Things I've been using

Some of the latest things I've been using are the image generators and Google Docs. Sharon and I have decided to use Google Docs to show our deposits and expenditures for various funds next year. That way we can both edit our "ledger" without having to email it back and forth to each other all the time.

Reflections

It feels great to have finished all 23 Things, and my mind is literally filled to overflowing with new learning. Maybe it's a headache, but I really think I've learned so many new things about technology that I'm on overload for the moment! My fear is that I will forget steps to using this new knowledge. Therefore, I want to go back and use what I've learned as soon as possible. Some of the "Things" I want to become more familiar with, because they have so much potential for use in the library, are:
1. Flikr
2. Image generator
3. Library thing
4. Wikis
5. Online productivity
6. YouTube
7. Podcasts
8. Animoto

How did this program affect my lifelong learning goals? I always like a challenge and want to learn something new. This is definitely new and challenging! The only surprising thing: the 23 things were easier than I thought. I would like to do another discovery program sometime. This project gave me more confidence in myself as a "technologist" which will carry over to my job as a librarian.

I also want to keep up with my "Circle of the Wise" and continue to read blogs by some great librarians and teachers. I really feel just like the "Super Librarian" below!

Thing #23 Creative Commons

Creative Commons opened a whole new dimension of copyrighting. Until the late 1980s the law said everything had "automatic copyrighting", but a group of people felt the need to be more creative because copyright was stifling. They felt creators of works sometimes wanted to let others reuse, remix, or just share their works, but how would they get the word out to tell everyone. This is where Creative Commons entered the picture, and now you can go to the Creative Commons site, answer a few questions, and CC your sites, photos, music, etc. Isn't it reassuring to know there are people who are true problem-solvers out there. I had not heard of CC, but you bet I'll be looking for it now. As I was searching for CC licensing information I even found Obama has requested a CC license for the debates.

An example of how a program has been modified from its original is our very own "Learning 2.0 Through Play" which Mary has created by sharing, reusing, or remixing. At the bottom of each page you will see, credits. The original was created by Helene Blowers and has been borrowed and duplicated with permission under Creative Commons License. If you click on the license, it tells what is allowed. You can go back and look at the Victorian Public Libraries 2.0, and even further back to PLCMC Learning 2.0 Program. I'm sure there are other variations too.

How would a school librarian use a Creative Commons License? Anything I create that I would like to share with other librarians could be given this license. (Of course, it would have to be well done, or I wouldn't publish or share it.) Here are a few ideas:

• Library orientation procedures and ideas
• Webquests I've created
• Library games
• Specialized lesson plans
• Ideas for sharing award-winning books
• How-to ideas on collaboration with teachers/administrators

Thing #22 Animoto

I created an account with animoto.com and worked on a 30-second clip. When I added music and previewed my animoto, it was VERY short, less than 30 seconds. I reread the directions and realized the music I chose was very fast, making the clip move faster than some with slower songs. I really liked my first animoto, but I needed to add more pictures in order to have the clip last a little longer. I also think the type of picture is important: more closeups and less distance pictures. It was very hard to find pictures with no people when you are trying to create something I could use in the library. So I picked group pictures for the most part hoping the speed of the animoto video would blur the images somewhat.

This activity has been so much easier than some of the others, and the results have been awesome. Animoto is very professional looking; the presentation results are slick and edgy. I read a little about the people who created this site on their homepage. They really know what they are doing.

Thing #21 Podcasts

It was interesting to learn the differences between podcasts and audio files; I wasn't sure I understood before I went through the discovery exercise. Now I do! I also didn't know there were so many podcast directories or so many podcasts available for download. After looking through the directories listed, I found Podcast.net the easiest for me to work with. I liked the way the homepage was set up. There were major categories listed, but not too many on a page. I was immediately drawn to the "Travel" category, clicked on it, and to my amazement, there were sound tour guides of my favorite place in the whole world: Venice! Without hesitation I clicked on the tour and found it easy to place in my Google Reader. Wow! It went right in, and I then put it in my "shared" group. Miraculously, it popped into my blog...I can't believe it. This is getting easier all the time. I must be learning something here.

