Distance is a memory.

The following is a video of my little brother playing a video game in Tokyo Japan. His wife is videoing it and put it on youtube. Ahh, the days of distance and anonymity is over.

finale, finally

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Animoto! I love it...No need to say more. I even wound up buying a longer video.
Zoho!! I love being able to save and access my materials whether or not I have a disk or drive and I have already suggested Zoho to patrons.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Well, I am amazed at how easy some of the stuff was to use. Like downloadable media. I always thought it was somehow harder than that.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Lots of bling!!!!

What ideas do you have for using these technologies at Harris County Public Library?
Teen Review podcasts, Poetry slams via podcasts. Storytime/program YouTubes.

What else do you want to learn about? What other web 2.0 applications are you interested in?
Whatever I don't know about yet and whatever comes down the pike. I like "playing" with all this new stuff and not be afraid to mess it all up...

Kind of sad that this is over. Looking forward to the I-Star bling... but so sad it's all over.

Downloadable Media

I like the idea, but, for me, I just can't do it. I have to have the book in my hand. I love hearing readers read, but sometimes they just don't match the picture painted in my head.

Now, as for the differences between the library catalog and the free online readers, like Audiovox, is the type of materials available. Audiovox has a large selection of public domain books, while the library has more current and bestselling books.

Still, I would love to volunteer to read for Audiovox (I have always wanted to be a reader for audiobooks.).

I might want to check out Anyone But You by Jennifer Cruise one day...hmmmm.

Podcast

No, it's not when your four year old flings his legume housing across the room like a trout fisherman flicking his line across the river. Podcasts are articles read aloud and sent over the 'Net, like old time radio shows. Like videos on YouTube, Podcasts can be about anything anyone feels like talking about.

Librarians should make use of this with booktalks and programming that can be shared around the world.

hmmmm. That makes me wonder

YouTube

Lately, it seems that every one feels compelled to have their fifteen minutes of fame and it is certainly possible to have it on YouTube. Everything from how to tie a tie to videos about a mean little kitty can be shared with the world (or at least anyone interested in a certain subject.

I like the idea, especially for programming and sharing booktalks. The potential for libraries to make usse of this technology is certainly feasible. I still think that one has to be supremely cautious about what information is made available, eithr on purpose or inadvertantly.

One of the funniest things I have seen on YouTube is "Ask a Ninja" so I am going to share him with you...



This is Ask a Ninja's response to the Hollywood Writer's Strike.

Animoto!!!

OMG, I am a video producer!!!!! Hot Diggity! This was so much fun. I was sharing it with people I know and I can't wait to tell my cousin about it (He is in an indie band and what an awseome, easy way to make a music video.). I had some trouble uploading music, but I think I have that part licked (once I asked someone how to do it) and tried remixing the original.

Again, this is so cool. You've got to try it. http://www.animoto.com/ . Do it. It rocks (and so will you). Have mp3 music to upload unless you like hiphop, electronica or indie. (Those are the only options available on the site.)

Zoho and online apps.

Zoho is kind of cool.  The only thing that I don't like is that the fonts are few and I really like writing with funny fonts.   I am sure that I will play with it and learn it like I did Word.  I really like that I can save and access my files from any computer with i-xs. 

 

 

I like that I can add pix to the document.  In fact, here is one of my dogs, Audrey.  She is a tough little dog and she is interested by the camera that I was holding. (Just to mention, the white spot where her eye is, is in actuality a cataract. The other eye is forming one now.

 

Facebook!

I already had a myspace page so I decided to add my name to the facebook rolls.  After I had set up my account, I went looking for people I knew.  I looked under my colleges (several) and no one I knew came up.  Then I tried my high school class and wow! people! I foudn three people I remembered from high school, two of whom were pretty good friends.  I am so excited that I found them!  One's in Dallas and the other in Illinois. Go figure!

I like it all right. I started an aquarium, but who's going to send me fish? I have a graveyard, but what's it for?

