Thing 2

In Stephen Amrose's video about technology in libraries he mentioned a few ways that it would be easy to find the time to participate in the activities. Some of the tips made really good sense, like the fact that you don't have to do it all at once. Find 10-15 rather than thinking you need to do it all at once. I have definitely used that strategy this week. I was really busy at work and didn't have the time to sit down and complete the entire activity, but I was able to watch the video in one chuck. I printed out the blog post and the article so I could read bits and pieces of them whenever I had time. The only part that I actually had to sit down and do was write this blog entry. That took awhile because I kept getting interrupted. However, I don't know if the activities to come are going to be as break-up-able as this one was. One problem I've found with finding time is finding a computer to do the work on. In our library we have to share computers. Usually I'm able to find one that isn't being used at the time, but then I have to deal with the filters. All of the computers in our building are filtered (both public use computers and staff computers). A lot of the sites we have to use are blocked (Blogger for example). Without removing the filter, we couldn't sign into our blog or view the 23 things blog, or watch the video, or read the John Blyberg post. The only thing we could do was access ELM, but we would need to know ahead of time what article we needed. That was another reason I printed off all the articles. It took some of the hassle out of dealing with filters every time I had free minute and wanted to get some of it done.

I liked the definition of Library 2.0 that was provided in John Blyberg's blog post that was originally Sarah Houghton's definition. It kept the concept simple enough to relate to everyone, and didn't completely focus on technology. Technology is a big part of Library 2.0, but it isn't the only thing. It should involve everything the library is already doing, just moving it forward to another level. One thing I really didn't understand about his post was the pre-Google vs. post-Google and how we as libraries have to compete against this "giant". We should be able to use Google as a tool, incorporating it into our other sources. It makes a more complete source of information (especially in the future when Google scans every single book into the computer, but I digress...).

I've used/experimented/dabbled in about half of the technologies on the list, but that was for my own use. I'm looking forward to finding out how I can use what I know and what I'll learn at the library (both for library use and to help patrons). Overall I'm just excited that our library is participating in 23 things on a stick. It is a great opportunity to have all staff members learn what's out there.

The first "thing"

I just realized how stupid I was for not knowing what an Avatar was. I did know, but just didn't know what it was called. If someone had called it "the little picture thing that represents you", I would have known what they were talking about, but since the world needs cool names for things...

I set up my avatar through Yahoo. It was fun; kind of like Barbie for adults. I'm not sure if I like what I ended up with. I may have to try something different later, but for now it works. The only problem I had was trying to get it onto my blog once it was made. I ended up saving it on my desktop and just copying it from there. It worked, but I'm not sure that was the easiest way.

With that done, I believe I've completed the first of the 23 things (hopefully correctly) ahead of schedule. yay!

23 things on a stick

I had some extra time today, so I thought that I might as well get started on the 23 things on stick. I spend an awful amount of time on the computer, but don't expand my knowledge much beyond what I already know, so I should learn a lot while participating in 23 things. Setting up the blog was relatively easy once I got into it, and I've registered it on the 23 things site. Now I'm off to figure out what an avatar is and how I get one.