Week 9, Thing 23: Summarize your thoughts about this program and learn more about where to go from here

Back when I first was introduced to the idea of doing Maryland 23 Things, it was billed as only taking about 1/2 hour per week. WRONG! Maybe 1/2 hour per Thing would have been more accurate, but some things were hella hard about which to teach oneself, and even with that estimate it would not be completely accurate. But I was bound and determined to complete this program and unfortunately I think some of my collections suffered from my determination.

My favorite discoveries/exercises... I really like Flickr. As some of you may have noticed, I have kittens. And I think if I didn't have new pictures on my Flickr every week, I might get lynched. So this is something that I will continue to use. I'm not sure if I will continue with blogging, however. I used to have a LiveJournal account... and I have a MySpace account... but I am really bad at blogging on there. But maybe I'll turn this into a kitten tales blog and go from there. Who knows. While LibraryThing was a lot of fun, I don't really see me using it in the future. Same is true for Rollyo. I'm also really excited to explore Wikis more. It seems that the staff for BbN:DH would like to incorporate that into our webpage to keep those fluid things up to date. So, I'll probably continue to learn more about them.

Things to improve the program: I would definitely tell those interested in doing this program a more realistic time frame for how long it takes to do each exercise. I'm sure I could have flown through this in a month if I didn't actually care about understanding the exercises. Some people may have done just that. However, you only get out of this program what you are willing to put into it. And while it burns me to think that those who did the bare minimum on this project will be getting the same amount of CEUs and the same chances to win the drawing as I do, I just keep reminding myself that they cheated themselves out of an opportunity to really learn and more importantly, really understand about Web 2.0.

Another improvement: One was not instructed to create the blog until Thing 3, but one was supposed to blog about Things 1 and 2. This resulted in my having to redo things 1 and 2 because I couldn't remember enough about them (especially Thing 2) in order to blog about them after Thing 3.

Overall, I did enjoy this program. Yes, some of the 'features' of Web 2.0 are not for me. But if something like this was offered again, I would probably sign up to participate, barring it wouldn't put me over the edge with workload! =)

And finally: 23 Things down and I'M ALL DONE!!!
*does happy dance*

Week 9, Thing 22: Learn about Audiobooks

I am not certain that I have actually established an Overdrive account or not. I linked to it from BCPL's website and was only asked to enter my Library's name and my barcode number from my library card. I guess for those who don't have library access to Overdrive, they might have to create a stand-alone account. Perhaps I'm wrong with that and the account factor would come in once you get to the download stage. (I can't remember) I'm not able to test that, as we are not allowed to download anything from Overdrive onto library-owned computers. However, using this method I was still able to look around at what Overdrive has to offer.

And what does Overdrive have to offer me? Near as I can tell... absolutely nothing. I tried searching keywords of topics about which I am interested in reading. Most of the time I was unable to locate a single book. Other times, I was able to locate one or two selections, that were on the right topic but not titles that interested me. So to answer the question in the Discovery Exercise #2: "Did you locate a title that you might want to try out and download?" The answer: no.

When BCPL subscribed to Overdrive, we all took a look at it. One nice thing is that it offers classics. This is a handy alternative for when a student comes into the library to get a copy of (well, I was going to say Things Fall Apart by Achebe, but Overdrive doesn't have that title) Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury and all of our copies are checked out... and of course they knew they needed to read it 2 months ago, but it's due tomorrow and now they are in a pinch... (you've heard the desperate story before... I know you have).

Personally, I do not want to read a book on a computer screen. Nor do I want to listen to a book from my computer. (I have an iPod... so using my MP3 player is out of the question) So, this format is not a big seller for me. And yes, I did try it. Downloading a book to a PDA and reading (at least part of it) was part of my LATI class. I didn't like that format. I guess I'm old fashioned when it comes to book reading. :)

So that brings me to the end... and 22 things down... 1 to go!

New Photos!

Kittens 089
Originally uploaded by Chickens Amuck

The kittens have gotten bigger and are now starting to be much more active and have even tried out some kitten food with mixed results. Visit my flickr account to see all the new photos! And I'll try to be better about uploading photos in the future!

Week 9, Thing 21: Discover some useful tools for locating podcasts

I started looking at podcast.net and found a podcast that I wanted to try out. However, I kept getting a box that said "Click to run an ActiveX control on this page." Your only option was to click the box labeled "OK." But when you did that, nothing happened. I even tried Xing out of the little box with the same result. The podcast did not seem to function.

