Well, I'm continuing to use the 23 Things. I uploaded some vacation pictures to Flickr with no problem - except for the fact that I have dial-up and it takes forever. If you look on Flickr under mogf you can see Italy.

Well, I think I've covered all 23 Things and I know I learned a lot. I'm just not sure how useful most of it will be to me but it's nice to be aware of all the possibilities out there. If I spent more time in front of the computer, I might explore a few of these items, but most of the things were odd and not of interest to me. It would be more inviting if you didn't have to keep creating new logins and passwords for each new thing you want to try.

I have downloaded ebooks from the MDconsortium so this information wasn't new. Project Gutenberg was interesting. I was surprised by the variety of titles on the list of Top 100 downloaded yesterday - and glad to see Pride and Prejudice came in at number 12. This might be a good place to play around if we ever had time to just play around.

I used podcast.net and podcastally.com to search of podcasts. I found shows from NPR, my favorite radio station, and lots of stuff from Italy (I tried to understand some of it but couldn't get the volume to be loud enough). I don't have an ipod but if I did, this would be useful.

I experimented with Rollyo and their samples of searches and was not impressed. It was not quick and did not give better results than searching my usual way.

Yea! Finally a "thing" that I know and am familiar with. Youtube can use up a lot of time and could even be considered dangerous. It's very addicting (and I don't even like playing on the computer much). I have used it to find line dances and I think the talking dogs were hysterical.

I have explored LibraryThing and found it very interesting. It might be a source of possible titles for future book discussions. It was fairly user-friendly and making a list of titles wasn't too difficult.

The online productivity tools do not seem worth using in my job at this time, but it's nice that they are out there for people who may not have excel or word.

Doing the wiki unit was actually fun. I added my blog to the list of blogs. I put a list of favorite books on Sandbox, and I see that someone has added to it. I took a bit of effort to figure out how to do it. I was already familiar with wikis and Wikipedia. I have used it often.

I played around with tagging and Del.icio.us. I couldn't get the buttons for Del.icio.us to load onto my computer but I get the idea. Technorati seemed to be a wast of time.
I read in a library journal that there is a library that is starting to use patron's tags in their catalog. It will be interesting to see if that confuses the the patrons.

With a little help, I just learned to post a photo from my computer, resize it and put it where I want it. Lots of steps!

Mako

I've read several articles on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. Rick Anderson, in "Away from 'icebergs'" does have a good point about our "just in case" print reference collections being obsolete. It's a little scary to do away with our old back-up sources, but if no one is using them, they're just wasting space. Besides, everything is accessible in a more current, updated, and easy-to-find form on the web. How often do we use any of the old print reference books?
He also talks about how libraries often have sources that need to be "taught" to the public. How useful is that? Of course we don't have the manpower to teach every patron how to use databases, if they even show interest. Each improvement and change in web sources has been a little more user-friendly and able to be self-taught.

I never got around to commenting on the 7 1/2 habits of learning, so here goes.
The big thing is to accept responsibility for your own learning. Finding time to work on this is hard during the workday, so I've started coming in early to keep up. It's quiet and easier to focus, which is really important because most of this is totally new and not easily digested. I'm beginning to have more confidence in my tech abilities and have even more every time we discuss things among the staff and help each other figure something out. We have to keep reminding each other that we are supposed to be having fun and not stressing about getting through the rest of the things by the deadline.

After playing around with wikis I have to admit it isn't the techy part of wikis that is hard, it's putting faith in them as a reference source. If you have always relied on an authoritative organization the give credence to an article, it's hard not to be leary of articles that can be altered, or written entirely, by someone without obvious credentials. I have read journal studies that say the users of wikipedia tend to be older and more educated than nonusers. There is a local teacher who tells her middle-schoolers to use it for research. I really do understand how something like Wikipedia could be accurate, maybe even more accurate than conventional sources, because those people who do know and care about and have interest in the subject are on top of the entries, and the speed of correction is much improved over older ways. It will just take a while to emotionally accept it.

Learning to use Technorati and Delicious, tags and organization of bookmarks was very odd. The examples that I viewed were strange and not necessarily things that I would spend my time on. I don't spend enough time on the computer to need these things, but I can see how computer maniacs would like them.

I just spent time on Library Think, which I think could be very useful. I think I will use it to keep track of the titles we use for our book discussions. It seems to be fairly straight-forward and user-friendly.

Wow! It's fun to make an avatar but very difficult to get it onto my blog. All the generators in the generator blog lead me to think there are a lot of people withh too much time on their hands. But the avatar think is cool.

RSS feeds could be a lot of fun for people who actually want to want the latest news and joke of the day. There is so much info and entertainment on the web that you could conceivably sit in front of the screen 24 hours a day. Computers will probably someday come with built-in refridgerators - you'd never have to leave your chair.

Well, I've finally explored mashups, Flickr tools and all the wild things you can do with photos. You really need to have a lot of free time to take advantage of all the possibilities, including making up your own uses. I will come back to all this when I retire and have time to play with it all. Right now I think I'll doing great just uploading photos to Flickr. Hopefully, I will have photos of Italy in the fall.

Flickr has a neat thing called geopegging. You can post your photos on a map so people can see what kind of photos are being posted from your location. Take a look at other countries or your hometown.

sneaks01

sneaks01
Originally uploaded by marcnelsonjr

Sneaks the library cat

Venice - Canal Grande

Venice - Canal Grande
Originally uploaded by neilperryhh

Venice - Canal Grande

Venice - Canal Grande
Originally uploaded by neilperryhh

This is the Canal Grande in Venice, which I am planning on seeing in person this fall.

Hooray! I have finally understood Flickr enough to upload two photos. I also figures out (with some help from KP) how to add photos to my blog page. You really need to have a lot of free time to play with it long enough to figure it out on your own.

This isn't a technology problem, but getting back into blogger is not easy. Too many names, passwords, etc to remember and this is not a time of year when we have much time to sit and play on the computer. More later.

I'm sharing my new blog with my coworkers. They are dutifully impressed. I still don't know how to add a picture. Still working...

Boy, this Flickr stuff is hard. I could post a practice contact but can't seem to send a picture.
I'll keep trying.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

What's new with Mitzi

This blog is being created as a learning experience and as an effort to share with friends and family throughout the country (especially those who never come to visit).
The whole blog thing is new to me, so feel free to send suggestions, comments, complaints, etc.

I am still at the library. Amanda is still in Salisbury (close to graduating). Andy is in Indiana and/or Texas training for his new job. The dog and cat are (of course) with me.