Thing 23 C'est Fini

I'm trying for the 'A'

v What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

Creating avatars. Learning about Widgets. I really liked Del.icio.us. Learning about other coworkers through their blogs.

v How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

One thing about working in a library is that I learn something new every day, every single day. I had been exposed to several of the products before this exercise, but it’s nice to learn about other possibilities and what's out in the world of the web.

v Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

Not that this surprised me, but . . .

My daughter is taking an online course through UMUC and needed to send her homework into her folder. Having a Mac is not as conducive to doing applications that are mainly programmed for PCs. Her boyfriend’s computer allows her to go UMUC’s online site, but he did not have MSWord. I talked her through Google Docs and she was able to import and export her assignment that way.

Also, at home and at work there is a need to create files in portable document format (pdf). This application enables one not to have to buy the full-blown Adobe Acrobat.

v What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I am at the library part-time, but have a full-time day job. My problem was finding the time. People that blog and read and respond to other blogs need a life. I thought that overall the format wasn't too onerous. Learning and doing 2-3 things a week was manageable.

And last but not least…

v If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

Definitely

v How would you describe your learning experience in a few words or a few sentences, so we can share our successes and promote this program?

Nifty Creative Fantastic Adaptable
Gnarly Pleasant Priceless Ambitious
Special Powerful Fabulous Imaginative
Unique Splendid Awesome Captivating
Positive Practical Delightful Entertaining

Scarecrow: What have you learned, Dorothy?

Dorothy: Well, I—I think that it, that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em — and it's that — if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?

Glinda: That's all it is!

Thing 21 --Peas in a Podcast

I listened to Ask a Ninja and I visited the three sites suggested by MD Libraries Learning 2.0:
Podcast.net
Podcastalley.com
Yahoo Podcasts

They all had similar things to offer. I listened to some Harry Potter fancasts, tried some storytelling podcasts, and learned about jaywalking in Chinese. I could equate some of these as a combination of audio books and talk radio. Some podcasts took longer to get to the nitty gritty of their topic; the hosts seem to like to hear themselves talk. There is a lot of interesting commentary out there and this is something you can multitask to.

My Tube Thing 20 -- Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC. (Mac PC Parody)

I've been a fan of YouTube for months. I find alot of things hilarious. ItsJustSomeRandomGuy is one of the cleverest parodists around. He has made several of these videos. I spent a lot of my girlhood reading Superman, Detective, Sgt. Rock, Little Lulu, and Classics Illustrated. I did read some early Marvels such as Fantastic Four, Hulk, and Spiderman. I'm tempted to try out for Stan Lee's Who Wants to be a Superhero. I need to figure out my powers and hero identity.

Web 2.0 Awards Thing 19

I went to the link for the short list and noticed that many of the awardees were included in our 23 Things. I decided to go to the Blue Ribbon for Games. Being a rumenologist I thought Sheep Invaders looked like fun. Move with the left and right arrows and shoot with the space bar.

Free Online Games brought to you by Arcaplay

Oogling Google (Thing 18)

I agree with Confessions of a Circulation Assistant that we've registered on many websites, so I will stick with Google Docs. It is easy to export to read in MSWord or Adobe Acrobat. I can see where this is a useful tool, especially those who have access to MSWord on one computer, but not on another.

I'm sure Zoho Writer would be just as good, but Google already has me registered.

Playing in the Sand

Thing 17 - Sandbox Wiki or embracing Habit 7 1/2

I added my blog to the growing list. I also created a Wiki to post my escapes to Broadway. I had noticed many blogs put an actual sandbox or a sand picture to commemorate their time in the Maryland Libraries Sandbox. Above is my contribution -- my son with some friends in Dubai.

Something Wiki This Way Comes

Thing 16 - WIKIs

Being a fan of the The Colbert Report, I got an understanding of how wikis work and Wikipedia® in particular. I think the concept fascinating and, as long as one is aware of the pitfalls, a wonderful tool. The idea of people sharing their thoughts on books, recipes or whatever else stimulates one's interest has to be enlightening.

This weekend I wasted spent my time doing some more genealogy research. There is certainly an opportunity for cousins umpteen times removed to communicate their information to each other by creating a wiki for such a purpose.

Web 2.0

Thing 15 - This is getting harder because now I have to think.

We are to comment about articles dealing with Web and/or Library 2.0.

Growing up in libraries for most of my life, I have seen how the library life has evolved.  In elementary school I helped to shelve books and stamped a card with the due date for check-outs.  This pretty much was how it worked throughout junior and senior high and college. When my children were young and we went to the library, there were some programs for them, but not like today.  

The library has always been and is still a place to find information. The mechanics of acquiring that information has undergone a major transformation, though.  How fast we retrieve answers depends now on band width.

About 10 years ago, Arbutus library received a grant for 6 computers from a program funded by Bill Gates.  I volunteered to help patrons to acclimate themselves on the computers and show them how to use the applications installed on these computers.  At that time most people were getting themselves used to the concept of cutting and pasting.  A lot of the facts on the internet could be dubious.  The information was only what someone had been able to type in. 

Today we have reference databases with certifiable information. Students have been known to cut and paste sentences into reports oblivious to plagiarism. We can instantaneously share ideas, pictures and a host of other useful or useless facts.  We expect instant gratification and we get it.  With RSS feeds we can check for updates on our favorite websites.  We can develop friendships thousands of miles away and go about our lives with minimal physical contact with others.

Doing the 23 Things has opened up the possibilities of what other have developed to aid us in communicating with each other.  We've come a long way.