I then went to search on podcastalley.com, but in order to listen to the podcast, I was required to download a Podcast Aggregator. Since downloading things to our work computers is a big no-no, I scrapped that idea.

Frustrated, I tried a different angle. Some friends on mind host a podcast on talkshoe.com. I went there and did a little search and there it was... and when I clicked on 'play' it actually played. So, while talkshoe.com was not one of the sites recommended, it was the only one that I tried in which I had any success. I've added the link to their podcast to my bloglines account. (I still maintain the "Subscribe" button should actually allow you to subscribe directly and not just show you the html code and webaddress... but perhaps that's just my belief.)

My thoughts on Podcasting. Once again, it falls into the realms of blogging. It seems like everyone in the world feels that their opinions are so important that they have to share them with everyone else in the world. And now, it's not just in the written media... but now you can podcast you message. I can see some practical uses for this resource. One can use it for instructional purposes. But it seems more like "Listen to me, I'm so kuhl" is the current primary use of podcasting. Hopefully I'm wrong. =) Of course, everyone can choose to podcast their thoughts on the web... and I can choose to not listen. Gotta love the power of choice! =)

So, now that this thing is done, I can happily say that I have 21 down and only 2 more to go! YAY! I might make this deadline after all!

Week 9, Thing 20: Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow you to upload video

The above video was created by one of our customers here at Towson who wanted to share his positive experiences that both he and his daughter had while visiting our library. It's a cute little promo for the Towson library... and BCPL in general.

I'm not sure if there are any features that could be applied to our library's website... at least not at this moment. Streaming video is a bandwidth hog, and websites such as youtube and myspace have been blocked from BCPL computer due to the effects the bandwidth load had upon our ability to perform other work-related tasks. So, until that is resolved permanently, it would seem hypocritical to place streaming video promotions on our website. But perhaps in the future, I could see clips of LVN productions having a place on our website... to promote programs, services, etc to our customers.

The following video I decided to add because it fits with my reoccurring theme. It was difficult to find something, however, as there just wasn't very many results for OWbN. But for those who may have been wondering what it is that I do every other Saturday night, this will give you some idea.

Week 8, Thing 19: Discover any site from the Web 2.0 awards list

I decided that there hasn't been enough of habit #7 1/2 of those 7 1/2 habits of effective life long learning that we discovered back in week one. So, to make up for that, I chose to look at the site called arcaplay. This site reminded me of the yahoo games that I used to frequent when I needed to pass the time with a good game of mah jong solitaire. I played a couple of the penguin themed games and had a lot of fun. I've learned that the game "Ice Breakout" is basically penguin pong for people who are much more coordinated than I am. It looks like you can try the games for free, but perhaps you would need to register an account with them to play more than a round or two.

I had a lot of fun with this site. I was a bit disappointed that the game "Penguinoids" would not load properly. I was just imagining a penguin version of asteroids. Disappointedly, when searching for Chicken games, the results only included "Chicken" and "Zaphod and Aztec." The former is supposed to be frogger meets 'why did the chicken cross the road'. The latter seems to be an alien abduction game, according to the description. I might have to check these out later!

But, suffice it to say, I can happily report that I have completed Thing #19. This means 19 down and only 4 more to go!

Week 8, Thing 18: Take a look at some online productivity tools

I checked out both the Zoho and Google Docs. This is amazing! Often we will have problems where someone created a file in a newer version and then sent it to someone who has an older version and then there are formatting problems, etc. Recently I created an Excel document to log information for the game I run. Unfortunately, one of the members on staff did not have excel on his computer and therefore is unable to utilize the information I prepared. Had I known these things existed, I might have created the file there and then it would be accessible to everyone. The only problem I could foresee is that often when I am working on things for game, I am using the game's antiquated laptop. This machine runs on an impressive P2 processor and could potentially go onto the Internet if I felt like having a dial up account. (Course, I think it would be silly to have a dial up account to connect the lap top when my phone lines run through my cable...)

In Zoho writer, it appears that you can do just about everything that a basic Microsoft Office suite would allow you to do. Of course, there are some disadvantages, such as not having access to a plethora of fonts or font sizes. Basically, if you want it for a simple text document, this would work just fine. But, if you want the ability to vastly manipulate the document, then you would need to use a Microsoft Office based program.

