Thing 10 - Tags are Delicious

I've done tagging with photos on Facebook, but that's about it. I liked using it in Flickr to find pics I was looking for. I went and tagged all my blog posts. I used the tags: Me, 23 Things, Blogs, Mormons, Weight Loss, Travel, Family, I Love My Library, Emily, and Frustrations. If I need to find something I blogged about, hopefully these tags will do the trick. Tags are like cataloging (as the instructions said) but even better because you get to pick the keywords or language to find things. In cataloging you have to guess whether the keyword has an s or an ism at the end, for example. But since you make the keywords, you know what to type in to bring up what you want. Of course that is, if you've tagged it correctly.

Then I did Delicious. I made an account, very easy. I put about 10 sites on that I visit daily. I don't use too many sites and I am either on my work computer or home computer, so we'll see if I use it. I'm going to Alabama in April and would probably use it there. When camping I might use it, since my Dad brings a laptop, but you never know if campsites will have wireless or not. Sometimes the ranger's office will have an open signal and you can use that. I thing Delicious is cool. We have a Great Links page on our Library's website and this would be good to have on Delicious. With tagging, we would most assuredly find other 'Great Links' which could help patrons and staff. We had a staff member who use to go searching for good web sites and he would bookmark them on one of the Reference desk computers. However if you were sitting at the second Ref desk computer, you didn't have them there. So if it was web based on Delicious, then you would have traveling bookmarks. Get it, I was just talking about traveling, and the bookmarks travel too. Oh no! Dan is starting rub off on me. Help!

Thing 9 - Sliding Around

My family starting camping a few years ago and got hooked. Here is a slideshow of some of our adventures. I used Rock You, because I've used it to make slideshows on my MySpace page. I already had an account and one less new password to remember was good.

Thing 8 - Alternative Means of Communicating

So luckily I had already done all of these things before. I'm not much into chat, I'm all about the phone if you have to talk and you're not next to each other. But really, I don't like the phone either. I'm all for old-fashioned talking face to face. However communicating through technology when face to face isn't possible is great! When my sister's where in high school, they were always chatting online with random strangers that soon became boyfriends (I don't know what my parents were thinking.) Sometimes they'd have to run to the bathroom and I'd pretend to be them or just be myself (as I got to know some of them after they came for visits-some staying on my couch-or I drove my sister to them-what was I thinking?) Emily and I decided to set up Google Talk. We had fun for a day iming each other since our offices are on opposite sides of the library. I have also used the chat function in Facebook. Whenever I'm on Facebook (usually trying to upload pics) people will message me. This is hard because the uploading pic feature covers up most of the im box, but that is a complaint for another post. I also do AskALibrarian. While I think the service is good, I'm not a huge fan. Most people want to know something specific to their own library and think I'm sitting in their library. Half the time I end up telling them to contact their own branch because I can find the answer on their library's website. Other people ask for answers to their homework or big long involved questions that I find very difficult to do when not face to face. The reference transaction is harder, you can't see facial expressions, hear tone, etc. I'm glad Florida offers it, but its not really my thing.

So texting. I'm not a texter. I only see the need for this when you are in a place you can't talk, like class, and you need to find out something from someone. Or you are bored in class and you need something to keep you awake. I do it on occasion, because several friends and family are big texters. My sister does it while driving, SCARY! The money issue comes into it to. Some people have unlimited texting with their plans, while their phone minutes are limited, so its more cost effective to text. I could pay $5 a month for unlimited text, but I do so little, I just pay 15 cents a text and have only gone over $5 once. So not cost effective for me, but I'm sure it is for others. I know UF uses texts to send out campus wide alerts, like closing for a hurricane. Which is a really fast and effective way to reach kids, cause they always have their phones. So texting has its purposes, but not for me. Texting kids about library programs would be cool.

I have partcipated in a few web conferences. They involved my phone and computer and most allowed me to ask questions over the phone. I think this is by far the best form of communication of the three discussed. It is such a great way to get info out there, without having to do all the expensive and time consuming travel. You can have people all over the country in on the same meeting. It is sooo awesome! The only problem is that many people don't understand what they are doing and time gets wasted helping people fix their technology problems. On one occasion the technology wasn't working for anybody and they had to cancel the class. That is a downside, but when it works, its fabulous.