I like myspace,sometimes, despite its negative reputation as hook-up place and hunting ground for pedophiles. I like it because I have been able to find lots of authors of my favorite books and they have added me to their own pages, so I kind of get a heads up when they have new books. This is sooo cool. Also because some of them put details of their lives and interests on their page and it is neat to see that Lori Foster is into UFC and that Val Kilmer is a songwriter and singer. It's just neat.

Technology

I really didn't know what to write about. Dave suggested that I write about how technology has changed the way we study, the way we learn.

I have to admit, with some blushing, that this post may age me. I remember when my little brother got all excited about the computers. He talked my dad into letting him "build" his own computer. My dad, of course, let him do it. (Not to sound bitter but I asked for a computer when I started high school and wound up with a Tandy where you had to "write" your own programming.)

Matt knew about the Internet long before I did and was able to use better than I for learning. I was already in college. I was still learning about e-mail while I was at Sam.

Now I have a hard time thinking of what my life would have been like without being able to jump on the library website and see if my favorite author had any new books out. As a librarian, I am ashamed to admit that although I spent a lot of time reading, very little of it was in a public library. I visited my school library (high school and college) but not the one in town. Part of that was caused by the fact that the library was across town and I didn't drive. So almost from the first, I have made use of the internet. I didn't drive for most of my college career and the internet connected me to libraries, colleges and other people during that time and I never had to leave the house.

This is why I am so excited about ihcpl. I am learning about new technology, new applications that allow me to connect to people who were like me, a prisoner without a way to reach the world. Downloadable books, social networking, podcasts, all these things are changing the way we gather information and the way we respond to change. What a difference a little brother makes. (By the way, now my brother works on computers in the military.)

Wiki's Wow...

Wow, I can't believe it was so easy to edit a wiki. It's a little sacry I admit, because I think of all the scary additions or changes someone with bad intentions could do to a page of say treatments for a major medical disease.

But I think, in as far as libraries go, that wikis can be very useful tools when it comes to keeping track of series orders or for encouraging people to read, review and add their reviews on a wiki page. This would be a good opportunity also to teach the importance of double-checking facts and the responsibility that comes with sharing information on the internet.

Library 2.0

To me, Library 2.0 is a catchy phrase that really doesn't relate.

When I was in college, I read and I changed. I began to believe in change. I believe that change is life. To grow is to change. I still hate change, particularly when I don't have a say in what will change and how, but that is common for most people, I think.

Library 2.0 for me is about changing. Changing how we as librarians view our jobs, how we views the collection and how we view customers. It is all about making it easier for the patron to get to their information quicker and easier.

But I think that saying "Library 2.0" is silly. We always have been moving this way, resisting it as we all do, but eventually evolving into something better. We have to move, to change, to grow or we will slide the opposite way into obsolesence.

(But do we really need to give it a label? Aren't there enough already?)

Technorati

I looked up Library 2.0 several different ways and wondered why.

I liked the favorite thing but it didn't really make sense to me.

I found something very surprising when I looked at different things: I found a link to a page about how a Japanese fashion designer is creating a faux vending vending machine costume for people to wear when they are out on the streets in a hinky neighborhood. It was a very entertaining article.

Del.icio.us

Ok, I might get it. It's taken me more than a little though to find the comments about bookmarks. I couldn't really see the tutorial because it was so blurry.

I like the idea of being able to find my favorite links but it is going to take me a while to get all my sites there.

I think it has the potential to be an awesome tool. I can't wait to really play with it.

I admit that I have always associated del.icio.us with nerds and computer geeks(sorry,ya'll). But it is more than that so I'll have to revise my opinion.

Library Elf

Okay, I signed up for library elf without even thinking about it. Now I am kind of worried. Buyer's remorse? I like the idea but I am not so sure about giving someone this kind of access into what I am reading and who can see any thing I have, owe, or what...

I should have thought this out a little better....Hmmmmm.

