Thing #4 Register your Blog

Having looked at the list of 23 Things, is there anything in particular you're excited to learn more about? Post your answer in your blog.
I'm excited to learn what this blog is all capable of, most of the "Things" I have never heard of before, so we'll see.....

Thing #23-----YIPPEEE! Summary

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Well, I learned a lot about what's out there. I had never heard of at least 99% of the "Things". My favorite discovery was setting up a Blog and snazzing it up. That was fun. It was also fun to check out other staff Blogs.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? It has probably given me more confidence in discovering what's available, and an interest in playing around with different things available.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I guess I wasn't expecting to have as much fun doing it as I did, I also thought I'd need to use up the time given to accomplish 23 Things, since I've done the majority while on desk, in between phone calls and patron requests. I'm not sure how I'm going to remember all the things that I have had to register for, and the passwords I've used.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I don't know, I think it was pretty easy to follow. Whoever put it together did a stellar job. Maybe adding a few more helpful steps included in the Discovery Exercises. More instructions would have saved me quite a bit of time.

And last but not least…
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again choose to participate? Hey, I'd do it for the reward! I have to admit, I might not have done it without the bribe of a new MP3 player, and the chance to win the lap top...........PICK ME, PICK ME!

Thing #22 Podcasts

Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.
Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account
Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?
I liked Yahoo Podcasts, but they say they're closing on Oct. 31 and I couldn't find a little RSS icon. I did not like Podcasts.net, but at least I could figure out how to add it to Bloglines by copying and pasting the URL I added this one . It didn't have many hits for my searches. http://feeds.feedburner.com/my_baby_monsters_childrens_stories_podcast It's o.k., a children story sharing web site. My son enjoyed it while he ate his dinner, that had to be a frozen dinner because I was so determined to finish this "thing".
There are quite a few library podcasts to choose from, and book review types.

Thing #21 Online Video

This is an adorable little girl reciting the 23rd Psalm. I was e-mailed it awhile back and thought of it when I came to Thing #21. There are a ton of really great clips to enjoy on youtube. Another we liked (Alex is helping me with this post) was the Hysterically Laughing Baby. Alex really wanted me to post a roller coaster movie, but we've seen enough of those on my end. The only thing I dislike about this site is all the garbage people put on it, but it's easy enough to avoid.
I'm not sure how this can be used in a library setting. Perhaps as mini tutorials or something??
Posting the video in my Blog was a lot easier than I expected.

Thing #20 Special Treat

What was your initial reaction to this video? Why? Do you feel this video was intended for general audiences? Please post your response in your blog.

The video is pretty amazing. I bet it was pretty fun to create. It captures the gist of the online world. I think a general audience could comprehend this without too much difficulty.

Thing #19 Digital Music

I'm really impressed with Pandora......a personal station that tailors to the artists you prefer? That's just one smart program! I found it pretty easy to use. I tried to search for some kids music, but didn't have a whole lot of luck.
We use iTunes for our iPod, but I wasn't aware of other alternatives. Usually I just make a list of songs I want to burn onto a CD and my hubby takes care of it. But I'm pretty sure he has only used iTunes.
I'm saving this link to come back to in the future to compare with iTunes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online_music_stores
I have never tried file sharing, but I might, ya nevah know!

Thing #18 Social Networking

Based on this lesson, how do you feel about the impact of social networks on the distribution of information? Does it have any significant impact? Why or why not? What to you see as some of the positive and negative aspects of web2.0 and social networking? Please post a response in your blog.
Social networking is a great way for friends to stay connected with each other, and to share what's going on in each others' lives. It more than likely has a huge impact on todays world, if it didn't it wouldn't be so popular! On the other hand, negatively, social networking can be abused when used to solicit illegal activities, or when used to spread negative gossip that could be harmful. As with just about anything, people will use social networking to their advantage, whatever that may be good or bad.

Thing #17 Wikis

I have used Wikipedia before. The only thing that makes me nervous is the validity of the information since anyone can edit it.
I liked the http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page. I appreciated the detailed list of searching choices.
I also liked http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton+Public+Library. This site would be handy for Readers Advisory, and Book Reviews.

Thing #16 Technorati and Blog Tagging

Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
Technorati is a handy search tool for Blogs. When I did a keyword search for "Learning 2.0" the differences I found were in the number of hits .....629 in Tags, 299 in Blogs, and 179 in the Blog directory.
Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?
When I checked out the popular blogs the most favorite/popular blog is called "BoingBoing". Kind of a cool name, anyway, it's a "weblog of cultural curiosities and interesting techonolgies." Pretty neat for people that have the time for that kind of thing and want to connect with people that have the same interests.

