Reflections......

Truthfully, this has been lots of fun. There were times when the "lessons" took longer than expected. But, on the whole, it was great. The explanations each week were basically sufficient, so on-site help wasn't needed too often (except in the beginning). Also, quite often, problematic explanations were covered in comments sent in by other staff members.

It will definitely be interesting to see how all of this translates to on-the-job helpfulness. I think, though, that even just recoginition of online terms and options and choices will help.

I do enjoy blogging. Between all of the participants, there must be thousands upon thousands of words out there now. (Most of them unread by anyone else!) Getting to know and feel at home with the process is a good tool to have.

What did I enjoy the most? Playing around with the Online Generators is fun. As is YouTube. YouTube, of course, is not new to me; but the Online Generators are. I also enjoy Overdrive (but again, not new to me) and LibraryThing. Wikis, Flickr and Mashups are fun to explore.

It would be great to have update sessions as technology advances. They could be in the same format -- a combination of narrative, podcasts and links to the pertinent applications.

I would most definitely participate in this program again; and recommend it to any and all.

As for suggestions for the future.... Well, that's not easy for me since I am not on the cutting edge of all of this. I truly have no idea what else to recommend. Whatever seems appropriate, interesting, do-able in a library setting I guess. Much of what we've wandered through probably only has minimal linkage to a library -- but with the internet such a big part of our service offering, it's important to be aware and at least conversant. A "what's new" column in the Memo from time to time could be useful.

So, The End.

Overdrive

I am very familiar with Overdrive. I've been spending time at home going through the KCLS catalog of Overdrive titles. It's amazingly easy to "check out" the titles and then transfer them to your mp3 device. I started doing this a few months ago in anticipation of a long trip that I'll be taking in the autumn. I've already downloaded about 20 titles and I'm not even 1/2 way through the long list of Overdrive titles.
Overdrive is a service that will probably become more and more popular in years to come as more people use mp3 players for more than music. Especially as people buy new cars and have the ability to use a mp3 player with their car sound system.

Peas in a Podcast (or somesuch)

Wandered around the 3 podcast directories, listening to library-related items at Podcast.net and Podcastalley.com. The Sunnyvale Public Library Mother Goose storytime intrigued me. But, I could barely hear it, even with the volume way up. Same with their "A Prune is a Prune" (great title). I then went over to the Kankakee Public Library podcast with Barbara D'Amato. No problem hearing that.

Using the search term "library 2.0" at Podcastalley resulted in many of the same connections; even though I'd used only "library" at Podcast.net. Podcastalley, however, seemed to require downloading of more software. So I didn't pursue that.

The RSS fee that I added to my Bloglines came from a search at Yahoo Podcasts. Used the search term "Jon Stewart" and connected with something from Podzinger. None of the library-related podcasts appealed to me; but I'll look further next week and update this entry then.

YouTube

Yes, I do like YouTube. I've been looking at videos there for quite a while now; so this isn't a new arena for me (unlike some of the other areas we've explored). I really like the idea of online storytimes, beyond the Dewey and Sketch series. If kids could see their local children's librarian presenting storytimes; well, I think they would get a kick out of that.

I just used the exploratory term "silly peacocks" to see what would come up. I found a very short animated film that was cute. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK_i7gfZShM I'll also see if I can embed it. That's it for the moment !

So, I embedded it. Because of the size, it is cut in half. However, if you double-click on it, a separate window opens with the full picture.

Chapter 22

Blogniscient is kinda cool. (It was #2 on the Award Winner list). It tells which blogs in the computer universe are being looked at most, at any given time. Where is everyone congregating? What are they looking at? This site answers that question. http://blogniscient.com/

It even rates the political articles "left" (with a blue icon) and "right" (with a red icon). So if your political slant determines what you want to read, it's mapped out for you here.

There are several categories, like sports, entertainment, sci/tech, etc. Each of these blog links also have an icon that helps categorize things.

A drawback, though, is that it doesn't seem to be updated in real time. I went back a few days after my original viewing and it looked like the same blogs were listed, with dates from March (?). Something to keep in mind.

How does this translate into helping patrons? Again, kinda nebulous. Maybe if someone had a hot topic, this site could be used to connect with pertinent (if any) blogs.

Online Software

I did this a bit out of order. Assignment 21 was done and posted before #20. But so it goes. It's all here.

Quite liked both Google Docs and Zoho. And, it is great to know about them. Brand new info for me. Something to definitely share with patrons.

A 'Googlin We Shall Go

Labs... Makes me think of mad scientists with wild, wacky hair working into the dead of night. Trying to to come up with that "eureka" moment.
But, I guess if you are in "perpetual beta" that moment may never come.

I sauntered around Google Mars, just 'cause I wanted to visit outer space for a bit. It was mostly very colorful maps and links to NASA articles. Fun.

Google Trends just puzzled me a bit. I decided to compare "lollipops" and "mp3 players". Charts popped up, and links to articles about these subjects. "Candymakers, hemp advocates debate over marijuana-flavored lollipops" and "Narcotic lollipops new drug hitting Philadelphia streets". Hmm; I notice a trend there, even though the articles are years old. The mp3 stuff was more mundane. The problem that I had with the charts was that there was no context. What do they mean; there was no scale given at all. Not really useful.