Week 10

What a journey!!! I have really enjoyed these exercises. I must admit, at times I felt as though I didn't have time to do them. I even contemplated doing them at home. I feel for those that had to learn about things and then do them. For the most part it was review for me. However, here are a few things that I loved:

1. Blogging...never much into blogging but doing this exercised has really opened my eyes to the possibilities. I will probably do a personal one in the near future.
2. Technorati. I really liked it for managing feeds.
3. I loved the web based applications in Zoho and plan to use it or refer people to it. HMMM maybe this would be a great class for TTA for patrons.
4. I loved adding my favorite books but not too sure if I will use it again.

Most of the other items I was already using so it was nice to just review.

I am getting use to Meebo but I feel as if we might not be able to give the patrons the attention they need once they become more aware of it. At times it can get hectic at the desk and if only a small bleep on the bottom of your screen will signify there is someone trying to reach us... it may cause concern. I love the idea of YA/Children's area having a blog.

I am going to miss ihcpl on Saturdays when I am locked up in YA with nothing to do....that is where I would catch up. I guess it is back to writing training literature for future class. Oh well.....

See you online!!!

Week 9 #22 ebooks LOVE IT!!!

Ok.... so until I started working here I didn't even know there was an elibrary. I didn't even know you could get ebooks or audio books......do you have any idea how much I spend a month on ematerial?

Down side...I like Christian Historical fiction and there doesn't seem to be a wide variety of Christian anything.

As for the other site (only had time to look at one). Looks like it is ran by volunteers that read the books and some books are read 1 chapter a week?!?!?!?!? I like audio books for long trips and I like them because I can listen while I do other things....not going for 1 chapter at a time...I could do that on my own.

Week 9 #21 Podcasting

so I love podcasts....my Ipod is full of ones that I love. I added one to my Blog site that I really enjoy...check em out.

Oh yeah, and the directory...pretty straight forward. But I use them all the time anyway.

Week 9 #20 YouTube....Dangerous....Beware

So, I am very familiar with Youtube, maybe too familiar. I can spend a whole Sunday afternoon watching videos. I love funny videos or music videos. So to ask me to view Youtube at work.....well now you are just asking for trouble. I have my favorites...like Hand puppets...search for it...it is funny and amazing. I have one embedded in my Myspace. Yeah, Youtube....I tube Youtube. :)

Youtube or slowtube

So I am trying to access youtube but I am having problems getting to the site. I keep getting amessage about filter...which fine but even when i do get online and pick a video...takes so long to buffer and play.
I'll play with it at home.

Week 8 #19 Web Based Apps

Ok. I have to admit....way cool. I love the online aplplications. I love the templates. The only thing I don't like are the limiting amount of fonts. With so many free fonts out there, I wish they would load more. I joined ZOHO because I know I will use it in the future. I started to type up a recipe for technology trainning assistant but soon bored with it so I just uploaded it to my blog (see below).

I am loving it!!

Tech Recipe

Creating Recipe

Name of the Dish: Technology Assistant    

Type: non edible

Serves:thousands

Ingredients

2 cups knowledge 2 tsps patience Salt to taste 2 tbsps comic relief 2 lumps of smiles  1 tsp understanding 2 tsps students willing to learn  1 large good tools to work with  1 medium quiet room 2 Tomatoes (chopped) 1/4 small bunch Fresh coriander leaves (finely chopped) 1/2 tsp Sugar 1 tsp Vinegar

Directions

Mix together mutton mince, ginger garlic paste and salt & refrigerate it for half an hour. Heat ghee in a pan, add onions and lightly brown them. Add turmeric powder and chilli powder and sauté for half a minute. Add mince and cook till all the water evaporates. Add potatoes and carrots and mix well with the mince. Add one cup of water and let the        vegetables cook on low heat. When dry, add tomatoes, coriander leaves, sugar and vinegar and continue to cook for two to three minutes. Add salt and serve hot.

 

Week 8 #18 Social Networking

Ok I fought the MYSpace bug for years. All my friends (my nice responsible professional) friends were griped because I did not have a myspace and they used it to communicate gatherings or church going ons. So I buckled down and created an account. I must admit I was hooked for a few days, creating my page and such. Then the love was gone. I rarely log in.

What I don't like about alot of these sites, is that I have to create a login to view anything. And I don't like wasting space on a site by grabbing a name and creating a page for a website that I will not use. I know if there was a place that I wanted to join and there was a user name that I wanted...I would be disappointed if it was taken by someone who took it just to use for 30 minutes. So needless to say, I didn't sign up for any to view.

However, I do like the HGTV rate my space. It has some wonderful ideas and it is nice tobe able tos end a warm fuzzy to someone.

Week 7 #17

I love technology. As a technology training assistant, I should love technology, it is my job. My family jokes because I will hesitate to spend any money on clothes/make up etc. But when a new gadget comes out...I wait in line for hours and justify the money spent.