I invite you to look under "My Shared Items" and click on The Islands of Venice, Sound Guides Venice. It will download to your computer. As you open it, there will be an introduction, and then you will hear a woman with a lovely British accent telling you all about the islands around Venice.

I know the exercise asked us to find library podcasts, and I did find several good ones. I searched with the keyword "children's books" and found Book Voyages, a group of podcasts about children's literature featuring reviews and interviews with children's authors. I particularly liked the interview with Peg Kehret, one of my favorite children's authors. I tried downloading it, but it was taking so long I finally stopped it.

What a great way to share podcasts; just put them in Google Reader and have the reader share them in your blog!

Thing #20 You too can YouTube

I have found some good ideas for videos to use on our library webpage. Looking through YouTube, the one I liked the best and added to this blog was "How to Check Out a Book", showing a high school boy going through all the steps of walking into a library and getting a book of his choice. I also liked the music that was added to the clip. Our library could do the same thing, making our own video using similar ideas and posting it. I also found a cute video clip of a young boy talking about his favorite books. Elementary libraries could do something similar with students telling about Bluebonnet or Mockingbird books.

I explored YouTube several times in the past, but I had never gone through enough clips to make a playlist. It was easy to do, plus next time I get in, I have all my favorites saved.

Thing #19 Go with the Flow

I choose to set up accounts with Mindmeister (a mind map) and Gliffy (a flowchart) and created a mind map to plan freshmen orientation next fall. The difference between flowcharts and mind maps, in my opinion, is just the graphic appearance. Flowcharts have shapes to write your ideas in and mind maps have lines to write on. If I'm drawing my own flowchart with a pen, I like to draw them. However, if I'm typing on the computer, I would rather type on the line than in a shape. Why? I don't know; it seems easier for me. I agree with our readings that these flowcharts or mind maps benefit the creator more than the reader. Creating these is like brainstorming or thinking aloud. I think the graphic organizer, Inspiration, is easier to use with classroom instruction.

After creating a mind map in Mindmeister, I wanted to make a link to the page and post it here. However, I discovered Gliffy and Mindmeister only lets you save it to a file or email it. So, if you would like to see my mind map about how I will plan freshmen orientation next fall, let me know and email it to you!

Thing #18 Web 2.0 Awards List

The Web 2.0 Award List was great because all the cool sites were there in one spot! Some sites were just fun, others educational, and some just helped you out in your everyday life.

What were the useful features? Some of my favorites were Judysbook showing you what is on sale and coupons available, Craigslist.org to buy and sell your belongings (a garage sale online!), Shopify.com to help you setup your own online store, and Lulu.com for publishing, selling, and marketing you own books. Of course, the mapping and list sites are useful everyday!

What did I like best? The "fun sites" were my favorites: Guess-the-Google was a great game. I liked it because my score was over 200 points! Fuzzmail was another favorite; I sent fuzz emails to several unsuspecting friends. I don't know if they liked getting the emails but I sure liked sending them.

What application could be used in the library? So many of the useful sites for the library have been discussed in previous "Things" such as Google Docs and Spreadsheets and wikis. The collaborative writing and word processing sites would be especially useful for school district libraries who didn't have the funds to purchase software...just go to these sites! The digital storage and remote access sites could also be used by school libraries who don't have the funds to purchase large servers to store all the staff and student files.

Thing #17 Web-based Applications, not just for desktops anymore

There was so much to look at in Zoho Writer. I created some quick documents, looked at the template library, and saw the Zoho Plug-ins for MS Office Word and Excel. I looked into the spreadsheets and planners too. I had no idea all of this was available and for FREE!

I played around with Google Docs and published Goals and Strategies just to see how it worked. I uploaded an existing file from my computer and changed the font, some of the text colors, etc. Notice the published document can be edited. What a great tool.

Thing #16 Add an Entry to the Sandbox Wiki

The Sandbox was an enjoyable experience because I could add, edit, and delete and basically do anything I wanted. With practice I learned to use Plug-ins to put a video from YouTube on a wiki and add images.

When I think of using a wiki at school, I feel the most meaningful wiki would be one I could create with a teacher. Wikis are a great way for students to interact on assignments. There were some very innovative classroom wikis in our readings which I want to share with our AP teachers. I would like to model a wiki after the Westwood Computer Class wiki or the AP World History wiki.

