Week 16: Wrap-up Webinars & Final Posting...

23 Things I've Learned....

1. How to Blog and various ways to edit/personalize your Blog
2. Online Communities- linking these communites together via blog etc.
3. Online Meetings- new ways to learn without going anywhere except to the internet.
4. Photo Sharing-with other sites and people
5. RSS and Feed Readers- a better way to trak your favorite news sites etc.
6. Tagging and Social Bookmarking-keeping track of websites from anywhere / any connection
7. Microblogging- tweeting & plurking away,  one mini blog at a time
8. Cloud Computing- maintaining and collaborating on documents within the internet (clouds)
9. Instant Messaging- staying connected and making communication within the library and within various departmnets more easy.
10. Video on the Web-New ways to teach and share information
11. Screencasting- also new way to teach patrons as well as staff.
12. Slide Sharing- Great promotional tools or information sharing ability.
13. Library Thing, Etc.- keeping track of reading lists, whether you want to read, are currently reading, or are finished reading.
14. Wikis- sharing your ideas and keeping information current and correct.
15. Don't be Afraid to try.
16. There is always at least one other person out there that is as confused as you are.
17. I will never stop learning.
18. I have new ways to teach others.
19. You can TEACH an Old dog new tricks :)
20. There are always ways to use new techology for your job or for your home life.
21. Librarians are very creative
22. Learning CAN be FUN!
23. There are more than 23things to learn about Kansas

Nominate Your Favorite Work --By a Participant--

• My Favorite participant creation was this crazy "video on the web" by Cynthia Berner Harris

What Would You Like to Happen Next?
I wish we could do something like this at KLA and be broken down into sessions, but would also like to continue on this kind of learning path.

 I have really enjoyed the lessons and the variety of all the blogs.

Week 15: Wikis

The end is so near....Wiki Wiki WHAT?

or in the words of Fozzie Bear. 

Wocka, Wocka, Wocka 

Picture from: Fozzie Bear Wikipedia

Well for this weeks activities I first went to Nickerson's wikipedia webpage. I edited their webpage information, because they have a new website for the city. I left the old one because it has information too. I entered the link and saved the edit. I listed it as NEW SITE right above the older site which I relabeled SKYWAYS CITY WEBSITE. Here is the link to that page: Wikipedia Nickerson.


Next activity I went to the 23 Things Kansas Wiki and added a page to the wiki and then wrote about my experience and linked a couple of my videos to it.  It was very simple and self explanatory.

I then created a personal wiki for my family and am going to see if this helps us in planning our next get together.  I am also eager to try some of the other Free Wiki Options such as PBWorks or WIKISPACES.

So... onward and upwards

Week 14: Library Thing, ETC.

For this weeks activity I tried Library Thing and Shelfari.  I already had accounts with Goodreads and Bookarmy. As for Goodreads and BookArmy, they are ok but I still like the ease of the Shelfari program.  After setting up my account I added a bookshelf to my blog and the Facebook Application to my personal Facebook Account, but I couldn't find a way to add it to my profile, like my blog.  Even though others had problems adding it to Blog, I had no issues with the widget. 

All of these programs are nice at helping you keep track of your reading history that can be accessed easier than paper lists or library history of checkouts.

I am eager to see when a "meebo" like device will allow you to group all you sites like these for easier management of all accounts.

http://www.shelfari.com/ajshutchpl

Week 13: Slide Sharing

Zoho is quite impressive.  It had many options for creating a slide show.  I played with it a little, but due to internet time contraints I created a slideshow in powerpoint and then uploaded to Zoho Show.




I have been wanting to do a virtual tour of our library, ever since I began 23things Kansas.  I took the photos and uploaded them to Animoto early on but that was just a series of photos, not much information.  So this week's Assignment worked out perfect for further expanding my virtual tour. 

I hope you enjoy.

Week 12: Screencasting

This was a very easy and informative lesson this week.  There were two options for software JING & SCREENCAST-O-MATIC.COM.  I played with SCREENCAST-O-MATIC.COM, but wasn't as comfortable with it, so I opted to use JING for this activity. 
After deciding which software to use, I chose to capture a screencast showing how to get to the online databases page of our website and explained the different access options for them.
It took a couple tries but finally created a usable capture, that is at the link below:
http://www.screencast.com/t/NjUzMWNhN

I was very impressed with this software, it was easy to work with and creates a nice finished product.  I see this as a very handy tool for our library.  We have many areas that could benefit from these educational screencasts.  I would like to continue creating these for patrons as well as co-workers and hope to get some ideas from my co-workers as to which screencasts we want to start with for both areas.
I am also creating a list of work procedures that I plan to screencast to help in cross-training in my department as well as other departments in my library.

