23 at last

Done and over but of course not--the whole point is to go forward and explore, right? But the pressure is off, and now we can play.

#22: Keeping up with keeping up

It took me twenty seven tries to do something we learned about in thing #4 way back when! But at least I knew I wanted to do it--add a blog feed to my dashboard--and that counts for something, right? It seems that there were actually about six ways it could theoretically have worked, but only one was the charm. Which seems actually to be me and technology. At least I know enough to try everything!

The main thing these exersizes have instilled in me is a less immediate cringing response to the new stuff coming out daily. I am able already to help patrons in ways I was clueless to negotiate before, and have a facebook page that's kept me closer to my far-flung family (and stalked by a not-really-boyfriend from high school). I guess there is a downside to everything. I love my new bookmarks and my Delicious account, and have added some cool blogs to my dashboard that I will find profesionally and personally useful.Photo management is fun, and I loved the site that let me design my own logos. I will continue to use that and several news and weather feeds for locales that matter to me.

#21: How to manage the time you have left after 23 Things

I thought this was possibly the most practically useful segment of 23 T's so far. I can see printing out almost every aspect of the Research Project Calculator for students in our local high school/middle school, as they come to us very unsure of how to get started on their projects and reports. As they progress, they often have huge issues with sources, proper citing, and organization of materials. I especially liked the emphasis on "reliable resources" and "ethical manner" of conducting research. These are sometimes so far from younger students' ken that they really have no clue what the phrases might mean in terms of what they are supposed to turn in at a prearranged date and time.I can see this being a HUGE help for any of us to use to help these patrons.

And speaking of time management--the assignment calculator slides right into place as a great tool for first-time term paper writers and grizzled library staff equally. Really helps map out a pace and a plan.

Thing#20: Now this is more like it. And more, and more, and more...

I visited more sites than I can keep sorted out, most of them truly not useful for me in either a personal or an institutional sense. In some instances I have other known and trusted sources for the same information. Other sites take more time to navigate than the information they yield is worth to me (or any patron I can imagine.)

Some sites were fun to visit. I particularly liked the Flickr sets of "Vintage" and "Old" Children's book imagery.I also liked BookBrowse very much; it incorporated so many cool features I felt like a kid in the candy store. Reviews! Prepub info! Author interviews! Even a used book search! News items, demographic tidbits, et cetera! Even super, pertinent Links! Attached to a hefty (for me) fee! So no, I can only visit, not join. Phooey. The only other tempting service I investigated was ReadingTrails. I took several amusing excursions along other peoples' ideological highways and hitchhiked a few folks'nostalgia trips via this site. There was a trail of "books I plan to read to my children someday" that featured Edith Nesbit's entire output--I wanted to cheer . Another trail was a series of cookbooks based on childrens' authors--really fun. A few were heavy-duty academic lists generated by professors for their classes. One optomistic contributor even posted a trail titled something like "Every book I Ever Read in My Whole Life"! Fortunately, he was quite young.

As far as reviews, criticism, swaps, and all the other stuff...good to know about them, but not anything I want to do.I have other sources and limited time to putz and/or schmooze. I'd rather be reading!

As for library uses--online book communities are great for either age-or genre-related fans;I can see a very lively use for some of these communities among our patrons.For those who prefer to get their info online, the review sites would work either in-house or for patrons at home.

Thing #19: Otherwise Social

I joined Craftster on the strength of their logo: "Cheaper than therapy". I may use this contact to explore technical questions about adhesives, material sources, and other tips for collage art.

By the time I have completed the 23 Things, I may be heavily into basketweaving and broom construction, or whatever the nice quiet place I've been hauled to suggests as therapeutic these days.

Thing #18--about Face

I added a Facebook profile, harassed all my family and a friend or two (for me, these are not mutually exclusive categories--quite the reverse!)Anyhow, I'm up on some walls. I remember when this was not exactly a good thing. One wished to maintain a reputation that didn't get you posted on any walls!I joined Librarians and Facebook. Probably the most interesting thing I found out was accidentally, when I deleted my dear son-in-law's emailed invitation to join his facebook coterie. I called him and begged him to send it again so I could respond the way I meant to--of course I want to be his friend! I heard back from him by phone right away--he tried and could not re-send the invite. This actually makes me happy. Apparently, if you delete someone's request to be their friend the Facebook regulators prevent the same person from repeatedly kinda "stalking" with followup requests for unwanted "friending".(My son-in-law? I invited HIM and that worked fine.

#17 Some very odd pods out there...

This is one Thing I could learn to truly despise if I allowed myself to spend any more time with the search and exploration of Podcast World. I did as directed and checked out all the directories listed in the suggestions for this Thing. I will not access one via a feed to my blog. I didn't feel the need to be subjected to a changing stream of "stuff" where I live, even virtually . Not now, not ever, not via the ether.