Technorati - Thing 14

I was able to become a member of Technorati . My blog is ranked 2,515,283. Evidently Ariana Huffington's blog is one of the most popular everywhere. I keep encountering it as I go through some of these nifty blogging products. I was able to place the head of my avatar as my photo on the site.

The site shows popular searches and blogs which make make it seem too busy and too much like advertizing.

Del.icio.us - Thing 13

In August there was a Golden Delicious apple tree near my grandmother's house. They were the most wonderful-tasting apples ever, juicy and sweet. All summer we would make do with eating green Macintoshes with salt. We never ate the the Golden Delicious green for some reason. We (my brother, cousins and I) would sit around and pass the salt shaker. Those were halcyon days.

Whenever I see the word delicious, I think of apples. Del.icio.us is another product I can willingly embrace. Being a multi-computer user, I see several opportunities to use this.

You Can Roll a Rollyo

Thing 12 - Nearly Halfway There

Looks Like Candy

Rollyo, roll your own search engine, took me a while to decide what I wanted to have as my search topic. I choose some of my genealogy sites. Now that I have experienced Rollyo and gotten more familiar with what it does, I plan to roll more of my interests.

More Things

My THINGS continued . . .

6.  I've been having Flickr fun with fd's flickr toys, doing a poster and a mosaic.

  7.  I wrote a blog about some of my early forays in computing.

  8.  I signed up with Bloglines and subscribed to several RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.  Time will tell how simple they are.  Maybe they're for simple minds.

  9.  I found some library-related Blogs and Feeds.

10.  I had some problems with Meez, but I would like to use it since envying the princess at ABC...1..23.  I ended up creating my Avatar at good ol' Yahoo.

11.  With Library Thing I realize many, many people like the same books as I.

     This whole exercise has been fun, and I enjoy figuring out things As We Stumble Along.

Following Instructions

This week officially started 23 Things. I decided to seriously look at the tracking log and to begin filling it in. Most of the blogs I’ve read allude to Thing 1 and Thing 2 which lead me to consider Dr. Seuss inspired my fellow bloggers. Sadly, this was not the case since eventually there will be talk about Thing 23. I have been following some blogs for a few years now, and being familiar with the concept, started like a bull in a china shop. I had known about and read Heather Armstrong's blog, whose blog title became a verb in today's vernacular. Since I do want to be credited for doing these exercises, here goes the Things . . .

1.  I have read the blog and found out about the program.
2.  I investigated and listened to the 7½ Habits of Lifelong Learners
and embraced Habit 7½ .
3.  June 23rd I wrote my first post.
4.  I registered my blog with the fine folks of BCPL.
5.  I got a Flickr account.  Some fellow bloggers have obtained a
Flickr account and then wondered, "Now what?"

Scan pictures or download digital pictures onto your computer. Sign into Flickr. Each time Flickr will greet you in another language.

Click
Click

On your computer, go into the directory where your pictures repose. Select which image you want, click open. Flickr will let you upload up to 6 pictures at a time.

Add tags if you want Choose your privacy settings Click Upload

To add a picture to your blog:

Right click on the picture

On the Menu, highlight either Copy Image Address or Copy Shortcut (whichever your computer uses)

On your Blog Posting click the little picture icon and past the URL in the box on the right side of the screen.

Hint:

On PCs use  CTRL C to copy; CTRL V to paste . . . CTRL A selects all

On MACs use APPLE C to copy; APPLE V to paste . . . APPLE A selects all

Can You Dig IT?

Just trying out more fd's flickr toys. I could do this all day.

Some Heeland Coos at Glamis Castle, childhood home of the Queen Mum. Saw a thank you note from 9-year old Elizabeth to her grandmother. She signed it Lilibet.

Flat Sneaks

Flat Sneaks on Broadway

Just a montage of Sneaks enjoying the Big Apple. Flat Sneaks may be giving Flat Stanley a run for his money.

He thoroughly enjoyed Legally Blonde the Musical and was tempted to buy a pair of yoga pants, but he was put off a bit by all the pink.

He walked the walk of advertising fame on Madison Avenue, stopped in Nintendo World and had his picture taken with Picachu.

He expressed a desire to see the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. He thought Spamalot seemed like fun, especially getting to know those crazy knights. He also made a bunch of new friends who assisted him in seeing the posters better. Next time we want to bring tape with us.

Techno -Phobe or -Phile

I take life as a series of puzzles.

I have been working with computers since the 1970s when I keypunched my data and program statements, took the cards to the computer center, waited a day, and hoped there was no missing semicolon.

In the 1980s I used PCs hooked up to a remote terminal and my analyses came back much faster. When working with my first DOS operating system, I was able to write simple batch files and worked with EDLIN. (Everybody should experience EDLIN). I started doing word processing and was amazed to be able to center and justify.

At that time a friend of mine applied for a clerical job after being out of the work force for a number of years. She was terrified. Nobody made typing errors. All the typed documents had no erasures. She thought she couldn't rise to that standard.

In the 1990s Windows was the operating environment now, and work was done with GUI and WYSIWYG. The Internet reared its head and the rest is history . . . everything became I-this or I-that.

I've been fortunate in starting from the bottom, so to speak. I've been able to build on applications when they were simpler and basic. I do some programming now, but with third generation language. To me this is not programming, but writing English.

My real job, the one that pays the bills, gives me a lot of opportunities to solve puzzles. I like the work as long as the peripherals don't get in the way. My library job is my fun job. This pays for Broadway. I still get to solve puzzles -- literally and figuratively, but around really creative and imaginative people.