Exercise 23

Ow! Ouch! Ow! (That's me hurting my arm patting myself on the back, turning myself black and blue.)

I am really glad I decided to participate is this program. And thanks to the "powers that be" (my supervisor and my director) for letting me.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? This is hard to pin down. I think Flickr, RSS feeds and del.icio.us. In fact, I plan on going back and reinvestigating many of the exercises to learn even more and incorporate them into my daily activities.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? It has furthered my goals by allowing me to explore things in a way that I probably wouldn't have taken the time for on my own.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? Not really. I still don't see any use for me personally in blogs or podcasting, but I do see now that they could be useful in keeping students up to date on library or college happenings.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I can't think of anything. I think the do it yourself pace and format was great for me. And some of the others seemed to like being able to pick and choose which step they performed when, although I liked going in the order they were presented.

And last but not least…
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?That would be a resounding YES!!!

Exercise 22

I think NetLibrary and Project Gutenberg are both great. I know that sometimes our students shy away from using the ebooks, but I think it would be great for research. Personally, I don't think I would want to sit and read a novel on the computer. I would much rather curl up on my sofa or in my bed with a book. I also do not have any of the hand-held devices that would allow you to carry it around with you, although I can see the advantages of that.

Our BI people are talking up the NetLibrary and other ebooks in the library classes, so maybe they will get the usage they deserve.

Exercise 21

http://learnchinesepod.com/feed/ Maybe I will try this podcast to learn Chinese. I found it on Yahoo Podcasts.

Or maybe this Computers in Libraries series would be better. http://groups.blogdigger.com/rss.jsp?id=1725 although it does take forever to load.

Exercise 20

We'll see if this works. I can see some uses for YouTube but I will probably not use it much. If this worked it was fairly easy to do. You can probably offend a lot of people very easily.

Exercise 19

To explore the sites from the Web 2.0 awards list, I decided to try the Health division. The winner PEERtrainer was not what I expected. It is for weight loss support, whereas I was looking for health information.

Medstory, the second place winner, was oriented more toward those who understand the medical jargon.

With the third place winner, Healia, I hit the jackpot. It is oriented to ordinary people like me, but with authentic medical sites such as the National Institute of Health and St. John's.

Each of the has its own particular niche and specific users. For me, Healia wins hands down.

Exercise 18 Part 2

I think Zoho.com is a good idea for people who send many documents through email to people that may have different word processing or spreadsheet software. This seem pretty easy and intuitive to use. I think it would take using it more than the 15 minutes that I have played with it to discover all the things you can and cannot do with it, but unless you need a powerful word processing package, this seems more than adequate.

Exercise 18

Cats

Did you ever wonder what a cat was thinking? If not, you have never sat and watched one. It is easy to put words in a cat's mouth. It is harder to know if they are anywhere close to what a cat is thinking, but it sure is fun. Sometimes one will sit absolutely still (except maybe the tip of her tail) and stare at a spot on the wall or ceiling or anywhere. No matter how hard you look, nothing can be seen. Then she will look at you like she is saying, "What are you looking at? You must be crazy, because there is nothing there." Other times she will look at you like she is laughing and saying, "Ha ha, made you look!!"

Our two cats are about a year old and sometimes they decide they are still kittens. One of the two likes to jump on my back whenever I bend over. This might not be so bad if she didn't weigh about 10 pounds and want to lie down on my back, rather than getting off when I am ready to stand up. Try getting a 10 pound weigh with claws off of your back!

When we got the kittens, we got two so that our children would each have one. It is true that they each claim one of the cats, but the cats don't necessarily agree. Sometimes they do actually seem to claim the child that claims them, but other times they seem to claim the opposite one. And then other times, they will have nothing to do with either, and will claim one or both of us instead.

I guess the old saying about the difference between cats and dogs is true. When you call a dog, he will come running, but when you call a cat, he will take a message and get back with you later (maybe).

Exercise 17

Adding to the Wiki Sandbox was surprisingly easy. I may just have to try creating my own later. I think several of the exercises we have done will get explored more later. This is a great overview.

Exercise 16

I think that a book lovers Wiki is a great idea. Multiple people could review books or just rate them. I also like the idea of wikis for groups of people working on a project or in the same type of work. I'm still not too sure about wikis like Wikipedia. I guess I worry too much about the gullibility of people who accept everything on it as truth. Wikis, like blogs, are good for opinions but you need to be sure of the source for the factual material.

Exercise 15

In my opinion (which is the only one that counts anyway ;-) ), Library 2.0 is not a new concept. It may have new technology and new and faster implementation, but it is something that libraries and librarians have been doing all along.

But they/we also have to take into account the patrons who are not ready for the new technology and new information sources. We still occasionally have someone come in wishing for the old card catalogs -- which I do not miss at all. Especially filing the cards!! Some of these patrons can be brought forward by education, but not all can.

So I guess what I am saying is that we have to embrace the future while still keeping a toe hold in the past.

