Backtracking to Things 8, 9, and 21

Bloglines is the skum of the Earth. They do not like my Kent email address either. But, I did look at Bloglines anyway- I just did not sign up for anything (since I can't). Anyways, I learned a lot about RSS (and I am glad to know what that stands for now, too). I am really hoping that this will work in the future. I am excited to have my news available in this format. I have heard about the fact that people do not use TV and newspapers anymore for their news. Most people get the news off the internet. I seem to live in the past. I watch the news religiously every single night at 11:00.

So, I looked for feeds using a few of the other options that were mentioned in #9. Topix was the easiest to use. I simply typed in my city and state, and some news came up (from Vindy.com and the Tribune Chronicle). This seems like a really nice site. I did not care for Syndic8. I was confused about how to use it, and I did not like how the results appeared.

I looked for some podcasts using Podcasts.net. Some of the podcasts that I found, and liked include LitListen Books, Epstein's Podcast, and Fred's World. I found a lot of useful podcasts that I will add to my Bloglines account when I get one up and running.

Thing 23

I had a lot of fun exploring these different things, and reacquainting myself with others. This has been a great journey! I am excited to continue learning new things past #23, and to play with many of the great sites I have found along this journey. My favorite thing was, of course, Google Docs. My least favorite was Bloglines, which has yet to confirm my request. I am still bitter and angry! I would definitely participate in another activity like this... or even one that was different than this. And I swear that I would start a lot earlier the next time around.

Skipping ahead to Thing 22

I am so glad that Thing 20 worked for me! Due to my skipping Things 8 and 9 (due to some technical difficulties), I am forced to skip Thing 21, as well. For some reason, Bloglines has not sent me a confirmation email that I can use the site. I tried to use it anyway, and it reminded me that I needed to get the email. Technology angers me from time to time. Once I get through Things 22 and 23, I will try again, using my school email. I hope that that works. By the way, an earlier step said that I needed to write a reply- and I did to "Ag's World." So, check it out- I am doing really good. Heck, this website is really good and easy to use.

Anyways, on to Thing 22. I was surprised to find that we had soooo many e-books (or digital books) to offer. I never realized that we did. I have heard about these books, but I never looked into them. I found a lot of "books" I'd like to hear and I am excited to be able to use this site. Digital books are a great source. I started to think about how useful they can be when doing research. Libraries cannot hold every single book on a topic... but they can offer a whole lot more when they have digital books. That will allow more room in the physical library for popular books- such as new books of fiction.

Thing 20

I am crossing my fingers that this works. I am used to adding videos to my pages... but MySpace and Facebook are two different creatures from one another and from Blogger, too. I have used YouTube many times. I like how easy it is to look for videos. I also like how there are similar videos along the side of the one you are watching. I have been surprised by many of the videos that I have found on there. For instance, I found a "lost" or alternate ending to the show Quantum Leap. And, it was a decent quality video. And that show ended quite some time ago. So, I like YouTube. I just don't see myself putting my own personal videos on there. I guess that I didn't learn to share things. Just kidding. YouTube can be very useful for a library. It can put videos of speakers and presentations... and even story time.

I chose the video above since it was made based on my favorite TV show. Mystery Science Theater 3000 had the guys singing these songs at the end of the show in 1 episode (for the movie Werewolf). Some person with some time on his/her hands put actual pictures and the actual songs together. I got a kick out of it!

Things 18 and 19

I absolutely LOVE Google Docs! Google Docs is the best thing since sliced bread. I am lucky enough to have purchased Power Point and Microsoft Word for a discount at YSU (for my undergrad). But, I was once less fortunate and I had to find creative ways to make presentations fun and interesting. Now, Google has gone and done it again. They never seem to stop amazing me! And, I think that their Word file thing is very user friendly. Microsoft Word is a bit evil... it often plays tricks on me! I am glad to see that I have another option for writing stuff. I think that I will go and play a bit with the presentation file thingy. I love it! (Did I say that already?) Oh- and Zoho writer is cool too. I just seem to adore the other one. Google didn't even make me sign up to use it or anything. Go Google Go!

Speaking of love- I love Pandora, too. I was able to have a "custom-made" radio station in seconds flat. However, I did feel as though they were stereotyping my musical taste into a small box. And, my musical taste are very large and encompassing. But, hey, they did play a bunch of great tunes. Pandora rules- just not as much as Google Doc!

I will definitely explore some additional sites off the award winning list.

Things 16 and 17

I always thought of wikis as a sort of message board, where everyone can contribute. Unlike a message board, wikis combine what has been written into one easy to read page. I really like wikis, especially Wikipedia and Wikitionary. I enjoyed looking through the wikis here, since they showed ways that they can be used by libraries. I think wikis can be extremely useful in the library world! I liked how the one wiki (at St. Joseph County Public Library) put job postings on their wiki. Libraries can definitely help the public by doing such a thing. Wikis can also be useful for reader's advisory, with recommended reads. These can have descriptions and links to additional/similar books and materials. This is also a great way for a library to advertise some of the services that they have.

