Well, I actually feel pretty proud of myself for finishing, even though I have gone way past my four months. I went through a pretty busy period, and I think I was not only too busy to get back to Discover 2/0, I was also digesting and absorbing what I had learned so far. It really is a lot to cover, and there were moments when I felt completely bogged down, but I always knew I would come back to it and finish.

Of the 23 "things", I found many of them fascinating and useful. For example, I am now using Facebook, Flickr, and Del.icio.us regularly. I enjoyed others, such as blogging and podcasting, but I need to live with these for awhile to see how I might incorporate them into my life. There were others I just found weird, like Meebo and Twitter. I can't see how they would ever be useful or fun. But I will stay openminded, and anyway, at least now I know what they are.

I think this 23-thing exercise is very important for library workers. We really must stay abreast of developments in the information world if we are to be able to offer good customer service. Things are changing rapidly, and there is a tendency to get so caught up in the routines of life and work that we sometimes postpone exploring new things. This was a (almost) painless, fun way to push past our comfort level, expand our horizons, and develop our professional skills! Now if I just had that day off coming too...

Twitter & Tumblr

I signed up for both Twitter and Tumblr and created posts. I will probably add Twitter as an application on my Facebook account, just for fun. As far as using it in the library world, I don't know. I saw that one library uses it to promote their programs, by creating short "tweets" for all their activities. Maybe that's a good idea. It depends on whether anybody would look at it.

I was more intrigued with Tumblr, and plan to use it a fair amount. I see how this could be very handy for gathering things you find on the internet and putting them together in one place where you can share them with others, something like Del.icio.us. I feel like I've come full circle in Discover 2.0, because Del.icio.us, where I started, and Tumblr, where I am now finishing, are similar in how I would plan to use them. If I were going to have a library blog that I shared with the public, I would use Tumblr.

Fun with Video

I spent way more time than was wise on this one. For one thing, it's very fun and somewhat addictive. Also though, I was finding some of it quite difficult. For example, I wanted to post one of the videos I found on my blog, but never figured it out, and finally realized this is taking up all of my day off. Time to just write the blog and get on with my life.

I spent most of my time looking for videos about people in Iran. There are lots of great ones, and I emailed several to various people. I noticed that YouTube has a feature where you can respond to a video with another video, besides responding with text. I was going to post an example of that on this blog, but as I say, never could make it work.

One of the suggested links for this Item #21 is still in development, but otherwise, I looked at all the links, read the articles, posted some of them to Del.icio.us, and ran my little search for Iran videos in all the suggested video sites. Very fun stuff!

Podcasting

I subscribed to a Denver Public Library podcast where they read children's books. It's very cute, and seems like a natural thing for a library to do.

On the other hand, nothing can possibly replace a person, whether parent or library staff, reading to a child. The human contact, the actual voice, not to mention the book and its illustrations, contribute to a priceless experience for a child, and the interaction enriches the reader as well.

So while this podcast from the library could be useful for helping a parent learn about new children's books, or even for a child to sit and listen to, I would think something like Tumblebooks would be preferable for these purposes, because of the illustrations.

This exercise was useful, because I did finally learn what a podcast is, and I can see it as a possible tool for libraries to perhaps get some sort of message out, such as a speech by the library director or maybe a board meeting or training for staff, but I'm curious about just how much use the Denver Public Library gets of it's children's book podcasts.

Item # 19

I like Pandora a lot. I started by typing in Bob Dylan and it started playing Tangled Up in Blue. I then told it that I like that song, and it started putting together other artists and songs that I might like. This would be very handy for when I am working on the computer, but not online, as it came out of Pandora when I went back to Discover 2.0. I had thought I could listen while I continued to work. I'm sure there's a way to do that, I just don't have the time to figure it out right now!

I am also glad to know about the music genome project,which is similar, and also the gutenberg project. These are really amazing undertakings.

The other one I really liked was Mango, although I wish they had more languages. I am looking for a way to study Farsi online, but have not found it yet - certainly not on Mango.

I do think Mango would be good for the library to link to the electronic resources, since it's free. The only problem is that people would probably want to talk out loud as they went through it, which could be problematic in the library.

I also think Pandora, last.fm, and imeem would be good to have at a listening station. I think teens, especially, would enjoy their features and functionality.

Google Docs

I decided to make a spreadsheet using Google Docs that I could use to keep track of people I am inviting on a group trip. Since there are many possible group members, and they are all in various stages of "thinking about it", I am using the spreadsheet to remind myself of who I have asked, and whether they have committed to it, turned it down, or are still thinking about it. Here is a link to my spreadsheet:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHiVj6K1f7aXapzjnCMpyBg

I had to create this link by copy and paste. I never could see how to publish it directly from Google into my blog. I did publish it onto the web for the whole world to see. It's a hypothetical trip, and it would not have been my choice to do it that way, but either I am very dense or the settings have changed without updating the Help information. I spent a fair amount of time fooling around with it, and finally decided to just get the job done and do it this way.

