Thing 30 - The end

Well...a fitting end to the program. I just wrote a looong final blog for this 'thing' and it disappeared. Oh well.
Let me see if I can remember what I wrote.
I learned a lot of fun, new stuff and expanded on some things I was already familiar with.
Early on I didn't think I'd be able to finish as I fell behind quickly due to mounds of work and lack of staff. But I hated the idea of everybody else learning stuff that I wasn't. So I vowed to finish.
Being behind actually had its advantages, as most of the kinks were worked out by the time I got around to each 'thing.'
ComIT was a real thorn in this process, but even they seemed to make some adjustments for us.
As far as improvements, I would change the expectation to one or two 'things' per week since most took much longer than 30 minutes.
I would definitely participate in another program like this again.
(not as well-written as the original, but I think I covered all the same points I had the first time I wrote this.)

Thing 29 - What have I learned?

I have learned a lot from the 30 things. Well, maybe not from all of them, but from many. I think my favorites were the image generators and mashups and Library Thing. Anything to do with working with pictures was much enjoyed as well.
I know I'll be playing around with a lot of these 'things' again...while some, like Rollyo, will be left behind forever.
I enjoyed looking at other's blogs and their takes on the whole blog process as well as the individual 'things.' Sometimes I felt like I wasn't including enough in my blogs, but it appears as though I was kinda in the middle...not too long, not too short...just right.

Thing 28 - Rollyo

Okay...I just couldn't bring myself to create another account for something I knew I would never use.
I understand the concept, but I think there are more disadvantages to this site than there would be advantages. It would limit search results greatly and you would potentially miss out on a lot of helpful stuff.

Thing 27 - Library Thing

Well...that's just cool.
I'm excited about this website, as I am about many I've learned about here.
I need one of these for my DVDs and my CDs too.

Thing 26 - Image generators

These were a hoot! I really liked the R2D2 translator and the Chinese Name generator There were a lot of fun picture ones too. I'll be playing with these more soon. (along with all of the other cool stuff I plan to play with when I have more time...which will probably be never.)

Thing 25 - Podcast summary

I'm actually writing about thing 25 before thing 24 because I had a hard time getting most of those podcasts to open, among other reasons. I'll work on that one from a non-work computer.
I really liked the Denver Public Library podcast site. I loved the storybooks, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes. I would like to see us do more of that at VBPL.
There was another site, I don't remember which now, that had booktalk podcasts. I think that's a fabulous idea as well...although I couldn't get any of those to play correctly here at work. I think that's something our teens would really enjoy doing.

Thing 24 - podcasts

Okay. I got really frustrated trying to work with this one at work, so I saved this entry in my blog to work on at home.
I found the podcast search sites easy to use, but had a hard time thinking of something I wanted to look for. Finally I just did a search on "pandas" and found a podcast about the Asia Trail and Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat at the National Zoo...which is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world!

Thing 23 - YouTube

Here's what I love about YouTube. You never have to miss anything...ever! Miss the democratic debate on TV? No problem! It'll be on YouTube. Did ya hear about that poor little girl in the Miss Teen USA Pageant who gave the most ridiculous answer to a pageant question ever? Don't just hear about it...watch it yourself on YouTube! Dancing cockatoo? YouTube! Crazy Britney fan? Youtube! It's all there!
Here's a recent favorite:



But it's not all fun and games. There are a lot of valid Library uses for Youtube. I've seen enticing adverts for libraries there. I watched an author talk with Diana Gabaldon on youtube before we had her here so I could get an idea of what we could expect. Some of our contracted storytellers can be found on Youtube. We could put storytimes on there. The opportunties are endless.

Thing 22 - Flickr Fun

Wheee! I love this stuff. Here's one that I created a while ago:

And then here's one that I just did:

It's so fun to play!

