The party's over...

Learning 2.0 has concluded, and I finished over a week ago. Have I utilized any of the things I learned since then? I can't think of anything. I do think, however, that I will go back and practice some more with some of the tools. Heck, I noticed that the only entry for "David Hardy" in Wikipedia is for David A. Hardy, a space artist in England, and there is no entry for David W. Hardy, a realist artist in Oakland, CA, and my uncle, so I think I may just have to add an entry to Wikipedia.

#23 (Week 9)

Well, thank you, folks, for making this experience possible for all of us. It required way too much of our time, impacting our job performances, and leaving some here at my branch frustrated because they're so far behind, but it was fun and enlightening, and has expanded my internet repertoire.

What things did I especially like about it? I'm glad I was exposed to blogging. I don't know that I'll continue to blog on a regular basis - it's hard enough for me just to keep a journal that only I will read - but I'm glad to have some idea of what blogging is all about, and how it's done. I really enjoy Flickr, and that actually led to me connecting with a relative I've heard about but never talked to, because she has photos on Flickr, and I contacted her about them. I'm not yet entirely sold on RSS feeds. I simply don't spend enough time on the 'net, but I can see how they would be helpful, and now that I know about them I might start utilizing them at a future date. I really enjoyed Flickr mashups and image generators, but I'm not sure how they can be applied to library work - I'm sure there are lots of clever library employees who will figure out ways to use these tools for the library. The Web Awards list was interesting, but again I'm not yet sure how to apply that technology to work. Rollyo might prove useful, once I get in the habit of using it. Del.icio.us, Technorati and Library Thing are all interesting, but I'm not sure how much I'll use the first two. Library Thing I'll probably return to from time to time. Wikis - now wikis are cool. They have some drawbacks, but they have a lot of pluses. I can definitely see uses for wikis at libraries. Actually, I have already used Wikipedia any number of times, so I already knew a little about wikis, but now I understand them a lot more. The online productivity tools are a really great idea, though I'm not yet sure how well they work, but I definitely like the idea of being able to access my data no matter what computer I'm on, or share that data with others who are at other locations. YouTube is a blast, but also a major potential time waster. Still, it's a great resource. Lastly, podcasts and ebooks are both wonderful technologies, and in the future I definitely expect to make use of them, but right now we have too few terminals here at my branch for me to spend time at work making use of them, and since I only have a dial-up modem at home using them is very frustrating.

So...would I participate in a program like this again? Yes. Many parts of it were a lot of fun, and I do feel like I better understand, now, what some of our patrons are doing on our computers, and with our resources. I also feel like I now have some new tools at my disposal. However, in future it would work much better to present smaller segments that don't take so much time, or schedule more time for each participant.

Anyway, thank you to all of the members of the committee that put this together. On the whole I definitely felt it was worthwhile, and I feel like it is a way of further empowering us employees.

#22 (Week 9)

I've been interested in eBooks for awhile, but I have no mp3 player, and between my husband spending a fair amount of time on the only computer at home, combined with having a dial-up modem, I haven't really found them to be very useful for me. Still, I really like the idea, and I am definitely going to turn my husband on to World EBook Fair, so he can search out all things Honor Harrington (he loves that series by David Weber). At some point I think I would like to try ebooks for studying Spanish. I definitely think that ebooks are a wonderful addition to the services that libraries offer their users.

#20, part deux

Here's another amusing YouTube video. It's a little slower than the other one, but for fans of March of the Penquins and/or other nature videos, it's quite amusing:

#21 (Week 9)

I went to Yahoo, and tried to listen to several NPR podcasts, including NPR: All Songs Considered, NPR: Story of the Day, and Science Friday, because I can't listen to NPR while I'm at work, usually. Unfortunately, every time I tried to access a podcast, I got an error window with the following message: "The audio codec identified by the format tag 55 is required to play this file> To determine if this codec is available to download from the web, click Web Help. Click the Play button to try to reconnect to this stream". Unfortunately, every time I closed that window and tried to click the Play button the chosen podcast would change and the error message window would open up again.

I've been wanting to try streaming audio and podcasts for some time now, but at home we still have a dial-up modem, which can be very frustrating.