Google Docs does not appear to have as may different options for types of documents you can create, limiting you just to a document (ala Word) or a spreadsheet (ala Excel). It is also limiting with the fonts, sizes, etc. While you are limited to 2 different document styles in Google Docs, Zoho gives you a lot more choices and includes some templates for creating documents in specific styles.

I do think that these programs have their place, but I also would hate for this to be my only options. I've been spoiled with my ability to completely manipulate my documents and would feel trapped with the few choices given by both Zoho and Google Docs. While I do not think that this will cause the Microsoft Office suite to go the way of the dodo, a possible result my be that the cost of Microsoft Office may decrease as people are able to have these other options. (let's hope)

And while I'm happy with these online productivity tools, I'm also happy to say 18 down... 5 to go!

Week 7, Thing 17 Add an entry into the Sandbox Wiki created with PB Wiki

Intuitive... not unless you know what you are doing. Initially, I was having a hard time adding my blog to the Favorite Blogs page. It says that "It's easy to do using the new point and click interface." I'm sitting there thinking "What am I supposed to point and click on?" After pointing and clicking on a lot of different options I remembered that this is a wiki and I probably need to think like a wiki user. So, after pointing and clicking on the edit page button, I figured it out! So, I've added my blog to the favorite blogs page and I even made Little Chicken's Recent Favorites... which is a list of my top 5 favorite things from the last month.

So, I think I can say for certain that I have 17 down and only 6 more to go!

Week 7, Thing 16 Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them

I really enjoyed learning about wikis. I'm a little iffy about some of them. For example, while I enjoy looking at wikipedia, I know that just about anyone can edit the content and you could find false information on that site. Presumably there are people that monitor changes made to make certian that malicious attacks have not occured. Usually, I use wikipedia as a springboard for finding the information from a more authoratative source.

The book lovers wiki developed by the Princeton Public Library is really nifty. With the ease in which anyone can write a review, it encourages the staff as well as the customers to create entries that could potentially benifit other users. This would be something that our system could do. We often have book reviews in our monthly Branching Out publication. While these efforts are great for other staff members to read, why not allow the public to see reviews such as these as well? We could get more bang for our buck!

I am also thinking about proposing utalizing a wiki format for my game's website. Lately, our site had become woefully out of date because only one or two people have the authority to edit the content. If everyone who is a member of our chronicle had access to editing content, I'm sure that the page would practically maintain itself.

Libraries could definately use wikis for any information sharing thing that is very fluid. Currently, our CCD blog had loads of valuable information. Some of that infromation sharing might work better as a wiki (such as items offered to be floated to other libraries). That way, the flow of good ideas would not be blocked by the ability to access and share them.

Week 6, Thing 15: Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 & the future of libraries

In reading some of the perspectives, I started to wonder... will Web 2.0 end up being like Beta Videos and Laserdiscs? With the increasing ease that anyone who can navigate the web can upload their opinions as if they are facts, it is going to take a far more Internet savvy person to know what is a reliable source for factual information.

Honestly, I don't feel that all these things are going to dramatically change libraries. I've had to instruct far too many of our customers on how to click a mouse to think that this will become that life altering. (I know I've had exposure to a computer since the early-mid 1980s, and I can't imaging I was any more 'privileged' than the average person, being a child of welfare.) We will still need to have our 'oldie but goodie' print sources. (Google is not the best source to find out who was the Emperor of Italy when Pope Innocent II was Pope... but there is a great book that will tell you quite easily! Thanks Cat Lady)

As always, with the good comes the bad. I've used an Internet community to locate some of my old friends of whom I've lost track over the years. Yay My Space! However, I've also been exposed to some really awful disgusting people on My Space who liked to wax poetic about their nether regions much to my disgust. (Yay discovering My Space filtering options!)

I do think that there are some benefits of web 2.0, but will it revolutionize the world... I doubt it. Course, I've been wrong before!

And then, there is another YAY! Cuz now I've done 15 things and only 8 more to go! And rumor has it that this was the worst week! So it should be smooth sailing from here!

Learning to play

Kittens 077
Originally uploaded by Chickens Amuck

After some threats by my co-workers, I got some new pictures on my flickr account. Here we have "Ed" tagging "Makita" while "Runt" is a cautious observer. Don't let this picture fool you... "Runt" is usually the instigator for all the play fights.