Friday, August 31, 2007

Learning is Forever

Coming to the end and looking back over what I've learned versus how uncomfortable I felt at first, the learning bit won out. I have to admit that I entered into this business with trepidation because I'm really private about most things and really didn't want myself "out there" all that much, but I really did gain confidence as I went along.

So here's what I learned:
Blogging is important for tracking your progress and for the moderators to make sure that you're keeping honest. But I'm not really a diary person. Nobody really has time to read everyone's blogs, and, frankly, who cares? I don't care to transmit information this way.

Flickr was fun, and a nice way to post photos, but I have my own favorite photo software that I'm comfortable with. I liked exploring it, though, but won't go back to it.

RSS feeds were really valuable. There are a lot of quality products out there, and lots of good information to subscribe to. What's hard is customizing it to really specific tastes. Most things are too general. But if you know NPR, well, what's not to like? I will keep these, and add to them.

Online image generators probably have passed me by. I'm not that keen on avatars, or making a badge or trading card, or a mosaic of myself but it was fun knowing about them. I loved the Library Thing, and marveled at how many people liked the same books I did.

It's great having Merlin and the MLA site to refer folks to who have jobs to offer. I will be posting soon some freelance positions there. I would not have known about this if not for this exercise.

Delving deeper into wikis was helpful to me since I use Wikipedia and didn't realize there were others. Powerful stuff here, and freedom of speech issues need to be explored.

Liked all the open source stuff and the ability to share docs and spreadsheets between computers and with others. Would not have known about these if not for this exercise because it wouldn't have occurred to me to know they exist!

The Web 2.0 awards list was most helpful. A del.ici.ous bookmark. Thanks for this! I'll come back to this again and again. Great stuff here.

YouTube is great fun, as is any streaming audio or video site where you can be entertained. I enjoyed the podcasting sites, even though you had to really hunt for good stuff, and Overdrive is nice for long painting projects and road trips.

All in all, great tutorials, good pace, most of the difficult things came at the beginning or maybe as confidence took over it just got easier. I did all of it at home; I can't imagine how staff were able to complete these exercises at work with all the interruptions and distractions, plus not being able to download software to a public machine. I would do another of these because it's important to keep up! I don't want to miss anything! Using the Internet continues to be like trying to get a drink from a fire hose, but you can't stop.

Unexpected? I didn't think I would learn as much as I did, and being directed to think about how these tools would affect libraries was very centering. All of the things we learned will help shape information transmission in the future. I hope I can be part of it.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Rosenblatt on Overdrive

Boy is this fun, having Barbara Rosenblatt's fabulous voice coming out of my 4 huge Magnaplanar speakers. I'm listening to her read The Dancing Floor by Barbara Michaels, unfortunately abridged, but beggars can't be choosers. Overdrive is easy to use, and I downloaded an IMAX movie too and will connect my laptop to the HD TV to check this out.
The software is easy to download and the interface is simple. You can see how long each ebook is, and you can start, stop, go backwards and forwards in timed steps just in case you zone out and forgot what you heard.


I like how all this technology can work together. Wowee. Things like this will make it even harder and harder to leave the house. Come on, winter!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Podcasts

There's an awful lot of material out there, some of it pretty amateurish, and you have to wade through before you can find some real gems. For fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly TV series on Fox, check out this feed and you won't be disappointed.

http://fireflytalk.libsyn.com/rss



Libraries can use this tool for storytelling, booktalking, advertising upcoming programs, and in other ways, but there's so much out there that's so mediocre that you'd have to get some real marketing expertise to make a BCPL podcast really stand out, and then have some fabulous voice actors to execute it, and some pretty darn good engineering too.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

YouTube

There's a real range of things out there, something for everybody. I really enjoyed March of the Librarians and some of the other library related videos, but, as an EastEnders fan I was impressed to see whole episodes on there. This runs in real time in the UK but we're 5 years behind here, so it's interesting to see lots of new faces on the show that will eventually show up on PBS. Great fun.