#20 (Week 9)

Yahoo! No - wait - I mean YouTube! I found my all time favorite scene from a Simpsons episode: Homer's Mystical Journey, from the chili cook-off episode. I also found this interesting video from the Williams College Libraries.

Thing 19 (Week 8)

I really like LibraryThing! In looking at what tags other people used to describe the books in my LibraryThing catalog, I also found suggestions of other books I might like, given what I am listing, and I noticed that several of the suggested books are already on my mental list of "books I might like to read". Some of the titles in my catalog where recommended to me by friends, and one I discovered in a publication put out by "Independent Book Stores". LibraryThing is clearly a great way to augment my other sources for learning about books I might like.

Obviously libraries could apply this feature of LibraryThing to make use of it as a Reader's Advisory.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=InquiringMind
(I was having trouble linking my LibraryThing catalog - when I had the bracketing around it, it wouldn't show up in my blog)

Thing 18 (Week 8)

This is a blog I composed using my new Zoho Writer account.  This is one of the 23 things that I think is most useful for library staff, or anyone, for that matter, because it does allow you to access data files from any PC.  I assume that it will all be accessable from any Mac, as well, otherwise it's not as great as it thinks it is.  I would be leery of using a web based database for sensitive information, but otherwise I would definitely use this service.

I have discovered one problem, so far - I changed the font style once, and didn't like the font I chose, and now it won't let me change the font again.

Post Script: Now that I have posted the blog from Zoho Writer, I see that the emoticons don't post succesfully. Interesting.

#17 (Week 7)

Now I have visited SJLibraryLearning 2.0 Favorites wiki, I have added my blog to Favorite Blogs, and I have also added to Favorite Vacation Spots and Favorite TV Shows (I'm the geeky TV viewer, and the camp, camp, camp person). I was tempted to relate bear stories about trips to Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, but I figure that page is to encourage people to visit these spots, not be afraid of them. Of course I did mention the couger incident at Prarie Creek Campground, which is part of the Coast Redwoods State and National Parks. I've never seen a cougar or a bear there, and one year we went there purposefully to see bears (my husband, that is - I went to see rhododendrons in bloom. Turned out spring was late that year), only birds, elk, a fox, etc..

I can see that wikis can be useful in sharing information with coworkers in a more permanent way than sending emails. Emails get deleted or lost in the mass of emails we all receive each day, whereas wikis stay right where they can be found easily, and are easily updated to add more data as needed.

As seen at the SFPL

I took Tuesday off from work to take advantage of Target Tuesday (free entry the 1st Tuesday of every month) at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and after my husband and I had reached sensory overload at the museum (must...go...back), we stopped next door at the main SF Library to say hi to a friend who is a librarian there. While we were visiting with him, he handed me a few copies of a handout that staff there give to patrons using the library. It's just a small, bright yellow piece of paper that says the same thing on both sides: "Cell Phone Users, As a courtesy to others move to the elevator lobby when using your phone, maintain a low voice and turn off audible ringers while in the library. Thanks for your cooperation". I showed it around to staff here at Alviso, and it was pretty much agreed that we would love to be able to hand out something like that here, but we suspect it would not be considered a part of the "San Jose Way".

#16 (Week 7)

Out of the 23 things we have been learning about, I think that wikis are one of the most useful for librarians and libraries. They do have the disadvantage of being subjective, but with an active online community, any inaccuracies should be caught and corrected fairly quickly, except for entries that have been protected from change in one way or another, at least when it's a community of well educated, knowledgeable individuals.

I especially liked the SJCPL Subject Guides wiki. I thought it was well thought out and logically arranged. San Jose could stand to do something like that, maybe have a section explaining the Dewey and Library of Congress filing systems for the layman, as well as the same sort of entries that the SJCPL Subject Guide includes. I may also visit Book Lovers Wiki again. Heck, I might even add an entry to it at some point. It's a nice way for book lovers to share their opinions with each other without all the extraneous stuff one has to put up with in order to see others' opinions when using Amazon.com, though the Book Lovers Wiki could use a section on graphic novels (yeah, I know - I could add one).