I can't imagine my life without technology. I wake up in the morning to the sound of the alarm on my smart phone. Instead of hitting the snooze button, I hit the email button and check my emails before I get out of bed. As I drive around town, I listen to an audio book. If I am sitting in line to pick up my child, I read an ebook or type an email. If I am at my brother's house, I can type up documents. I take pictures of my daughter or something that I see as funny at any time. I also, record videos of her swimming or just kidding around with her friends. I listen to music as I bike or walk. I track my weight watcher points. I play bejeweled when I am bored. I go online and read news or shop. All of this is done from the convenience of my phone.



In the morning after I leave my child at school, I log into my computer and work on a computer 500 miles away in Dallas, via remote access. I log onto websites and check claim status for patients, more than 30 claims in an hour. When I use to call into insurance companies, I would hold for 30 minutes and then talk to someone who said they can only 3 claims per call. Patients call me on a local Dallas number and I answer it in Seabrook because my phone lines are VOiP lines and for no extra cost I have 4 phone lines from 4 different parts of the country/continent so that people can make local calls to me even when I am not local. My stepchildren call a 905 number that rings on my home phone in Seabrook, at no extra cost.



When traveling to Canada to visit family, I can extend my visit because I can work from anywhere in the world....Well at least I use to be able to but I work for the county now and I have to limit my time.



Which brings me to the big draw back of technology....socializing. I could do everything from home and interact with people via chats, phones and emails but I missed the smiles. I missed the feeling you get when you see someone and their reactions to your stories. I missed hearing laughter as opposed to seeing "LOL". Because of that, I had to get a "traditional" job that allowed me to interact with people.



My fear is the youth of today have been so exposed to technology and so far removed from true socializing that they will become impersonal and not value life and companionship as much as my generation does. My daughter is 11 and she prefers to text message than to hear the voice of her friends. She prefers to chat online than to visit with a friend. And I find such a lifestyle can lead to being a harsh or less loving person. I have been on online posts and people can say nasty things. Things they probably wouldn't say in person but because on line posts are so impersonal, they say malicious things. Now I am not saying , all people do. But I must admit, I have said things online that if I was having the same conversation with that person, in person, I probably would have handled the conversation differently.



Technology is great. I just hope we don't replace human companionship with a keyboard and a monitor.

Week 7 # 16

So I added my favorite Blog Spot to ihcpl wiki...Tim Holtz on Typepad....It is new but it is my favorite (this week) because I have been waiting for it for a while. I use Wikepedia quite often. I discovered it about a year or two ago. Or rather, my husband did and he shared it with me.

I wish I had more time to view everyone's blogs and their choices for their favorite blogs.

I love the parade of Avatars and the song...but I regret that my lack of time to view other blogs, leaves me stumped on who they belong.

Week 6 #15

I found all these articles interesting yet difficult to follow. My experience in the library is very limited. I think I have been here for 2 months but prior to that, my experience in the library dates back to my college years...late 80's early 90s and only when I had to go.

So in regards to reference librarian, I fear I am a weak one. I do my best to muddle through the requests but I read these articles from the perspective of a patron. I do need help searching. Joe Blow walking in from the street has no clue as to what the library has to offer. And will only learn after many uses. The percentage of the community that comes to the library is small compared to the community itself. I see many patrons but many of them come everyday to study (they bring their own books from school or grab a book that is needed for school) or they sit at the computers writing emails and logging into MySpace.

How does library 2.0 fit into that forum? We seem to be encouraging people to stay at home and visit their library virtually. Don't get me wrong...my title is Technology Training Assistant and I LOVE technology but I think we are beginning the lose the social aspect of society. Case in point, my daughter, 11 years old, has been brought up in the technology age. She has had her own computer for 4 years and has learned to respect it but when her friends come over to play, an odd thing happens. she logs into my computer and her friend logs into hers and they chat online instead of face to face. Is that the future? Everyone order take out and stay at home and visit your library from there?

What kind of information will people find on their own? Can you count how many emails you have had forwarded to you from others that were forwarded as fact and when you research it, you find out that it isn't? We need librarians to help us laymen people try to weed through all the garbage. You are right, there is tons of information on the web and not all of it correct. Someone needs to guide us in the truthful direction and my hopes is that it is the librarians. Many of todays youth prefer visual aides such as videos or hands on work to studying with books or experiencing stories. I digress...I have changed the topic...let me pull back a bit. As for tagging, I love tagging my personal items but sometimes I have been tagged with bogus tags because some weird person finds it funny.

All I am saying is that I love technology but we can't sacrifice the human aspect of the library. Read my blog a few weeks ago about the sounds of the library. Those sounds weren't just songs playing over some speakers....those were sounds of life....sounds of people in a building. Leaving breathing people and not avatars.

Week 6 #14

Ok so I went to Technorati, with each search of learning 2.0 my responses became more within my requests as I did blog directory versus blog posts.

I went to the poplular ones and was surprised that the largest had less than 3000 members (Boing Boing) but I really didn't know what to expect.

Week 6 #13

So I went on line with del and looked at some tags. I contemplated putting some bogus tags but decided not to do it. It could be useful for references. For example, I searched for HCPL and I found Harford County PL 23 things exercises and their blogs. I didn''t realize this was something offered to different public libraries. Very interesting.

