# 14 Technorati...again?

I blogged a bit about Technorati in a previous post about finding feeds so I actually groaned a little bit when I saw that this was the subject of another exercise. I think maybe I've been working on Learning 2.0 for too long this morning because I am definitely grumpy that I had to spend more time exploring Technorati. I thought it was OK the first time...my opinion hasn't really changed much.

I did do a search for "Learning 2.0" and compared the results of the keyword search vs. the blog search vs. the Blog Directory. I really didn't like the keyword search results - you just get way too much stuff not related to your topic of interest. I much preferred the blog search, where you get a little blurb summarizing the purpose, topic, focus, or angle of the blog. The Blog Directory was OK but I still like the blog level search best. For example, when I drilled down in the Blog Directory to Lifestyle and then to Literature, I thought I would get blogs related to , well...books. This didn't appear to be the case. Instead I got blogs like RawMeat.com - The Cure for Boredom. I can't say much about RawMeat.com's claim to cure boredom...but I can say this shouldn't be the tag line for Technorati!

# 13 yummy bookmarks @ del.icio.us

Macaroni and cheese...one of my favorite foods ever! Very yummy....one could call it del.icio.us, actually! OK, enough with the corny stuff and onto the content!

I have heard of del.icio.us but I didn't really know what is was until this exercise (which is the point, duh). I created an account in delicious and played around for a bit looking at what sites people have bookmarked with the tags teen fiction. I even added a few of these to my brand new del.icio.us account.

I think that I will continue to add links to my account mostly because I can easily access those links from any computer. I follow several blogs and listservs that contain links to sites of interest and using del.icio.us to bookmark and tag these sites will be much better than adding each of them to My Favorites. I guess I see del.icio.us as sort long term storage for inter testing links. When you add every semi-interesting link you find to My Favorites, this list quickly becomes too long and very difficult to use. Using del.icio.us to store these links allows My Favorites to go back to being a place to quickly access the only the sites I use the very most.

Just another quick tidbit - I read in my email today that Deep Freeze is going to be installed on the public desk PCs here at Arabian. Due to this change, any favorites that you add one day will be gone the next on the desk computers. I think having links bookmarked in del.icio.us will help to alleviate potential problems here! How timely for me :)

#12 MyBook and FaceSpace?

I watch the teens in Teen Square play with their MySpace pages all the time....and yet before this exercise I had never been on MySpace or Facebook.

I really did try to experiment with these two social networking phenoms but I have to admit neither of them really captured my fancy. Overall, if I had to use one in my personal life, I would probably use Facebook because it seemed to have better privacy options and the layout was much more user friendly. I found MySpace very clunky and awkward to use...just way to much going on for me, I guess. I did a few searches in MySpace and checked out the page of award winning YA author John Green as well as the page for the Teen Librarians at Glendale's Main Library. In Facebook I looked up an old boyfriend and a few folks I went to high school with. I didn't contact anyone but I know where I would look if I wanted to get back in touch with some of those folks.

Anyway, this was an interesting learning exercise but I don't see myself using these in my own life. I do think it would be cool to have a library MySpace page for the teens to see what events we have coming up. City IS will probably allow that about the time I am ready to retire :)

# 11 The thing about it...

Finally, a "Thing" that I know someTHING about! Let me start out by saying, I love LibraryThing. I started using this several months ago after trying out Shelfari for a while. I just found LibraryThing easier to use for some reason. This is a great tool that I use to keep track of my reading history. I also try to add tags to each book to remind me what it is about, although if you take a look at my library, you'll see that most of the time I just add the title. I keep saying that one day I'll go in and tag each book, but by then I'll probably have forgotten what tags each book needs! One thing that I rarely, if ever, use in LibraryThing is the Groups or Talk features. I guess I just don't have the time, especially with all my Bloglines feeds these days, to keep up.

Anyway, since I already feel comfortable with LibraryThing, this was a pretty quick exercise for me. I did decide to add the LibraryThing widget to my blog, which I think looks pretty snappy if I do say so myself.

#10 Generator X

I always wondered where people found all these silly quirky things online....now I know that lots of them come from image generators such as those explored in this exercise. I was unfortunately somewhat limited because many of the generators that I wanted to play with were blocked by the city. However, I did get to create a personalized chocolate bar from the Letter James website. It is almost too pretty to eat...almost! Here it is:

I honestly could have played with all of these toys for hours...I' beginning to see how the teens can play with their Myspace layouts for hours on end.

As a quick note, I really want to try out the Harry Potter Name Generator that is linked from the Generator Blog. I'll try it from a public PC and post that for fun later on!

#9 Feed me Seymour!

See, the title of my post is "Feed me Seymour" and my last name, before I was married, was Seymour...and this post is about "feeds"....see, its sort of funny and witty, right? OK - EJ (my husband) would certainly groan at my pitiful attempt at humor. Maybe I should just stick with the task at hand.

