Contains: Books on metaphysics, logic, ethics and philosophy.
What it says about you: You're a careful thinker, but your life can be complicated and hard for others to understand at times. You try to explain things and strive to express yourself.
For those of you who are curious and want to more information, I've linked a 6 minute and 29 second video of me giving additional insight into my random things. Enjoy!
a few bonus things to share:
I collect teabag tags for a friend who gives them to an organization that uses them as a fund raiser to donate wheelchairs for people in need.
Full Disclosure: I prefer audiobooks over print. I find it hard to sit still long enough to read a book so audiobooks provide me with great flexibility.
I'm surprised at how long the Overdrive video takes to download. It took longer to download than to watch the information. So I opted not to watch the help video and see how intuitive the process is for the end-user. People don't often read instructions, do they?
I'm glad to see there is now a Macintosh option for Overdrive. I don't see the option to search for materials that will play on a Mac. Not convenient. Not at all. I was able to explore a few authors and wasn't really impressed with the available items.
The idea of making digital media available for people to check out and use on their personal devices is a good one. MOLDI/Overdrive provides a "training wheels" service that just isn't up to the speed of many of our users, I think. And for users trying to use it for the first time, it takes a lot of time to download the software, find available titles, blah, blah, blah and it might just turn them off.
Question for the three people following my blog: Is there a service provider for digital media that does it well?
I came to know about podcasts through the knitting world. I'm not certain how it happened but suddenly I was searching for knitting podcasts.
The first knitting podcast was KnitCast and Marie talked about all things knitting for a short time. it was great to have it on my iPod and listen at my convenience.
My preferred reader for the podcasts is iTunes. I have almost 20 'casts that I listen to regularly. Many of those have come via promos on the 'casts that I have heard. I rather enjoy driving, walking, or riding on a play while catching up on my podcasts. iTunes makes it so easy because it automatically updates when there are new podcasts.
A podcast would be another great way to read to children, share Ready to Read information with parents and promote upcoming library events. Posting the podcast on iTunes or one of the other podcasts directories would be simple. Embedding the podcasts on the website would also allow customers to select the experience THEY want with the library. Customized experiences available by reading the information, watching via youtube or listening via a podcast would reach more people. And with some established "guidelines," we could have some freedom in presentation.
I like YouTube. It's easy to upload, fun to explore videos and useful in finding "how to" information. I do have to be careful because YouTube can take up a lot of my time. Type in a topic and sure enough, there is a video about it!
I've set up a YouTube account for the Learn & Play videos. It was so easy to use! Uploading and embedding videos took no time at all. I also like that I can subscribe to specific people's videos, highlight some videos as favorite and send videos to my subscribers. It's very easy to do.
I think video hosting is a great opportunities for libraries. I think that "just-in-time" training could be created and made available for staff and customers. Imagine taking the great resource of a staff member talking about some of our premium resources, putting it on film and adding the link right to the page to answer some FAQs that would enhance the user experience. Customers are accessing the website 24/7 and some people just like to find their own information. I think making a simple video that is less than 2 minutes long would really easy and reach more people. Not everyone wants to read long instructions. Some are audio learners.
I think having video storytime could be another way to reach more children and parents. I imagine a site that parents can go to and click on some videos to entertain and educate their children. We have amazing library staff would would do a great video storytime.
I've embedded videos before and find it rather easy. I'll embed a video that is one of my favorite flashback videos. Remember when MTV actually played videos? This video was one of my favorites.
I like Power Tools. I really like the library Power Tools page. I like it so much that I was emailing family and friends so they would know about these resources.
The highlighter feature is a dream! I discovered it accidentally as I was highlighting a CD I wanted to see if the Library owned. I highlighted, looked up and it was already in the search bar.
Great service. I don't think enough people know about the Library Tool bar and everything it can do. I think that if each library staff member told one person about this feature of the tool bar it wouldn't take long to get more "power" users out there!