Week 5 #12 ELF

So I created an account on ELF. I am not sure how it works differently than my HCPL account since I already receive emails regarding my due dates and I believe if we have requested a book, the system will automatically send me an email (provided that I have given the library my email address).

Week 5 #11

So I went to Library Thing and added a few of my favorite books. I have to admit, I didn't see any use for this website at first. But I love the fact that I can add the HMTL to my blog and any other profile I have (ie MySpace). So I will definitely use it and I am glad we did this.

So instead of adding a link, I added the information to the right side of my blog. Check it out!!! These books are worth the read...especially for women

MEEZ Week5 #10

So I have a Meez that I created at Meez.com http://meez.com. I already had one for other sites but I created one just for the library. (Truth be known, I created it about 2 or 3 weeks ago and to my surprise this exercise was to create one....Hey consider it as me thinking ahead. LOL

The actual location or background at Meez is the Library and I am in an office chair. Not that I would do this at work but hey this is me in my virtual world.

Finding RSS

I tried Technorati and it seemed the easiest for me. However, I found most of my RSS by going to my favorite websites and subscribing to their RSS.

RSS feeds

So I signed up for some RSS feeds. I signed up for some that were of interest to me and others just because I needed ten. I also signed up for someone's feeds from hcpl.

Here is my berry picture with a watercolor effect that has been cropped.

View from Laptop Checkout

I sit here at laptop check out and all is peaceful. The low murmur of voices or the rustling of papers is all that can be heard. A sniffle or two can be heard from the aisles. Sounds like flu and cold season is about to start. A small child clings to her fathers leg and looks around in wonderment. Her eyes big and filled with questions. Next to them a young woman smiles as she reads her computer screen. Is she reading a funny story or looking at an amusing picture, perhaps a friend has shared a funny thing in an email? No matter, the look of joy and amusement is enough to satisfy my curiosity. Someone is reading a newspaper with such a look of intensity. His eyes seem to burn through the paper.



Yes all is right in the world, well at least in the library. The humming of the computers, the shuffling of the papers and the pitter patter of fingers dancing across the keyboard whisper that it is so.



To which I ask myself, where are the children? Where are the lively bunch that giggle and fill this place with life? The ones that bubble with excitement and shout for joy? And make me want to pull my hair out? LOL

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Berries in the Fall

So, I created a Flickr account and added on picture. LOL I have a photobucket account where I store all my pictures...4 years worth of digital pics and those pics that I have scanned into laptop.

Of the tools and mashups that I saw, I think the one that amused me was the colorpik. I do alot of digital scrapbooking so it is a great tool to find elements within a certain color scheme.....No wait. My favorite is the Word art one where you spell a word and it finds images for each letter. I can see using that one alot in digital scrapbooking. I can't wait to post the site to twopeasinabucket.com. The gals are gonna love it.

Hmmm....now I am doing my ihcpl homework...but before I do...who is reading these and how much TIME do they have on their hands? I have seen some of the blogs and they are quite lengthy. Not a bad thing..just an observation. I mean, look at my last one....it was a novel. But I digress, I am pretty comfortable with the internet and privacy. I have a paypal account and buy things at Ebay and some other of my favorite sites. My My Space is set at private, at least I think it is. O_O I love to post at sites and give my opinion.

Have you seen the commercial of the guy that has his SS# on the side of a truck? He is my hero.....LOL

What's in a name...

Will teach for food...why? Well one of my duties at the library is to teach Word, Excel, PowerPoint (and some other software) to the public. And since I get a paycheck that helps pay the bills, like food, I do teach for food. And I love it!!
Who knew the library offered these classes? I didn't. And when I mention it to my friends and others, they didn't know it either. But I hope to spread the message in my everyday dealings..when I drop off my dry cleaning, when I go to Walmart, when I go to Kroger, Blockbusters, mall, school functions....you get the point.
I can't count how many times someone has asked me to teach them to use a software like the ones above and now I have an answer for them...THE LIBRARY!!! Which is great. I use to volunteer for Christian Womens Job Corp and we taught disadvantaged women how to use Word and Excel and how to create a resume. I did it for free for several reasons. 1) I love teaching. I love to see a person's face light up when they finally get it. 2) I have a heart for women that are hurting. I just want to love on them and let them know there are people out here that care about them and want the best for them. 3) I want to give them something they could use the rest of their life, hopefully to better themselves and perhaps escape their current situations or better the lives of their children. Sadly, the Job Corp lost its administrator and with it, the funding. So I no longer had an outlet to teach.
So when the opportunity arose to teach at the library, it was like a dream come true. Clay Bedford said, "You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives." That is my hope. To make the classes fun, informative and welcoming. If someone felt intimidated by a software or the idea of using the computer, I hope they come away from the class confident that they may not know everything but they can learn. I hope they practice what they learn and grow from that point.

For the Blog of it

So I have been playing with a scrapbooking website...Twopeasinabucket and I noticed all these people had their own blogs. Well, I said...I gotta get me one of those!

So here I am two months later at work and my assignment? Create a blog....Does it get any better than this? So here I am ....for the blog of it.