Thing 13

Well, I spent quite a lot of time exploring online productivity tools. I created a couple of summer to-do lists using Ta-da. The links are as follows:

My Ta-da List

Grace's Ta-da List

I also personalized my Google Homepage on my laptop at home to display a variety of personal stuff like the weather. I seem to be obsessed with the weather as of late. I guess I really am not gonna spend much time blogging about this Thing cause I am anxious to move on to Thing 14 (I have been stuck on Thing 13 for over 2 months!).

Thing 12

I found these social media sites very interesting as I consider myself a news junkie. I check many different news sites several times a day (usually Google News). I guess I had never noticed the 'share' or 'article tools' on news sites before. I just read a story online form the Star Tribune and noticed tool buttons for Digg, Reddit, and Del.icio.us.

I love the idea of readers deciding what is important instead of the editors. I spent some time messing with both Reddit and Digg. I kinda like my news a little more organized (like the way a newspaper is layed out - why I like Google News). I do like the way Digg organizes by categories using tabs at the top of their homepage. I also read some stories from the New York Times site and recommended a couple to Mixx and Digg. Cool stuff!

Thing 11

Well, I have explored del.icio.us and think it is kind of a neat resource. I am not sure if I will use it to organize my websites as I am so used to using my bookmarks on my browser. Perhaps, I will change as I become more familiar with it. I registered for an account but had trouble downloading the buttons to my toolbar. I am quite sure it is related to our staff computers being so locked down. If that is the case, I don't really see having an opportunity to use it at my library. I will try adding the buttons on my home computer. Whether or not I will use it (as I am a such a creature of habit), time will tell. I do like the idea of being able to see other sites using the same tags. I think it could be very beneficial when researching using websites. I enjoyed the podcast on del.icio.us. It was very informative and easy to understand. I also used tags in my previous post.

Grace really does not care about tagging and bookmarking websites. But she does enjoy playing tag with her brother Andy.

Thing 10

This is my first real experience using wikis. I am quite comfortable using blogs but wikis are a little different as I like the idea of multiple users being able to edit content. I really enjoyed the Common Craft video on wikis. Their You Tube presentations are always clear, concise, and very easy to understand. I plan on showing their presentation on blogs in a blogging workshop I am offering this summer.

We started a reference wiki at the library where I work and I think it is a wonderful way of sharing information and providing a forum to contribute content. However, it is not really being used much yet as many of the staff are not aware that it even exists (I suppose it is also still in Beta). Perhaps the staff will have a better understanding of how wikis work after learning about them from 23 Things.

I edited the 23 Things on a Stick wiki. Or should I say Grace made an appearance... I accidentally deleted the entire wiki after posting a picture of the princess. At first I panicked, but then realized I was able to go back and delete previous changes in the wiki. Cool. Then I properly edited the page.

I decided to create my own wiki using pbwiki (see Library Guy's Wiki). I must say that it isn't quite as intuitive as Blogger, but I am still learning and experimenting. It was easy to register and create a wiki (as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich), but I am struggling with formatting the wiki. I know you can upload photos and files (as I did it on the 23 Things wiki) but I am having a little trouble doing that. Give me some time...

As far as Wikipedia is concerned, I love the idea of it and use it all the time. I am sure to double check my sources but the idea of radical trust, I embrace. Remember that everything you read in a book may not be accurate either. Anyone can write a book too.