TechSummer08

Thing 14-Library Thing

2008-08-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

This is a site I could spend a lot of time exploring. It is going on my list to "continue to explore" and think about how it can be used during the school year. It seems that I am always trying to find ways to share information and this may come in very handy.

I have also been trying to come up with ways to have kids recommend books to other kids in my middle school library. This has a lot of potential for this idea. I think they would LOVE it! It's almost a myspace/facebook type site for the readers!

It shows potential for the "what do I read next" question that I am asked a lot.

I also think it will assist me in some cataloging as there are always book that I acquire in random ways and then need to catalog from scratch.

Thing 13-Online Productivity Tools

2008-07-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

Zamzar-This is great---if it works. It seems like every year there are more and more issues with converting files in our middle school library. This one will be given a workout this year!

Calendars and reminders--There are lots of them. I don't see a use for them as I use a Palm Phone that I sync with my home and school computer and we have a calendar feature in our school email that others can add to.

PDF converters-looks good for those who don't use Macs! (We have it built in!)

Thing 12-Do you Digg?

2008-07-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

OK-I've been looking at this one for a few days and I can't get motivated to look at it in depth. I get it enough that I would have a clue what someone was talking about if they mentioned Digg, Reddit, or Newsvine to me. However, I don't see much of a use for it compared to some of the other things right now, so I'm going to move on and hope to come back to this.

Thing 11 Tagging and Del.icio.us

2008-07-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

I have seen tagging and del.icio.us show up in several places recently. Great River regions library now has tagging within the entries for their items and St. Cloud Times lets you mark things to del-icio.us.

I like the way that deli.ciou.us can be integrated into the browser. I'm not sure how/if I would use these right now, but they are useful to have a bit of knowledge about to use if needed in the future.

Thing 10 Wikis

2008-07-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

This was a useful "thing" for me. I now have some practical uses for a wiki. I hadn't really taken the time to think of ways a wiki could be used in positive ways.

I spend so much time this year working with my middle school students to be sure they knew what a wiki was and why they should note be using it as the primary resource for their research projects! This will continue to be a concern as there is no way to "prove" that the wiki is published and known to be accurate and factual.

I edited the 23 Things Wiki.

I'm not sure I can find a way to use this within my library right now-primarily due to the fact that it appears difficult to trace the entries to their owners.

Thing 9-Collaboration Tools

2008-07-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

I spent some time working with Google Docs. What a great tool!

3 uses that I had for it just this week-
1. I was working on an online course and we had to put together a document. Google docs made this much easier than emailing the same Word document back and forth among 3 of us and trying to keep track of which was the most recent document.
2. A friend was complaining about not having Word on her home computer and having to stop at work over the summer to get emailed Word Documents opened and printed. Google Docs does that!
3. We now have multiple computers in our home and trying to work on a simple document and not knowing which computer would be available for me.

I'm sure there are more uses...but what a great tool when immediately I have 3 uses!

Thing 9-Collaboration Tools

2008-06-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm out of order--I'll come back to #8 later!

These are new for me!
I have had the struggles of working with others on documents where we don't all have the same software, so I was very interested in these.

Google Docs is a great collaborative feature....plus it has a few other features that I liked.

In the writing tools it not only word counts, but also gives a readability level!

It also allows you to save as a .pdf file!

Thing 7-Communication Tools

2008-06-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Some random thoughts on these tools.

We don't allow our students to use email at school (middle school) for various reasons. I still think that's the right thing to do at this time. However, email with parents and even students at home is an interesting approach from our school library. Something to think about this summer.

One way I manage email is by having several email addresses. That way I can send my personal things one place, my work things to another address, and my "I'm guessing I may get spammed if I put my email address in here" things another place.

I like the idea from 42 folders on having "templates" for various email responses. There are several responses that I send over and over. I think I will develop templates for some of those.

I've played around with IM in the past. It's nice for the right time and place. However, I think most of the times I use it, a phone call would be a better option.

Text messaging is another thing I have tried in the past. Again, in a middle school library where we don't allow students to have phones during the day, I don't see a practical purpose for it.

I do think, however, that all of these communication tools have a place in public and higher education libraries. Like many other technologies, they will eventually filter into our school libraries and have a place there too.

Thing 6-More Images

2008-05-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

These image generators are VERY fun! I like the trading card sample. I can see using it with various middle school classes. It would also be a great idea for promoting books-kids could make a card for a character or author! (It's summer vacation...so my samples are "fun" and not "work" related tonight!) This one is from Big Huge Labs.These are from Im age Chef

Image Chef also has some poetry ideas that I may use with students.

When I get time later I'm going to try ToonDoo.

Thing 5-Playing with Flickr

2008-05-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

Wow-this was fun! Look what I created using my Flickr photo at Big Huge Labs!

And here is what I am looking forward to right now! (I created this with Spell with Flickr)

Thing 4-Part 2

2008-05-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

I now uploaded my own pictures to Flickr!

Thing 4 -Flikr

2008-05-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Wow-searching for anything provides results!

My 6 year old daughter is convinced that Joe Mauer should be her boyfriend! She even sent him a birthday card and received a personalize, autographed response.

So, my Flikr search was Joe Mauer---740 results! Changing the view to "thumbnails" instead of "details" was helpful.

Here is a picture I chose:

At first, I couldn't figure out how to get the URL for the picture as the 23 Things directions said. I don't get the link the instructions said I would.
However, I used their sample on the directions and figured out what the URL should be using the name on my downloaded picture.
The URL to the picture is here.

Thing 3-RSS

2008-05-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

I love RSS!
I used to go to several web sites daily to see if anything had changed....only to be disappointed that nothing was new.

I started using Feedblitz about a year ago...and now every day I get an email with the websites and blogs with RSS to which I've subscribed. They are all neatly delivered in one place and I can read them quickly.

I actually have 2 Feedblitz accounts. In the one I use at school, I've subscribed to the blogs for teachers in my building. Daily, I get an email that I can quickly skim through to see if there are things coming up in their classes and schedules of which I should be aware.

My "home" Feedblitz account is a bit more eclectic. The subscriptions there include various young adult literature blogs, items I'm interested in on eBay, a few bargain shopping sites and some technology blogs. Again-daily I receive one email that I can read and either get some quick information or click the link to the blog for the complete entry.

Thing 2

2008-05-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Library 2.0 thinking certainly forces us in the library world to continue to change the way we think and operate. Having been in the profession less than 10 years, I entered at a time when technology was fast-moving into the library world. We must continue to meet the information needs of patrons in whatever form that takes...print or technology/digital. These needs are changing and changing quickly. Being aware of what exists and is coming is hard enough....but then acquiring those items and teaching patrons to use them......in a timely manner...that's a big job!

Thing 1

2008-05-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

My blog is set up...Avatar added (too many choices!) and a counter added!