Week 10 #23

I mean, it's the last post for the 23 Things Project! It is hard to believe. Although I have been on the IHCPL committee, the 23 tasks appeared daunting to me for quite some time. I personally needed some help with a couple of the tasks- online image generators and LibraryThing- but, apart from these two things, I had no trouble completing the exercises. I was left with the thought- See, that wasn't so hard!

Personally, my favourite exercise was week 3 #5: create a free Flickr account. I have fallen in love with Flickr since first making my account while on IHCPL- for better or for worse. Flickr has allowed me to explore my interest in photography- an interest that I have never properly acknowledged over the years. I recently acquired a digital, single lens reflex camera and signed up for a photography class through Leisure Learning. I now have a new hobby! Plus, I am making friends on the other side of the globe. Flickr is definitely my social networking tool of choice.

The 23 Things project has affected my lifelong learning goals by making me more confident in my ability to learn new technological skills. As I mentioned before, one unexpected outcome of the 23 Things Project was the relative ease at which I completed the tasks.

At this point in time, one thing I really want to explore is Animoto. I saw Melanie's excellent music video featuring HCPL photos and I now want to make my own!

Stay tuned. . .

Week 9 # 22

Wowie! I am really impressed with all of the audiobooks that I have been looking at on Overdrive and on the audiobook downloading for free sites.

To be honest, I have not looked at Overdrive since the training session I had at Freeman many moons ago(!) I am pleasantly surprised with all that I have found there while browsing today. I am really impressed with the "burn to CD" option on Overdrive for music and audiobooks. While reviewing the site, I placed a hold on an audiobook title called "Buddha's teachings." Also, I came across several New Age music titles that looked interesting.

The WOWIO and LibirVox sites are both great, too. I found a title that looks interesting on LibriVox called Buddhism and Buddhists in China. On WOWIO, I found a downloadable title of English translations of Chinese poems written during the Tang dynasty.

Quite naturally, the free sites don't have any music to download. This makes Overdrive much more appealing to me. It's great to get acquainted with Overdrive once again.

Week 9 #21

Podcasts are neat because you don't have to have an Ipod to listen in. You don't even have to have Itunes, either. All you need is a Bloglines account. I did a search for podcasts on Buddhism at podcast.net and came across The Path of the Mahayana, an ongoing series of Dharma Talks and lectures by Dharma Teacher Rev. Jiun, Osho, covering the entire spectrum of Mahayana Buddhism and detailing the path and practice of the Bodhisattva. I added this to my Bloglines account. Now, just to find some time to listen!

I did a search for library and library news at podcast.net and found "Tonight at the Pritzker Military Library." This is interesting because the podcast outlines the upcoming events at the library. Also, podcasts of speaking events held at the library are available for listening. It seems that this would be very useful for HCPL branches. HCPL libraries could follow suit and make speaking events available as podcasts.

Week 9 #20

Well, well, well. It's You Tube! This site is talked about so much but I have rarely visited it. The thing I like most about it is its great collection of Jimi Hendrix film footage. Some of the Hendrix footage on You Tube is rare and unreleased, such as his performance at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1969. The Jimi Hendrix performance at the Royal Albert Hall was filmed but never released due to legal wrangling. This brief interview with Hendrix looks like it was filmed backstage, perhaps before the show. I like watching interviews and footage of Hendrix.

I think it would be neat if individual HCPL branches could upload You Tube video to their particular branch web pages. This would allow patrons to view footage of events held at a particular branch.

Jimi Hendrix Interview

If you cannot see the video, click here

Week 8 #19

Zoho Writer seems to be a very useful and helpful site for word processing. I created a small document, saved it under my account, and posted it to my blog. I tried out the other features and discovered that the site truly mirrors Microsoft Word. One of the neatest things is that you can save documents online! No more flash drives or diskettes required!!

So cool.

Treason

I created this mini paragraph on Zoho Writer:

Are there any books on treason? I patron once asked me this question. I was not sure how to answer. So I dug a little deeper and found out it was a high school history project about treason during the ancient greek and roman times.

Week 8 #18

Well, I looked around all of the social networking sites. The one that appeals the most to me is Ning. The site just plain looks attractive to me. The graphics, colors, and the page setup all look good. I made an account on Ning for an LPC exercise that never panned out. I tried to find my old account by had no luck. So, I made a new one! I will look around and possibly join a network or two.

The other social networking sites did not entirely appeal to me. The cat one looked cute not not enough to make me want to sign up. I personally loathe myspace due to all of the negative publicity surrounding it. But, I actually made an account there for the sole purpose of receiving emails from a rock group that I like(!)

Social networking has its pluses and minuses. Its pluses include making new friends from around the world. Its minuses include threats, harassment, and obscene postings from other group members. I recently cancelled my Flickr account due to to harassment (in the form of lengthy emails and comments on my photos) from another member. I know I had the option of blocking the member but I got so fed up that I wanted to end the whole thing. Yet, at the same time, I have made friends with someone who lives on the other side of the globe. So, I have mixed feelings about social networking. I made another Flickr account and started over again. It's time to begin again.

Week 7 #17

Technology makes our lives easier. Just consider the use of cell phones and the Internet. I mean, what could we do without these two technological advancements? Of course, we did function without them. However, they are so much a part of our lives that it is hard to imagine what we did in their absence.

It is interesting to see what happens when technology is not available due to technical difficulties. Sometimes, the Internet at the library goes down. Sometimes, there are solar flares or sunspots and pagers don't work. It really causes a panic when our technological advancements act up.

