Thing 23

I'm doing the happy dance, I finished, I finished.
What a great experience.
Thanks to all of you that put this program together. Job well done.
I learned so many things I don't know where to even start. I'm glad to have started a blog. I would of never have done that on my own.
I had only scratched the surface of the web and now that I have gone deeper I'm excited about exploring the many tools and uses.
My take away will be my blog that I created for our library. I hope it connects with the kids and evolves. Into what I'm not sure of yet. Time will tell.
I'm glad to have participated in 23 Things. If you offer the program again, I'd join.
When I started this program I was trying to decide if I should go back to school and pursue a degree in Media Technology. I love books and now I have learned a little about how libraries are using Web 2.0 tools and combining the two. My decision has become yes.
Thank you!

Thing 22

I made it this far. I have learned so much I can hardly believe it.
I have always found the web interesting and liked surfing through. Now to have so many tools.
I don't think keeping up will be difficult and finding the time. The problem will be stopping. I can get so lost in cyber space. I will have to set limits.
The tools I have learned will be a great help with my other blog Dewey Stacks. I have many ideas and it's a constant work in progress. My hope is in a year that it will have evolved into something wonderful for our library.
This site will be discontinued when this program is done. I used this site as my place to document my 23 Things journey. My time and efforts will be put into Dewey Stacks blog.
Thanks for the taking me deeper into the web. It's been a fun journey.

Thing 21

I went through the sites listed in the Things and found that I liked Ning. It didn't seem so overwhelming. Smaller community. I signed up on 23 Things on a Stick and put my badge at the bottom of this page. I will have to go back and make my homepage a little more homey. It's cookie cutter right now. I did upload a picture too.
I'll have to go through the groups and find out if there is any other groups that would be interesting to join. Only thing is keeping up with it. Have to make it a habit, check email, check Ning.

Thing 20

MySpace and Facebook were interesting. I tried a MySpace page a long time ago but I found out that I never take the time to keep it up. My bad. I checked out some pages of friends of mine, nice to see their pages. Also looked at the different groups out there. There is something for everyone. I can understand why people like these social places. We all want to belong.
I doubt that we what allow it in school since academics is the objective.

Thing 19

I went through a lot of the podcast sites listed. I can honestly say I didn't get excited about podcast.
I do download music and books.
I'm not interested in having a podcast of news.
I didn't get any inspiration for creating a podcast at this time. Haven't anything to put out there.
Can't put my finger on why this Thing wasn't exciting. Okay to learn about but at the moment just really don't want to explore more about it. Being honest.

Thing 18

I posted the video from YouTube. It's pretty close to what people have been saying to me all my life. Maybe I should take the next step and become a official librarian.
It took me a short time to figure out how to put the video on my blog. I had to step back and quit over thinking the steps.
I had a good time looking through the videos. Some amazing creativity out there. I really enjoyed the video in the 18 Things description.
Having YouTube access in our library won't be happening soon. Being middle school, have to keep distractions to a minimum. I do hear the kids talk about them and they will tell me to look up their favorites.

Thing 17

I like ELM tools. I use MNLink all the time. I actually used the savings calculator to see how much I save using my library and MNLink for myself and family. It came up to $1400 a month, ChaChing. WOW!
I am a patron of the Great River Regional library system. As my dollar amount shows I use it a lot and love it.
I thought I used every tool they have on the site until today. I found NoveList K-8. I love it, I love it. I'm asked by the kids in this library what book to read next. I can now take them to this site and show them how to search for a book they might find interesting. If we don't have it they can get from the city library. What a great use for both libraries.
ELM Rules.

Thing 16

Looking through the research tools or assignment tools they could be useful. I liked the pdf file in the informational planning guide for the library media specialist. What a handy form, it would be helpful to the teacher and myself when helping with the research.
I put a stickie on the Research Project Calculator. What a cool tool.