Exercise 14

I find Technorati to be confusing. I guess as a cataloger I am used to subjects that match the information. When I put in keywords for things I am interested in, very few of the posts that came up seemed to have anything to do with that subject. I may have to play around with it to see if I am searching incorrectly.

Learning 2.0 did bring up a lot of hits. How would you narrow it down to a readable amount? And how do you know which ones are authoritative? I guess that's the thing about blogs -- anyone (including me) can write about anything like she is an expert.

Exercise 13

I think Del.icio.us will be a great help to us, since sometimes we are at our own desks and sometimes at the Reference desk. The Favorites at the reference desk computers have so many entries that it is almost impossible to find anything. It's almost easier to go to one of the search engines to find the site you want. This will make it easier.

I'm not sure how it would be as a research tool. I think it would probably be good for someone doing a book or dissertation, but I'm not sure it would be needed for just a research paper. Although it would be a good place to keep references until the paper is turned in, just in case the paper is lost or computer crashes or "the dog eats it."

Exercise 12

Select Search Engine...urban legends/hoaxesSearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

Rollyo could be interesting. Unfortunately, for most of the sites I have to search I have to sign in, so I don't think this would work. But it is a fun task anyway. And as I think about it more, I may find other uses, too. It is very easy to use and a great idea.

Exercise 11

I rather enjoyed LibraryThing. I think I will like the suggestions portion when I get more of my favorites entered. It is very easy to use.

Exercise 10

I used LolCat Buildr for both of these. The first one I just used the picture as found on the web site.

The other picture I copied to a photo editor, changed the color and cropped before adding it back to LolCat to add the caption, which I then played around with to change the colors and effects.

I could play around with this all day. (Boss, you didn't read that did you?) Sigh, I guess I better get some of my other work done. I would like to just play around with new technology all day.

Exercise 9

I found Feedster, Topix.net and LisZen probably the easiest and most intuitive to use. I will probably use LisZen more in my work life, to keep up with some of the library developments. Syndic8.com and Technorati may be more interesting if I were more into blogs. I have never really seen the point of them, although if I had more spare time, I might come to enjoy some of them.

Exercise 8

Well, I have finally gotten through the RSS section. It is interesting finding out what sites have RSS feeds and which do not. Sometimes it is very surprising. I think this could help me keep up with new information in libraries as well as in my institution. The only problem is finding the links you need to get the right information and to not be overwhelmed.

I think I will probably have to winnow down the number of feeds I have put on my blogroll which is http://www.bloglines.com/public/Copy-Cat. My problem is that I barely have enough time to keep up with e-mail, so I'm not sure how I will fit RSS feeds into my schedule.

Exercise 7

This is hard because there is so much technology that I am interested in and yet know so little about that I don't feel I can contribute much to it.

Right now I am trying to learn more about Microsoft Office 2007. We have just migrated over and are having fun (both literally and sarcastically) learning the new Outlook (after using Groupwise) and the updated versions of Word and Excel. There are great features on the new ones and things that we wish had carried over from the old. Of course, some of these could be features we just haven't found on the new version.

We are enjoying having a calendar we can share in the department to put our appointments and vacation time on, so we know when to expect each other to be out of the office. About the time we learn everything we think we need to know to do our jobs well, they will come out with a newer one. Oh, well, that just keeps us going with our LIFELONG LEARNING.

Exercise 6 part 2 Badge

I enjoyed uploading this picture I had received via email and turning it into a badge. These could be used for a family reunion or just for fun. Did somebody say something about 'playing'? Do I remember something about 7 1/2?

Exercise 6 Mashups and 3rd party sites

I think flickReplacr sounds interesting. Let's see how it works with blogs about cats and books. Or if it works here at all.

It looks like I can't get it to work here. I guess I'll have to try something else to fulfill my requirements for this exercise. Sigh!! I hate to play.

Exercise 5 : That cat's got a gold grill!

That cat's got a gold grill!
Originally uploaded by eekthree.

Is this a real copy cat or not!!! I had a little problem figuring out how to get my account set up and, of course in the middle of doing this, had a little problem with flickr not opening pictures to upload.

I think this could be fun.

7 1/2 lifelong learning habits

I think the hardest of the 7 1/2 habits for me is the 1st one -- Begin with end in mind. I may have a goal in mind, but it may be unrealistic. I tend to have grand goals instead of reachable ones. Or, sometimes I just want to learn something just to be challenged with something new.

I guess that means my easiest habit is #3 -- View problems as challenges, which I think includes #7 1/2 -- Play. If I don't have any challenges, I get bored and start sticking my nose into other people's work and sometimes get myself in trouble. Give me a new computer program and I will enjoy playing around with it until I learn most of of the tricks for it. Then I end up most times helping others in my department to find the features that they need.

In the beginning

In the beginning God created man. Years later man created the computer. It (or they) has been running (ruining?) man's life ever since. And woman's, too.

This is my first attempt at blogging, led by PLAN's Navigating New Technologies. I find I must keep on my toes, to stay ahead of (or at least somewhere close to) by 15 year old son. I guess this makes me a die-hard life long learner.