I'm finished, but there's still so much left to do. Even though I've met today's deadline, there are videos from participants that I haven't had time to watch - I still want to do that. And I want to go back and further explore some of the sites we've visited and applications we've tried out, several of which I plan to use in my upcoming work. Lots of people have added themselves to Twitter and I want to go back and browse, and I want to take a look at some of the blogs I didn't have a change to catch up on.
This has been an enjoyable program, and I'm glad I made the effort to do it. I will be encouraging any of my staff who haven't finished, to finish it - and maybe provide my own incentive for their completion. Maybe we'll try to have some sort of regular technology information meeting in 2009, or at least a few minutes to touch base on technology at our regular staff meetings. But there definitely should be some sort of Phase II for 2009.
a girl who grew up in The Land of Sky Blue Waters
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
MOLDI - Needs a new name
Who ever decided this was a good name, please? Yes, I know what it stands for, but please, what can people be thinking? Here's this great concept with a yucky acronym. People, people we've got to be more creative than this! New L&P initiative - find an online acronym generator and give a reward out to anyone who finds the most ATTRACTIVE name for a great program - Please.
Besides all that...I am a great fan of Books on CD, and before that Books on Tape. I have about a 30 minute drive to and from work and sometimes I think that's when my best reading gets done. We're always stocked with BOCD when we travel, and my DD likes to listen to them at night when she goes to bed. She an probably recite the entire story of Winnie-the-Pooh by heart, and in an English accent. But while I browse the digital collection (I refuse to use THAT name) every so often, I haven't been particularly interested in downloading anything. My library card is full, and my car is stocked, and there are books piled beside my bed and the couch. I'm at my limit. If I didn't spend 45+ hours in a library all day, it might be more of an incentive for me. In fact I've often thought that if I didn't work in a library, how would I fit library time in to my life? So for non-library staff, this can be a great alternative.
Reading a book on my laptop would be ok, except I try not to take my laptop everywhere with me. And you just know the battery would die just as I was getting to the good part of the book. That's what put me off buying any type of er-reader so far - the battery life. When an energy storage breakthrough is made, then I'll be first in line, but until then paper is going to be my first choice when it comes to reading material. It may be non-tech, but it fits my needs best.
My DH, in fact, has downloaded several books from this program and is quite happy with it. He thinks the software can be a bit of a pain, but then that's the IT world - there are always glitches. But for the purposes of Learn & Play, I have downloaded Dog Years: a memoir by Mark Doty. And in audio format I've downloaded Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: the calamitous 14th century.
Besides all that...I am a great fan of Books on CD, and before that Books on Tape. I have about a 30 minute drive to and from work and sometimes I think that's when my best reading gets done. We're always stocked with BOCD when we travel, and my DD likes to listen to them at night when she goes to bed. She an probably recite the entire story of Winnie-the-Pooh by heart, and in an English accent. But while I browse the digital collection (I refuse to use THAT name) every so often, I haven't been particularly interested in downloading anything. My library card is full, and my car is stocked, and there are books piled beside my bed and the couch. I'm at my limit. If I didn't spend 45+ hours in a library all day, it might be more of an incentive for me. In fact I've often thought that if I didn't work in a library, how would I fit library time in to my life? So for non-library staff, this can be a great alternative.
Reading a book on my laptop would be ok, except I try not to take my laptop everywhere with me. And you just know the battery would die just as I was getting to the good part of the book. That's what put me off buying any type of er-reader so far - the battery life. When an energy storage breakthrough is made, then I'll be first in line, but until then paper is going to be my first choice when it comes to reading material. It may be non-tech, but it fits my needs best.
My DH, in fact, has downloaded several books from this program and is quite happy with it. He thinks the software can be a bit of a pain, but then that's the IT world - there are always glitches. But for the purposes of Learn & Play, I have downloaded Dog Years: a memoir by Mark Doty. And in audio format I've downloaded Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: the calamitous 14th century.
PodCasts - LIS News
Here I've been in tune with some of the latest technology along, and didn't ever really think about it. I've been reading Library and Information Science News postings for over a year, and when they added podcasting I just accepted it as an expanded version of the postings. It's like a little radio news program on what's going on in libraries, and interviews with some very interesting people that I can listen to in my office while I'm working on something else. But again, like websites, blogs, etc. I'm finding I have to be more discriminating about what I sign up for and view or read. There's just not enough time to do it all, get my job done and keep up with my family.
Monday, December 1, 2008
You tube
What can one say about Youtube that hasn't been said before, and in a thousand different ways? We all have our personal uses for it, and knowing the creative inventiveness of the human mind, it's going to develop in ways we can't even conceive of at this moment.
