Readingnut's Blog

Final Thoughts on 23 Things Kansas

readingnut — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:30:55 +0000

I started into this program believing I was somewhat technologically proficient and found that there was a whole other world out there that I was clueless about. I am happy to report that now I am comfortable navigating this new way of doing things. Even though I am no where near a “techno geek” like my beloved husband, after 23 Things KS I feel good about giving anything a try. I am no longer hesitant to try the many new resources available to help me in my professional and personal lives. I understand why the younger generation is so comfortable at diving into any technological advancements. It is such an inherent part of their lives that they do not have the hesitation and unease that those of us who are older experience. I am particularly glad that I have been exposed to Twittering, Library Thing, and Wiki’s. I am sure that I will be using these tools on a fairly regular basis. Oh, RSS feeds, too! Thanks again to all of the 23 Things KS mentors who took their time to tutor all of us involved in the program. I appreciate all of the successes and failures for their learning potential:)

Week 15: Wikis

readingnut — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:35:28 +0000

I think this may be my favorite lesson of all the 23thingsks! I had of course viewed Wikipedia before but didn’t have any real knowledge of how to go about changing a page. That has all changed now. I searched Wikipedia for a page on my hometown and was able to find one and guess what? It had errors on it regarding the local high school. I was able to edit the page and correct the erroneous information. It was a very rewarding feeling! Then, I worked on activity #2 and had no difficulty what so ever adding my name and page to the 23 things ks participant page on Wet Paint. I believe this technology will be the most useful for me, both professionally and personally, because it does allow a large group of people to share/contribute to the same source. For instance, recently I was working with a group of librarians at different locations to update bookmarks in different genres. Instead of the numerous emails we sent back and forth, we could have had a wiki with a page for each genre that each person could have updated when they had time to work on it. Oh, the time that could have been saved!

Week 14: Library Thing, etc.

readingnut — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:37:07 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you to 23 Things Kansas for finally making me take the time to create/start my Library Thing account. This project has been on my to do list for over 2 years and it feels great to finally have it started. I already love the lists of recommended reads based on my reading history and I look forward to providing reviews in the near future! I think it is so great that it is now so easy for all readers to be able to track what they have read and share their likes and dislikes with others. This is going beyond the “book club” to make reading a social hobby.

Week 13: Slide Sharing

readingnut — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:29:55 +0000

I created my new account in SlideShare without any difficulties. I made my slide presentation in Powerpoint – no problem. However, when I attempted to upload my presentation to SlideShare I ran into problems. After a couple of attempts I successfully (finally) uploaded my slide show. I believe this technology could be very useful for training purposes or for presenting to a book club, school, business group, etc. I may even get a chance to use it in an upcoming talk on displays I am helping to present at out monthly IS meeting.

Week 12: Screencasting

readingnut — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:20:06 +0000

Well this weeks task has been a little bit of a struggle. Because I am on the desk helping patrons most of the time, I was having trouble finding enough quiet time to produce my screencast. When I did find time, I was unable to get the sound working on the staff computer. So, here is the link to my screencast in Screencast O Matic on how to renew books on our library website (unfortunately, it is entirely silent)! http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/c6fiDh1Bm

I can see how this technology would be extremely helpful to patrons. Sometimes, it is just easier to show someone how to do something, rather than just explaining it with words and this technology allows you to do just that very thing. That being said, because I am not involved in a lot of training aspects at the library I will probably not utilize this process very often and I think the more you use it the better the outcome.

Week 11: Break

readingnut — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:11:35 +0000

While I have been enjoying learning all of the new tech trends with 23 things Kansas, this week has been a nice relief and chance to catch up on everything. I think I will be much better prepared for the second half of the program after this down week!

Week 10: Video on the Web

readingnut — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:35:52 +0000

This seemed like a fairly easy task to complete. This video is a favorite scene from one of my top 10 movies of all time, “Defending Your Life” by Albert Brooks. For those with an offbeat sense of humor, like myself, this is a Classic! I am not sure how easily I would be able to make my own video. I have issues focusing a camera as it is, but I do think I would be able to download the video to YouTube and I can see where this could be particularly helpful in training others to a task or advertising a library program.

Week 9: Instant Messaging

readingnut — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:26:36 +0000

Unlike many of the library professionals recently out of school, I had not experienced the wonder of IMing, except thru my teenage children. Since I already had a yahoo account established it was really easy to get on Meebo and start chatting. I find it difficult sometimes to keep up with the thread of a conversation, as I am still trying to type everything out in full with the appropriate capital letters and punctuation. I believe with practice this will be easier. I am not certain that this technology will help me much in my day-to-day job requirements, but can see where it would be useful for staying in touch with personal friends and family around the world. If I were handling more reference questions on a daily basis I could see where being able to IM other experts quickly would be very handy.

Week 8: Cloud Computing

readingnut — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:15:39 +0000

I wasn’t familiar with this term, but the concept was not new. I set up a calendar in 30Boxes in order to list library programs. I invited other librarians to add their events to the calendar. I think this is a very helpful tool for professionals to be able to easily share knowledge with one another. It certainly is a timesaver when compared with emailing documents back and forth. It took me a little while to figure out the details of 30Boxes, but the light bulb finally went on and I believe I can use it in an efficient manner now!

Week 7: Microblogging

readingnut — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:13:56 +0000

I set up a Twitter account. I found it fairly easy to set up, although a little time consuming to set my prefrerences at first. I elected to follow the Johnson County Library, Kansas Library Association and 23 Things Kansas. I decided to follow these organizations because they all directly affect my job and I thought the information they give might be most helpful to me. However, with hindsight, I think I may have gotten the opportunity for more back and forth sharing had I chosen some individuals as well. Also, I think if I can figure out how to use my cell phone to access my tweets this would be more useful. It is time-consuming to sign on to the account and then browse all of the tweets. By the time I get finished looking at them all I am no longer that interested in replying. My biggest dilemma with all of these technological advances seems to be the amount of time it takes to keep up with them all!