Here's a tribute to one of the show's longest cast members, Wendy Richard, who retired after many years with the series. If you liked the Britcom "Are You Being Served" you will recognize her as Miss Brahms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCClBd-RQ0U

This could have applications for teaching anything visual, sharing ideas for children's programming, demonstrating things like how to tell a story, how to merchandise, advertising the summer reading club--this technology really has great possibilities for libraries.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Web 2.0 Award Winners

Well, I guess we know what makes a winner a real winner. I played around with one of the music sites: Last.FM (Get it here http://www.last.fm/download/) thinking, oh yeah, how can they tailor a playlist for me based on my obscure music tastes, and, I was not disappointed. I put in what I thought was a real show-stopper (who's ever heard of the Italian group Arti e Mestieri) and not only did they find it, but produced so much music like them that I was astounded. Much of this music I own and played on WJHU when it was a carrier current 10 watter coming out of the Alumni Memorial Residences at Hopkins back in the eighties. Loved it then. Love it now. Just wish the sampling rate could be better, but picky picky picky.
Coolness factor: ten out of ten. Gain a teen's trust and turn them on to this, and you have a customer for life. Just make sure they have broadband.

Publishing on the Web

Word processing and spreadsheets on the web are great for folks who have a computer but don't want to spend big bucks for Microsoft products. And they are very easy to share--I like Google Docs because when you log into your mail you are already logged in and you don't have to create a separate account. It was very intuitive to use, so I shared a document that my father had given me that means a lot to me, both then and now.
Very powerful stuff.

Words to Live By


Not sure where this originated, but my Dad wrote this to me on May 1, 1987. Thanks, Dad!


Tomorrow and as many tomorrows as you can. Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word or deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forego a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your gratitude. Go to your house of worship. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty of the world. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still once again.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Creating a Wiki

I had fun making a Wiki for the music of Franco Battiato and putting an MP3 and my photo on there in a sidebar. Great fun. Since I have purchased several CDs of his music I don't feel guilty sharing some of it here. It's a pretty standard piece of music for him. Let me know if you want me to add some more.

here's the link to my Wiki
http://battiato.pbwiki.com/

Monday, August 6, 2007

Wikis

Share things, learn more. Good idea, but how accurate is the information if everyone and anyone can tweak it? The success of wikis will depend, I guess, on the comfort level of the user accessing the information.
I can see how library wikis can be useful. Our BCPL Virtual Book Club could be a wiki. How about the statewide training program for new librarians? Since this would be accessed by learners and their trainers almost exclusively not too many folks out of libraryland would be much interested in playing tricks here. How about a Readers Advisory wiki of recommendations for special hard-to-please populations like reluctant teen readers? Teachers and other educators could contribute.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Sharpening the Saw

How fortunate to be among those who remember the "traditional" library and its managed collections, and to experience Web 2.0 and to witness everything about data retrieval that those science fiction books only hinted at!

I read Dr. Wendy Schultz's article To a Temporary Place in Time, Chip Nilges To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate, and Rich Anderson's Away from the Icebergs. What resonates throughout these powerful essays is the realization that librarians need to communicate, share ideas, collaborate, and teach what we know to our customers, those who ask. Why settle for Google when there are better ways to search. Maybe we need to adjust our reference interview as we tweak our materials collections. What responsibilities do librarians now have as the Internet matures? I'm grateful that I can still be a part of this, and know that the younger librarians are already running with it as only they can.

Favorite Blog

For all of you out there who can't get enough of this, make me a favorite by going here:
Add to Technorati Favorites

Claiming My Blog

I feel a little like a 49er staking a claim, except that there will be no gold to pan here. Also not sure how many folks outside of BCPL will really want to read my blog since it is only concerned at the moment with the fulfillment of the Learning Libraries 2.0, so I guess that this is like an experiment.

So I claim it thus: Technorati Profile

Friday, July 27, 2007

Thing 13 Del.icio.us

A good friend who started a new career as a web designer years ago shared his many bookmarks with me on Del.icio.us and I remember looking them over and just marveling at the time at how many technology sites there were, and I had fun then, as now, playing with them. It's a little strange to see my familiar bookmarks displayed this way, but I like being able to choose who sees them and keeping some private, since a few are personal log-ins for other email accounts. Using the cloud feature should be familiar to all of us who play with BCPL's public catalog and instruct customers in its use! Again, great fun here. If you want to check out my bookmarks, here they are: http://del.icio.us/jtsanford

Bear in mind that some of there are old and not visited for a while, but I hope you have some fun with them.

