The most startling thing I learned with these 2.0 steps is how opinionated I am about what I want in my library and what I do NOT want. I thought I would be more tentative because I am so new to this profession, but as I went through 2.0, I found things I will NOT use in the library, things I plan to use, and things I have already used.
I KNOW I will use image generators. I KNOW I will use Wordle and other "fun" technology that will help the librarian be visually inviting to the students. These things I have discovered through 2.0. At the same time, I can't say I WON'T use other applications, but right now, I don't see an application for Skype and blogs in Murray High School Media Center as it exists right now. At the same time, I realize the danger of saying "never" because times change. The nature of MHS library might be entirely different in two years than it is right now. Technology is changing so very quickly, and I am committed to keep the library up-to-date with applicable technological advantages. I appreciate having exposure to those things so that if the opportunity presents itself, I can implement them as part of my library program.
I have appreciated hearing the class opinions as to what they see is applicable. Although many of the opinions are different from how I feel, they have helped me see applications and possibilities that I could never have thought of on my own.Thanks for all of your input. My library will be better because of 2.0 and all of you!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wordle
Free audiobook downloads
Netlibrary is a great tool for downloading free audiobooks. I also spent quite a bit of time looking for other sites since our faculty is VERY interested in this feature. Other sites I have found for both audio and ebooks include:
Downloads for MP3 players--except iPods:http://pioneer.utah.gov/digital/netlibrary.html Downloads that ARE iPod compatible:http://fcit.usf.edu/ (Then click on lit2go.)
World Book Encyclopedia (available through pioneer.org) also has an ebook library.
Most public libraries now have free audiobook downloads--you access them through the library websites--all you need is a library card.
A final site to look is on Sony. Not only does it have free audio books and ebooks, but it has links for sites that have iPod compatible downloads.
Downloads for MP3 players--except iPods:http://pioneer.utah.gov/digital/netlibrary.html Downloads that ARE iPod compatible:http://fcit.usf.edu/ (Then click on lit2go.)
World Book Encyclopedia (available through pioneer.org) also has an ebook library.
Most public libraries now have free audiobook downloads--you access them through the library websites--all you need is a library card.
A final site to look is on Sony. Not only does it have free audio books and ebooks, but it has links for sites that have iPod compatible downloads.
Thoughts about YouTube
My kids are crazy about YouTube. My students are crazy about YouTube. My nieces and nephews are crazy about YouTube. I am not crazy about YouTube, but then I think it really is a generational thing. I DO appreciate YouTube and what it does, but I am not about to spend hours pursing its offerings.
Some things I DO like about YouTube are the following: my husband posts home movies on YouTube that are not available to the public. Our family has access--nobody else. He does this so that our daughter who is going to school in DC can see what all of her crazy siblings have been doing while she is gone. It is the "next best thing to being there." Between cell phones where we talk at least once a day and YouTube, she is as connected as can be considering all of the miles between all of us.
I also like some of the videos that are on YouTube that are about our "adopted" daughter, Sutton Foster. As a Tony winner and Broadway star, Sutton is very busy with her professional life. However, she is also overly humble. She doesn't tell us a whole lot about her accomplishments or public concerts. Our family will often search YouTube just to see what she has been doing in the professional world.
Another thing I like about YouTube is that my children will often show me things that they think are funny on YouTube. It is another way for us to stay connected. One of our favorites is a clip with Madonna. We aren't Madonna fans, but we LOVE this clip. The URL is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrbvNNUKrA Check it out. It is great fun!
Some things I DO like about YouTube are the following: my husband posts home movies on YouTube that are not available to the public. Our family has access--nobody else. He does this so that our daughter who is going to school in DC can see what all of her crazy siblings have been doing while she is gone. It is the "next best thing to being there." Between cell phones where we talk at least once a day and YouTube, she is as connected as can be considering all of the miles between all of us.
I also like some of the videos that are on YouTube that are about our "adopted" daughter, Sutton Foster. As a Tony winner and Broadway star, Sutton is very busy with her professional life. However, she is also overly humble. She doesn't tell us a whole lot about her accomplishments or public concerts. Our family will often search YouTube just to see what she has been doing in the professional world.
Another thing I like about YouTube is that my children will often show me things that they think are funny on YouTube. It is another way for us to stay connected. One of our favorites is a clip with Madonna. We aren't Madonna fans, but we LOVE this clip. The URL is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrbvNNUKrA Check it out. It is great fun!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Online applications and Tools
This week we looked into online applications such as ZoHo and Google Docs. Google Docs was my favorite. I wonder why I even bothered to buy Microsoft Office Suite after looking at Google Docs. I especially like how I can access my documents from any computer when I use this online application. My very favorite part of Google Docs was the templates. I have this "thing" about templates. I usually don't use the template itself because it isn't structured exactly like I usually need, but I like to use it as a catalyst for designing my own page layout.