So, this exercise continued to explore RSS feeds and several tools out there to help you find and add feeds that you want. The directions suggested trying out the Bloglines search tool, but since I had already used that in Thing #8, I decided to move along to the next suggested tool, Topix.net. After exploring Topix.net, I've decided that I like the the overall look and layout of this site. I also like the fact that they quickly provide you will some big picture news feeds like Phoenix news, US News, and World News. They even have a special Election 2008 section that you can subscribe to. My only complaint with Topix.net is that it is not very obvious that these are feeds. I didn't see an RSS, XML, or Subscribe Here button anywhere on their site. I decided that I would like to subscribe to their Offbeat News feed but it took me a while looking for a feed icon of some sort before I finally decided to try just copying and pasting the site's URL into Bloglines. This worked but I think for someone unfamiliar with feeds, Topix.net doesn't do a very good job of explaining what they are and how they work. I do look forward to checking in on my Offbeat News feed though....

I next moved on to Syndic8.com. Honestly, as soon as the page loaded I was turned off. The layout is so terrible that I didn't even want to experiment with this site. In the interest of learning (this is Learning 2.0 after all) I decided to try a quick search for "English Bulldogs" to see what kind of feeds came up. I had tried this same search on Topix.net, but most of the results were related to sports teams with a bulldog mascot so I didn't both adding this search to my list of feeds. I was pleasantly surprised when Syndic8.com returned 2 feeds that both seemed related to news and information about bulldogs! Unfortunately I wasn't able to add either of them to my Bloglines account. I'm not sure why this was a problem but I will try Syndic8.com again from on a public PC in hopes that I will have more success next time.

Finally, I moved on to Technorati.com. Since Technorati is a source for finding blogs, I decided to look for more Teen Fiction blogs that I could follow. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Goddess of YA Literature and Book Obsession blogs are two that I have been following for some time. They are both a great tool for helping me to stay on top of what is coming out in Teen Fiction. I found several blogs to choose from by doing a search for "Teen Fiction". I decided to add Teen Fiction Cafe to my list of feeds. The great part is that if I don't like this blog that much, I can go back to Technorati.com and find a better one. It looks like a pretty good one though.....

So, after completing Things #8 and #9, my Bloglines account shows 14 feeds. If I can successfully add the two bulldog feeds that I located on Syndic8.com, I'll have 16 feeds! I'm not sure how I'll ever keep up but at least I know I'll always have something interesting to look at online!

#8 Simple thoughts on RSS

I had experience with RSS feeds prior to this exercise so probably the most challenging part of this "thing" was to pick which 10 feeds to subscribe to on my Bloglines account. You can check out my picks here.

I like the idea of RSS feeds but unfortunately I have yet to really incorporate their use into my everyday personal or professional life. I use Firefox at home, which has a built in feed reader, making it even easier to subscribe to and follow your favorite RSS feeds. I have several of these "Live Bookmarks" on my PC at home, but I find I rarely check them. I have a feeling I'll log in and check my Bloglines account even less.

Despite my current lack of use of RSS feeds, I do see that they are a useful way to save time and keep updated on what going on in your favorite websites, news sources, and blogs.

#7 Blog about Technology

Aghh...help, I need more direction?! Could there be a bigger topic than blog about technology? I seriously have no idea what to say so here are a few random things that have popped into my head while staring at my screen for the last few minutes. These are all ways that technology has changed the way I live my life and do my job.


1) I no longer use the few dusty cookbooks in my pantry anymore - I use allrecipes.com to come up with new meal ideas. Don't be deceived though - I don't really cook very often!



2) I no longer use the print phone book. If I need to know where the closest UPS Store is, I go to their website. If I need to know the names of landscapers in my area of town, I'll use an online phone book like Dex.



3) I can't tell you the last time I bought a new CD...I just download from the iTunes Music Store these days.

4) I drive an hour to work each way, so I have lots of time to listed to audiobooks. See, technology has even changed the way I read! PS - Once I get my Learning 2.0 prize, I'll have an even greater selection of books to choose from thanks to the Phoenix Digital Library!

5) Online games are a great way to waste time (at home, of course). I personally love to play Jewel Quest II and Mahjong, which are both available from iWin.com.

Well, I can't really think of anything else. This is probably the lamest blog post ever...sorry!

6) Oh, I thought of another thing! Speaking of blog posts, technology in the form of a blog helps me to do my job. I try to check in on The Goddess of YA Literature blog at least once a week. It really helps me to stay up on what is coming soon in YA literature. If you have the chance, check her blog sometime. Another good YA literature blog, Book Obsession, is hosted by our neighbors at the Glendale Public Library. I would LOVE to have a book blog like this here at SPL. Wouldn't it be cool if staff shared their latest reads with the public and other staff? I guess for now the "Review It" feature is as close as we can get.

7) I love the "Review It" feature, BTW (I'm on a roll now, baby)! I've started trying to rate and review every book I finish as I add it to my LibraryThing account.