Thing 12, Rollyo

Creating this search engine was fun and fast, and I did mine on home improvement sites. It's called "Homewerks." Here is a search I did on kitchen remodeling using it.

http://www.rollyo.com/search.html?q=kitchen+remodeling&sid=304676

I guess this would be useful if you like to search for very specific things limiting your search to several unique sites that you trust to always have the information. Cool name, Rollyo, sort of friendly.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Thing 11 The Library Thing

I guess you have to be amazed at how many other people own the same books you do. And I thought I was the only person in the universe that owned and loved Randall Jarrell's The Animal Family...



Here are a few of my favorites: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jtsanford

Week 5 Thing 10 Again

Here is the link to a funny name badge that I made with another image generator from Big Huge Labs. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9741559@N06/860778398/

Week 5 Thing 10 Fun Image Generators

I tried out the personalized CD cover from Big Huge Labs--really fun. Not only can you use any photo to be a cover for a CD but you can use the template to make cool personalized wrapping paper for those gift cards everyone likes to get! This was a great (and easy) exercise. Hope others try this one also.

The thing that was really a riot was that the photo actually looked better as a CD cover than as an actual photo...

Monday, July 16, 2007

Week 4 Thing 9

The MERLIN site is welcoming and if you use Firefox, a click away from subscribing. Great colorful photo. This really is addictive, but nobody has time to read all the things we want, right?

Week 4 Number 8 RSS

Finding the time to read posts was the challenging thing here. The Bloglines site (and Firefox) make this easy to do; the hard part was figuring out how to share the feeds I have with other folks. You can find some of the ones I like here: http://www.bloglines.com/public/jtsanford

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Week 3 Number 7

I like technology that allows my computer and my stereo to work together. RCA makes a device called Lyra that consists of a small transmitter and receiver (they look like little pork pies). You connect the transmitter to your computer via a USB port and connect the receiver to your amp or stereo receiver. Then you can play streaming Internet radio through your stereo system.
I found out about this by reading an article in the Sun. If you Google RCA Lyra you can find where they still sell these. They cost about $30 and you don't have to use the Musicmatch software to operate it.

Week 3 Photo Fun

Fun with Flickr. Never realized how all these applications can share things between them. Really liked the trading cards and the wallpaper/calendar toy. Putting things in categories and adding key words really appeals to librarians, right?

Behramkale Sunrise


Behramkale Sunrise, originally uploaded by jugglrjanet.

Turkey offers some fantastic opportunities for shooting great photos of the Mediterranean. It's an ancient history lovers paradise. I almost fell out of my hotel window trying to get this one.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Week 2 Thing 4

Registered my blog and read some. Will there be a way to sort out Maryland 23 things ones from all the others? I can see now that it's going to be very easy to get lost in blog-world.

Week 2 Thing 3

Never knew it would be this easy to set up a blog. Already had a gmail account so it went smoothly. Nice intuitive interface too. Good deal. Or, as we used to say in the Pikesville librarians' office: Hot jambalaya!

Week 1 Thing 2

Big fans of Steven Covey know about habits, and BCPL has conducted workshops in lifelong learning, so I felt right at home reading about this and deciding on something to learn about.

Week 1 Thing 1

So far signing up for Maryland 23 Things and reading about what the program entails has been a lot more uncomplicated than I had predicted. Just enough detail, and lots of room for individual creativity.

Easy and Hard Habits of Lifelong Learners

The hardest habit for me of the 71/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners would have to be habit 5: assembling a learning toolbox. Because there are so many choices and material formats out there it will be difficult to know what to put in there. I learn best by reading print on paper and following a tutorial, so I guess this is how I would start.

The easiest one would be habit 1: begin with the end in mind. Usually when I start something, especially some project around the house, I always know where it will go before I start to plan. Now sometimes it doesn't always work out that way, but I usually have some idea.

Never Afraid to Learn Something New

What would you do if you weren't afraid? You'd sure learn more things. Immobility and fear that you won't understand are things that hold people back. When you learn one small thing, it empowers you to go on and learn another thing. Like juggling. You can't be afraid to drop stuff.