Thing 21 - More Flickr

"I'm the cutest!"
Originally uploaded by scrunchpix

I actually discovered Flickr because of tagging. Being a part of Yahoo, if you do an image search on yahoo, your results will include a lot of Flickr images. So in my random searches for pictures of my little buddy Tai Shan, I would often come across Flickr photos that had been tagged with "Tai Shan" or "panda", etc.
After a while I began exploring the site further and discovered there was a whole group (several actually) devoted to pandas. One in particular had lots and lots of info, daily updates, daily pictures and scaps from panda cams, videos...and I became hooked!
Then I started sharing my own photos. That's where I learned about tagging and how it helps others find your pictures. You can find just about anything on there. Type in any random word or theme and you're bound to come up with a match.

It's really such a nice place to share and comment on other's photos too. There are groups on there for just about anything. It's quite a community. I love it.

Thing 20 - Flickr

"Hi there"
Originally uploaded by scrunchpix

okey-dokey.

Well, I think I've mentioned before that I'm an avid Flickr user. But I had never blogged a flickr picture, so I've learned something new. yay!

I really love Flickr for several reasons. I love taking pictures, I love having a place to share those pictures, and I love getting comments about my pictures. It's a real ego boost. :)

Here's a picture that I took of my little friend Tai Shan at the National Zoo.

Thing 19

Ooooh. I think this is my favorite 'thing.' I love the page with all of the different websites to explore....and since they're award winning...they have to be good, right? Of course, ComIT blocks a large amount of them, but that's okay....I'll be exploring more at home.
I'm a big fan of Flickr, so I decided to check out Picasa. And while Picasa has a few features that I haven't seen on Flickr, (editing, the ability to pull up ALL of the pictures on your computer) I much prefer Flickr. Picasa doesn't seen to have the "community" feel to it that Flickr does. I didn't sign up for an account, so maybe there are things to it that I couldn't access. But one thing I COULD access that I thought was just terrible was where you can simply click on a picture and then click a 'print' button, which will automatically take you to a print service. Mind you, I don't even have an account with them and they were letting me do this with some random person's picture. Of course, people can 'steal' things from Flickr too, but they don't make it quite so obviously easy.
I can see the library using a photo storage software like these to sort and store our growing photo collection. That would free up some storage space.
I also briefly checked out Pandora. That was really cool! I really don't see any library use for it though.
Can't wait to check out more from that list!

Thing 18

I'm finding it very interesting how with each new thing, I start out with an attitude of 'why would anyone care about this?' . . . but after investigating, I end up creating my own account and looking forward to further exploration. (I just hope I remember all these new usernames and passwords)
Reading about technorati also solved a mystery for me. I have another blogger account which I used to keep family updated on my father's recovery from his stroke. Once in a while I would get a comment from someone that I didn't know asking about something very specific that I had posted about....'what kind of hearing aids does your father use?' and stuff like that. Initially I thought they had just happened upon my blog and later assumed that they had searched blogger for those specific subjects. But now I see that they could have searched a place like technorati.
Anyhow, it's kinda cool. I suppose if I had something important to say that I wanted many to read, I might tag my stuff and claim my blog. But I don't...not yet.
I've never been a big fan of editorials, which is what I equate most blogs to, so I don't know that I'd subscribe to many blogs, but I did see some things that interested me personally...and like del.icio.us, it's a way to find out what others with similar interests have discovered that you might like.
The page looked a lot different than it did in that youtube video.

Thing 17 -

Okay. So I completely understood tagging and folksonomy. . . I've utilized tagging quite a bit already on Flickr. . . but I was a little unsure about the benefits of social bookmarking. Why in the world would I want to share my bookmarks with others?
After exploring it, however, I love it!
For one thing, we share desks here at work and never know which workstation we'll be on at any given time, so I had pretty much abandoned bookmarking. But with del.icio.us, not only can I access my bookmarks from any computer at work, but from home as well.
But that's not all! I can check out the other folks who bookmarked something I'm interested in and then check out their bookmarks and possibly find new sites that will interest me. This, of course, would benefit not only personal interests, but research for work as well.
I'm looking forward to playing around a little more with this one.