Week 11: BREAK -- WHEW!

Break Week!!!!!!

Yeah!!!!!

This is the easiest assignement.

Here is a picture of me and some family just for fun.

Left to right

Cassy (cousin), Amanda (me), Marlene (Grandmother), & Michelle (Cousin)

Week 10: Video on the Web

Let's go to the MOVIES!...

I begun this week's activity by finding 2 videos on YouTube, that are Library based.  One is a quirky tour of a library. The second one is a Dewey Decimal Rap. 

Library Tour of Harper College:


The Dewey Decimal Rap:


I am still pretty new at blogging and so had some confusion on how to put the HTML in the blog.  I forgot to change the tab from "Compose" to "Edit HTML".  Once I got that figured out it was quite simple.

After completeing Activity 1, without too much difficulty (besides my own absentmindedness).  I decided to attempt Activity 2.  For that project I had my Husband sign using 2 different sign languages: S.E.E. (Signing Exact English) & A.S.L. (American Sign Language).  I then edited them to have a "Fade In" and a "Credits" page, as well as, differing animations.  Finally, I added some captioning so that those who can't read sign language can learn or know what is being said.

It was very easy to upload the videos to YouTube and embedding was simple since I had worked out the issues earlier in this weeks projects. 

Here are the 2 videos that I created with the help of my husband demonstrating the difference between S.E.E. & A.S.L. sign languages.

SEE VERSION


 ASL VERSION


I hope that everyone enjoys.  I know that this will be tool I will use in the future to help create a virtual tour of our library.

Grab some popcorn and enjoy!!!!

Week 9: Instant Messaging

IM'S, EMOTICONS, AND MEEBO'S OH MY!

Well in the beginning chat/IM's, were completely taboo in libraries. They were not seen as a benefit or even a possibility of something that could be used professionally, but times they are a changing. With modern day Instant Messaging/Chat, the programs are not as invasive to the computers. They can be used from the Internet with or without complicated programs and downloads. As mentioned in this weeks lesson many Internet based emails have chat programs that are included with the email accounts, i.e.-Gmail/Gtalk, Yahoo, AOL/AIM, Hotmail/MSN.

In the beginning I used Yahoo IM and ICQ, in fact I met my husband on Yahoo, because at that time chat was more of a social networking setting where you could talk and meet people or discuss common interests. Now chat is seen as a communication tool similar to phones that allow us to break down communication barriers. It also gives an advantage in providing better information and service in certain cases because we are able to send links and pictures etc, to better provide and understand the information that we are supplying.

I know that with Kansas we all jumped into IM reference questions with KANANSWER. It helped those who were still new to the idea to get comfortable in this new technology. Now with KANANSWER having ended many libraries have continued on this service by using MEEBO and TRILLIAN. My library is currently using TRILLIAN. We use Hotmail and Yahoo accounts that are on our webpage. We get a few questions, mainly consisting of requests for information about our library or for information on our website but this only benefits those who come to our site and happen across the IM links. Our library is also networking all staff with Gmail Accounts, allowing us to communicate via chat or shared calendars/Documents. The use of this technology seems to make office communication a little easier. Some of us have also begun to experiment with BUZZ on Gmail, mainly to share helpful websites or information that we have come across that may be good for answering reference questions.


I love Instant Messaging. I use it daily for work and home. My husband is deaf and we communicate easier by text/chat than by phone(relay calls), we are even starting to use the video chat programs for communication (i.e.-Gmail/Skype). As for work if a co-worker is online I can shoot them a message without interrupting them, if they are with a patron. Then they can answer back when they are able.


