Week 7 # 17 Technology

I appreciate technology for what it does for us, particularly since I remember the days before online databases and when we had card catalogs to work with. I think of technology as a tool and something I have to learn to use to accomplish something. It is a means to an end, but not the end in itself. I really don't enjoy technology or think of it as a toy but I could not do my job today without it. Learning about all the different "things" about technology has been enlightening but I don't know how many of them I will actually use or participate in when our class is over. At least now I know what people are talking about, and that is a good thing.

Week 7 #16 Wiki

Book Lovers Wiki was fun to look at and reading the reviews gave me ideas for books I'd like to read.

I really like the SJCPL Subject Guides web page with the links to subject specific links. It was easy to us. "New Boookson Our Shelves" feature is a great way to let library users know what new items are available. The talk page is a good way to share ideas on books.

Wikis will be a great way for libraries to communicate with many library users. It is definitely something we should be developing.

Week 6 # 15 Library 2.0

I like the concepts of Library 2.0 and agree that they are really an extension of what many libraries have done for years. Web access will make it much easier to identify user needs and provide an easy direct access to user thinking. It will be easier for libraries to quantify needs and act on them. I like the idea of users being able to share their ideas on books they've read with each other online. Many will participate in an online environment book club type situation when they wouldn't in a face to face environment. We should get in front of it instead of behind it. It seems to me HCPL is doing a pretty good job of doing that.

Week 6 #15

I read all of the discussions and found them interesting. It makes me think of the early days of media -- the Media is the Message -- it took 40 years to get there and most libraries are not there yet. Certain segments of society will be on the forefront, especially the affluent but I don't see rural Texas libraries being in a position financially to participate fully. In response to the Iceberg -- my generation will need to die off before books disappear from the scene. It is great to get all kinds of information online, I love it but when it comes to reading a novel, I want a hard copy. The other acceptable option is to listen to a novel. I know that many library useres have no interest in using electronic books, even younger users, and some really like the idea. So I think for many years to come libraries will have to continue to cater to the needs and wants of a wide range of information access preferences.

Cooperation -- I really like the idea of the Open Worldcat. That will be great!

Week 6 #14

Searching Technorati by keyword brought up a number of entries but there seemed to be no blog tags for "learning 2.0" when I searched in the blog option for it.

Looking at Popular it was interesting that you can see what the blog is about by looking at the tags listed. I looked at one that made me realize the F word is not censored out of blog postings. I hadn't thought about the censorship issue in relation to blogs. I was surprised to see that Arianna Huffington has a blog and that one of the most popular blogs, Problogger, is about how to make money blogging. I hadn't really thought about blogging as a money making situation but of course it can be.

Tagging (week 6 #13)

I really liked delicious and have tagged about 10 sites I found on the HCPL delicious. The tagging is great and I do see a real use for this as a reference tool. I put Fedstats in just because it will be a handy way to get to it. This is a neat tool I'm sure I will use for reference and personally to provide easy access to websites I'm interested in.

Ribbon Generator

Week 5: LibraryThing and Library Elf exercises completed.

I thought I'd done a post on Ribbon Generator and found it in my draft. For some reason it has disappeared. I need to find the ribbon generator again or ceate another one. So I am not yet finished working on that part of week 5. I've tried and tried to add an Avatar -- so I'll try to post one from Weeme again. So I am not finised yet with this week (5). I did set up 5 books in Library Thing and have set up and am receiving the library elf message about overdues.

Avatar from Weeme

Both Week 3 and 4 Completed

For the completion of week 3, please see post on PicNic. That was the last exercise I needed to do before it was completed.

RSS Feeds are an interesting thought and I may actually use them in retirement but right now I don't really see how I will have time to even look at them. I went to Topix to add a feed on breast cancer. That is the only one I'll probably make a point to look at. I liked the Topix site the best because it was actually news instead of what appeared to be posts from drug companies. So, I do think having this feed on my blogline will be something I will use on a regular basis. I may also look at the NYTimes book reviews as well. I am behind because of being on vacation for a week and I was behind before I left. Racing to catch up but exercises are so time consuming for me since I am more technology challenged than some.

Picture Edited by picnic

I edited a picture in picnic but now I'm not sure how to save it to the blog. I wanted to put it in the blog. It is saved in picnic under the name aimeann if anyone wants to take a look at it and I marked it public. The title is pencil sketch of blue hills. Let me know if there is something else I need to do to complete this assignment. It was fun but took about two hours after trying all three picture edited approaches. I had little luck with the other two.