Thing 16

Well, I already have a MySpace account. Have had for a couple of years. I go through phases when I use it often and then sometimes I don't visit for a week or so. I love it though. I think it's a wonderful place to express yourself, have fun, and be creative. And it is my favorite way to keep in touch with people...much more fun that email or IM.
It's fun to discover all of the code generators, fun 'toys' and premade layouts that are out there. I also enjoy making my own layouts.
I also have a Facebook account...but I never use it. There's just too much stuff on there and, from what I've seen, no real way to personalize your page except to add a lot of quizzes and junk.
I do like the groups though. I might give it another try.

Thing 15

I am all for libraries creating profiles on social networking sites. The best way to reach kids, especially teens, is to go to where they are. Of course, we'll have to make our profile page fun and inviting and a 'cool' place to visit.

Thing 14

I posted to the VBPL Reader's Advisory Wiki. It took me a minute to figure out how to post there. I think I was expecting a pop-up editing box or something, not to just go in and edit the page like you would any document. Once I figured it out, however, it was easy.
I really enjoyed the wiki. I think it's a great way to share.

Thing 13 - Wikis

What I find most unfortunate is the fact that there are people out there who garner such joy from vandalizing websites. I used to visit a site, drawball.com, where you could go in and draw a picture on this huge circle canvas. But people would go in all the time with the sole purpose of finding pictures in progress and drawing black lines all over them. It was just so ridiculous that I stopped going there.
Were it not for the existance of people like that, I think wikis would be wonderful.
That said, in exploring some of the sample wikis, I especially liked the Book Lovers wiki. Since book reviewing is subjective, it's certainly appropriate for a "free-for-all" webiste where anyone can contribute. I also liked the ones where only certain people (librarians) were allowed to contribute or those that required email verification.
As a long-time library worker, it's so difficult for me to refer to a source that isn't 'official' or verified. But at the same time, even sources that are 'verified' can be wrong. ( the newspaper said we were closed today for president's day) I just need to retrain my way of thinking, I guess.

Thing 12 - IM

I'm at Kempsville and we are not currently participating in the VBPL Im service, so I have no experience with it. I IM'd whoever assigned IM this evening and asked some questions...how it was going, how many questions they get, etc.
It sounds like this is a service that doesn't get used very much yet.
I would imagine that once more and more people become aware of it - it may become more heavily used. A completely anonymous way to ask a question might appeal to some moreso than making a phone call or asking in person.

Thing 11 - IM

Oy. Instant messaging. I have mixed feelings on this topic.
On the one hand, if you just have a quick little something to say or ask, I think IM is a great way to communicate.
But if a lengthy conversation is required, I still find the phone to be a better option. It's faster and I think there is less chance of miscommunication.
There's a lot to be said for tone and inflection, and those may be misinterpreted on IM.
That said, I think that there are people out there who are more comfortable 'speaking' via text rather than telephone, so I can see where IM could be a good alternative for library customers.
I also see it as a better service for customers than email. I've helped customers via email, and often by the time the email finally trickles down to me and I reply, they've already resolved the issue.
Or, as in the case with the most recent email inquiry I received, my reply was very long because I was having to cover all possible bases, whereas if I had been on IM, I could have asked the customer directly which of the options they would be most interested in and then only respond with that one.
My library is not participating in the IM service at this time, so I have not had any experience with this on a professional basis, but I am interested to see how well it works.

Thing 10

Okay...that didn't take long. I'm kinda liking the RSS feeds now that I discovered how to make it a little more personal. I wasn't really into the news feed search tools listed because, again, it seemed overwhelming.
But when I went to my Google reader and explored and found how to subject search, I started to feel better about the whole thing.
I can definitely see myself using this.

RSS feeds

Interesting. Not sure that I'm sold on it yet. I can see it becoming very overwhelming.
It's kind of like subscribing to the newspaper. When you have it delivered, you feel obliged to read it...eventually...so you save it in a stack for later, and before you know it you have a new "chair" in your home. But if you only buy the paper when you are in the mood to read it, you'll read it then and there and dispose of it afterwards.
I also feel like it's a bit limiting. You're committed to these particular news feeds, so you may not go out and look for new sources of information.