Thing #15 Tagging

First I tried and tried to get the video link to go for this "thing" but it's not working, and I checked out a few Thing finisher's Blogs and they had the same problem with the video, so I gave up on that.

I did not make a del.icio.us account because I'm not sure I would use it a whole lot. I can see how this would be useful for students and their research papers, and another helpful tool for group projects by sharing tag information. Although, I saw I can tag my favorite recipes on certain sites, that might be fun. I think I like rollyo better since I'm not totally into the social benefits of sharing this or that.

Thing #14 Best of 2.0

I selected to look through the winners and to play around with a few I've never seen before....

O.K. so the first one that looked appealing to me was....Games2Web which I'm not too impressed with. There's a little Mario guy so I was excited that I could play some kind of Nintendo game but it's not easy to search for them because the drop down menu for games has a gazillion games on it and if I can't get to something lickety-split I give up.

Peertrainer.com looks pretty looks pretty cool as an exercise/weight loss accountability buddy system.

O.K. Widgets are FUN. Now I feel very accomplished with my clock on my blog that I made MYSELF, and my handy-dandy calendar and weather updater!
I just love the name widget. I googled free "clock" widget for blogs and found this coooool widget web site....www.fancygens.com. After creating the widget you want copy the code. Then in Templates select "Add a page element", then select HTML/JavaScript and paste your code. Pretty sweet, I feel nerdy. I got the weather thingy from weatherbug.com.

For library use...........I think there are already some widgets on the web site.

Thing #13 Online Productivity

Online Productivity...........This was super easy to set up an account with, but I don't think I'll be using it much. I rarely need to send our spreadsheets or documents. However, I'll mention these online productivity options to my husband who has to do a lot of group projects for Grand Valley as he tackles his MBA. Seems to be what online productivity would be most useful for.
Zoho writer's features are pretty neat. I like all the stuff on the tool bar, so visible and easy to access. It's spiffy-er than the Micro. Word I use at home.

Thing #12 Customized Search Engines

So, this seems to be a glorified way of keeping your website "favorites". I can see myself using this if I have oodles of "favorite" sites and I want to keep them organized.
I did check-out the Google-Co-up and it looks like something one would make for a company or organization.

http://rollyo.com/evandentoorn/

Thing #11 Library Thing

So far.........this is my favorite thing. I think it's pretty cool. This would be a great way for people to keep track of what books they've read, what series they'd like to continue, and to do their own reader's advisory by sharing it.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/evandentoorn

Cindy says to check out goodreads.com and secondlife.com

Thing #10 Web 2.0 and libraries

Read two or three of the perspectives on Library 2.0 from the list above.
First I read, "To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate" and it totally went WHOOSH, over my head.
So I tried the "Away From the IceBergs" which was a lot easier for me to digest. I think that KDL already does much of what this article talks about as far as providing patrons with what they want and that these materials are easy to access.

Create a blog post about your thoughts on any one of these? Library 2.0 - It's many things to many people. What does it mean to you?
My thoughts........well, I'm still quite confused about all of this, but I'm getting there. I'm not sure I'd make daily use of some of the "things" yet, but it's fun and interesting to learn about them, and this is a great way to be introduced to what's out there. I think a lot of patrons would appreciate an easier way to discuss their library wants and needs. And I liked the idea of showing them how KDL is spending their money.

Thing #9 Library Blogs

For me all the Search Tools were easy enough to navigate. Here's a recipe I found on one of them. I think it'd be fun to use Blogs for peoples favorite recipes, but then again, I am kinda hungry.
Here's a site I'd like to return to that I found...http://www.hepn.com/library/content/

Provolone Onion Dip
2 cups chopped Vidalia onion
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cups shredded provolone cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together the onion, mayonnaise and cheese. Transfer to a small casserole dish.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the onions are tender and the top is golden.

Thing #8 RSS Feeds

My public bloglines account
http://www.bloglines.com/public/evandentoorn

Not overly difficult. I'll probably play around with this more. It's a fun way to keep my interests organized.

Wetpaint

http://kdl.wetpaint.com/

Thing #7 Image Generators

Here's my image generator Little T. Looks like he's rolling a booger between his fingers or something, I pity his mother. Some fun options out there for image generators though. Cool stuff.

http://www.garbagepailkidsworld.com/create.html

My little detective

Thing # 6 Mash-Ups

My own trading card......SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.

Thing #5 Photo Sharing

Here's the lion at Walker Library. Thanks to Morgan I figured out how to stick this thing on here.

Thing#3 Create a Blog

The most difficult of the 7 1/2 habits for me is Habit #3...reason being, I get frustrated very easily when things don't fall into place lickety-split.:) The easiest for me will be the last one. I love to play and have fun, and I love to learn new things about the internet.