Thing 7 - Generators are Sucking the Life from Me

I have persevered through 5 frustrating, agonizing, laughing at myself, hair pulling, feet stomping, silent cursing, air punching hours working on Thing 7. I am extremely excited that I finally got what I wanted, mostly. This is the mosaic representing the tools I've used during my time with 23 Things.

I went to BigHugeLabs.com first, saw the Mosaic Maker, and tried doing that. It didn't like any of my photos, so I tried The Generator Blog. I looked around there, tried Collage, but all the pics turned out fuzzy. Although, I did have fun doing my Mormon name and typing on an Absolut Vodka bottle. Image Chef had nothing that caught my eye. My friend did a cartoon of me on Toon Do about my frustrations with the computer (see http://crazycanuck-esj.blogspot.com/) so I didn't want to repeat. I decided to try Mosaic Maker again. After three hours I finally got results.

I made an account with them and with Flickr. I tried every option they give to upload photos. I uploaded all the photos I wanted into Flickr so they'd have a flickr url, no. I tried putting them all in a Flickr set, no. I tried tagging them all, no. Then I broke down and looked for all new photos on Flickr and marked the ones I wanted (not exactly what I wanted) as My Favs. Eureka!! A few pics might need explanation. I wanted NEFLIN's logo, but couldn't find that on Flickr, so I put NEFLIN into Flickr and got pics from a recent meeting. In one of the pics is my friend and NEFLIN people I've met. The girl trying to pull her hair out, is a little glimpse of what I've looked like while doing this Thing.

Even though I was frustrated for most of this, I did learn a lot about these programs and now know more about the things that are out there. I could see using this in advertising programs for the library, but I won't be trying that anytime soon. My knowledge of Web 2.0 has definitely risen, but with it so has my blood pressure. Where are those pills? On to the next Thing.

Thing 6 - Mashups are What?

That's what I think of this mashup thing. The only thing that made some sense was "An example is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real-estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source" from Wikepedia. Perhaps because my sister is trying buying a house and I've been doing the whole real estate, google maps thing. I don't really understand how some guy making a program that takes photos from flickr and spells stuff is a mashup. I guess because one source is taking something from another source to make something new. But you could just go to flickr and do it yourself, granted it would be more work. Maybe I do get it. By this guy making a program on his site, to take something from another site, he's made something new that makes my life easier. That is, if I ever use it.

Well in my trying to use this, I got a little frustrated. I didn't know how to get the HUH? into my blog. I tried copying the html and putting it straght into the compose box of a new post. That didn't work. I did it in the Edit Html box and it just pasted the goobly gunk that I'd copied. I was expecting it to just paste the letters HUH? The only reason I thought of copying the Html, since there weren't any easy insturctions on the Spell with Flickr, was because the few times I've done stuff to my MySpace page I had to do that. Anyway, I tried just copying and pasting the word HUH? and of course that didnt' work. Then I tried putting it in the Edit Html box again and clicked Compose. Ta-da! The HUH? appeared. I never have understood how to make a link or Html very well. I need to take a class.

I like sharing photos online, I think it would be fun to have pics from our programs online so people can see what they missed and try to make it next time. Unfortunately, we have to get permission from the people in the photo and have them sign a release form and its all just too much work. But I don't think this part is really about sharing, its about making something cool from pics you steal from somebody else. I guess I just don't really see the point.

Thing 4 - RSS is Cool!

So I just realized I hadn't posted about Thing 4. I did it and liked it, but must of run out of time and didn't do a post. So here it is! I have a friend who does Google Reader and love love loves it, so I picked that one. I got the blogs I follow on there and I went through the list of worldwide library blogs and added a few about young librarians, children's librarians, and utah librarians (checkin out what the Mormons are doing). Then went to the news. I did the local paper, and it gave options for which sections you'd like a feed from. I did local news, cause the rest is too depressing. Turns out that can be depressing too. Scanning the things it put on Reader, I discovered that a boy in my brother's high school was killed two nights before in a car accident. Very sad, but at least now I know and being informed is always good. Then I did Unshelved, cause sometimes its funny. Looking through the new ones put on Reader, they all deal with snow, which is fun since FL doesn't get any. Then I did LDS.com, my church website, so I can keep in the know. One of them had the option to add using Google Reader and the other two had me cut and paste the url into Reader's Add Subscription. It was super easy and now I don't wonder what RSS stands for. Wait, I think I've already forgotten. I know what it does, so I guess that's what counts. I don't really go to much else, just weather.com, floridastateparks.org, mapquest.com, my credit card websites, my bank website and facebook. I'm not sure how I can incorporate RSS into my job. I think RSS would be great on my library's website for the news section. Then people in our community who added it would know what's going on without having to visit our website. Wait, don't we want people visiting our website? Hmmm. I probably won't use it everyday, but I can see the value of such a tool.