I actually did create a real spreadsheet on GoogleDocs for this exact purpose of maintaining a group list for a trip I am planning. I was going to publish that one to my blog, but in the month since I created it, it seems to have disappeared from GoogleDocs. Another shocker. I will probably go back and recreate it, but if they disappear like that, it hardly seems worth it.

This application seems to have potential, but I would definitely need to work with it more to feel comfortable with it!

Item 17 - Cool Stuff

I tried several of the so-called "cool things" and found the first few to be not so cool for me. For example, when I typed my blog's URL into the website that tells you its reading level, I got a message that said "We were unable to check the URL you entered."

I tried Scrabulous, but got stuck just when I was getting the hang of it, on the second game, when it wouldn't give me any more tiles or give me my points. There was a little message there that said it was a problem with my wireless network. That promised to be not worth my time delving into any farther.

I spent some time looking around in Technorati, but don't feel that I really get blogging, and I definitely don't feel that I understand Technorati, so I wandered back out of there after only a few minutes.

I finally ended up playing Wordshoot for a while. That is kind of fun, although I don't really like shooting and getting shot at. I did get my score up to 35,360, with 94% accuracy and 235 words spelled correctly!

On that note, I decided to rest on my laurels and post this blog note.

Blogging Blah Blah

I looked at several of the suggested wikis, and I have to say, I am not drawn to this particular kind of program. Many of them look downright messy and confusing. I would put the Pierce County and the Stevens Rural Library District in that category.

Wikipedia, on the other hand, does look neat and organized, and I have actually used it quite a bit. You do have to get a feel for what may and may not be accurate, but I have found it to be surprisingly well documented and accurate. I have noticed though, that many schools forbid their students from using Wikipedia as a resource for their research topics.

I find the FVRL wikis to be very well done. I am referring to the YA wiki, the building project wiki (which I actually could not access today - is it still there?), and the Battle Ground Library's youth services wiki.

I like the example Lee LeFever uses, of people planning a camping trip. This type of close collaboration is what a wiki would be most useful for, in my opinion. It doesn't seem to work so well when you don't know the other people, and when there isn't a clear purpose for it, as in the case of the Pierce County and Stevens Rural Library wikis. However, as one of the articles points out, Wikipedia is an exception to this. I really have no idea how they do what they do so well, but there you have it. It's an informative, interesting, ever-changing wealth of information on just about anything you could possibly want to know!

Goodreads

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing around with Goodreads tonight! I plan to use this a lot to keep track of books I have read and want to read, and to get ideas for other books to read that are similar to ones I have enjoyed.

The one thing I noticed is that it doesn't use tags...what's up with that?!! Of all places, this is where I think tags would be really useful. I will check out Library Thing next, and see if they use tags. If so, I may switch, or even try both for awhile.

I have already had an account with Shelfari for several months. It's similar to these, and it does use tags, so maybe I'll end up back there. I want it to be easy and fast, but I will probably eventually settle on the one where I have the most friends.

Incidentally, I really wish the library's catalog, ibistro, had the features of these websites, where patrons could keep lists of what they have read and are reading, along with their comments, reviews, ratings,and suggestions for similar books. Since Web 2.0 is where the world is these days, and since books are our brand, it really seems obligatory that we offer this type of feature in order to be relevant to our users.

Technorati Time

I enjoyed my evening with Technorati. This is an incredible tool for managing and organizing blogs. I signed up for an account, placed a "fave my blog" link on my blog, selected a few blogs as my own favorites, and then did a search on LIbrary 2.0 as suggested in the activities for Thing 14. A blog search turned up 665 blogs on Library 2.0, while a tag search gave 2,369 posts tagged Library 2.0, and a post search found 44,512 posts that mentioned Library 2.0.

For my purposes this evening, the blog search was the most useful. But I'm sure there will be times when I want to find references to something within a post, and definitely I will want to use the tag search regularly.

I have never read blogs very much, because I couldn't seem to figure out where to start. Looking through Technorati tonight though, gave me a much better feel for how to find relevant, fun, or interesting sites, and how to keep up with what is posted on them.

Del.icio.us is Delectable

I set up my Del.icio.uc account several months ago, and really like it a lot. It is such an easier way to bookmark and organize websites that I want to remember for future reference. It's really pretty ingenious. "Library types" who like to organize and classify information can really go for it, but if you want to stay unorganized but still be able to find websites you like, this is its real strength.