Early this week I was chatting with Short and Mighty and LibraryJoy after one of the video sessions for Learn & Play. Short and Mighty mentioned Picnik as a great add-on for flickr. LibraryJoy was sold too about the wonderful aspects of this technology. You can watch this conversation here if you're interested in what happens after the video taping. Picnik is mentioned at about 2:55 into the video. You might like the video for a great conversation about how Learn & Play is helping connecting staff across the system.
That's was I've decided to explore, Picnik. Picnik is a website that lets you edit/correct/manipulate images from a variety of online resources. I've got a flickr account so I'm halfway there. It was very easy to link my flickr account with Picnik and easier to create a collage of existing images.
I've linked this in my delicious account and will refer back to it when I need to do something creative with the photos I've taken. It's quite useful for me personally. I don't know if I would use it enough to purchase the premium resources.
An interesting aside: when a page is loading the loading bar also gives some alternative messages. Very nice addition.
I'm sold. I see the benefit of the online tools. These are great. I got a knitting spreadsheet from a friend awhile back, looked at it once and then forgot it was there. Well, Google Docs makes it easy to have everything in one place, accessible and easy to use.
As I think about work, he many revisions that I go through with monthly reports to the Board or planning for the next presentation would me made easier by storing them "in the clouds." I wouldn't need to bring my laptop home with me everyday. If I can get to the internet, I can get to the documents. That makes me happy.
I also think about how CML has used Grpwrk folder to collect documents that people use across the system. If we used an Online Web App, the version tracking would happen automatically. I like that. I find it tough to remember the naming theory for documents. I'm always going back to the key to makes sure I'm using the right naming convention.
I wonder if there is a way to include customers in the creation of some documents.
There were a couple of nice things that I heard about today that I wanted to share. Video is easiest so watch this if you want to hear about the good work that Jimmer provided and how another staff member is using RSS feeds.
RSS feeds is thing #8 and I'm glad the Bill is using the extra time to keep learning! Google Reader is a perfectly fine alternative to Bloglines talked about in the post. Everyone has their preference. Which is yours?
Here's the video I took with Bill and Jimmer. The sound quality is a bit low.
Did you notice Mr Pointy Hand showed up? I wonder if Jimmer wears the hat everytime he helps someone with L&P?
A significant benefit to Learn & Play is the staff helping each other. It's about connecting with people. Sometimes we connect using Web2.0 methods and other times the connection happens by asking for someone for help and then letting them help! Offering to help has its great rewards, too. Jim's tweet shows how a small thing makes a big difference.
Got a story that needs to be told? Post it on your blog and then let me know. Not afraid of the camera, I will come to you to get your story on film!
Thanks to those of you who encourage people to learn every day! There are lots of you, I know. You're doing great stuff for each other and our customers!
I added a few entries into the Learn & Play wiki without problems once I got my login information correct.
This "thing" has been a bit of challenge for the L&P Team as you see from the comments on the blog. I was able to get my login information quickly by asking for an account.
Once in, I was able to add my blog, favorite children's book, and favorite album. It was easy to do once I took time to look at the page and see the "edit" tab at the top. I like videos to help me learn so I've been looking on youtube. I didn't find any that I like so I email pbwiki directly.
Great customer service from pbwiki support. They quickly sent me a link for their video support page. Editing was the feature that I noticed was needed. That video is here.
I've been pondering the concept of 2.0 for some time and how it impacts me and the library. Over the last 18 months, I've been more consciously aware of 2.0 concepts.
Michael Stephens wrote about Librarian2.0 in the OCLC Newsletter. I think it's true that "Librarian 2.0 embraces Web 2.0 tools" because of the importance of collaboration and connections to our library users.
Three points that he makes ring true for me:
Librarian 2.0 makes good, yet fast decisions
Librarian 2.0 controls technolust
Librarian 2.0 is a trendspotter
Making good decisions fast requires trust and experience on top of being willing to be wrong and not get punished for the error. Being able to quickly assess progress of a decision and making necessary adjustments is critical. I think learning quickly takes a cultural change. We used to plan and plan and plan until we had something 98% right. Not any more. I like the change to moving quickly and developing as we go.
