Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thing 4

I set up a Flickr account and I must say that I am not too impressed. Perhaps it is because I am used to Google's Picasa. I find it easier to organize photos into web albums using Picasa . I kept getting errors uploading to Flickr. Also, I discovered that free account holders are limited to only three sets (or albums). I think there is no limit in Picasa (although I may be wrong). I really don't share many photos online but I can see how useful these resources could be. I usually just attach photos to emails if i want to share them with anyone. Perhaps in the future If i want to share many photos, i could just send them all a link to my Flickr page!

My library photo for Thing 4 is a shot of me helping a student in one of my Internet classes. If anyone is interested in the classes, I have a link to the class schedule (I made the page using Google's Page Creator) under 'Special Links' on my blog.

Grace prefers to sleep in her basket by the vent instead of teaching Internet classes or creating web pages.


Thursday, February 14, 2008

Thing 3

I had heard so much about RSS feeds and had a pretty good understanding as to what they were, but never took the time to create an account with either Bloglines or Google Reader. Well, this afternoon I created an account with both. At first I naturally was going to register for a Google Reader (as I am a Google nut), but I thought I would give Bloglines a try too. I'm glad I did. It seems much cleaner to me and easier to use. Jury is still out though, as I have only had them both for a day. Perhaps my opinion will change. Speaking of my new readers, I think I will pay them a visit and enjoy my word of the day and check CNN's latest feeds.

Grace doesn't seem to really have an opinion on RSS feeds. She pretty much only cares about the feed I put in her dish.

Thing 2

Well, I just finished watching the video by Stephen Abram and I can't help but get excited for this program. He has a way of firing me up for some reason ( guess it really doesn't take much). I had the opportunity to see him speak on Web 2.0 at the University of Minnesota a year or so ago. After hearing him, I decided to try some of these new web 2.0 technologies. I created my first blog, set up a MySpace Account, and eventually purchased a webcam and posted on YouTube.

I totally agree with him when he talks about us being experienced based learners. Cause that is the only way (in my opinion) to learn this stuff. And Understand this stuff. He talks about time constraints... Well, like he said... a few minutes is all it would take to learn some of these concepts. This is part of our profession. We Promote lifelong learning! It is our duty as librarians and professionals to find the time to learn new technologies. Haven't librarians always done this? In my opinion, this program should have been mandatory for all librarians in the system I work for. Period. What a great opportunity... Sorry. I don't mean to be harsh. I guess I feel strongly about our profession continuing education and have little sympathy for those who say they have no time to learn.

Oh by the way, my cat Grace agrees with everything I just blogged.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Thing 1

Hello fellow librarians! Well, my Blog is up - complete with an avatar of myself and my cat Grace. Grace and I are anxious to get started learning about various Web 2.0 tools and how we can incorporate them into our libraries. Best of luck everyone and Godspeed...