Thing 5 - Flickr v Picasa

So I've use Flickr a tiny bit, because when one of our branches was being expanded the manager put photos of the progress on Flickr. It was okay. My way of sharing photos is Facebook. That is the main reason I use it. I like it for keeping up with friends, events, bdays, etc. too, but mostly its for sharing photos.

So I decided not to get a Flickr account, just to do Option A. I went to Flickr and looked around. The 7 days had nice, beautiful photos, but really I need personal significance to really enjoy a picture. I use Google Images a lot when I need a photo, usually of covers of books for the book lists I make. But now that I know I have another option for looking up photos in Flickr, I might use that too. I really like the way the Clemens library used Flickr for its displays. My library's public relations person reminded us that each branch has their own Flickr account if they choose to use it. However, since my branch has a blog, we've been doing pics there. This weekend I went to Arizona for a wedding (I'll blog about that next), so I looked up 'mesa temple' and got like 1000 results. Lots of them were by one guy MatthewPHX. He has a lot of editing tools and does cool things to the pics. But my fav was one by midiman. I liked it because it kinda looked like it did the day I went, I just had more sun.

The interesting thing is, that I just started using another photo sharing site. My dad, a computer guy, just gave me a new CPU and I lost my photo editing program, but luckily not the photos. So he told me to try Picasa, because he heard others say it was good. I finally got around to trying it two nights ago, because I wanted to edit some of the photos I took in Arizona. First I got the WebAlbums, which isn't what I wanted. I was talking out loud and my roommate came in and told me she uses Picasa all the time and that's not what it looks like, so she brought it up on her laptop. I realized I'd downloaded the WebAlbums and not just plain old Picasa (not old apparently, version 3). So I had the free program scan my computer for pictures and it uploaded all of them, and I'm talking thousands, in about 5 minutes. Then I started editing and oh my gosh you can do the coolest things!! I only had cropping, red eye and lightening on my other program, but there's like 50 options of things to do to these photos. The lighting wasn't good on the reception pictures becase the only lights on were white twinkle lights, but Picasa made the pictures wonderful, bright and clear. I'm in love! Also, I've been really worried about losing my digital photos, in case of a fire or my computer crashing. I have lots on Facebook, but I don't put them all there, so now I have them on Picasa and can access them from any computer. I feel safer and can't wait to hook up my Christmas present (color printer/scanner/fax/copier) so I can scan the old paper photos in those albums no one looks at (I love those Common Craft Show videos) and have them safe too. When we kept having those hurricanes in 2004, I kept all my albums in a laundry basket so I could just take them with me when a hurricane was on its way and I went to my parents bunker-like house. Now I needn't lug them around (well I won't when I get around to scanning them, hopefully I'll have it done before next hurricane season).

Thing 3 - Searching the Blogosphere

i'm getting behind on me things, so here it goes. blogosphere, what a fun word! i'm not sure that i'll really use this feature, the blogs i read are about my friends and i can barely keep up with those. kind of like i can hardly keep up with my friends. i'm not out looking for more, so why go looking for more blogs to read. i guess when my friends get too annoyed with me and go away, then i'll be looking for more friends and blogs.

i put 'mormon' (because i am one) into technorati and came up with lots of things on prop 8 when searching posts, but when searching blogs i got lots of personal blogs by mormons. i like the authority feature, but wonder who decides who has authority. the advanced search options were nice for where in the blog (title, content etc.) should the search look.

i then did google blog search and got a mixture of personal blogs and corporate/education/government. this searched posts, not blogs, but did have some blog suggestions at the top. sorting by date was nice and quite specific.

technorati just seemed to have more stuff to do. i liked the tabs at the top and all the options that brings. plus format wise, i just liked the layout and fonts of technorati better.

Thing 2 - Is Library 2.0 for Real?

I've heard of Library 2.0, spawned from Web 2.0, but I'd never seen it shortened to L2. The world has gone crazy with making everything shorter, JLo, Brangelina, <3, idk, etc. Mostly I find it annoying, can't people just spell correctly? Are you so busy that writing '2' for 'to' is really saving you that much time? I digress. However, I do think L2 is kinda cute. I think it is quite laughable that people think L2 is a trend, a passing fancy. Its here and you can't stop it, so you better get with the program.

