The final countdown

In conclusion, i will keep this short and sweet. I cant say enough how much I enjoyed this. I had no idea that I would learn so much, and discover so many things that could make the web easier to navigate, use as a communication/socializing/organizing tool,  or just plain fun! I plan to refer back to 23 things frequently to keep up with these new techs, and to become even more familiar with them so I can better serve customers, and for my own enjoyment too! There is an infinite amount of information out there, and new technology is always just around the corner.  As librarians, it is our job to understand and navigate these ever-changing information highways, and the library’s job to be the thoroughfare for those wishing to travel down these roads.

The End.

Thing #23. New beginnings..always.

Web 2.0.  OCLC letter. I have to say, this was very interesting reading.  I agree with alot of the perspectives. The basic ideas I gathered from reading over this letter was ‘out with the old, in with the new’ . We all know technology is constantly changing and advancing. Especially where communication is concerned.  As library workers we see this first hand.  We are at the forefront of new technology, better ways to search, gather, acquire, interpret and combine information.  It seems the next generation is always using something new. Kids younger and younger are  getting cell phones, MP3 players, Myspace pages etc.  I will admit I have asked the girl I babysat for..who at the time was only about 8, how to use itunes and what it was all about. Walk around the libray, you will see, in the hands of children technology that many of us are just beginning to learn about or become familiar with. I will say this to conclude..even though there is and will always be new technology, I am proud to work at a library that is at the forefront of using such technologies as wikis, widgets, blogs, podcasts, etc. The more we know, the better equipped we will be to keep up with customer demands and satisfaction. In a section of the letter by Michael Stevens he mentions “This librarian uses Instant Messaging to meet users in their space online, builds Weblogs and wikis as resources to further the mission of the library”.    Well, what do you know..we are almost there with Know it now and the use of blogs and wikis.  Its nice to see that we are already on our way into the future =)

Thing #22

Mypod..yourpod. So what is this thing called podcasting..yet again, thanks to 23 things I kind of have an idea. Its like talk radio, but you can get it anytime, for free! I really like PodCastAlley.  It had all kinds of podcasts about business, taxes, finances to things on health, and different podcasts about different diseases and ailments. I could definately see myself subscribing to some of these. It was interesting reading about how these came about from an idea that an MTV VJ had. I could see these as alternatives to listening to the radio on the way to work or on a long trip, instead you can load up  some free podcasts and take them with you!

Thing #21

YouTube. I have seen this and used this site before. I use it to watch shows that I might have missed the end of, or a funny clip on tv that i want to show my friends.  Every time I walk through the library I notice alot of kids on youtube, mostly watching music videos, or funny clips.

Metacafe. At first from the description I was expecting a classier version of youtube, but when I opened the page the first video listed was “how to wash a cat”. Granted, it does say that unlike youtube, metacafe doesnt just let ANYBODY post.  So in a way, it may have more quality material than youtube. So far, they still look very similiar to me.

Thing #20

Well, almost. so heres the deal. I looked at the directions for Yourminis but I didnt see the part that says ‘open startpage’. Perhaps I didnt see it, or read it wrong, I swear I looked all over. But, I have to explore widgets so thats what I tried to do! I decided to explore what widgets my blog has to offer, and come to find out they offer flickr, and calendar widgets and a few others. I decided to put a few on my page, as hopefully you will see. I did have to change my theme though, since the one I had before didnt have a sidebar so I changed it to a more compatible theme. And there you go! I hope this counts!

Thing #19.2.0

Web 2.0. I checked out some of the winners, and I noticed that some sites are already use, or have discovered and can see why they won, such as Pandora.  In an effort to go outside the box, instead of checking out the health sites, I decided to look at the winner for the travel site.  As someone who loves to travel, wishes she could travel more often, and spends much time using online sites to book hotels, cars, plane trips etc, I frequent travel sites. I have never used Farecast before. I will tell you this, when it first opened up in a separate window, I though it was a pop-up. It just looked so plain! Then I realized it wasnt and reopened it.  I typed in a search for a hotel in a city and it came up with some good prices.  I do like the fact that it searches Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz all at once instead of me having to go to each of those sites separately.  Since I like to shop around for the best price, I may keep this site in mind. But I dont think I’ll ever leave Priceline behind =)

Yahoo answers. I noticed this won for Questions and Advice.  Ive seen yahoo answers, and Im not a fan.  Id trust wikipedia before them.  It kind of reminds me of that one site, I believe it was Make, about people giving advice on things I think a professional should only do. But then again, no one is forcing advice, and you certainly dont have to take it. But I have yet to see a reaeeeally good answer to questions Ive asked out in the Google world on Yahoo answers.