Keeping up with the future

We just got the March 2007 issue of WIRED magazine here at Alviso, and there are (at least) two articles in it that should be of interest to those involved with Learning 2.0. The first one, on pg. 110, is by my favorite geek writer, Annalee Newitz, and is about the hacking of feedback scores on various sites such as eBay, Digg and del.icio.us. The second one, much more extensive, is on pg. 124, and is about snack culture, including Blackberries, iPods, cell phones, Treos, etc. Check it out!

#15 (Week 6). A few Perspectives on Web 2.0. Future of Libraries

Okay, so now I've read several perspectives on how Web 2.0 applies to the future of libraries, and I have to admit that they have helped to put all these exercises into perspective for me. I'm still not entirely sure exactly how some of these technologies can be used, but I'm sure that when I see them being used effectively to promote the dissemination of information, I will recognize them, and understand.

I found Rick Anderson's perspective, Away from the “icebergs”, particularly thought provoking with his insistence on questioning the traditions of libraries. My first job working at a library was at the main library on campus as I worked my way through college, so my first experience was working in an academic/archival library. When I started working for the public library I found the whole idea of weeding really difficult at first. How could one possibly consider discarding a book, simply because it wasn't circulating? Over the years I have worked for San Jose I have become much more comfortable with the whole idea of weeding, recently taking the lead on some of the weeding done here at Alviso. As a result of this Learning 2.0 that we've been doing, I can see how, as we address the icebergs that Mr. Anderson discusses, such as the reliance on user education, and the“come to us” model of library service, and we make the content of the billions of books that exist more readily available to everyone, there really won't be a need for the“just in case” collection. I don't think that day is here, yet, but it's coming.

Remember the milk

I just tried to open an account with Remember the Milk (www.rememberthemilk.com), which touts itself as a task management program which sends you reminders via e-mail, IM or text message. However, since the computers at work don't allow programs to load cookies, it doesn't seem to work. Maybe I'll try it from home.

#14 (week 6)

Okay, so as the previous post says, I have claimed my blog on technorati. I have also explored Discover and Popular features, and found some blogs that I would perhaps never have known about otherwise that I'll probably go back and look at later. All this new technology that I'm learning is both good and bad, because it opens new horizons for me, but it also gives me a lot more things to be interested in, and as someone with ADD, this in not necessarily a good thing.

Tagging is, in many ways, a cool thing. It is really helpful in tieing together the input of many people who have common interests. The one thing I have trouble with is that it is not as organized as the classic forms of catagorizing information that we who work in libraries are used to, and if you neglect to search certain tags, you'll miss out on information that would be of interest. If you neglect to use certain tags on your stuff, others who might be interested will miss out.

I am now a Technorati (technorata?)

So I have registered my blog with Technorati:
Technorati Profile

#13 (Week 6) de.licio.us and tagging

So I now have an account on del.icio.us and on LibraryThing. I think LibraryThing has potential for helping me find new books that I'll like but am not already aware of. Del.icio.us is helpful in that it makes each individual's efforts to keep up with a particular subject available to all who are interested in that subject, and that is done through the tagging. Tagging is somewhat imprecise, but still workable. I do like being able to access my bookmarks from anywhere, not just from my earthlink account. I'm also beginning to see how clicking on one of my bookmarks, and then seeing what other people have to say, and other things they tag, and thus finding some interesting links that I might not have discovered otherwise. Certainly one way libraries can use this technology is as another way to share information with each other.

Week 5, #12, Rolling my own search tool

So now I have explored Rollyo and created my own search roll, Polymer Clayer. I tried to create a searchbox to connect it to my blog, but I'm not sure I succeeded. I did check out a number of other search rolls, including the reference search roll created by WIReD. I REALLY like that one, and can see myself using that with some regularity, because it puts so many useful tools together in one place. Nice!

