Thing 22

Finally, I have reached the pinnacle of this journey and the "thing" which has been the motivation for keeping with it. I have looked at NetLibrary, to which we no longer subscribe, Project Gutenburg, on which I saw nothing appealing at first glance, and OverDrive, on which I am counting! I do not think eBooks will be something I use, but I regularly listen to audiobooks on CD on my drive to and from work and am very anxious to listen to books sans the discs on my passenger seat. I have a long list of titles "to read" and I am certain I will find many to download. I would like to develop stronger readers' advisory skills for middle school readers by listening to Y books on my commute, and there is a ready source of suggestions for my own personal enjoyment on LibraryThing! The first task on my "to do" list at work next week is to create my Overdrive account.

Thing 21

Ok, I think I get that podcasts are customized broadcasts. iTunes is surely important to every teenager I know. I had noticed but never pursued, podcasts on my son's college's website, so I pulled up a podcast of an event Tom Brokaw attended. My computer at home was not able to support viewing this, so I was once again left frustrated. I can at least imagine watching it and it could be something I would enjoy. I browsed Podcast.net, and could not find much that interested me. I chose subjects of interest and found nothing I recognized. Who are these people? Found a few TV related items, but again, was not able to view them. One podcast I found gave a very understandable explanation of podcasting which I printed to keep for future reference. My dilemma is that I cannot always accomplish these technological exercises on my home computer and have NO time to do it at work.

Thing 20

Took some time to explore YouTube. There have been recent news incidents I have viewed, and I browsed some of the multitudinous other subjects available. I also enjoyed an email from a coworker which included a YouTube video. I cannot relate to the need to exhibit my own experiences to the public in terms of posting videos, but I will certainly visit this site when I hear of something of interest in the news. Ironically, at this moment, as I am posting from home, I have CNN on TV and can hear them talking to "Dancing Matt" about his YouTube videos (which I have no interest in viewing!)

Thing 19

I browsed several award-winning sites from the Web 2.0 awards list. Of those I am most likely to use, I chose Google Maps. I generally have used Mapquest for directions, but now that I have had some experience with Google Maps, I think I will consult it instead (Mapquest wasn't even on the Shortlist.) I did some of the basic searches I had done on Mapquest, had fun with satellite views and compared the route I take to work vs. the route recommended just for fun. The site is easy to use and I will definitely take time to investigate its many possibilities later, as time permits. Did not download GoogleEarth, but am definitely intrigued and will investigate soon.

Thing 18

My Zoho document is below. In trying to edit it, I lost the image, so now that I have retrieved it, I am not going to attempt another edit. Therefore, here is my blog about online productivity. Basically, I like it. There are many options which will require a lot of experimentation, but this is one of the 23 things I am most likely to use again. Of course I like that these tools are free and using Zoho as an editor for blog posts is definitely a feature I will use. The possibilities are endless ...and the names are cute, too - Zoho Show - haha! This was fun and LateBloom feels better now.

Who plants a seed...

Who plants a seed

Beneath the sod

And waits to see

Believes in God

Things 16 and 17

Wikis sounded interesting and I had a brief experience in LATI. I have visited Wikipedia and have cautiously considered its content. I looked at St. Joseph County's subject guide and was very impressed. The varied information provided, including community resources, appeared to be fairly comprehensive for the subjects I chose. The wedding planning entry, for example, looked to be an excellent (free!) planning tool - at least for preliminary information. I also appreciated the tutorials in the "Library 2.0 in 15 minutes a day," although that title is a laugh. The Sandbox, however, has been a nightmare! I added an entry to an existing topic and visited several of interest, and created a "favorite," but adding my blog to the list is a challenge I have not yet mastered. Many library systems are listed, but HCPL is not to be found. I have sent out an SOS to a coworker and will revisit this post later. Today is Saturday and I am sacrificing my free time to work on this - LateBloom is not happy today!!

With help from a very patient coworker, and the re-appearance of the HCPL group on the Sandbox page, I was able to add my blog to the list. I was even able to help others in my department, which reinforced the process. So, I have finally completed this activity, but I would have to say this was not a favorite "thing."

Thing 15

The future of libraries - this is important to me! My LATI experience included a look at this topic, and working on my "23 Things" has provided an opportunity to revisit it. While I often cling to the old, I was interested in the "Away from Icebergs" article, and did agreed with a lot of what it stated. As a cerified pack rat, I lean toward saving "just in case," but do understand that updated information online can be superior to dated, print material. An acception, in my opinion, is illustrations which have a much different look and feel in hand. I particularly agreed with the point about eliminating barriers between patrons and the information. I think it is critical to make finding information through the library's resources user friendly. Placing library services in the users' preferred environment, which I presume means on their laptops, makes sense in many cases for reference purposes, but I hope children's services continue to serve the youngest patrons IN the library to encourage the joy of sharing books in person.

Things 13 and 14

I am grouping these 2 things together, because my feelings about them are similar. I have explored Technorati and Del.licio.us and read about tagging. For me, these methods of grouping or organizing online information are not useful, easy or necessary. I think I understand the value of them to people who spend MUCH more time online than I do, but my needs are met more than adequately with simpler methods of organization. I do not expect to use these any time soon.

Thing 10 final part

Actually, after several attempts and with the help of a coworker, I have deleted my too-big Meez and replaced her with this more petite version.

Thing 10 part 2

So, my original Meez could not be exported from my home computer. I was able to do it at the library, but apparently I chose too large a size! Well, there's no missing that I've created her now.

Thing 12

I took a look at Rollyo and created a searchroll for practice although I doubt I will use it. I understand the value of this, and see how it could work for frequent searching on a particular topic. but I have no such need at this point. I do think that a Rollyo created by an expert in a field (Fashion Sites rolled by Diane Von Furstenberg) would be interesting.

Thing 10

I spent quite a lot of time playing with Meez online image generator. It is fun and very addictive. I enjoyed the creative aspect of this, but felt that I was basically wasting a lot of time, especially on my very slow computer at home. I did create a character, but when I tried to export it, I received a message that my browser configuration was not compatible. Will try from the library if I remember. Will this take me to it? http://www.meez.com/main.dm

Interesting note: Despite all the very youth-oriented outfits and accessories etc. I was amused to see the presidential candidate backgrounds!

Thing 7

I skipped Thing 7 because all the other technical "things" felt like enough for me at the time. Since then, however, a coworker introduced me to IGoogle, and I must admit it did "interest me." There are many options to place on this customized home page - so many that it seems all too possible to overload and clutter the page (much like my desk.) At this point, I choose to trust AOL to present me with pertinent news and information when I log on, but at some time I could imagine fashioning an IGoogle home page.

Thing 11 part 2

Actually, I would like to revise my opinion about LibraryThing. My first visit occurred while I was at work, hoping to make some headway on my 2.0 journey. It has been so difficult - almost impossible, to work on these 23 Things while I am at work. As I am determined to complete this program, I have succumbed to spending my free time at home to forge on. Here, I have been able to more fully explore LibraryThing, and would like to acknowledge that the recommendations machine and the conversations are aspects of LibraryThing I expect to enjoy. http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php

Thing 11

I listed some of the most recent books I have read on my new LibraryThing account. I suppose I might find this a useful place to keep this information and it does seem helpful to organize titles I've read by author, subject or genre. I do enjoy seeing others' reviews as well. However, I don't know that I will have time to enter the necessary information or sit and browse very often. I have been satisfied until now with a handwritten list of books read and the reviews and information I can access directly from Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites. I think it will be quite a while before I feel it is easier, not more difficult, to organize my life online!