Quick note: Flickr won the photos category and I agree. Ive seen coworkers flickr accounts and its really simple to navigate and set up.

Thing #18

The start page I chose was Y!. I liked this one..again..lol because of how it looks. Its visually appealing, colorful, and I like that my weather display is at the center of the page instead of having to search for it. I dont know if I will make it my permanent page b/c I currently prefer MSN. Although its not much to look at, I like the headlines they choose as opposed to yahoo’s.  MSN’s cover headlines seem to be more in depth, relavent and news breaking, where I have looked at Yahoos at times and the storylines that initially pop up arent really urgent or newsworthy to be up front in the middle of the page like that.

-Calendars. I have actually used the Google calendar, albeit briefly, for keeping track of timelines, due dates, and deadlines for planning Staff Day this year. So it does have its place here at work. It was nice to be able to see everything we were planning, what had already been set up, and what still needs to be done, all in one place. Although to be honest, Im not a big fan of online calendars. Ive personally tried using the one in our email Outlook to keep track of programs, but there was an element missing..you have to look at the calendar frequently to keep up with the groove! In my world, I prefer the good ol’ paper planners/calendars because mine is always with me, I can look at it whether Im at a pc or not, and its easier for me to see things at glance.  For this, I am old fashioned =)

 To-do lists..lets just say I have on my to-do list..to MAKE a to do list! Once again, I like having the paper and pen in front of me. My lists are usually on a post it, guess where! In my planner! I will say that I do like Outlook (though not a webpage) for keeping track of things to do. Simply because I can set reminders days in advance to remind me (repetitive I know) that something is coming up due. That way Im not ..usually..scrambling to get it done the day of. Now if I could just remember to put in a reminder to remind me of the..hmm…what was my point again? =)

Thing # 17. Dee Lish Us

Wow.. I am discovering there are soo many ways to organize and recieve information online its almost overwhelming.  Blogs, bloglines, Stumbleupon, Pandora and now Delicious.  I was wondering what this was actually, and now I see.  But there is a question I have, is bookmarking a webpage the same as the My Favorites folder?  As I ponder this, the answer should be yes. After all, whether I bookmark the Yahoo homepage, or an article from the Y! homepage, it shouldnt matter, right?  Well, anywho, if this is the case then Im excited.  I cant tell you how many times I have bookmarked something on my personal pc, thinking it would be good for work, or to show an article that might be good for the many committees (particularly the Wellness Committee) that Im on, and wished there was a way, besides jump drives or copying URL’s, that I could just access them without the hassle.  Well, I’ll be damned..Del.icio.us!

Thing #16

MySpace..your space! Well I already have a Myspace account but I never got the hang of how to really decorate my page or add music to it.  So..no time like the present!  It took me awhile going in various help sections of the site (and even that wasnt much help), that..and well ‘phoning a friend’ lol, and voila! I purused some sites like Myspace Layouts, and came up with a nice, calming scene.  With my friends advice, I was able to add a playlist (from playlist.com) so that whenever you open the page the songs start to play.  There are different types of playlists you can import onto your page, I tried to go with the simplist.  The neat thing about the list is that you can search it, and it brings up people who have uploaded that song to the site for sharing. So there may be 10 hits of a song, and you can listen to the whole song before you add it to your playlist to make sure its what you want, and also that it plays correctly all the way through.  I found another use for it, and thats simply listening to the playlist by itself while Im at my computer.  I search songs, listen, then onto the next without having to download or anything. I like it =)

Thing #15

Ok so I had a chance to play around with some of these social media sites, and I have to say my favorite is the StumbleUpon.  I havent seen anything like this before, but I immediately was drawn to the health section and..wow..irony of the word Im about to use..stumbled upon a neat article about the french diet as it compares to the American diet and how the french are healthier despite their consumption of meats, cheeses, pastry etc.  I looked at a few more health articles, one on vitamins, another on excercise and yoga. I must say, im glad I ..stumbled upon..this site!