Thing #15 Wikis and How Libraries Are Using Them

Wikis are great for groups to communicate ideas because everyone can add and edit. Mary Woodard has used PBWikis several times with MISD library projects. The last project I worked on was rewriting our librarian evaluation instrument. Our committee met once a month to discuss various sections of the project and share ideas. Then Mary would put our suggestions on the wiki, and our committee would go in and add or change these during the month. This gave everyone more time to think about suggestions and formulate new ideas; the committee had an equal opportunity to give their opinions.

Through the links in this discovery exercise, I found several fantastic ideas. The SJCPL Subject Guide revealed some awesome ideas for a public (or school) library. Their subject guides were incredibly detailed. The St. Joseph County Public Library also let every patron know they could "talk to the library" in 5 ways:

• by blog
• subject guide (check out this section on Cooking)
• email
• instant messaging
• library card

There were several wiki ideas I can't wait to share with my classroom teachers. Westwood Schools Wiki and AP World History Wiki were wonderful examples of how wikis can be used with students. Welker's Wikinomics (an economics teacher from the Shanghai American School) was my favorite classroom wiki, the best example of how a teacher can manage classroom projects through wikis. The teacher also had each student create a blog to discuss articles they had read, and each of their blogs had a link from the wiki. No wonder this wiki won the Edublog Award for Best Educational Wiki.

Some applications for wikis in my school are using them with our Site-Based Decision Making committee, class project pages, and incorporating wikis into our library catalog.

Thing # 14 Perspectives on Web 2.0 and the future of libraries

What is Library 2.0? Library 2.0 describes a new concept for developing and operating libraries. It gets its name from Web 2.0 which shares some of the same philosophies about embracing constant change. The goal of Library 2.0 is to rework library services to meet the needs of the user, whoever and wherever they are. It's the physical and mental attitude of change in order to make libraries more central to the needs of users, a transition in the way we deliver services to users.

From the suggested readings I gleened some thoughtful ideas. I loved the Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto, a vision of what a librarian's attitude should be. A couple of ideas I believe are very important are:

• Enjoy the excitement and fun of positive change and convey this to colleagues and users.
• Don't wait until something is perfect before releasing it, but rather modify it based on user feedback.

Michael Stephens, in his article in the OCLC Newsletter of Web 2.0, makes some excellent suggestions for 2.0 librarians:

• Librarians should not buy technology for technology's sake, but must be sure any purchases meet the users needs and create a useful service.
• Librarians must make wise, expedient decisions concerning library services to meet an ever changing library.

Dr. Wendy Schultz, in "To a Temporty Place in Time", writes of libraries in the future beyond Library 2.0, progressing to 3.0 and finally 4.0. Library 4.0 will be for the "dream society" which will need libraries for very different things: as mind labs and idea labs. But society will still need storage for collections, data retrieval, and commentary and annotations from librarians. Society will still need a retreat, a "pampered experience with information", comfortable seating, a quiet place to settle in -- it will still need a library... a physical place. That's a comforting thought for me.

What does Library 2.0 mean to me? It means changing, adapting, being flexible, open to new ways of gathering and sharing information. It's the willingness to put in the time to learn new approaches and ideas. It means not being afraid to change yourself.

What does it mean for school libraries in the future? School districts must understand the value of libraries and be willing to fund these changes. It must also be wise in hiring a director for their libraries who can lead school librarians through the changes it must make.

Thing #13 Tagging and Social Bookmarking with Del.icio.us

Social bookmarking is a great tool and both Furl and Ma.gnolia look like excellent sites. The tutorial for Furl is so easy to follow. Some interesting things mentioned is the ability to highlight text, and it will appear in the "clippings" section. You can mark your sites private if you desire. You can also access all your bookmarks from any PC because they are saved online, not on YOUR computer. "Hot topics" marked by several people appear in color. You can also add comments about the web sites.

Ma.gnolia might be a good social bookmarking site, but the tutorial is not as good as Furl or del.icio.us. I do like the starred bookmark rating feature. You can also access Ma.gnolia using your Facebook sign in.