On another note, I have to admit that the technical difficulties that Library elf seems to be having is turning me off a bit. I wanted to see which libraries participated in the service, but the list wouldn't come up no matter how many times I tried it and then the main page wouldn't come up either. It brings to my mind the problems that companies can have with security. Now I'm even more worried about my information....

Library Thing

I like the idea of having my books catalogued and I wish I knew about this while I was in library school. I had my library catalogued in excel. Time consuming. I just wish I didn't have to keep typing in the author's name every time I want to one of her books. I read alot of the books by one author or another. But I have to admit that I am still learning how to add books and there is probably a way to do this that I haven't figured out yet. Can't wait to get home and hunt up my books and put them in my collection. If you want to see the ones I have added, my user name is bloggergirl.

Image Jennyators... I mean Generators...

I like playing with image generators. Anything that doesn't put MY picture up there is awesome in my book.

I particularly like creating avatars, I have a ton. It's a bit like virtual paper dolls, except that they move on their own. I have one on Second Life, though I have no money and never will so she is down on her luck. I have a wee me (www.weeworld.com); a yahoo avatar (see yahoo.com) and one from www.meez.com. Oh, and one from from millsberry.com (though this is a kids site. I had a lot of questions from younger kids who wanted help with this site, so I created my own to figure it out.)

Spoon RSS Feed me...

I like being able to pull up all kinds of things to "feed" on using Feedster and the like, but I think there is still something to say for moving through the web and finding your own sources. I wonder how it comes up with what it does and why it skips over other things.

I guess I am interested in so many things that I have a hard time finding exactly what appeals to me. Anyway, I am very happy that I can go to Bloglines to read the stuff and that it doesn't all go to my e-mail. (I wasn't sure how that worked and a little apprehensive about it because I forget to check my e-mail more often than not.)

Anyway, got to go read some of the feeds now....

RSS Fed

Okay, I have signed up for Bloglines. I picked out a couple of things that I am interested in and I hope they don't swamp my email. Oh, well, I guess I'll just try to keep up.

pine tree behind North Channel

pine tree
Originally uploaded by zanne202twu

Okay, Flickr Fiends! Here is my Post with the picture embedded.

Thanks, iStar!

More Flickr Fun!

I still don't have a digital camera of my own (and still can't get the pictures out of my cell phone), so I borrowed the library camera and took a picture out the back door of one of the many pine tree that lie in wait for unsuspecting crows back there. Nothing serious, just something I could shoot and then learn to upload.

Here is the result.

I have to admit that I took it first to http://www.picnik.com/ to tweak it and cut off the houses at the bottom.

I saved this one to flickr. Here's the url: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14115064@N05/1439650082/

The colors pop a little more and the leaves seem green because I upped the contrast and color saturation. Pretty neat, huh?

Privacy

Have you ever been in a love/hate relationship?

I am, with the Internet.

I love being able to jump from place to place, from interest to interest, from continent to, well, anyplace I want to go, like libraries in New Zealand or Pluto, now just a lonely blip on the edge of the solar system. But I am also absolutely petrified of what I am going to find out there in the invisible world of ether. More to the point, I have nightmares about what is going to find me.

From hackers to predators, from identity thieves to serial killers, they are there possibly on the net waiting for a little fish to swim by. I know it seems so paranoid, but I can't seem to help it. I resisted online banking and blogging. I am still kind of cautious about doing electronic business and I try to keep my personal information fairly secret. I blog more than I ever thought that I would because I had to in my library classes, but I still have a hard time deciding what things I want to talk about because so much of the net seems so inane anyway.

I love the net too, don't get me wrong, the idea that my heroes are out there surfing the net just waiting for a fan to cruise by is awesome. The ability to network with colleagues from around the world is just too good an opportunity to pass up. But as with all things, caution must be employed. Being safe must be of greatest concern.

Having waxed paranoid, I must say that I am still excited about the opportunities that are offered on the Internet. The ability to learn about new places, new subjects, and new people is exhilarating; the ability to put my own opinions out to be discussed and debated is thrilling, and the chance to make a difference in some one's life when I didn't know I could is priceless beyond measure. So, I am going to continue to move cautiously about in the ocean of information. I am going to learn how to navigate the depths as safely as is possible and I am going to learn new technologies so I can teach others how to do the same.