I also explored the Web 2.0 Awards list. When I first went to the list, I was expecting five or six websites. Instead, I got a long list with a wide variety of topics. My favorite site wasn't even a winner--it got an honorable mention. It is http://www.onesentence.org. This URL leads to single sentences that are hysterical--but then I am a word person. I love to see what others do with words.
Another site I liked from the awards list is http://wufoo.com/. Wufoo makes surveys and sends them online to people you want to question. It has a wide variety of options. I especially like how many of the examples are humorous. I plan to use this site when I plan my family reunion this summer.
I also explored the Web 2.0 Awards list. When I first went to the list, I was expecting five or six websites. Instead, I got a long list with a wide variety of topics. My favorite site wasn't even a winner--it got an honorable mention. It is http://www.onesentence.org. This URL leads to single sentences that are hysterical--but then I am a word person. I love to see what others do with words.
Another site I liked from the awards list is http://wufoo.com/. Wufoo makes surveys and sends them online to people you want to question. It has a wide variety of options. I especially like how many of the examples are humorous. I plan to use this site when I plan my family reunion this summer.
Monday, March 2, 2009
RSS and Newsreaders
I am NOT enthusiastic about this topic. The thought of getting news without paying for it is a little hard for me to stomach considering my husband Steve's occupation. Steve is an editor at the Deseret Morning News. Like many newspapers throughout the country, the Deseret Morning News is quickly losing revenues. Part of it is because of the economy. Most of it is because of the internet and television. Even with 25 years of seniority at the Deseret News, we have been carefully watching the layoffs. We have been worried about Steve's position for almost a year. Now before you say that newspapers need to keep up with the times, keep in mind that they are trying. Most of them are now online and are actively finding alternate ways to get revenue. However, most internet users want their news FREE. They don't stop to think that someone has to pay for the service that is being provided. Online advertising is the only way for newspapers to get compensation for the service they provide every time someone logs on to their site without a subscription. The scary thing is that most people don't realize that if they eliminate newspapers, the face of news changes tremendously: most television and internet sites rely on newspapers. If newspapers go, the other news sources suffer tremendously, and the public doesn't have the extensive, balanced news that they are accustomed to having.
I understand why RSS and newsreaders are so "valuable" for readers, but the fact that even the 2.0 segment proudly proclaimed that readers can now get news without advertising leaves me to wonder if in their quest for easy, free news, readers are inadvertently and systematically getting rid of news. Just last week two major papers folded. More closures are to come.
I signed up for the RSS just because it was part of the assignment, but I won't be using it. It is a matter of principle: I'd rather have my husband (and all of the journalists just like him) have a job. News without advertising? Somebody has to pay--and it should be the readers--even if their payment means they just have to deal with the advertisements that are posted to the side of the story. What a sacrifice!!!!
I understand why RSS and newsreaders are so "valuable" for readers, but the fact that even the 2.0 segment proudly proclaimed that readers can now get news without advertising leaves me to wonder if in their quest for easy, free news, readers are inadvertently and systematically getting rid of news. Just last week two major papers folded. More closures are to come.
I signed up for the RSS just because it was part of the assignment, but I won't be using it. It is a matter of principle: I'd rather have my husband (and all of the journalists just like him) have a job. News without advertising? Somebody has to pay--and it should be the readers--even if their payment means they just have to deal with the advertisements that are posted to the side of the story. What a sacrifice!!!!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Tags, Del.icio.us, and other ways to organize randomness!
This week the 2.0 assignment was to explore different types of tags. Now I've always been a very organized person, so I was very curious to see how other people organize their "stuff." It was also interesting to see what types of things they wanted to cling on to and organize. I particularly liked Del.icio.us.com. The tags were easy to follow and there was a wide-range of topics to explore. I spent some time looking at the tags that came up when I searched the term "library." One tag took me to DeliciousMonster.com. That site made me wish I had more time to organize my "stuff" online.
My favorite tag on Del.icio.us was a tag titled "Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki." I could tell that the mind that organized this tag was a VERY serious librarian. There were several offerings here that made me stop and consider and then take notes.
I only have two complaints about tagging. First, I didn't even know this existed until this week--which makes me feel even more internet illiterate than I did before. Second, not everyone organizes like I do--and they should! Third, I felt like I was peeking into the workings of some people's minds when I got to see what they considered noteworthy and how they organized their "stuff."
My favorite tag on Del.icio.us was a tag titled "Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki." I could tell that the mind that organized this tag was a VERY serious librarian. There were several offerings here that made me stop and consider and then take notes.