Saying that I'm all for technology to a point. I love that my library has downloadable books to put on your MP3 player, that we have Digital books so you just add a AAA battery and headphones and you've got a story to go. I love love love our databases and the mounds of fabulous information they contain, I just wish they got used more. I get to participate in AskALibrarian once a month on a Tuesday morning. Some days I'm swamped with questions, other days I get time to tackle the piles on my desk. Our Headquarters library does email reference and sometimes forwards questions to my branch. I think its great that you can look things up on our catalog, put them on hold, renew your books, and see where you are in line for Twilight, all from the comfort of you home. Email has saved the library so much money. We just shoot you an automatic message that your book is ready to be picked up, or oops you forgot to return that new John Grisham novel. Basically, when it works, technology rocks!

However, that's not why I love being a Librarian, its not why I became one. Yes I get frustrated on a continual basis with our patrons, there are some that make me cringe when they walk through our doors, but on the whole I love them. I love helping people find information. Patrons come to us with millions of different problems, questions, concerns, and queries. From I just found out I have cancer and want to learn more about what I should expect, to my daughter is having trouble potty-training, to my son is in jail in Georgia and I need a map and directions to visit him, to I've lost my job and need to make a resume and apply for jobs online, to just plain old I need a good mystery to read. People come to us for help, they know they can't do it alone. The library is one place in your community you can go to get help, when you don't know who to go to. I love that face to face contact with my patrons and I'm pretty sure from their comments, that they love it too.

I agree with that we need to continue Library 1.0 but also bring in 2.0. Many people love all the technology we offer, but I often hear, why can't you bring back the old card catalog, I knew how to use that. I've seen people pick up a mouse like a remote, point it at a computer screen and click, expecting something to happen. I agree with Blyberg about changing the way we think, allocating monies differently, and hiring people who can compute but also interact with people. I'm just afraid that we may get ahead of ourselves. I find that many government agencies and businesses have done this by only being accessible through the Internet. You can't get food stamps with out filling out forms online, you can't call and make an appointment to update your green card, you have to schedule that online, you can't type a resume and send it in, you have to attach it to your application online. Online, online, online! No wonder people crave human contact so much, with all this being online, who has time for relationships anymore. Wait you can do that online too! Internet dating, chat rooms, IM, oh my!

I am excited to learn about these 23 Things. I've heard of about 2/3 of them. I follow several blogs, have a MySpace account which I rarely use, and a Facebook account I use often. The rest haven't had an opportunity or desire to interact with. So here's my chance. I'm excited, will probably get frustrated and wanted to smack my computer along the way, but in the end I'll have learned some stuff, and that's always a good 'thing'.

Thing 1 - The Creation of a Blog

So for those of you (my friends, enemies etc.) who read this and don't know why I've started a blog, let me enlighten you. NEFLIN a organization that offers classes for library staff (at least that's what I use it for) has started a program called 23 Things. It began in Charoltte, NC and now we're trying it here. The 'things' are different technologies that librarians encounter in their job, usually because patrons ask for our help and we end up looking like idiots because we've never heard of what they're talking about. So over the next few months, I get to try, use, interact, etc. with 23 technologies and blog about them. I have several friends (you know who you are) who have blogs that I follow, so now you have to follow mine. I plan to use the blog for the 23 Things, but also for me to vent, inform, and organize my thoughts. I chose 23 personalities, because they wanted us to put 23 somewhere in the title and because I come from a long line of crazy, so I probably have 23 personalities floating around in me somewhere.

Now for the boring stuff I have to write about my experience to get prizes. (Did I mention if I complete the 23 Things, I could get really cool prizes? Free stuff! Woohoo!) I already had a Blogger account, because my library has a blog and we were asked to get an acoount so we could read the blog and/or participate (check it out http://millhopperstaffblog.blogspot.com/). So the only hard part of that was to remember what my password was, but I got it on the second try. So then I named the blog. That was the hardest part of all. Then I picked a url which was something I use on occasion, since I'm a girl and work in a library and then my initials. Easy to remember and share. Next was picking a template. I figure I'll change it soon enough to put my own look on it, so it didn't really matter. I like green, so green it is. Now I'm going to register my blog with NEFLIN. If that works, then Thing 1 will have been a rousing success for me. If only all the Things could be this easy. Sigh.