For this activity I signed up for MEEBO and added my Facebook, Yahoo, and Gmail accounts. I then added those who were listed on the comments for Week 9. I haven't found them "online" yet but hope to get a chance to practice when they do come online when I happen to be online. However, I have begun using MEEBO for my family and work contacts because this allows me to see those in my contacts when they are online, without having to login to 3 seperate accounts. The interface on MEEBO is very clean and easy to use making individual as well as group conversations very easy to use. Making my life a little less complicated. Which is something that we can all benefit from. I plan on using this with all my email/messaging accounts in the future.


In the end, I hope that more programs will begin to work together and allow better interaction without 3rd party software like MEEBO and TRILLIAN. I also hope we can find a better way to get the word out to users about the IM services that are becoming more available throughout libraries.


On to the next... Activity.... c u l8r

Week 8: Cloud Computing

Faster than a speeding bullet,
More powerful than a locomotive,
Able to leap tall stacks of books in a single bound,
Look, up in the CLOUDS!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's a Super LIBRARIAN!

Maybe with my SUPER LIBRARIAN powers I can attempt to catch up on my bloggings for 23thingskansas. So many activities, so little time.....

Cloud computing is still new for me, but for the last 6 months at work we have been using it to share Calendars for various departments within our library and also as an alternative for communication via instant messaging. I have uploaded some of my files into the documents side to make it easier to find when needed also.

For my collaborating project I created a Google docs Presentation that shares things our library has to offer or things that are new to us. To find my partners in CRIME... I used a twitter hashtag and sent a tweet to 23thingsks asking for someone to collaborate with. This worked great and had a taker with in an hour or so as well as 2 more the next day. I then invited a co-worker to also participate, but she is also a participant in the 23 Things Kansas Project, so she was a two-for.

I sent them the links as well as invited them to the GOOGLE DOC. I had already created 2 slides besides the Title Slide. As the collaborators add to the presentation I have asked for them to enter their name on the Title Slide to indicate the participants in this project.

The presentation can be viewed below:

As the participants update and collaborate on the presentation it should update here also.



Participants included were: Amanda Stephenson (Me), Katy Androski (Co-worker and 23kansas participant), Paulina Poplawska (Liberal Memorial Library - Director and 23Kansas participant), Janelle Jarboe Mercer (SWKLS - Assistant Tech Consultant/Trainer and 23Kansas Participant).

I am quite impressed with the results from this collaboration presentation. The ease of creating the "poweroint" was great and I was quite surprised with the options that were available, such as the backgrounds and themes for the slides.

Week 7: Microblogging

Well I have been helping to manage our Libraries Twitter account, but we don't really have a designated format or person. So we linked it to our Facebook page so it will update the Twitter page anytime something is posted on the Facebook Wall
Click the link to check out Hutchinson Public Library's Twitter Page.

Our follower numbers are small, which partly has to do to with our lack of consistent posting, maybe that will improve with the experience that we are all getting and the networks that we are creating.

Upon starting this session, I have been using my own twitter account that I created for another technology training that has been taking place at my library. I also created a PLURK account and have linked it to my Twitter so that I get double the experience/exposure. :)
AJSHUTCHPL Twitter
AJSHUTCHPL Plurk

I also added twitter to this blog on the side using a widget. Hopefully by having all these devices linked/networked I am hoping to better maintain and post to them.

As for the questions posed to us this week, here are my thoughts....

1) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT USING ONE OF THESE MICROBLOGGING TOOLS?
-- Well I am not completely sold on these tool yet, I am giving it a college try to see if I can find ways to work them into my life either work related or at home with family. My family uses more of the microblogging that is associated with wall posts on FACEBOOK. Because they are able to share a variety of things and are not as limited in characters. I could see this being a benefit in a work environment by having posts about unique and/or useful websites, or activities.

2) DID YOU FIND IT EASY TO FIND PEOPLE TO FOLLOW, ESPECIALLY AFTER A LIST OF EXAMPLES WAS GIVEN?
--It was extremely easy using the lists that were provided for Twitter. This was much easier than with the delicious account adds, entering each username took so much time.
--As for PLURK, it is still pretty foreign to me and I haven't had as much time to explore its options. Up till now I'd never heard of it, so I think its following will be slower as far as people for me to interact with. I have a few that I am following but not sure who they are :).

