Quest 12b: Podcasts

It's not my day.

Outlook tried to make me log in to my e-mail - after I was already logged in.

The photocopier turned itself off while making my copies and took ten minutes to warm up again.

And every podcast site I tried to open failed. The closest I got was an Orange County (FL) storytime via Podcast.net that would only play the first two seconds of the podcast, over and over.

I have listened to podcasts before, and think they are a great way to publicize events and storytimes by providing samples of what happens during a library event. As well as being available via podcast sites, there would need to be links from our website to this information.

Despite my experiences today, I have enjoyed this Tech Trek. Learning new things is how we grow throughout life - I have no wish to stagnate. Thanks to all who put this experience together.

Quest 12a: YouTube

Free cookies with every book! I should have found something useful but I could not resist this video. Sesame Street hasn't been the same since I was a child!

This would be a terrific way to show patrons how to use the catalog or databases, or even give tours. Genealogists could get a tour of the South Carolina room, grantseekers could see a video on our Foundation Center. Connect everything up to our website, and patrons would be able to see all that we have!

Quest 11

Wow, the toolbar is really busy and some of the buttons blink while I'm typing which is a bit annoying.  It looks like Zoho has taken many of the functions that Word has on its drop-down menus and turned them into toolbar buttons.  I do enjoy free things though, so it's nice to know that this software is freely available anywhere.

 

Hopefully, I can use this to back up some of the work I do in ILL, in case a catastrophe happens to our PC and CCPL's server.  I'll have to find out how much space we're allowed on Zoho or other sites.

The above statement was sent from Zoho Writer via their publishing tool - it was very easy to do! "Publish to Blog" opened a window allowing me to log in to my blog, then I clicked the publish button - and there it was!

No longer tied to Word or Excel!

Quest 10: Play

I played with The Generator blog yesterday. I found out my blues name is "Bourbon" Rosanna Hunter, and I created a pony for Josephine the pony queen. Percy (our cat) has expressed no interest in social networking, alas.

I also created an avatar at DoppleMe!

Quest 9: Wiki

Can I just say - wikis rock!

Wikis are great for things like pathfinders, when you want to include newer resources as they become available, but don't want to have to reprint new brochures if you're only making minor changes. Our Best of the Web resources and websites of the week would make a good wiki. It might also be useful for the staff intranet and calendar. Reference is already using one for programming ideas.

I have also created a college and career wiki to corral some of my favorite sites and sources under one heading. PBWiki is incredibly easy to use - if you can use Word, you can use PBWiki.

It would be nice to have our blogs and wikis connected to CCPL's website, so that patrons and staff can view them.

Quest 8: Social Networking

Maybe it's my natural reticence, but I find it difficult to want to put information about myself online. Sure, these are supposedly secure networks and someone is watching out for subscribers, but I wonder how much information is too much. Instantaneous friendships scare me!

My brother likes the fact that he can check his son's Facebook page and know in Georgia what's going on at Ohio State - and who his friends are.

Bebo's creators have a terrific sense of humor - their FAQ screen is very funny. If I weren't already on MySpace I might try a Bebo account.

http://www.myspace.com/classicallibrarian/

This was fun, though, making another friend!

Quest 7: Flickr

Another Reflection,
originally uploaded by ohad*.

I felt in the need of a little peace today, so I've been looking at landscapes of places far away on Flickr. Such a change from the piles of books and papers in my work area!

Below is the information posted about this image, in the spirit of attribution:

Another Reflection
Another reflection of the Cherry Blossoms along the Tidal Basin.
More on my photoblog: ohadonline.com
Uploaded by ohad* on 4 Apr 06, 12.23PM PDT.

Quest 6b: Technorati

I Claim This Blog in the Name of . . .

No, seriously, I claimed this blog on Technorati, as well as claiming the ILL blog. I also created a watchlist for interlibrary loan and resource sharing, to gather ideas for improvement in our ILL services. Definitely easier on the eyes than a Google search for those topics.

Technorati search results differ depending on whether you are looking for a phrase (precise) or individual words in a random order (broader).

Now for the challenge: the Technorati tag:

TechTrek2.0

Quest 6, part 1 - Del.icio.us

I had played with Del.icio.us back in January, but never seemed to have the time to go back and make it useful. I imported my favorites list from the computer in the ILL area - and now I have access to all of the online verification tools I use, without having to remember web addresses. My memory is fading, either due to age or the sheer amount of information that is available.

I browsed a number of sites via PLCMC's links page, and could easily have spent the whole afternoon wandering. My list is not nearly that interesting, but here it is:

http://del.icio.us/lkwstewart

Quest 5 - not required, but having fun

I created this with ImageChef. The trading card idea sounds like fun but I'm having trouble finding a picture of myself that I like! But I could make cards for my kid's soccer team . . .

I considered it a sign that when I logged on to Pandora, their featured channel was Patsy Cline Radio. Her songs form a significant part of my iTunes library.

Quest 4: Bloglines

Bloglines has been an absolute godsend.

I always had a hard time remembering blog addresses and names. When I wanted to follow up on something I had read about, I would try Googling what I "remembered," which was rarely what the actual name of the blog was.

I would also get frustrated with some of the blogs I started following when I would look them up and no new content had been posted.

It is so nice only having to remember one website name, and knowing that when I log into it I am receiving only blogposts posted after the last time I logged in.

View my blogroll at:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/lkwstewart

Quest 3: Instant Messaging

I can see how this could become addictive. I've never particularly liked talking on the telephone because I'm more comfortable expressing myself in the written word.

We had a limited form of IM in the secretarial service I worked in just after college - we could send messages between individual terminals. When business was slow, my colleague and I would make up stories, each person posting one line and then the other responding.

In the phone center, I've only received a few non-spam IMs. If I tell the patron at the beginning that it may take a minute or two to locate the answer to their question, it helps them (and me!) not feel rushed and panicky.

On to Bloglines . . .

Quest 2: Create a blog

Well, here it is!

I thought about blogging anonymously, but then decided I would be more likely to do it if I had to blog as myself. Blogger does make it very easy to do for those who are short on time or have problems with playing :)

Onward to instant messaging . . .

Quest 1: 7 1/2 habits response

The easiest habit for me is habit 2: accept responsibility for your own learning. Our overworked educators and training supervisors have enough to do without trying to tell everyone exactly, step by step, what they should be learning. I'm always happy to receive guidance, but I am the only one who knows what I know and I have to take the initiative to fill in the gaps. If I waited for someone to intuit that I need help, I wouldn't get anything done!

The hardest habit for me is habit 7 1/2: play. It's programmed into us from the beginning that we work during work time and play when work is done. Without the freedom to play, work can become a burden.

Thanks to those who came up with this idea - I hope to learn to play!