I've never had any aspirations of becoming a cataloger. I just don't have the patience for detail work.

I created a small library of YA books that I have enjoyed. I was presently suprised to see how many other LibraryThing patrons had the same books in their catalog.

Here is the link to my library on LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/EvolvingLibrarian

Week 5: #10 Play around with Image Generators

This is an avatar I built using Meez. It doesn't look anything like me and I'm not musical but it was a lot of fun to generate. Click on it to see the animation.

Week 4: #9 Finding Feeds

As I mentioned in #8, newbies to feeds can find themselves looking for them on every site they visit. I used the Bloglines search tool in #8 right away in my search for feeds and blogs on children's and YA materials. I looked for resources on graphic novels as well, because they are increasingly popular in my field.

Of the four search tools we were supplied, I found Topix to be the easiest for me to navigate, and I found more items that were relevant to me. Syndic8 found lots of results that were not relevant to my search, the same for Technorati. I never was able to access Feedster.

Week 4: #8 Make life "really simple" with RSS and a newsreader

This was my favorite segment so far. I had wondered about what the small symbol on some websites represented. The demos were easy to follow, and made me curious. If RSS feeds are so easy to set up, why had I not heard about them before? So, I set up my bloglines account and chose feeds specifically about dogs, book reviews and politics and waited to see the results. Amazingly, the first feed that listed was about an issue I've been having with my older dog. I found out that an ailment was caused by a med he had been prescribed. He's now on different medication.

Several book review feeds came along but were of little value to me because I work with children, and all of the reviews were adult material. I got a kick out of the political feeds because they were updated frequently and I got to see which presidential candidate got to put their foot in his/her mouth on a daily basis.

I think searching out feeds could turn into an addiction. Sample here, try there, it's a lot of fun but very time-consuming.

Week 3: #7 Photo Editing Tools

For this post I edited a photo taken by a family member, using Snipshot. I cropped it, grayscaled it (made it black and white), sharpened the picture, upped the contrast and finally lightened it slightly so that more of the detail showed. This is the Monasterio de San Jerónimo in Lisbon, Portugal.

I think I like the original better.

Week 3, #6 Discovery Exercise

Visiting the myriad of sites featuring Flickr mash-ups and tools gave me mixed feelings. At Flickr Bits and Pieces http://www.flickrbits.com/ there were true wonders to see. I tested a few sites up and down the page, but found The Internet Inferno http://www.theinternetinferno.com/ the most amazing. Flickr photos are displayed that correlate to Wikipedia's description of Dante's Inferno. Evidently they are chosen by way of tags given to the photos. So, be careful of your tags because they could bring you anonymous fame on The Internet Inferno.

My mixed feelings are admiration for the imagination that these "artists" display and share with us, and envy that they have the time to spend on these efforts!

Week 3, #5 - Discovering Flickr

This week we are exploring the wonders of Flickr. Learning how to upload photos and then moving them to my blog was a little trickier than I expected. I chose a picture that I took during the summer reading program. It shows a 68 lb. desert tortoise that was in the middle of entertaining about 85 enthralled children when it decided to leave the activity room and stroll the main area of the library. Usually the patrons working on the computers can't be distracted by anything, but the sight of this enormous tortoise made many of them stop what they were doing and trail after it just like the children. It was a reptile Pied Piper!

My thoughts on online privacy & safety

I believe that everyone should be required to take a course on privacy and safety before they are turned loose online. They should also maintain a healthy low-grade paranoia at the same time. Every day at the library we find novices to the internet that we educate about internet safety to help them protect themselves. The internet has opened us up to so many wonderful opportunities that it is easy to forget that caution must be exercised. That said, learning to use new means of communication online can be wonderfully liberating and bring a sense of closeness with those that you care about.

Currently, I am taking a course online that enables me to discuss topics and ideas with classmates in real time, but because it is in a secure environment we can have wide-ranging and personal discussions that we know cannot be accessed by the general public. I have a relative living abroad that I can keep in touch with easily despite a 7 hour time difference because of communication forms like IM, Skype, Flickr, and her blog. These communications weren't available when I lived abroad and I find it helps ease my anxieties about her being so far away.