I only have two complaints about tagging. First, I didn't even know this existed until this week--which makes me feel even more internet illiterate than I did before. Second, not everyone organizes like I do--and they should! Third, I felt like I was peeking into the workings of some people's minds when I got to see what they considered noteworthy and how they organized their "stuff."
Friday, February 13, 2009
Image Generators are too much fun!
I must admit that of all the assignments we have had from 2.0 so far, this one was my favorite. I can understand why the assignment's name is "play". . . which is exactly what I did once I figured out what an image generator was.I've seen countless images that must have been created using image generators, but I never understood how people went about making them. I figured that since the images looked so good, they must have been very difficult to make. Boy, was I ever wrong!
I cannot believe how many options there are out there and how easy it is to make professional looking images. I see countless opportunities to use image generators in the library--in fact I'll be using some in new displays this coming week.
By the way, the image to the right is my favorite creation out of all of the ones I did while exploring image generators. Don't feel bad if you don't understand it; it is based on a joke that my sweetheart and I have shared for 27 years!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Skypes
I signed up for Skypes this week. I can't say that I am an expert--or even a novice on it, because I don't have a camera or microphone. At the same time, I have family members who use it all the time, and I have been party to it when they have been talking to their children who live out of state.
My sister uses Skype to keep tabs on her new granddaughter's growth. She and her daughter skype nightly instead of talking on the phone. She says that it means much more to her than just the phone call because she can SEE how her daughter is doing, enjoy her son-in-law's great wit, and watch her granddaughter grow. At the same time, the skype is a huge blessing in these uncertain economic times because the daily visits don't cost anything additional.
My own daughter goes to George Washington University. Although we see her every few months and talk to her everyday, it would be nice to SEE her daily. When my husband found out I was looking at Skype this week, he said he would look into getting all of the necessary hardware.
All of the above is personal information. I still haven't figured out a professional application, but it is somewhere in there!
Here's to great technology!
My sister uses Skype to keep tabs on her new granddaughter's growth. She and her daughter skype nightly instead of talking on the phone. She says that it means much more to her than just the phone call because she can SEE how her daughter is doing, enjoy her son-in-law's great wit, and watch her granddaughter grow. At the same time, the skype is a huge blessing in these uncertain economic times because the daily visits don't cost anything additional.
My own daughter goes to George Washington University. Although we see her every few months and talk to her everyday, it would be nice to SEE her daily. When my husband found out I was looking at Skype this week, he said he would look into getting all of the necessary hardware.
All of the above is personal information. I still haven't figured out a professional application, but it is somewhere in there!
Here's to great technology!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Wikis: what I learned
I've learned several things this week as I've explored Wikis. The most important thing I've learned is that I know very little about the internet. I was delusional: I thought that since I could navigate the internet, I was internet literate. This class and the 2.0 lessons have opened my eyes to the fact that I actually know very little about what the internet offers that might be useful to me.
The second thing I learned is that Wikis come in more forms and sizes than just Wikipedia. The thing that has always bugged me the most about Wikipedia comes from my years of teaching research skills to high school and college students: they often consider Wikipedia the source of all information, rather than the place to begin with background information before they start more scholarly research. Don't get me wrong: Wikipedia definitely has a very valuable place in researching, but it isn't EVERYTHING!
It is interesting to me that the very thing that makes Wikipedia a less reliable source for research is the very thing that makes other Wikis valuable. That thing is the reader's ability to edit and add to the Wiki site. Wikipedia, for the most part, does a good job presenting and documenting its information; however, not all documentation is correct or all sources reliable. At the same time, there are other Wikis that find strength in presenting an open forum where readers can easily share ideas and opinions. I liked the Wiki required for this week's 2.0 assignment. Its users were people who shared common professions, goals, and aspirations. The result was a Wiki forum that presented some excellent (and fun) ideas.
I contemplated for a while the reason that Wikipedia doesn't really appeal to me, yet others I find useful and exciting. I think it comes down to this: Wikipedia presents its information as fact, not opinion. Other Wikis (the ones I like) present their contents as a bunch of individuals presenting their ideas and opinions. These offerings aren't given as if they were the one and only fact, instead they are presented as if you wandered into the middle of a conversation involving a bunch of knowledgeable thinkers who are willing to share their ideas and consider others. I like that. It is like having an on-line support group!
I look forward to considering ways that Wikis can positively affect my job and my library patrons.
The second thing I learned is that Wikis come in more forms and sizes than just Wikipedia. The thing that has always bugged me the most about Wikipedia comes from my years of teaching research skills to high school and college students: they often consider Wikipedia the source of all information, rather than the place to begin with background information before they start more scholarly research. Don't get me wrong: Wikipedia definitely has a very valuable place in researching, but it isn't EVERYTHING!