3) WHO ARE THREE PEOPLE OR ORGANIZATIONS YOU STARTED FOLLOWING THIS WEEK AND WHY DID YOU FOLLOW THEM? HAVE YOU FOUND THEIR POSTS HELPFUL?
-- GODORT, KANSASLIBRARIES, HBRAUM, TWITRHAG are some of the followings that I have started this week.
--GODORT & KANSASLIBRARIES were started because I was interested in how they use the technology and also I figured that I could see information updates that would be helpful.
--HBRAUM was on the lists that we were given but have had have enjoyed her tweets now that I am a follower.
--TWITRHAG was chosen from the list because the name caught my eye.

4) WHAT KINDS OF USES DO YOU SEE YOU MIGHT HAVE FOR MICROBLOGGING? HAVE YOU ALREADY FOUND SOME USES FOR IT?
--I am still not sure on its uses but one that I mentioned above was tops sites or special sites you come across. Right now our Library sends out happenings that are going on at the Library. But I think it would be interesting to see special websites to be recognized and noticed on a regular basis without having to change information on a website.
As things taper off on our Technology learning with 23thingskansas & my library's 2010 Project, I am going to attempt posting daily at least interesting sites for the day. Since I handle Government Documents on a regular basis & am on their listservs I am constantly seeing good sites, that I don't always get a chance to tell people about. So I will hopefully get an opportunity to test this idea out.

Well, time to venture into the CLOUDS (Cloud Computing WEEK 8).....see you there!

Week 6: Tagging & Social Bookmarking

A few years ago I tried Delicious but wasn't impressed with its interface, but while working on this exercise I noticed that things have changed and I am eager to try it out again. I first added some links from my browser that I use often, but aren't always easy to remember. Then I created a bundle to group some of my "Work related Training" sites, but realized that the tags I had originally created needed a little more work to be able to bundle like I was wanting. I next went through and added the first 2 lists of users to my network. I wish that the number of steps was less, since you had to search for the user, then add to network and then, ok that you really wanted to add them. I wish that there was a contact list you could just add names/usernames to, instead of the multi-step process that it requires currently.

It was very interesting looking through the other user bookmarks, there were quite a few that I seen that I have marked that will be useful for questions that we get asked, as well as ones that I personally thought would be interesting to check out.

My account can be reached by clicking here.

This was a very good lesson and am hoping to keep up my account, as well as get some others to start using it more.

Now that things have quieted down some at work, I am hoping to get caught back up on my backlog of "23 THINGS KANSAS" assignments.

Wish me luck...:)

Here is a Link Roll of my bookmarks.

Week 5: RSS & Feed Readers

This week was much more calming for me. I am currently working on another Technology training program at my local library 2010 HPL(Hutchinson Public Library). We just had a session on RSS feeds and Readers. So this just allowed me to expand on that knowledge and have a refresher course.

I selected Bloglines to go more with the 23thingskansas project. I had set it up already when I worked on my 2010 HPL project, but I also set up one via Google reader. Our library is expanding its use of Google products to be able to communicate internally more easily. I like the function of the Google reader a little more than that of Bloglines, because you can just place websites and it will send an auto RSS feed if anychanges are made to the site. Bloglines, only allows feeds that have been set up by the website you are wanting to subscribe to.

On my Bloglines account I subscribed to Resource Shelf, Library Stuff, & Dilbert Daily strip. I already had some Feeds set up prior to this for Weather in my area from Weather.com, Reuters, The Shifted Librarian, Cute Overload, Comingsoon.net, & Hutchnews.com. These are quite interesting and are very easy to scan through. I think that RSS feeds are something that I will use more often, now that I can understand them more fully.

On my Google Reader account I subscribed to Hutchpl.org (which currently doesn't have RSS Feeds yet), Hutchnews.com, & Kwch.com.
I can't wait to expand these both to more sites and will be scanning for the RSS symbol when surfing the web.

Week 4: Photo Sharing

Bru Crue Coffee Bar
Originally uploaded by ajshutchpl

I decided to do the option B in this weeks activities. I wanted to be able to include whatever I may learn into something that could benefit the library, too. Getting the time to take the photos I wanted/needed to create a virtual tour was not as easy as I had anticipated. We don't have our lights on until 15 minutes before opening to conserve on energy, this allowed only 15 Minute intervals to catch glimpes of the areas without staff or patrons in the areas.

Eventually, I finally got most of the pictures that I had wanted to share.