Thing 15

I am posting so many Things in a row now. I have been going to these sites but haven't had time to post.
I went to pirates and found out I wouldn't be a good one. I'm not a gamer. Hard for me to find the appeal. I have a son who is a gamer and I watch him and see how much he enjoys it.
Gaming online or at home on the many different platforms for kids is just the way it is. They are born into the world having technology at their finger tips. They don't hesitate to jump into a game or on the computer.
I went to Second life but the computer was slow and it made it difficult to do. Looked interesting. If it's like Simms I can see using that for social learning.
Using games in libraries isn't a bad thing. Just need to know what is being used and why.

Thing 14

I like Library Thing. I am using it on Dewy Stacks blog. I put the books that are currently being read in the blog. I use it for my personal books to help me remember what books I want to read and what I have read.
It could be a good tool for students to keep track of their reading lists.
I enjoy the reviews. Helps me to find the books I want to read rather than get bogged down in a book that had me yawning. I do the 50 page rule. If you don't have me by than I'm done. Too many books so little time.
So many uses for Library Thing I haven't even scratched the surface of it's uses. This is a site I will not lose.

Thing 13

Whew! I just finished going through all the productivity tools out there. I can't believe all the sites to keep me organized. In all honesty it's all too much. Weeding through this kind of gave me a headache.
I liked Backpack and could see using that for many reasons. School, family, groups and offices. The draw back for me was the paying for the service. Since you pay for it that's probably why it's so good.
I did go to About.com and went through the calendar sites they listed. Could find whatever scheduler to meet any ones needs.
I'll stick to My Yahoo. Been using that for years and it has served me well. I like the calendar, it's simple.
I tried the widget for the countdown. Couldn't get it to work. Must be blocked. It would be a fun to countdown to the end of school.
I have never been one to have to do lists. I write it down and then I never look at the list.
With the productivity tools I could become a organized diva.

Thing 12

First, I need to say I know my titles aren't very creative. However it helps me to keep track of where I'm at in my Things.
I have gone through the news sites and found them interesting. I went to Reddit first. Wasn't that impressed. Really didn't like the layout. Next I went over to Mixx. I like the layout. Liked that I can set it up with what I want. I like to have headlines in the news and I can pick and chose from there.
I can see these sites being used by high school and college kids more than the middle school kids I work with. I don't see them going to one of these sites since the information is listed on the homepage of Yahoo or Google. They aren't going to "Digg" deep into the news at this age.
What I like about it is you get news from all over the world. I have the local and surrounding papers here in this library. Having access to this gives a person a broader view of the world. Since we are becoming a "global" community this is a good thing.

Thing 11

I really liked exploring these sites. I did find Del.icio.us to be a little confusing. I couldn't find how to add book marks. Just seemed to be having problems all around the site. Now I will admit that it was probably user error (me). When I'm not so scattered I'll have to really give it a good try. However it would be great for personal use. Traveling comes to mind. When I travel I always look up the area, find the recreation, hotels, restaurants. Since most hotels offer Internet service I can go to del.icio.us and find my sites. Saves me from trying to remember where I saw this or that.
I went Page Keeper and I really like that site. I can see using that at school. We have so many sites that to be able to put them in a categories would be great. Organization, yippee.
Each site had it's pluses. The tools are useful. Now I'll have to think a little more to figure out how fully use these tools.

Thing 10

I really found the Wiki interesting. I had heard about them but never had used. Now I know, a little anyway. I liked PBWiki better than Zoho. Right now that is. It would be a useful tool if writing a story and you want to have other edit or add to your story. My plan is to use it for Dewy Stacks. The students could help write his story. Be interesting to see where the story goes.
As far as putting a ban on Wikipedia I can understand doing it. In school settings anyway. Wikipedia is a great temptation to edit in some wrong information. We had an incident were students thought it would be funny to edit in Wikipedia about another student and faculty member. It was very hurtful. It was then blocked.
Another tool to add to my tool kit.

Thing 9

I like the Zoho Writer. I can see using this for a lot of different things. Personally I like the planner portion. Family members can enter their schedules, which helps me keep up with the changes.

