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.