My iHCPL Contract for Learning

• I will develop a routine by setting aside time to work. I will try to find at least one hour where I can dedicate myself to the iHCPL program at the same time each week.

• I will work on one lesson at a time. This will prevent my missing important information or forgetting to complete an assignment.

• I will not rush myself. I will learn the information and then move on to the next exercise.

• I will find a quiet place to study. This will help me concentrate and forget about everything else in my life for awhile.

• I will work with my supervisor to determine the best times for me to complete the iHCPL exercises.

• If I need to finish something that is work related, I will finish that first. I will not rush my learning experience. If I miss a day of study time, I will continue on my schedule and finish when I am ready.

• Balancing my job and iHCPL may take time. I will have to see which time of day I am able to study without distraction. My job needs will have to come first, but since I will be working at my own pace, I should not feel discouraged if I miss a day or two of exercises.

• I will consult a coworker if I am having difficulties. We can share and learn from each other.

• I will have fun!

Kelly Hall 9-10-07

P.S. I am so excited that this has finallystarted!!! I'm on my way to earning bling!!!

FLICKR!!!

I love playing with flickr mashups. I google Flickr mashups because honestly, I did not have a clue what a mashup was (and still at this moment, only understand that it is when you put two things together that normally wouldn't be) and got a hit back about "Ten Best Flickr Mashups." From here, I found Retrievr, Fastr, Colr Pickr and FlickrFling. I love 'em!!

Retrievr is so cool! You draw a picture, yes, draw and Retrievr fetches pictures that resemble what you drew. It's too much fun! Colr Pickr brings pictures to you that present an overall color that you pick, ranges and shades, light to dark. It is an awesome tool if you are creating an image made of images. FlickrFling takes headlines and finds pictures from Flickr with a tag that matches the stories. Word by word, images appear over the text of the story.

But my favorite is Fastr! It's an awesome guessing game where eight to ten pictures appear and you have to guess which tag is common to all of them. The quicker you guess the right answer, the more points you get. It is totally awesome, though I wish it would move on to a new challenge when you guess right.

Starting iHCPL's 23 Things

I am starting this program early mostly because it is fun and informative. I have already tried things that I wouldn't have even thought of trying before.

While I already have two blogs, I had never thought of trying Flickr, Twitter, or image generators before I heard about the 23 things. I have to admit that I am a very hands-on kind of learner when it comes to technology. I have tried to read about it, but I generally fall asleep an embarrassing short way into the books, but give me a computer and a little help when I get stuck and I am on my way.

I firmly believe that I will be learning new things even when I am very old.

I know grown-ups who refuse to even attempt to try using the computer, whether because they are afraid they will never master it or because they are embarrassed that there is something that they don't know how to do and have to ask about. I know people who insist on someone else doing simple things that they could do for themselves, if only they would take the time to ask about and then try. I even have to admit that I am related to a few.

I think it is amazing the things that computer geniuses come up with and I thank goodness that they understand how to create them and then, perhaps harder to do, explain to me how to use their creations.

I find that sitting through a lecture is getting harder and harder for me to learn by the older I get. I get distracted, doodle and just generally stop paying attention to what I am supposed to be learning. But just doing something is just as hard. I still need the guidance as I attempt to complete a task, though how much depends on what the task is.

Keeping myself organized while I learn is definitely the hardest thing I saw on the slide show. I am terrible at it and struggle with organization in everything. I think it has a lot to do with my wide interests. I want to learn a little about everything, not everything about little things. (Barbara Sher calls it being a "scanner"I have a tendency to bounce from subject to subject. Like the ukelele, learning German, and sometimes even playing tennis, which is a short list of the things I have started to learn about.

But, hey, I am learning how to organize better, which is good. Find a weakness and learn how to improve until it isn't a weakness anymore.