I love watching the old clips from the Ed Sullivan show, things I saw when I was a little girl. Does anyone remember Topo Gigio? "Eddieeee, kiss me goodnite." And the Muppet clips before there was ever a Muppet show, or Sesame Street? And then there's the Weird Al Yankovic videos - White & Nerdy, or It's all about the Pentiums, Baby. And, I confess, every now and then I'll watch Shania Twain dance on a table top with Billy Currington. Hey, I can have my shallow moments, too.
Of course, there are lots of sites that are following the trend: Flickr and Google to name just two. Go into the Google Search Engine and enter Upload Videos and 'et voila!' you have scores of places to choose from.
I've watched videos on how to cook, or make things. And then there's a special one just produced lately, where Mr. Schwaab tells us about his 10 Random Things. And for those who need a little fame, it's a great, or at least remarkable place for them to have their 15 minutes. It's a great tool to use as an interactive process between the Library and it's customers, and it's a great archive itself of humanity. What will the space aliens ever think of us?
I love watching the old clips from the Ed Sullivan show, things I saw when I was a little girl. Does anyone remember Topo Gigio? "Eddieeee, kiss me goodnite." And the Muppet clips before there was ever a Muppet show, or Sesame Street? And then there's the Weird Al Yankovic videos - White & Nerdy, or It's all about the Pentiums, Baby. And, I confess, every now and then I'll watch Shania Twain dance on a table top with Billy Currington. Hey, I can have my shallow moments, too.
Of course, there are lots of sites that are following the trend: Flickr and Google to name just two. Go into the Google Search Engine and enter Upload Videos and 'et voila!' you have scores of places to choose from.
I've watched videos on how to cook, or make things. And then there's a special one just produced lately, where Mr. Schwaab tells us about his 10 Random Things. And for those who need a little fame, it's a great, or at least remarkable place for them to have their 15 minutes. It's a great tool to use as an interactive process between the Library and it's customers, and it's a great archive itself of humanity. What will the space aliens ever think of us?
CML ToolBar
Do I have one loaded on my home laptop? What a question, of course I do! I swear, I'm searching around the CML catalog as much at home as I do at work. Probably more. ('They' don't let me out of my office much) We search around in our own catalog so much, I think we take it for granted what a great website and catalog we've got. Yes, there's room for improvement, but we've got the talented and creative people who are improving it. I've been using Firefox for quite a few years, but my husband prefers Opera. Also, if you want to try a new type of browser try SpaceTime. It's sort of a 3-D type of thing, where you can arrange and sort your search results.
Web Award tools
I hadn't really meant to leave my L&P until the last minute, and I really wanted to get the fullest exploration of each activity. But as usual, reality intervened and took over my life, and again I'm playing catch-up. However, everything in its time and place, I guess. One of the Web Awards suggested is for Geni.com, which provides a free, private forum to construct a family tree and a family history. Family members can log on and update it, and add to it, and add pictures and videos. This means that we don't have to email or snail mail this stuff back and forth, and if your family is spread over the continent as mine is, we can actually have something we can work on together. My mother is incredibly interested in having a family tree correctly built. I guess a cousin of hers put one together many years ago, and several facts were wrong. From the telephone conversations we've been having (my mother and I) lately, I have a strong feeling we'll be doing a lot of genealogy posting over the Christmas holidays...just to get everyone started. How fortuitous that I was pointed in the direction of this website just at this time.
Google Docs
This is what happens when you have your nose to the grindstone (read office desktop) and don't have the opportunity to Learn & Play like we have had in the past few months. I have worked on several projects in the past few months where having Google Docs up and running for same would have been such a boon. (love that word) And that fact that you can email documents to the account for uploading and work is just way cool. Many projects are winding down now because of the end of the year, and those fateful performance appraisals, but I'm looking forward to using Google Docs in 2009. The simplest advantage will be not having to create a document, then email it out to everyone for comment or changes, and then have them email it back and incorporate those changes. We also won't have to come from all over the county for a group work meeting - saving time and gas. We set up our phones for a conference call, put them all on speaker, and then we all log in and we can complete in an afternoon, what used to take a week or more. Does this mean I'll actually be more productive at work? Don't let Admin. know.
Adding to Learn & Play wikis
It's fun to add stuff; favorite titles, movies, music, etc. After all we all like to talk about ourselves. But really I find it much more interesting to read what everyone else has written. Agree or disagree, it's one of the reasons I've always liked working in the public library - there is just such a variety of opinions, all of them well thought out - or not.
Wiki, wiki
Doesn't the word even sound fun? Wiki, wiki, wiki... I think this is a great concept, and really like what someother libraries are doing with it. And I am really looking forward to our own CML Reader's Advisory Wiki. Because of my job responsibilties I don't have time to do the reading I used to, and I'm really hoping that the building of this RA wiki will point me towards the stuff I really, really want to read, and hope that this same wiki will be accessible by our customers. I see us reaching beyond simple online training for our customers, and showing them how to access wikis that we may have developed ourselves, or with community partners.
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