8) Yikes, how could I have forgotten LibraryThing? I used to keep a Word file that served as my reading history. Now I just log in to my LibraryThing account and add the title of the book I just finished. I can add tags, write reviews, rate books, and network with other folks who have read something I have. LibraryThing is really a fabulous tool!! Which reminds me, I need to add the latest Gossip Girl to my account :)

#6 More Flickr Fun

Warholized Sampson
Originally uploaded by epj

I was at first a bit frustrated with the mashups that I was trying to play with in this exercise....I encountered many dead links and web pages blocked by the city's filtering software. First I tried out Dumpr.net, which allows you to make a Rubik's cube or jigsaw puzzle from a Flickr photo. For some reason I couldn't get this tool to access my Flickr account so I just went on to try something else. Next I tried Flickr Font, which uses Flickr photos of letters, numbers, and punctuation to create a unique font that can be applied to any text. Apparently if you paste the code into your web page, every time the page loads the font elements will unique, utilizing different Flickr photos each time. Unfortunately, I got too impatient to wait for this application to load....I'll have to try that one again sometime. I was next blocked from FlickrFly, which is supposed to take you from any geotagged photo on Flickr to that location in Google Earth. How cool would it be to take a picture of the Arabian Library, geotag it, and then use Flickr Fly to see the Google Earth image of the library! Speaking of Google Earth, I wonder how often it is updated...if you looked would the new building be there? Another test for another less busy day I suppose...

Anyway, I finally found mashup success when I tried the link in the Learning 2.0 exercise for fd's Flickr Toys. I thought I would create a Trading Card but as soon as I saw the Warholize feature I knew what I had to do....immortalize our bulldog Sampson! I am positive I will return to explore more of the toys on the fd's Flickr Toys site. Once I upload more photos to my Flickr account, I'll have more to play with and a better shot at making my Librarian Trading Card!

#5 Discover flickr

city light #1
Originally uploaded by Chris Lombardi

I had experimented with flickr in the past and had even gone as far as setting up a Set of photos from my honeymoon. I have also used flickr with my family to see pictures of my nephew, Cy. Despite my previous expereince with flickr, however, this exercise was still interesting. I guess i never took the time to really explore flickr before so I definitely learned some new things this time around. For example, I thought the map feature was really cool. Exploring flickr by map allowed me to find this picture of downtown Missoula, MT. I graduated from the University of Montana and have missed the beauty and charm of Missoula since the day I moved away! This picture instantly brought me back to my college days when I worked at Bagels on Broadway. I would ride my bike across this very bridge in the early morning to open the store. Since it is Montana my ride was very often snowy and dark like this picture.

So, not only has this exercise taught me more about how to use flickr and inspired me to update my own personal photos on my account, but I also got a trip down memory lane too!

#2 Lifelong Learners

Task #2 in the SPLS Learning 2.0 training involved watching a short presentation on The 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners from PLCMC. Before I get to the part where I talk about which habits are the easiest and hardest for me, I wanted to mention a few things that I found quite interesting.

I had always thought of "lifelong learning" as learning that people do after formal education, i.e. as an adult. The presentation noted that lifelong learning recognizes it is never too soon or too late to learn. In other words lifelong learning refers to learning not just after formal education, but before it as well. This struck me as interesting probably because I am in the process of preparing my first ever Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) story time, which focuses on early literacy/learning skills in young children.

I also liked the point in the presentation that with lifelong learning you are in control of the outcome. There are so many variables that can lead to the success or failure of child in today's education system - socioeconomic status, community, education budgets, teacher salaries, race/religion, citizenship status, first language, gender, etc. Basically, there is so much more going into formal education that just what you are the student are putting into it. While many of those factors probably still impact the opportunities for lifelong learning for any given person, I think the individual has much more impact on the outcome than in formal education.

OK - the real purpose of this post is to identify which of the 7 1/2 habits are easiest and hardest for me. I think that I would have to say that the easiest habit is probably to view problems as challenges. While this might not always apply in my personal life, I do think that my positive attitude helps me to always look at the bright side, the opportunity for improvement and learning, of a situation rather than always seeing the downside of things.

The hardest habit for me is probably to teach and mentor others. I guess I just feel that I am so new to this profession that I couldn't possibly have anything to teach anyone yet. I feel like I'm still at the stage where I am learning from the really helpful colleagues I am lucky enough to work with. However, recognizing the tremendous value and insight that my mentors have given to me, I am certain that some day I'll try to do the same for others.

#3 Create a Blog

Hi! This is my first post in my new blog, created as part of the SPLS Learning 2.0 training. Although this is my first post here, I actually created a blog as part of an Information Technologies course that I took while completing my MLS. I really liked having a blog then and half thought I would set up a personal blog at then end of the course....but alas this never happened. I guess I struggled with what I would write and who would be interested in reading it. Not the best attitude I suppose, but at least its honest.

In fact, I read an article in a library publication several months ago that interviewed lots of prominent bloggers in the library and information science field. Many of them admitted that they struggled with similar insecurities about who would read their blog, was their content relevant, was their content really contributing to the profession, etc. So, after all of that, I guess I'm not alone and I'm ready to take another shot at blogging for at least the duration of this training.