These momentary blips are real "wake up and smell the coffee" moments that cause us to stop and realize just how much we depend on gadgets and gizmos each day.

Week 7 # 16

I like wikis because they are a collaborative, community effort. I like Wikipedia because it has alot of information and good links. However, I have been alarmed by news stories about erroneous information and bogus credential claims by Wikipedia authors.

I logged onto the HCPL wiki and added some favorites. Also, I looked around at some of the links to other wikis. I really like the St. Joseph County Public Library's Subject Guides wiki. This is awesome. It is very informative, helpful, and user friendly. It is helpful to the patrons. I think this would work well for a branch within HCPL. A branch wiki could be linked to from the branch page.

Week 6 # 15

Library 2.0 is a shift in the way libraries operate and function in today's online world. Rick Anderson's article stresses how librarians must keep their eyes focused on the road lest they crash into an iceberg. There are practices and attitudes that we need to let go of in order to better serve the public.

Libraries need to keep up with their patrons to best serve them. Library 2.0 means being open to change and not being afraid of letting go of attitudes and behaviors that are outdated.

Week 6 #14

Technorati is just an awesome site. I found different results when typing "Learning 2.0" as a keyword search in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. I was surprised how some search results were somewhat similar while others varied widely in the number of hits just by altering the search method.

This excercise has introduced me to the wonderful world of blog searching via an Advanced search feature. Also, it is a great way to look for new and popular blogs.

Week 6 # 13

I think Delicious is an excellent way to keep track of websites. Also, it is a great way to share knowledge with other people.

I made a Delicious account. This account will be very helpful for me at the Reference desk when I need to look at all my favorite / useful websites while logged on as "circ."

Week 5 #12

I made an account with Library Elf and registered my HCPL account. I also registered my HPL card. I must say I am quite impressed with this service. Library Elf showed that one item is on hold for me at my branch. Also, it showed what was on request and even what number I was in the waiting list for DVD's.

Cool!

Week 5 # 11

I made an account with Library Thing and added some books here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Ebedelardo

I also made a widget and added it to the side of my blog.

Since some of the books in my catalog are quite dated (and even out of print), I didn't find too many folks who shared them in Library Thing. However, the comments by other members on the shared books were interesting.

Perhaps I will take some time and add more titles to my Library Thing catalog.

Week 5 #10

Here is my Avitar that I created by using Yahoo! Avitars @ http://avatars.yahoo.com/

I am on Easter Island in a horse riding outfit wearing a cool safari hat! Can't get more stylish than that!

Week 4 #9

Well, I took a stab at all of the feed / blog finding tools. I found that using the search tools was the easiest method for me to use in looking for blogs. The most confusing was Syndic8 because it was not as "polished" as the other tools. Perhaps this was due to the fact that it is an open directory of feeds submitted by users.

I was primarily searching for blogs about Tianjin, China, my wife's home town. Now Synndic8 DID find a blog about Tianjin that was under repair. It was not working. I thought this was interesting. But Technorait seemed to find the most blogs about Tianjin.

For news feeds, I find that it is most helpful to locate the feed icon located in the navigation bar of the particular site.

Week 4 #8

Bloglines is a great way to keep up with news, blogs, and Flickr photos. It is very convenient to not have to jump from one news website to another. I really like keeping up with Flickr photos of China and also with my friends' blogs

I subscribed to the RSS feed for the US Consumer Product Safety Commission Recent Recalls. This shows the latest recall information for toys and appliances. I like keeping up with this information.

Week 3 #7

I was really interested in checking out the online photo editing tools. At home, I use the Microsoft Office picture manager software to edit / adjust my pictures. I've never used any other software although I have heard one can do lots of things with Picassa2.

Well, I tried to use both Pixer and Snipshot to edit this photo of my cats. I tried uploading my photo for editing but the sites either (1) timed out, (2) didn't display the photo once uploaded, or (3) didn't display the photo once I edited it.

Then, I hopped over to Picnik. I registered, uploaded my photo, and made some exposure adjustments with no problem whatsoever. My original picture was too dark. It looks really good now.

Week 3 #6

Flickrstorm is a mashup / 3rd party tool that intrigues me. Not only does it retrieve accurate and interesting results when a keyword is entered, but it also makes suggestions on how to refine a search with related terms. This allows for a more thorough search on a topic or subject. It's like someone saying, "have you thought about this or that term?" or. . . "have you considered expanding your search in this way?"

Very cool.

Week 3 #5

Here is a photo of a barbie doll that my daughter received as a gift.

Week 2 #4

It is important to consider one's safety & privacy when using online services. You've got to use common sense. The internet is a global, public market. You wouldn't want to hand out your home address on the streets of Houston, right? If you give private information to people you don't know, bad things can happen. Bad stuff. And this is what you are doing if you post things online. Everyone- the whole world- can see your information.

I like the admonishment to only add people to your "Friends" list on social networking sites if you have met them beforehand. This is a great piece of advice. A person can appear harmless online but turn out to be something different in person.

Use your head, stay safe, and have fun online.

Week 2 #3

Lifelong learning habits are important to cultivate. It's never too late to learn something new. It's important to recognize your strengths & weaknesses.

My learning style consists of a hands-on approach. Once I learn something, I like to try it myself.

I give myself credit when I complete a task. I recognize some areas need improvement. Above all, I remember to have fun.

Test

This is my first post!