I liked Podcastalley better than the others, as one could choose a genre immediately and navigate logically after that. But I strongly object being taken to a list of questionable "adult" podsites directly below (and on the same page as) the "Most Popular" listings. Yuck.

I listened to "Open stacks", "LibVib," and "WordNerds." None were engaging enough to be much more than idle prattle.

# 16, not MyTube

This is very distracting--there is just so much STUFF out there. I love Conan the Librarian--funny cats--Ninja Librarian, etc. But there is just too much that keeps me away from any kind of focus I manage to wrestle from my days.

I am in the process of chosing ANY video I can get to follow the should-be-simple-oh--gosh, no, that's me...rules included with this THING.This is my only criteria! Sorry but true.

I can see using this for library programs--say, the teen booktalks--and using a quick video or two to engage the audience's attention. But exploring it is more distraction and entertainment than useful.

Thing #15: Merrily we roll along, roll along, etc.

This Thing might be useful for any number of library applications, but with delicious and easily accessible bookmarks anyway, I probably would not use it personally at all.

I can see linking to reference sites, professional organizations, and patron interests with Rollyo.

Select...auntiedote23art(ist) sitesArmchair ScientistTravel & HotelsSearch The Web

Thing #14: Overburdened with simplicity--overorganized?

This was fun to play with--I am not sure why, but something I did a while back landed me with an Igoogle account. After checking out others, I stayed with this as it was simple--and already there. I also liked the ease of manipulating the Google calendar. I hate to go with a "brand", but there it is: the Google products really appeal to me for their user-friendly formats; whatever the tool, this seems to be true.Backpack was WAY too complex for my needs.

I can see us using the Zamzar file transfer tool alot at the library. Folks do work everywhere and come here to print their stuff out. It is heartbreaking to face a kid with a deadline and incompatible files.

Thing #13--Library Thing

This I adore. Booklists, reading groups, interest group lists, all of these could be linked with this tool to users, programmers, outreach staff,etc. and I can think of dozens of uses, both inter-and intra-library districts and systems. For my own purposes, maintaining a personal bibliography is so easy with this. if I wanted to link to others who share my choices , there I'd go, all set. I don't see me doing this; my choices are wildly eclectic, far-ranging, and have little to do with current popularity--but I can see helping a patron follow a set of interests with others' choices in a kind of "through the side door" approach to booksearching for a what-next read. Gotta love it!

Thing #12: Sticky wiki

I really enjoyed exploring the different wikis we could link to from the 23 Things site, because I could see the utility of this pathway to organizational communication as a fluid and very inclusive medium. I still don't think that in a larger context, everyone has equally valid input as a purveyor of information. A contributor's credentials are necessary to my assessment of the weight to give a reference resource in behalf of a patron or for my own purposes. As an in-house, intra- organization communicating tool, a wiki may be a super route to easily navigated, facile negotiations. However, Wikipedia as an encyclopedia for the dissemination of general information to a naive public is maybe not too cool. Of course, I use it almost every day! But not for citations--just quick peeks at a subject to set me on a fresh trail. For that, it works well.

Thing #11: I don't wanna share

I disliked digg, reddit, mixx, and newsvine--I am capable of filtering my own media searches and have enough to do sorting through general author/editorial bias where the source is purported to be accurate and vetted as such. To waste time entertaining "everyone's" opinion seems a squandering of my time beyond anything I'm willing to consider. In addition, Reddit was even offensive in the language allowed--I was beyond annoyed to have been asked to consider this as a legitimate tool for anything but idle braindoodling.

I explored the NYT site, and found articles of interest I might have been willing to share comments about, but was asked to sign in to yet one more site, and this I would not do for a privilege I deem questionable at best. Therefore, I hopped to the G'ville Sun and shared something inane to Delicious, where I am already registered.

I can see no earthly use for social media sites in my job parameters.Not to be negative or anything... O, well!

Thing #10: Strange tastes--delicious to me

I actually loved this exercise, as it gave me a chance to acknowledge and visit my preferred sites. I see that juxtaposed, these may strike someone else as a bit unnerving, but they exactly represent my interests, and I find for the first time during the "23" stuff that this may be extremely useful for my purposes.

For instance, I find that I need to use preschool sites at least weekly to supplement the programs I do for work. Delicious makes it very easy to check my preferred URL's. The other bookmarks make pursuing personal research a breeze and a pleasure, while helping me track others investigating the obscure and/or esoteric subjects I am following. I found the tool easy to use, the directions very clear, and the process blessedly uncomplicated. Yay!

Thing #9

Thing #9 was a BEAST with Picturetrail. I needed support and advice and thanks to my team here at work, I had to do it 6 times wrong over 4 days but finally got it!

I can certainly see that this will be useful for posting photo albums of programs or outreach events to share. Picturetrail was the tool i used and i found it cumbersome and tricky--but that might just be me.