Technology can help us do our jobs. The right technology can help us to our jobs better. Our jobs are about making connections with our users and the information they want.
Trendspotting is fascinating to me. I think the idea of genius it the ability to see relationships that might not have been seen before. Spotting trends from a variety of places and applying those trends to the library is an asset.
As technology and information increases in availability and speed, it's been important for me to develop a sense of what I can filter. RSS feeds are great in saving me time by putting all the information in one place. I have to learn when to "mark all as read" and start over. I remember when I first got a cell phone. I carried it with me everywhere. When it rang, I answered it regardless of what I was doing. I learned quickly that just because I had the phone, didn't mean that I had to answer it. I was able to silence the phone and leave it at home, if I wanted. It was very liberating for me to screen my calls and give focus to what I was doing. I am playing around with "screening" information that comes my way. TMI happens and I control my response to it.
I agree there has to be a better way to collectively work on "project" and have the material be available and easy to use. A wiki can provide that resources for some topics.
Having a collective of people really makes light work of a daunting task. Wikipedia has grown tremendously because of the number of people creating and editing pages. We've learned a lot since working this way. My thoughts about our learning.
Having a clear purpose of why you are creating a wiki is important. Is a wiki the best way to deliver/store/share the information needed? Wikis can be easy to keep material up-to-date.
Document your sources. Wikipedia has made an effort to correct mistakes/errors/misinformation by including reference sources. Not perfect but much better.
Requiring verification before editing is a good idea. I don't believe that people are mean, overall. However, some people don't respect the amount of work that has been put into pages on wikis. They will edit or delete information and it's difficult to get the information back.
Take time to learn the basics about your wiki software. This will avoid mistakes and keep the layout consistent.
Radical Trust is required when you open up the creative process to more people.
How can we use wikis to help across the organization? That's a good question. Info Line is using (or is creating) one for FAQ's and basic information sharing. I like the idea. It takes place of the bulletin board that shows today's favorite question or location closed, etc. The Library Success Best Practices wiki has a lot of good information available. Anytime you want to invite people to share information, I wiki could be a good option.
I like delicious a lot. It's a very practical solution when I access the internet using multiple computers.
I got introduced to delicious when I moved to OD. What a great resource available and there are so many applications for the research/library setting. We all share computers at work when assisting customers, researching the least expensive resource for cleaning material or compiling information. Tag it correctly and you can find it easily. When I started with delicious, I uploaded all my bookmarks from three computers. I just need to go back and tag them properly.
I like the "do not share" feature because I can put login names for sites. I just have to remember to mark "do not share".
I enjoyed the CommonCraft video and didn't think that I would gain anything from the Otter Group video. I was wrong.
I think the social aspects of tagging (and the web in general) have become more apparent to me working on Learn & Play @ CML. There are so many ways that Libraries can reach (potential) users. I'm finding the potential to use more of the social aspects in some future training sessions. Hmmmm. I am learning how to communicate using these technologies.
I wish I had a delicious account before my computer was stolen about three years ago. Now I have a delicious account and allow it to hold all sorts of bookmarks that won't go away unless someone steals the internet. :)
So much fun, twitter! Where else can 140 characters be so enchanting (and potentially so time consuming?)
My personal notes about using Twitter:
You can be as anonymous as you want to be. Just don't put much in the profile and "protect your updates" to only allow people you want to follow your entries.
Explore the Settings page for several options available.
It can be a challenge to keep track of all the conversations going on with Twitter. Depending on how many people you follow, conversations grow quickly.
You can tweet via your cell phone. Caution! There could be an extra charge on your cell phone to send and receive SMS. Use at your own risk!
Twitter (or microblogging in general) can be addicting!
