Thing 9

I must admit that I am partial to Google Docs as I use it all of the time. Members of my dart team (you heard me) often use it when we collaborate and create and update our team schedule. It is easily accessed from our private blog (yeah, that's right...our private dart blog). It is quite intuitive and was easily learned by my teammates. I played around with Zoho Writes a bit and it seemed fine too. However, I was so irritated with how clunky Zoho Show was, I think I would recommend Google Docs.

Thing 8

I understand many of our staff computers are unable to display my photo cube that I created from Picture Trail. Such a shame as so many may not get to see a photo presentation of perhaps the greatest drama ever on television (or at least that is the opinion of a certain male librarian and his pal, Grace).

I whipped up a quick slide presentation in Zoho Show, but I had trouble embedding it into my blog. It embedded fine, but after it was posted I got error messages whenever I clicked on any links on my blog. Weird. So, I am just providing you all a link to Library Guy and his cat Grace's favorite snack (I borrowed the idea of presenting a recipe from my pal Runner girl). I think Zoho Show was a little clunky but offered more tools than Thumbstacks.

I think these photo sharing tools like Photo Trail provide a neat way to spruce up photo presentations. I can see a real value to the Slide presentation tools (Zoho Show) as a way of allowing multiple people view your presentation on the Web. Not only can you allow anyone with access to the Web view your presentation, but you can allow them to edit your presentation as well. This would save time if multiple people were working on the same presentation.

Thing 7

Communication Tools

• Email - At my library, we currently communicate using Email among staff and we also have an "Ask a Librarian" Email feature on our public website. I would say staff Email is our system's primary way of communicating. It can, however, be very frustrating as our filtering system is turned off and staff get lots of spam. Our "Ask a Librarian" feature on our website keeps us busy as we get several reference questions during the day via Email. Our library system also offers "Intro to Email" and "Managing Your Yahoo! Email" classes for the public that are extremely popular. I am the coordinator and instructor of these classes and I am continually amazed at how many people don't have an email account. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a student come into the library to check their mail after they have attended one of these classes.

• Instant Messaging - We have had IM for staff about a year now. I must admit that when we first activated it, I thought we would never use it (only perhaps abuse it). Boy was I wrong. It is so slick IMing colleagues at other branches to ask quick questions or to have them pull materials for patrons. No longer do we need to physically call another branch (and stumble through the phone menu) to track down a fellow staffer. We really use it all the time. Even if a staff person gets a call, we can quickly IM them to tell them they have a call on a certain line, no longer needing to announce it over the loud speaker for the world to hear. Don't get me wrong, a quick personal IM to a friend and colleague to brighten their day is always nice too. We have yet to roll out IM reference for the public, but it is on the horizon. I must admit, I am not a fast typer and prefer face-to-face reference interactions, but I think it is a necessity as it is a way so many of our younger users communicate. For this Thing activity, I have activated Google Chat and often IM with fellow 23 thingers Half-stepper and Runner Girl.


• Text Messaging - When I first signed my cell phone contract with Verizon, I was offered unlimited text messaging for $5 a month. I remember laughing and quickly declining thinking I would never use my phone to text message. Surely I would never text more than the free plan allowed (5 free per month - 5 cents each additional). I think I may have to re-think my plan... Talk about addicting! I never thought in a million years I would text message with friends and family with my phone. I was wrong again. I frequently have to pay extra on my Verizon bill for my text messages. It can get expensive, particularly when you incorporate photos with your text.

• Web Conferencing - I have participated in a couple Minitex Webinars and they were pretty slick. I remember I had an issue with sound on my desktop but I was able to hook up a pair of speakers. I really think that our profession will use webinars and web conferencing more and more for educational purposes. Now, if we can just get all our equipment to cooperate to allow for this new technology...

Grace prefers to communicate by meowing and wagging and thumping her tail.

Thing 6

I can see why the online image generators might be addicting. As you can see, I created a playing card using Big Huge Labs and a license plate and button using Image Chef. Grace and I are huge Battlestar Galactica fans and we just couldn't resist...
I think libraries could use online image generators in a variety of creative ways. Buttons and bookmarks are the obvious to promote programs and favorite reads. I love the trading card idea for staff. Who wouldn't want a Bill Michel trading card? Kudos to Carleton college. I love the idea of librarian trading cards and would be the first to put them in card protector sleeves. You have to remember, I do like Battlestar Galactica...

Thing 5

Well, this thing was kinda fun. I tried a couple of mash-ups using photos from my Flickr account. I can see how these tools could be fun while designing webpages and displaying your photos online. I think sharing photos online is a great way for family and friends to keep in touch. I could also see libraries using these tools to share photos of library events and programs.

Grace likes to bat and play with puzzle pieces. She also likes to chew on them. Grace is not much help when putting together a puzzle.