It is interesting to me that the very thing that makes Wikipedia a less reliable source for research is the very thing that makes other Wikis valuable. That thing is the reader's ability to edit and add to the Wiki site. Wikipedia, for the most part, does a good job presenting and documenting its information; however, not all documentation is correct or all sources reliable. At the same time, there are other Wikis that find strength in presenting an open forum where readers can easily share ideas and opinions. I liked the Wiki required for this week's 2.0 assignment. Its users were people who shared common professions, goals, and aspirations. The result was a Wiki forum that presented some excellent (and fun) ideas.
I contemplated for a while the reason that Wikipedia doesn't really appeal to me, yet others I find useful and exciting. I think it comes down to this: Wikipedia presents its information as fact, not opinion. Other Wikis (the ones I like) present their contents as a bunch of individuals presenting their ideas and opinions. These offerings aren't given as if they were the one and only fact, instead they are presented as if you wandered into the middle of a conversation involving a bunch of knowledgeable thinkers who are willing to share their ideas and consider others. I like that. It is like having an on-line support group!
I look forward to considering ways that Wikis can positively affect my job and my library patrons.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Flickr mashups
Flickr is a great image hosting site. http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/2006/08/5-discover-flickr.html It contains an easy way to store, sort, edit (photoshop type thing), send, and manipulate images. For library applications, think about students sharing images on certain research topics or components in the school. For librarians, there is a really fun part that is called "Librarian trading cards." Librarians can create their own trading cards that include photos/images, plus facts about the librarian and/or his/her library. Librarians in trading cards?! It puts us right up there with sports stars and super heros! Check it out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/librariantradingcard/clusters/ I haven't completed one yet because I am still getting used to the idea of trading part of myself with strangers, but it is a fun idea.
Another fun idea is the Montager. It reminds me of something my daughter would get into. She is always creating art out of unlikely objects and images. It allows the user to create montages out of a collection of photos in the database. The user can search for the correct images by using color, image, or density as the requirement. The link shows a great example: http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php
Another fun idea is the Montager. It reminds me of something my daughter would get into. She is always creating art out of unlikely objects and images. It allows the user to create montages out of a collection of photos in the database. The user can search for the correct images by using color, image, or density as the requirement. The link shows a great example: http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php
Library displays Part 1
People really do judge a book by its cover
"Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them." --Samuel Butler
Once upon a time there was a sad, lonely library. It wasn't old or worn down but rath
er was a newer library in a high school that was only a few years old. It was spacious, with tall ceilings, lots of windows, and couches and tables grouped to invite students to stay a while. Banks of computers filled one side, and a reading area with periodicals filled the other.
But there was a popular misconception about the library: people thought the library didn't have very many books. Books were not easily accessible! All of the library's wide-open spaces meant the book stacks were hidden in the back of the library. Look at the photo -- you can almost see them back there.
But that problem might also have helped bring about a solution. A television production company that rented the school during the summer moved into the library and turned it into a movie set. A Hollywood set designer was in charge of that transformation.
Eventually, when the time came for the television folk to leave, that same set designer and the librarian came up with a plan to liberate the books! Set pieces were sold, and some donated, to the library. The designer placed them such that students coming into the library were not just invited by the open space, but by books -- and not just rows of book spines, but the front of books, with their titles and inviting cover art easy to see.
The look is quite different. The difference in student traffic into the library was immediate. It turns out the idea of displaying the books instead of just having a library space to store them is an idea with both science and art behind it.
The next post will explain some of both of those components. In the meantime, the photos will start telling that story.
People really do judge a book by its cover
"Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them." --Samuel Butler
Once upon a time there was a sad, lonely library. It wasn't old or worn down but rath
er was a newer library in a high school that was only a few years old. It was spacious, with tall ceilings, lots of windows, and couches and tables grouped to invite students to stay a while. Banks of computers filled one side, and a reading area with periodicals filled the other.But there was a popular misconception about the library: people thought the library didn't have very many books. Books were not easily accessible! All of the library's wide-open spaces meant the book stacks were hidden in the back of the library. Look at the photo -- you can almost see them back there.
But that problem might also have helped bring about a solution. A television production company that rented the school during the summer moved into the library and turned it into a movie set. A Hollywood set designer was in charge of that transformation.
Eventually, when the time came for the television folk to leave, that same set designer and the librarian came up with a plan to liberate the books! Set pieces were sold, and some donated, to the library. The designer placed them such that students coming into the library were not just invited by the open space, but by books -- and not just rows of book spines, but the front of books, with their titles and inviting cover art easy to see.
The look is quite different. The difference in student traffic into the library was immediate. It turns out the idea of displaying the books instead of just having a library space to store them is an idea with both science and art behind it.
The next post will explain some of both of those components. In the meantime, the photos will start telling that story.
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