Thing #8

I spent way too much time in OPAL. At our library, we use email for the usual communications and also for the Ask-a-Librarian staffing slots.I have used IM in the past, when my children lived in Russia and letters were iffy; before they left for their two-year stint, they set up my home computer so that we could talk almost every day. It was so odd--we talked more when they were halfway around the world than we ever did when they lived at home!

While exploring OPAL, I visited a couple of Library of Congress exhibits--their printed ephemera and broadsides collection and an exhibit of book illustration from 1880-1930, which included some pioneeering female illustrators. These were available through the visual arts link on the OPAL offerings list.

This opens up too many possibilities...this is always a situation that freaks me out. Yikes--where's my Old Skool shield? the dragons are approaching.

ImageChef

ImageChef

Thing #7

This was the most fun--loved using image chef to create my own image. However, not so much fun posting it...had to play with cut and paste, desktop save, direct send--I am still not sure which method got it to auntiedote23!

Thing #6

My creation,
originally uploaded by meredith.henry66.

I guess my thinking about "old school" has nothing to do with this kind of Old Skool! But I liked the shield; I feel it is something to protect me from the dragons around the corner. All those Things!

Science Museum, London09.jpg

Science Museum, London09.jpg,
originally uploaded by astropop.

This is too much and exactly enough; i love the elegance of the transparent anatomy arranged so classically. How were these done? Wax, perhaps? To think that they could melt and become a simple puddle of colors...the idea of mutability fascinates me. I suppose this is the fascination of the web, and it could truly be addicting--the coalescence and dispersion of elements in ever- fluctuating combination could hold one's attention for a very long time.

Thing #4

This is useful information for me because it enables me to limit somewhat therelentless stream of information and tailor it to my own needs; it is a way to turn off the faucet to a reasonable stream that suits me best. Onward---

Auntiedote

Thing #3

Too much chatter; not enough substance; it seems there is so much insinuation and innuendo and straightforward posturing on all of these sites that purport to help one follow a line of inquiry. I dislike the plethora of claims-to-be information. However, it did seem that the google blogsearch tool was more effective--when I did a search for "whale evolution', it yielded 34,888 sites to Technorati's 265. Full speed ahead!

Auntidote

Thing #2

It seems to me that 2.0 is a way for everyone to have input to the Web; how very democratic...I have a few misgivings. It may actually become harder to distinguish valid viewpoints from blather. I hope this works as it is supposed to, but unintended consequences can be grave. Ask whales about sonar. Fabulous tool, but it interferes so badly with the elegant, supremely adequate and delicate communication mechanisms embodied in this magnificent organism that the technnology is incompatible with the whales' very lives.
I would not make a direct analogy--of course I don't think 2.0 is a killer! However, i do know that lots and lots and lots of input and distraction and invitation to communicate with unknowns make me cross and less inclined to follow a research or story line--not more. Perhaps I am needing to go on with this and become more familiar and less wary.

Auntiedote

Thing 1: integration, evolution: motivation

There is one resonant idea that stays with me after reading all the rationales for implementing the "23 Things" project, as outlined by proponents and experts in our collective pre-registration reading. This is that current technology is not progressing in a series of disjointed and disrupting "upgrades", lurching forward(?) awkwardly, but rather evolving in a process of growth, inclusion, and integration. It is, therefore, a dynamic and constantly changing entity that incorporates our endlessly inventive human questions and goals into its manifold interfaces with us! This is a very new way of thinking, for me; I had always thought of the machinery and corresponding instructional material as burdensome but ultimately useful tool sets. I had not attached a philosophy to them. I simply used what was necessary to enable me to accomplish the tasks we tackle daily as library employees. I have been aware of the recreational aspects of technology without wishing to invite this tantalus of impossible choices into my own home. I am a bit of an iconoclast. I don't even take pictures while on vacations--I'd rather always be entirely in my life's moments, not recording them.

This said--how wonderful to be able to think in this new way, as the tools themselves become for the new users (and the newly initiated) a part of the whole fabric of connection between what we aspire to and what we can accomplish or become.This way of contemplating the technology proliferating in all our lives is intriguing, and makes a kind of hopeful sense to me.

Perhaps my strongest impetus to explore web technology via "23 Things" is someone whose first image was transmitted to us digitally, across oceans--my small Chinese-born niece. Seven years old, engaging, sociably adept and unreasonably bright, she is a star in my life.She is totally at home in her totally wired, thoroughly American environment--attached to her Webkin pets and a champ at WII bowling. She has a plethora of hand-held games that accompany her everywhere--and which she invites all her sattelite people to play with her. These acoutrements do not isolate her: they are tools for imaginative play, the ultimate appropriate activity for a seven-year-old. Through her parents' digital missives, I can see her latest art work (she's talented, too). I can celebrate her latest triumph with her real pink sparkly kidsized bowling ball at the real alley several states away. So--a reason to perservere! I need to keep up with this savvy, tuned-in new techie. She is the next generation and I aim to do right by her--and her cohorts, my patrons.