The del.icio.us podcast tutorial is so well done; one can't help but like it best. All the bookmarking sites have tagging abilities which make it such a good tool. I can see MISD librarians using del.icio.us to share sites not only on library information, but also quilting, recipes, and shopping. What a great tool! I look forward to using del.icio.us and sharing with others.

Thing # 12 Social Networking Sites

I explored My Space, Facebook, and Ning. I set up an account with MySpace and created a profile. I also signed up for Mesquite Librarians and Friends in Ning Network. This took much more time than I thought because there was so much to look at, navigate around, and learn about each social network.

I believe it's important for librarians to know about social networking online because it's another way to understand how students get information. If we want to know how our students learn, this is one avenue to investigate, and we need to understand how it works. I think there are possibilities for students to form study groups, book clubs, and other educational interest groups within these social networks. It was fun joining the Mesquite Librarians and Friends Ning network because I recognized friends' pictures and felt a sudden comfort I had not felt while surfing the other social sites. I'm sure that's one of the reasons social networks are so popular with kids: the recognition of friends and a need to belong.

I dislike MySpace because so many people make their private lives so public there. The same thing applies to Facebook. I liked Ning because you can set up your own network based on your interests.

Thing #11 Check Out Library Thing!

You can see my Library Things books that I added to "my library". The Library Thing was a great site for:

• putting your favorite books on your blog
• making a suggested list of books on a certain topic on your blog
• cataloging your personal collection of books
• finding people with similar tastes in books
• giving you tags to organize your books

Thing #10 Image

Thing # 10 Online Image Generators

I used Image Chef for this sign. It was fun to see all the images you can customize. I found other great images too, but they either cost money or they were not appropriate for this posting. I can use these images on library webpages, class projects, handouts for teachers, or various signs displayed in our library.

Thing # 9 Useful Library Related Blogs/News Feeds

There is an amazing amount of information on blogs that I didn't know existed. It's a little overwhelming to realize how much is available. Thank goodness you gave us a great many search tools to look at. I found teacher and librarian blogs like The Cool Cat Teacher blog very helpful. The Edublog Award winners made me realize these bloggers are just like you and me - just regular teachers and librarians. Vickie Davis's suggestion to "create your circle of wise" made the most sense: read lots of blogs and "find people who inspire you." There are too many blogs and news feeds to keep up with so you must learn how to be selective.

What tools did I find useful? Blogline's Search Tool was one of the easiest. I just searched using the keyword, librarian, and found interesting library issues all over the world. Library Matters blog from an Australian librarian was especially interesting. Syndic8.com had a huge amount of feeds on every conceivable topic; some were very random. I looked at the "most popular feeds" like Slashdot and Boing Boing and realized there are lots of nerds out there in cyberspace! I also learned a little about Fwickis (how to make your own news feeds) from Syndic8.com. I thought I could use Suprglu for school and will explore it further. Topix was my absolute favorite for news because the format was easy to follow, and I could search for any news topic quickly. Feedster was closed for the holidays. I guess they are redoing it for the New Year.

One of the best all-around librarian blogs was A Library By Any Other Name. The blog was nicely arranged and had interesting topics. I loved The Cool Cat Teacher blog because of the great information that made me THINK. However, it was very "busy" looking, and I was, at times, overwhelmed with all the information and links on Vickie Davis's blog. I did subscribe to her feed and look forward to keeping up with The Cool Cat Teacher.

Thing #8 RSS

I like the simplicity of RSS. I certainly see how the need for RSS Readers evolved because there are too many things to look at online using just bookmarks or subscriptions. One quote I liked from our readings was, "RSS is like TIVO on your computer."

In my personal life I can see how I would use an RSS Feeder, especially to read my favorite news articles on topics I'm interested in. I don't have time to read the daily newspaper from cover to cover or the newsletters I subscribe to online. It's the same for school; if I can read RSS readers on new books (reviews) rather than going through all the publications of SLJ or Booklist, it would save so much time. I created my Google Reader and have put my shared list on this blog.

Some of our fellow librarians commented they couldn't find RSS feeds for some topics. I couldn't either until I did a Google search for RSS feeds and lots of them came up. However, most of the RSS feeds from the Google search were not interesting to me. I hope to find better ones as I work through Thing # 9.