I have finally added my blog to the list of favorites. It took me a while, and it never came up with just the blog name. So, I have the URL listed instead. And, it appears to link back to my page. I think that I was confused by the use of the symbol ""... which may not even be the correct symbol to use. I was also adding the url with "www," but it appears that you need to forget about that part. So, I finally added "[ http://ginarian.blogspot.com]" And, I am glad to have finally figured out how to do it correctly!

Thing 15

I was reading through the many perspectives of library 2.0 and what it means. Many of the perspectives see this as a way of the future. I, myself, am not too sure about that. Perhaps some of these lessons will be useful in a library setting. Things such as Flickr and Technorati could be very helpful when it comes to working with the public, advertising the library, and so on. But many other things do not seem to be useful in such a setting. Besides, many of these things are old news... so the library should focus on what is coming up in the future. And, dabbling here and there may be spreading the library too thin. We can't be everything for everyone... and we can't do everything (no matter how trendy, hip, or cool it may be).

Things 13 and 14

I have used delicious before, just not very much. So, I looked at the list of sites that PLYMC had tagged, to reacquaint myself with this website. I had never thought about this site in terms of research possiblities. I do like that it can hold your favorite sites. My AOL account also allows me to save sites into my "Favorites." However, I have lost these sites several times in the past (due to errors, and switching into a new computer). Delicious allows me to feel like my sites are in a backup form on the internet. I also like seeing how many other people have tagged the same websites. It truly shows what sites are used, found to be important, and are recommended by others.

In Technorati, each search brought about a different set of results. Yet, some of the same things came up in each search. I suppose that each search looks into a different part of the blogs, creating different results. I was suprised at the top searches. I had no idea of what some of these searches were actually about. I was also unsure if there were in a particular order, so I was surprised to see MySpace down near the end of the list.

Skipping ahead to Things 10, 11 and 12

My favorite picture generator is called Warholizer and it can be found on the FD Toys website. I tried it on two of my pictures. The first was of my pet lizard, but it did not turn out too well. The second was of me and my fiance, and I love the result! I will definitely have some more fun playing around with the Warholizer in the future. Here is a link to it: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/warholizer.php

I have read about LibraryThing, but I have never used it. I was surpirsed at how quickly it came up with exact matches for my searches. I added some of my favorite books. Here is a link to my personal library thing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Ginarian

I found Rollyo to be a very unique experience that I had never heard about. I created a list of sources I use when I want to find information about rock music and the groups I like. Here is a link to my list:
http://rollyo.com/ginarian/rock_and_roll/
This site could be useful in the library setting when it comes to doing reference questions for patrons. It can also be useful for individuals when they want to look for a particular thing only in certain sites. In that way, it is a lot better than Google, which does not allow you to only search 5 sites (or something to that effect).

Things 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7

As you can see, I have successfully created a blog and posted on it. I also sent an email to register this blog. I hope that it was received, since I am doing this blog at the last minute.

I looked around Flickr, but I do not like it as much as I like Photobucket. Sorry, but I don't. Probably due simply to the fact that I am used to Photobucket's set up. But, I will continue to look around the site... and maybe even use it. I don't know yet... the day is still young.

I was glad to see that so many libraries were using this website to show off pictures. My favorite images were from the Second Life library 2.0 group. Some of their images can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/secondlifelibrary/

I was excited to read about the mashups. Heck, now I think I might actually start using Flickr instead of old reliable Photobucket! I also liked FD Toy's Trading Card Maker. And, Mappr is a neat idea, too.

My one comment about technology is that it sometimes frustrates me and angers me. My computer has crashed one too many times. Heck, I had a problem with Search Ohio just the other day. However, my frustrations never seem to stop me from using technology and trying new things. I am doing this now, afterall. And, I am currently in the process of learning HTML. So, I look forward to trying new things... and seeing what tomorrow brings in terms of new technology.

Things 1 and 2

I read about the program and I am very excited to learn about some new things that I do not already know. I did get a bit of a late start, but I plan on getting the most out of this experience. I feel that I definitely am a lifelong learner. I enjoy learning new things- especially in a classroom setting. I found that the easiest step of lifelong learning is making a lifelong learning tool kit. This is because it is relatively easy to find webpages, friends, and mentors who help you to grow and learn. I think that everyone has these things already exisiting in their lives. The key is to use these resources to the max! The hardest thing to do (for me) is to tackle my problems as though they are challenges. I am much more likely to freak out and have a panic attack when things go wrong.