Thursday, August 6, 2009

Is it me, or is Harry Potter really getting on my nerves?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

DONE!

Mission accomplished! Done & finished!

I had a great time doing the 10 things. It was a wonderful learning experience as well as fun.

The number one thing that stuck in my head the most was the "podcasting" assignment. I didn't know how that worked. Now, I use it all the time! It's literally awesome.

I also use my RSS feed a lot more because it is very useful. My del.icio.us account is filling up with many websites.

Overall, I believe that the Skokie ten was a wonderful opportunity to learn about the many convenient ways to retrieve information and engage in social networks. It is all a learning experience and the thing to remember is that ANYONE can do it.

I don't believe in pushing these tools away. They may seem as overwhelming to some, but all it takes is just playing around, getting a feel for all of it and before you know it, PRESTO!

You will be a pro! if not, then, savvy! :-) :-) ;-)

B

Thing 10: The Virtual Library Branch.

One thing I find myself using from the Library's website is the research feature. Since I am a medical buff (some say more of a hypochondriac) ;-) but really, I say I should have been a doctor, but, I'll admit that I'm a weakling.

Anyhoo, I really like using the 'research' tool on the website and check out the 'health and medicine' databases which include articles, journals and newspaper articles on the latest news for medicine. It's great and very useful, I can find anything I am interested in.

I also use the research tool to find topics in regards to the classes I am taking at Dominican.

Now, when it comes to coming up with an idea on how to add more gadgets or make the Library's website even better than it is, I find it to be my weak point because I see a ton of stuff on the site where I believe they are all useful for patrons.

The only idea that's popping in my mind as I write this is maybe create a blog feature for Skokie Library Card holders can create a site via the wesbite where they become one big SPL Blog community. This would create an interaction as well as fun. Patrons can help eachother out in any aspect of learning.

Just one idea I guess.
I would call it the "SPL Blogosaurus!" :-D
"Come one! Come all! Let's blog! Let's get to know eachother!"

I believe it would benefit the library very much. Why you ask? because it would allow the staff to see what kind of patrons come in, how they think, and what they like, thus, leading to more ideas on what to add to the website.

I hope that sounded like it made sense.

B

Thing 9: Google Tools - Online Productivity.

I had heard of 'Google Docs' for the longest time but didn't know that it can do what it does.

Very interesting. I uploaded a document on Google Docs. I'll admit I'm a bit rusty in handling it/figuring it out but I can see how it can be useful.

So, basically, I upload a document and instead of E-mailing or attaching the document to an email that can be forwarded to someone I post it up on Google Docs and everyone can go on the web and find it creating less clutter for everyone.

I can see myself using this in the future, but in order to do that I must continue fiddling with it.

Nice.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Thing 7: Podcasting!

No idea what podcasting meant. Now I know fully after experiencing it.

I chose "pod cast alley." Searched in the box and typed in "libraries." Chose two links "uncontrolled vocabulary" and "the library channel."I followed the skokie ten directions in regards to them and realized that this 7th thing is very fascinating to me. I'm going to use it a lot!
I wasn't aware that there was something like this out there.

I also typed in "orthodoxy" in the search box of the site because I was interested to see if they had anything on my denomination...and....lo n behold there they did...I immediately copied and pasted the URL in the my RSS reader...

To me, this is utterly amazing! I can not stress on how much I love this particular one! I can listen to anything I want to!

I used to think that iTunes and windows media only had this type of tool.

Guess, I was wrong!

B

Thing 8: Wikis

Wiki Wiki Wiki!!!!

I first shook hands with this term back in June for my summer class, then completely forgot it's meaning. That all changed when I went to Library 2.0 (my class) and said "Ohhhhh!!! yeah, that's right!"

BUT! when I went on line to look at one site called "WIKIpedia.com" I realized that I STILL didn't know what "wiki"meant.

Thanks to my browsing around on wikipedia, I started discovering that you sign up for it. So, that's what I did...sign up! Browsed some more on it but felt a little confused. It wasn't until I saw the demonstration video on what wikis were.

So, I went back to wikipedia to see if I can understand it better based on what I had seen on the video. It made more sense especially when we started using it with other students in class.

One of the other wiki sites used in the class was "pbwiki" and is still being used by me and my classmates. It's very useful especially in the field that I'm pursuing. I'll be honest, if I wasn't pursuing that field, I don't know if I would be using it. Maybe for leisure.

All depends I guess.

Thing 6: Social Bookmarking.

I recently discovered "Social Bookmarking" in my current Library 2.0 class that I'm taking at Dominican.

When I first tried out del.icio.us my thoughts were "complicated, I don't get it! what is this?"
But, I played with it for a while. I totally understand it now and very happy with it because it makes my life a little bit easier. All, my sites come to me! Great idea in my opinion.

Just a side note:
The whole process of becoming familiar with tools such as these has allowed me to come to terms that when one engages themselves in figuring it all out, it can be very confusing to some or many....but give it time and play with it. I still get frustrated with other tools that are presented to me in class, but much to my surprise I end up figuring it all out in the end. Everytime!

My suggestion? Play with the tools even if it takes an hour or longer. Don't have time? No worries! :-) Take a break, come back whenever, try again...it'll still be there for you.

Embrace it! Don't hate it! :-P