Students can write their papers, professionals can have their team working on docs, spreadsheets and it's all accessible wherever you are. Convenience.

Google doc writer was basic. I didn't find the shared editing, I could of missed it. I like that Zoho has more features without being complicated.

I am using Zoho to post this in my blog.

This tool would of sped up the process of getting the Bill Rights completed but would of it been as good?

 

Thing 8

Used photobucket to make the slideshow. Very simple. The pictures are from the library I work in. You only see a small part of the room. The art is orginal from students who have hidden these little pictures through out the room. Have to really look hard to find some of them.
I enjoy working in photobucket. It's a fun place.

Library and Art

Thing 7

Email, IM, Texting are so much a part of everyday life that it has become a given. I use email all the time. We have 2 school libraries and email is a fast and easy way to stay in touch. Rather than use the phone, send a silent email with whatever info needs to be sent.
Being in a school library we really can't have the kids using email or IM since they would get nothing else done. But I could see using email to notifying that a requested book is in. Maybe texting? IM could be used to ask another library if they have a book a patron or student wants in their collection.
I actually use the Webinar for my home business to learn the new products. I also watched the Webinar that Oprah set up for her book club selection. Interesting. Webinar for a school book club would be a great idea. It would be an effective tool for low readers. Kids who want to be a part of a book club but can't make it for an afterschool program. A lot of possibilities.
Just have to give it some thought and more ideas will show up.

Thing 6

I went to Toon Doo and made my own comic. That was fun. Very easy to do. Can't wait to show the kids. I haven't figured out why it doesn't all show. Will have to play with it some more. The options are amazing for a person to use. Things that had to be done by programmers or printing shops are now accessible online, really are time and budget savers.

Thing 5 Flickr Spell

This was fun to use.
I can see using this tool for cool things around the library. Children's section - use the letters to spell out the subjects of books. The list goes on.
I think phooting sharing is a good idea. You have to keep in mind what you put out there will be seen. I have family all over the states and I like having my photos out there for them to look at. Also it saves the cost of mailing them.

Book Shelf -Thing 4

book shelf
Originally uploaded by tcgep

There are a few new books that have been added to our shelves.

Used Flickr to upload and download this photo. It was very easy to do. Understanding what was meant by tag took a little thought. Once I understood to organize the photos for retrieval it made sense.

I also went to Photobucket which is another site like Flickr. Both very user friendly.

I wonder if there is a way to point to a book and have a small review show. Guess that is my next thing to learn.

RSS - Thing 3

I have been using RSS for a long time in my everyday life. It's a useful tool in so many ways.
For my hobby of knitting there are blogs and free patterns that I like to keep up too. I subscribe to a couple of book review sites. The book reviews help me to know the new books out there and what might be a good book to add to the library.
Blogs of family and friends that have RSS. I can stay in touch and have the latest news and photos they have posted.
World news and local news is a must have.
This is all at my finger tips.
I use Google reader since I have an email account there. Keep it simple is my motto.
Using RSS in the school is a great idea. Current events, book reviews, curriculum updates, teacher notes, the possibilities are amazing.
Besides using a RSS feed for news as I mentioned above, find a book review site. One of the book review sites I use is http://flamingnet.com . They review young adult books.
Good luck and keep reading.

Perspectives - Thing 2

After watching the video feed on Library 2.0 I found that I am in agreement. The age of multi media is so prevalent that integrating is the next logical step.
The students I serve are what I call digital natives. I come from the age of key punch and rotary phones which makes me a digital immigrant. I find that I don't speak the language of the digital native. Realizing this pushes me to learn the native language and strive to be a part of the digital culture. It's exciting and I find that it's hard to stop.

My Second Blog - Thing 1

I created a blog for 23 Things called Dewy's Stacks. This blog has caught the eye of the students in our school. It is now used to tell the story of Dewy and review books that he reads.
That leaves me to start another blog to complete 23 Things.
I have created an avatar. That was fun.
Now to get going.