Tuesday, January 1, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Thing #7 Google, not just for searching anymore
Google is amazing. I wish I had bought stock in it! I just finished a Picasa Web Album of our library. I took photos of the outside of the high school, the entry, and pictures inside the library. It was fairly easy to upload the photos and create the album. If you would like to see the slide show or the individual pictures, click MHS Library.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Thing #6 Flickr Mashups
Flickr mashups have been the most interesting of all the "23 Things" so far. I couldn't get into Mappr, but I did look at Flickr Color Pickr which is great for finding coordinating color photos for signs we use in the library. I can definitely use this. The Mosaic Maker was the most fun. I could use this on our library web site to post students' pictures. Spell with Flickr was great to play with!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Thing #5 Discover Flickr
Wow! Flickr has so much to explore and learn about. What a great site! At first I was going to use my own pictures from school to post on my blog, but after reading about "photo posting etiquette" I realized it wouldn't work. My photos all had students in them, and it would involve a lot of parent permission letters. So, I just did a fun photo instead.
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