Week 5, #11, Web 2.0 awards list

I was checking various sites that are in the list of Web 2.0 Awards,and a lot of them are not sites I would normally bother to look at, but Coverpop.com is pretty cool, because it presents you with a mosaic of YouTube images, and then as your cursor moves over the pictures whichever image the cursor is pointing at pops up, and you can view that video. I also like Stumbleupon.com, which is like del.icio.us, but according to the awards is easier for the beginner (sorry, I haven't explored it enough to comment on specifics yet). Etsy, which touts itself as "buy & sell all things handmade" is a site of interest for me. Not only do I appreciate handmade items, but I handmake items myself, so I may look into using that site to list my items, once I get my business license, and get an okay from the city to have a business on the side. The best site of all, though, for me is HipCal, because I think it will really help with coordinating my schedule with my husband's schedule. My husband spends a lot of his time on the computer, and is increasingly depending on the computer for keeping track of things. We keep a calendar on the kitchen wall, and we keep an address book in paper form, but he doesn't even bother with the paper address book anymore, and he complains that it's hard to use the calendar in the kitchen when it's downstairs and he's upstairs (where the computer is) so much of the time. I think he's going to love HipCal. I can also see how it would be helpful for a branch to put all the scheduling on HipCal, so that part time staff could check their schedules easily from home or school (or wherever).

Week 5, #10, online image generators

Okay, so now I've looked at FD Toys http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/, Comic Strip Generator http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/, where I created an image, and Image Chef http://www.imagechef.com/, where I also created an image, which reflects what I think of all this. I didn't actually use FD Toys, because I didn't have any pictures I wanted to use the toys on, but at some point I will give those toys a try. I also looked briefly at http://www.imagegenerator.org/, and realized that I have seen images that were generated by this program (my favorite Christmas letter used this program for at least one image).

Week 4, #9, exploring blogs and news feeds

Okay, so I've checked out the various ways to find feeds I might want to keep up with, and I definitely prefer Feedster over the others. I only added one feed (about my craft of choice, polymer clay), because I had already added enough feeds for the moment at the time I opened my bloglines account, but I'm sure with time I'll go back to Feedster and look at some other possible feeds. I did want to add a feed for Dragon Music (from the tutorial on creating a bloglines account), but it's being redesigned at the moment. Hum, maybe I should look for other feeds that will turn me on to other types of World Music besides Asian.

#8(week 4), RSS feeds and bloglines

Oy, vay! Thing #8 truly is the hardest thing I have had to tackle so far. There's a lot more to it than most of the other things, so far. Still, I can see how it can be handy to have those sites I like to visit frequently all gathered together in one spot so I can scan, read what I want, and get out. I can also see how this will be useful for libraries, to help the staff stay on top of breaking news in whatever field they're trying to keep up with. These days computers have made life MORE complicated, not less, because of the vast amount of information that is available at a click, so anything that helps to manage it has got to be good.

I have now added Learning 2.0 Blogfeed, several Mercury News feeds (food & wine, home & garden, etc.), and Unshelved, and I tried to add a couple of friends' blogs from among my fellow participants (NoMarian and Rutyer's Rantings and Ravings), but so far they don't seem to be showing up, despite doing everything the instructions say to do. Maybe they'll show up later.

I have now lived in California my whole adult life, but having spent my whole childhood in Texas, as well as having parents and grandparents who all grew up in Texas, it will always have a place in my heart. There are many things I did not/don't like about Texas, but many things I did/do like about Texas. George Bush isn't one of them, but then he's no real Texan. His family moved there from New England, for heaven's sake. He's a damn carpetbagger. Don't blame Texas for him.
I've included some photos of Texas I found on Flickr that show some of the things I remember fondly about Texas (no, not the grassy knoll and the book depository - they're just there to show how near I was the day Kennedy was shot. Okay, I was actually in Plano at the time, but it felt pretty close ). I find parts of the Texas landscape very scenic, especially the Hill Country. I also like some of the old, small towns in Texas. The photo of Luckenbach that I have linked to captures the feel of them for me - slow and easy. And you won't find storm clouds in California like you will in Texas, at least not on the coast. You also don't find fireflys in California. I miss them a lot, but I don't miss the hot, muggy summer nights that you have to put up with in order to see them. Here are some photos I attached of things I like about Texas, as well as some links. Hill Country indian paintbrushes bluebonnets Dallas Courthouse Luckenbach

Am I Blue

Some of these exercises are frustrating. This is NOT how I want this to look.