I was then able to create the account for Flickr.com and upload my pictures. I like the group tagging that you are able to do, so that all my pictures could be tagged 23thingsks. I then tagged each individual photo and gave a brief description. I had some trouble getting into and back out of this Organizing/tagging area of FLICKR. However, I managed to get through them. I have also been playing around with the Animoto site in creating a video of the photos, as well as another site I found called STUPEFLIX.

I think that FLICKR has some issues in making things easier to work with and to upload. I also wish they had more storage for free. Most pictures now days have larger sizes and you can't get very many in the 100 MB that you get for free, as compared to PICASA by Google.



Here is my test video using ANIMOTO.

I selected one of their templates and uploaded photos and that is all. This has a lot of photos and since they allow only 30 secounds for the free videos. It progresses too quickly. But it gave me experience for the next one that I try.

Week 3: Online Meetings

For our topic this week I chose OPAL, because they have a large section on Government Document information, which pertains to my job.
The session I viewed was:

A Brief Overview of Microfiche, Shipping Lists, and SuDoc Classification in the Federal Depository Library System presented in November 2009 by Valerie Martens Furino, Supervisory Librarian of Library Technical Services Support, U.S. Government Printing Office.

This webinar was very informative for such a brief session (25 min). It was nice seeing that some of the questions I have had were being asked by others too. The session was broken in half with 10-15 minute presentation and about 10 minute question and answer section. This would be a great session to have those who are new to Government Documents to be able to get a little more familiar with some of the basics. I am very eager to check out some of the other sessions when I have some more time available.
I would really like to see more meetings to happen like this. I have quarterly meetings that I attend and the group tries to have at least 1 OPAL/online meeting each year, but I think that it would be better for everyone(Library and Staff) to change to electronic meetings as the majority with in-person meetings limited to once a year. Especially as finances get tighter and tighter. I hope that the technology becomes more accessible to the general public, too. These could be used for agencies training people how to apply for unemployment, or how to FILE YOUR TAXES ONLINE for free.

Week 2: Online Communities (FACEBOOK)

I chose Facebook as my online community, however I am checking out some of my settings in more detail and also checking out some of the applications I haven't used but have heard about. I really like Facebook because it is so easy to keep in touch with people as well as personalizing options.

I began using Facebook at first to get in touch with H.S. friends, but it changed into more of a socializing family tool, because not everyone had one anothers emails, but you could search for people and then add them with the ability to know once they added you or got your message. As for future uses I have been beginning to use Facebook for work too. This last year I was on our Library promotion committee and helped create the Hutchinson Public Library Facebook Page as well as setting up a twitter account for the library too. We place events and displays and programs that are happening at the library, this has been working quite well but we are trying to work at getting things updated on a more regular basis, but this is hard because we don't have just a single person that has time to sit and be sure that things are entered and removed in a timely fashion. Instead we have various people from different departments that will either post themselves or give others information to post for them. Since it is fairly new we are also having to remind ourselves that we need to post here as well as posters, displays etc.
I am very eager to see what some of the other Libraries & Librarians are doing with this technology.

To check out my profile on facebook click HERE:

To check out my library's fan page click HERE:

Week one: Blogging

I am a Reference Librarian at Hutchinson Public Library and have worked here since College. I enjoy learning new things and would like to expand some of my basic knowledge. I have worked in many of the different layers of our library i.e.- Circulation, Reference, Serials, Government Documents, ILL, etc... I am also part of a team that created our Facebook page for the Library and I am hoping that I will be able to learn more to help keep that page fresh and new.
Each week, we as participants are to try and include the following prompts in our posts.
What are my feelings (good or bad) concerning the tool of the week? (i.e. blogger, facebook etc.)
Feel pretty good so far I am glad that we are starting off slow so that we can work it in to our schedules easier.

Have you had any breakthroughs? Any failures? What have you learned from them?
Thankfully my only failure is getting a late start, but am working towards getting a better schedule set up to handle things that will be arriving with the 23 things ks project.

Create Links to resources, other people's blogs, or other useful sites on the web in order to connect your posts to the wider world (even if only back to the 23 things blog)
23ksblogroll
&
23thingsks site

And most importantly we are to visit a few of the fellow participants' blogs and leave comments on their posts so we can start conversations and learn from one another.
In progress of this right now.......:)

Good luck to my fellow participants and may the force be with us........