Thing 23: Take a Short Survey

Done.

Thing 22: Staying Current

Whew! Time does fly. Has it really been three months since we all started the 23 Things journey?

I learned a bunch. While I knew about, or even used, some of the web 2.0 tools I hadn't spent much time with most. They are like a Swiss Army Knife. You use the big knife a lot or the bottle opener. However, there are another 8-10 things you can do with this knife.

Will I keep this blog updated? I will break it to you gently...Nope. I will go back to NEFLIN's Blah, Blah, Blah Blog which is where I'll continue to blog about these 2.0 things and more.

I did meet my original goal. I feel more confident to be able to discuss these Things with others, especially those younger folk who are digital natives and use these Things as a part of their daily lives.

I had a great time at the Blogapalooza. Thanks for joining the party!

Thing 21: Student 2.0 Tools

I used both the Assignment Calculator and Project Research Calculator. They appeal to my right brain.

Like most of us, I wish that I had tools like these when I was in school. I was the unfortunate class that was at the tail end of the typewriter era. My mom packed me a suitcase and a typewriter when heading off to college. The next gen brought their backpack and PC.

I mapped out on paper what these calculators provide electronically. Having e-mail reminders are my favorite feature.

Thing 20: Books 2.0

A "back to book basics" Thing, combined with a future of books Thing. Nice!

I am interested in e-books and the Kindle. The sites that showed/discussed this product, and libraries that are checking out Kindles were the most interesting to me. If you are into this product or want to know more you can contact Michael Kucsak, Director of Library Technology, at UNF (and former NEFLIN employee). He is very knowledgeable about the Kindle.

On the book 1.0 front I looked at all the Reader's Advisory sites. I love to read fiction and wanted to see what was out there. One site I use is Fantastic Fiction. It has bibliographies of over 20,000 authors.

Thing 19: Other Social Networks

I took some time to visit WebJunction and Ning. WebJunction has a lot of great content. From their discussion groups, to webinars, to their great monthly newsletter. I quickly found myself in the bowels of site, such as following a couple of discussions and browsing back issues of their newsletter. Great content. Nice layout. I give it **** stars.

Ning was just okay. I will say the Library 2.0 group is hopping with over 4,000 members. It seemed that 3,995 of them were lurkers, but that's normal. A few do a lot of the talking/posting.

Thing 18: Facebook and MySpace

I created an account on both of these sites when I first began teaching my "Pop Culture" workshop. At that time MySpace ruled and Facebook was a niche social site for college students. Now Facebook has surpassed MySpace in the number of users and "time spent on the site per day" (a precious commodity when you are making your living off ad revenue). Each has their own appeal, which is probably why they can continue to co-exist.

I don't regularly visit or maintain either site, so I won't link to them here.

I will do a shameless plug for an upcoming NEFLIN workshop "Facebook for Librarians" in May.

Thing 17: Podcasts

I have been listening to podcasts ever since I bought an iPod a few years back. I downloaded iTunes and started poking around. I found that a few shows that I listened to on the radio were available as podcasts, usually the same day.

I set up iTunes to download these podcasts daily and then I started listening to them in my car and on my computer. Aaahhh, the good life. My love affair with the Tivo, now spread to podcasts. I could listen to quality programming on my time and schedule, with no commercials interruptions. Sweet!

I have listened to a few library webinars that were really podcasts. There was no visual content, just a talking head (without seeing the head). Depending on the subject matter and length of program (i.e., programs that understood my short attention span), some were good and some not so much.

Thing 16: YouTube

I couldn't narrow it down to one favorite YouTube video. Here are my two favorites that always bring a smile to my face.

John West Salmon (fake commercial).

The band OK Go singing on treadmills.

Thing 15: Rollyo

Geez, I'm getting nostalgic doing the 23 Things. I didn't think that would happen at all. I should be looking to the future.

Anyway I spent some time with Yahoo today...wait I mean Rollyo. Why the confusion? It seems like Rollyo does what Yahoo has been doing for years (and not necessarily better). Providing links to a select few websites on a particular subject. I compared the Yahoo Directory with Rollyo and found the latter wanting.

I turn my attention to the next week as the Things will be YouTube and Podcasts. I am already preparing for an onslaught of 80's music videos, and hearing the sound of my own voice through podcasting. Testing 1-2-3.

Link to Main Blog - 23 Things @ NEFLIN

Thing 14: Online Productivity Tools

I have been using Yahoo since the 1990's. I remember it being the first site that became a directory, or portal, to the rest of the Internet. I actually went and looked at MyYahoo page, which I haven't checked out for years. It is still there. Once I set up my preferences it still remembers.

Like many others I transitioned some of my online activities to Google a few years back. I also have an iGoogle page. Again, I haven't looked at it in a while. My default when signing in to Google is to go directly to my Gmail account. So much for increasing my productivity.

I have also been using my calendar through Outlook for seemingly forever.

I guess I am spread out and don't find myself doing everything in one place. On the flip side it seems to work for me!

Thing 13: Library Thing

Libraries are my thing, so I'm already thinking I will love Library Thing. "620,000 users and 36 million books in the system, almost guarantees you'll find some "eerily similar" libraries". I created my account and, not surprisingly, found some eerily similar libraries.

My taste in books is much more simple than my taste in music or television. This is why I'm not surprised to find folks with the same libraries.

I have made a habit over the years of reading fiction and non-fiction in a pattern. I read one fiction book, then one non-fiction, and so on. Keeps me learning (new words or ideas), keeps my brain from turning to mush (some fiction is more challenging to read than non-fiction), and both provide enjoyment.

Thing 12: Wikis

Jennifer and I will be hanging out at the NEFLIN 23 Things Wiki to encourage folks to create pages, make comments on existing pages, etc.