Week 3, #7, blog posting about anything technology related

The internet community is wonderful for friends and family that are far apart. Before there was email, I lost track of friends I cared about, because I was so bad about writing, and I hardly ever got to hear from my sister, who lives in England, because phone calls were so expensive. Now I not only can hop online whenever I feel like it, and toss off a note to her, but she and her children keep the American cousins up to date on what they're up to by sending us links to photos. I'm also a member of a group on Yahoo that consists of my brother and sister and myself and all three of our half-sisters, plus spouses, so that all six of us can keep each other up to date. Oh, and I can see what my English nephews are up to musically by logging on to MySpace. Look for FantasticMrFox, PaperTiger, and PeterandtheWolf, to find out for yourself, though be aware that there is more than one Fantastic Mr. Fox, and more that one Peter and the Wolf. My Fantastic Mr. Fox is Stephen Gomberg, and Paper Tiger and Peter and the Wolf are both Peter Gomberg. Another route would be through OrigamiMusic, the musicl label they share with their friends.

Does this count as talking about technology? If not, how's this: I REALLY want a digital camera, so that I can take photos and download them for my friends and family to see.

Week 3, #6, Flickr mashups and 3rd party sites

Well I have made my first trading card, and added that to my photos on flickr. Nothing fancy, just enough to get the practice. trading card

Week 3, #5, photos on Flickr

Check out my photos of my tattoo. The tag is "my lizard tattoo". This is great! Now I can show these photos to my friends and family without emailing them some mondo, gig gobbling file. lizard tattoo

Yahoo! is being annoying

I don't know if anyone else is having trouble with Yahoo!, but I'm getting annoyed with them. I need to reactivate my account, but everytime I try, I get a screen saying they're having a problem. Feh!

Weeks 1 & 2, things 1,2,3 & 4, Learning about the program, setting up my blog and registering it

Okay, now I understand what's being asked of us. I have completed things one through four, and I'll do thing five as soon as Yahoo reactivates the account I created to access a family group, but never remember to use.

Thoughts on life long learning

As I looked at the 7 1/2 habits of life long learning, I thought about what the process has been like for me, and I don't just mean the last two weeks. I come from an educated, artistic family, but as I was growing up, everytime my grandmother (who "helped" my mom raise us three kids) showed me how to do something she didn't give me permission to fail. If I didn't do it right the first time I attempted to do something new, she would take it away from me and do it herself, so that it would turn out right. I'm sure she thought she was doing me a favor, but what it taught me was that I was incompetent, that I couldn't do anything right. It also taught me to be afraid to try anything.

In my twenties I'm sure I was very frustrating to my boyfriend/husband, because I had so little confidence in my ability to do things, and was so reluctant to do something I had never done before. But he wasn't/isn't like my grandmother. He has always told me "You're an intelligent adult. You should be able to figure out how to do things.". At first I resented him for making me do things myself, instead of doing things for me, but as I tried things and they worked out, I became more comfortable with trying new things, and as I had more successes, I was more willing to try new things. I won't mention how long it has been since I met my husband, but it's been long enough that these days I'm seldom afraid of a challange. I have learned to embrace and enjoy them.

Never be afraid to try new things. I belong to a craft guild of individuals that work with polymer clay, and we have monthly meetings. At these meetings we have "show & tell", when members show pieces they have made, and talk about the process. Again and again people say "I was trying to achieve a particular goal, but failed, but you know what? I like what I came up with even better!". These "failures" are one of the ways the polymer clay community learns new techniques.

Another aspect of the guild is that we share with each other tools that we have discovered, and when you're working with polymer clay, ANYTHING is a potential tool. It really encourages us to be creative, and to be open minded.

Lastly, I'm so excited by polymer clay (and also by tie-dying) that I enjoy sharing that pleasure with others, so I occasionally hold workshops to introduce the skills I know to others. The attendees usually have fun, and I enjoy seeing what they create. We both win.

Learning contract

I went ahead and created my blog without first writing up my learning contract, so I will do that now. Does't everyone want to win the prize?

Learning 2.0 begins for me (Things 1, 2, 3 and 4)

I have to say that I think it's pretty cool that SJPL and SJSU library are actively encouraging their staff to expand their knowledge of new technologies. It has given me a reason to explore things about which I have said "I would like to know about that at some point, I guess, but I just don't want to take the time (or money) to do that right now.".