Another great thing is how you can use it to find websites you didn't know about. Just by looking at other websites with the same tags, you can find amazing things. Or browsing under "Popular", or looking at other people's Del.icio.us accounts or bookmarks. It's fun and very useful.

I think anywhere people have to collaborate, a Deli.cio.us (or however the heck you spell it..) account would be useful. I would like to see us set one up for our branch, and share websites that we have found useful.

A Del.icio.us account is like a pebble thrown into a vast pond, and creating ripples out into an everwidening circle on the internet.

I'm really happy to know about this tool!

My creation

My creation,
originally uploaded by Joylock.

I made this billboard by combining a photo of a mosque in Yazd with my own words on the Billboard generator site.

In this photo you can see the beautiful elaborate tile work that adorns old mosques throughout the country. Behind the minarets the mountains are visible. Iran is mostly a high, dry plateau, ringed by tall mountains. Colorful tiles make a dramatic contrast to the brown landscape, as do green trees and cool running water everywhere.

Social Networking for Libraries

I found this topic to be the most interesting so far. Social networking is intriguing and fun, and we see elements of it in so many websites these days, from Flickr to Amazon to Shelfari to My Space and Facebook. I have had a Facebook account for several months now, and enjoy talking to people from all over the world there.

Besides the obvious opportunity to network with teens, I think Facebook also offers us opportunities to create groups of people interested in book discussion, homeschooling, investment, parenting, or writing. As well as many others, I'm sure.

I enjoyed looking at Denver Public Library's Teen My Space page, especially the "kitty" video. That appears to be a page that teens would enjoy coming to, where they can make friends, search the catalog, and post their thoughts about books, movies, and music.

I wish we had a way that people could post their thoughts in iBistro about library books and keep a list of what they've read, but I don't see that happening. A MySpace or Facebook library account could be a good alternative. Or maybe even a library Shelfari account. Something where you can create a profile of what you like to read, create tags, and then find other people who like to read the same things. You could then read their comments about what they have read and then place a hold on that item from a link to the library's catalog, all right there in one place. I think people would really love it!

Meebo Schmeebo

I would have gotten more out of this activity if it had just focused on instant messaging. I really need to get more familiar with im'ing in one place, like Yahoo, before I advance on to Meebo.

I do think the widget might be useful for people who like to blog, and who want a fast way to talk to each other without coming out of the blog and into their IM program. Like maybe a family group, or an organization, or people who like to share political views, or something.

As far as how it could be used by the library, maybe a group like YAAB or a book discussion group, or even a group of staff members, would find it useful to im on a topic rather than getting together physically. Doing it on a blog, through the widget, might seem unnecessary when you could go through Google or Yahoo (or Meebo), but it does offer a reminder that this is a library program, since you are in a library blog.

I think this exercise will remind me to try more im'ing, but I don't see myself getting too deep into Meebo or the widget. I'm glad to know about it though.

So today I feel like I finally got the hang of RSS. I added a number of RSS feeds to my Bloglines account, and am going to get ride of a few. It's actually kind of fun!

I can see that this could be very useful for library patrons. They could be kept informed about new books or other materials added to the collection; upcoming programs of interest; or new services.

They could also subscribe to blogs posted by library staff. I think our communities would enjoy reading regular blog posts from their branch librarian; teen or children's services coordinator; executive director; foundation director; board member; or in fact, any staff member that would like to keep people posted on "a day at the library" and what we do here. In fact, blogging is an amazing way to tell our stories - both the institutional story and our personal stories as library staff.

RSS - Aargh

This has been the hardest one for me so far. I know there is some part of this I just haven't got. I will keep struggling along, but I agree with one of the other bloggers who said we have too much information as it is. Why would we want all this additional info to coming streaming into our lives?!!

I think now that I know about RSS and how it works (sort of), I will find uses for it as I go about my daily life. Anytime there is a website or topic I want to keep up with, I can create new feeds. It definitely feels like something I need to live with before I find it useful.

Bubblr

Today I discovered Bubblr http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/, where you can search for photos with a particular tag and then create comic strip-type bubbles. You can create a whole comic strip and then publish it to the website.

I didn't quite get what I was doing until I had already published it, plus I wasn't feeling quite as witty as I would have liked at the moment, but I did have fun with it, and will definitely try it again.

The most hilarious photo I found was of a boy with a pained expression on his face holding a flute or, I guess, a recorder, while a stern looking woman plays the piano beside him. They look to be from the forties or early fifties, and the poses are stiff and uncomfortable. It was just asking for a bubble, and I couldn't come up with one for the life of me! Maybe someone reading this blog can think of one.