The most interesting use of a wiki for me was in the "Writing for the Web" workshop we had last year. The instructor had all the workshop participants do their writing assignments in the shared wiki for the class. We could then look at each other's writing and make comments. It was a great use of a wiki.

Thing 11: Social Media

I do love the videos from the Common Craft Show (and now I'm hungry for some Red Velvet ice cream). It really did help explain the use of social media sites.

I have been visiting Digg for some time. Many times the stories that are "digged" (very popular) are not picked up by major news outlets for some time (or ever).

I'm off to try the others; Mixx, Newsvine and Reddit. I'll report back if one of those sites catches my fancy.

Thing 10: Tagging and Delicious

I have used delicious in the past, but it had kinda fallen off the map for me. My main idea was...when we had a workshop like "Business Resources on the Internet" that we would use delicious as a place to store the many websites that were used for the workshop. Eventually, any NEFLIN workshop that was like this one could follow the same pattern. I started with my "To Google or Not To Google" workshop. You can see that 33 sites are shown off in that class (under the label "ng").

I am going to take some time to read other's blog and see how they are using this service.

Link to Main Blog - 23 Things @ NEFLIN

Thing 9: Sharing

I have used Slideshare for some time. I like it quite a bit.

I grabbed a presentation my brother made recently and it was again made easy by the site, because it provides the html code to embed in Blogspot. 2.0 really is spoiling me.

Vacant Land Guide - How to Buy Vacant Land at Wholesale Prices

View more presentations from Russell Ward. (tags: wholesaling real)

Thing 8: Communcation Web 2.0 Style

I haven't really been a fan of Instant Messaging from past experience. However, I'm willing to give it another go.

I had Yahoo Instant Messenger for a while about six or seven years ago. It was just okay. This time around I'm going with Meebo. It allows folks with a variety of clients to use the Meebo interface.

It only took a few minutes to copy the Meebo widget code to Blogspot and voila I have the IM chat box on my blog (look on the right frame under "About Me").

Thing 7: Online Image Generators

More fun with images today. I tried the sites at Big Huge Labs and Image Chef.

Thing 6: Flickr Mashups

The fun begins! I love the next couple of "Things" because they use these 2.0 technologies to create interesting and fun visuals.



"Brad" courtesy of the thankfully easy Spell with Flickr.

I spent probably too much time at Big Huge Labs. I am getting some ideas for how to make future marketing and other online publications a lot more visually interesting.



Jeannie's dog Max (yes, he of Pet Idol) as a puzzle, courtesy of the Puzzle Generator.


(I did resize it a little using Irfanview, which is a free piece of software that I use to manipulate images.)

Thing 5: Flickr

I like Flickr, but don't love it.

I been using it for about two years. That is enough time to learn its good and bad points. The file are easy to upload and work with. Putting the photos in sets is pretty easy. Captioning the slides just plain takes work. The organization and display of the sets, once you have many, is a pain. They allow you to get addicted and then start charging a fee, because you will soon reach your limit for a free account.

I enjoy the 365 Days of Library Pictures through Flickr.

Flckr Slidr is a great tool for embedding slideshows from Flickr into your blog.

Thing 4: RSS and Newsreaders

This is "the" Thing. According to the creator of the 23 Things program, Helene Blowers, if you spend time with any of the Things, it must be this one.

RSS makes your life better. (Now we're talking)

The Common Craft video is really great. You can see how all the information that you spent time looking for by going to a myriad of websites and other sources, now comes to you through an RSS feed (to my Bloglines account). It is so easy to go to one site like Bloglines and have all the info you want waiting for you to read.

I had about half of these in my Bloglines account, and I have added the rest. I look forward to reading these over the next few weeks. Always remember, if you don't like the feed it is easy to press the Delete button.

* Unshelved - Library cartoon feed

* BlogJunction - WebJunction has a blog

* Stephen Abram’s Blog - http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/

* Helene Blower’s Blog - http://www.librarybytes.com/

* David Lee King’s Blog - http://www.davidleeking.com/

* LISNews - http://lisnews.org/

* Life Hacker - http://lifehacker.com/

* CNN - http://www.cnn.com/

* Pop Candy - http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/

Thing 3: Blog Search Tools

1 million blog posts every day. When talking about the Internet and these 2.0 tools, it is always a million or a billion type numbers. I still find it amazing to think about the size of those numbers.

Anyway, I enjoy blogging. Many of the posts on NEFLIN's Blah, Blah, Blah Blog, where I blog for my day job, are fun to research and write. I'm still more about content than style, but my hope is learning some of these new 2.0 tools will help "jazz up" the blog and provide the content in more interesting ways.

I have used Google Blog Search for a while, so that is the engine I used as a comparison with Technorati. The features and scope seem better with Google's product. (What a surprise I know!)

Thing 2: What is Web 2.0?

Let's get this out of the way...Stephen Abram does not have a big head. The video wasn't shot at a particularly friendly way/angle. Stephen is a big guy with a normal sized head.

If you listened to him you came away with some good info on why he thinks 23 Things is the most "transformational experience that libraries have gone through in decades". (Also, consider adding his blog to your "to read" list).

I am looking for some of these Things to help me do my job better and faster and smarter and have more fun along the way. Not a long list I know!

Thing 1: Set Up a Blog and Register

I always think of the "Cat in the Hat" when I hear Thing 1 (or Thing 2). Anyway, the blog is set and rarin' to go.

Registration was easy.

Got the family photo and profile to show up in the sidebar. Yea!

Welcome to Blogapalooza!

NEFLIN is kicking off their 23 Things program and the party is starting at Blogapalooza.

I look forward to joining everyone and learning about these new tech things.

By the end I want to be able to talk to someone under 25 about technology and understand them.