I used Twitter to answer a reference question for a librarian who needed some information. She tweeted a request for details on the origin of a training term. I did a quick search and was able to answer her question using 140 characters in time for her to use as part of a presentation. I thought that was pretty cool!.
Libraries can use Twitter to deliver short bits of information promoting services and books. I also think microblogging would work well on the library website for the most recent updates and going ons at our branches. It's easy to put a twitter feed into a website.
I used Twitter to share updates about branch closings because of the power outages on 9/15/08. In a matter of seconds, information was posted about locations that were OPEN and CLOSED for the day. I also posted about classes that were canceled. This could be very helpful but only when staff have access to the resource. The response was positive from two staff who read the information.
I like following twitter using twitterfox and twirl. These are add-ons or separate programs that you have to download on your computer. Perfect for home computers. Shared computers, not so much. You have to make sure and log out appropriately. (d'oh!)
I got introduced to LibraryThing since June 2007 and have been using it to catalog my knitting books. I appreciate the simplicity in use and ability to add tags to help me keep track of items in my collection. Currently my collection of my cataloged books is only 131.
I've actually gotten serious in how I tag my knitting books. I have a running list of the thought progress so I can keep the tags consistent. You can tell I work in a library, eh?
The social networking aspect of LibraryThing is quite amazing. I'm able to see who has the same books in their library that I have in mine. I can also view my tag "clouds" that show how many times I've used each tag by size, a great aspect for a visual person like me. There are a bunch more options that I've not fully explored.
There are other Web2.0 places to track/catalog your books. GoogleReads is one and Shelfari is another. I've not used either of these. Have you? Why do you like them?
I joined Technorati so I would have another way to find additional blogs and sources of information related to my job. I haven't spent much time with Technorati as I would like, mostly because I would get lost in the exploration and finding out how to use the site.
I still enjoy bloglines as my feeds reader. You noticed in the video post that a few others prefer google reader or myyahoo. I'm glad there is variety out there for people. I'm comfortable with the bloglines and find new reads by linking on people who comment in posts. I've spend many an evening clicking from one blog to another and discovering great resources of information (or fun) that I've added to my bloglines. I still add using the rss feed icon either in the blog entry or in the address field in Firefox.
It's the organizing of the feeds that helps me. One of my folders is called "extra" and has a few of the fun and off topic blogs that I follow. To name a few: The Simple Dollar, the gapingvoid, or the interesting The Art of Manliness. I found the gapingvoid from twitter awhile back. It's hard to remember how I found some of my feeds.
Today I had the opportunity to chat with two staff members that are participating in Learn & Play @ CML. I thought I would video part of the conversation so I could share with you.
Erica of Ridiculology notoriety and Jimmer of The Life of Jimmer fame share what they are enjoying about the Learn & Play @ CML activities. It seems that these two might be what is called "early adopters" as they are using some of the things already. Erica wants to help her co-workers and Jimmer wants the really cool incentives. In reality, Jimmer is one of those go-to people about technology at Main Library and he likes that he can share his knowledge. (He's helped me a few times).
What they've learned: Erica is already using a lot of the things already as a long-time blogger (she goes back to 2006) and flickr member. She's enjoying helping co-workers like Jimmer. Jimmer appreciated the flickr help from thing #5 and thing #6 . He posted about his experience with flickr here. Their preferred RSS feed reader is google reader. I still like bloglines. All three of us are right (except I'm more right! *grin*) 'Nuff said. Read Erica's opinion of google reader here and Jimmer's here. Mine is here.
Need help? Jimmer and Erica are willing to help. Give them a call! They gave me permission to post their email addresses. Remember to replace with the appropriate symbols. @ and . and not spaces. JBROCHOWSKI (aT) columbuslibrary(d0t)org EBLASDEL(AT) columbuslibrary (d0t) org
Thanks to Jimmer and Erica for chatting. You want to chat in video about your Learn & Play experience with me? Let me know. I'll come to you! (hats and funny glasses encouraged, other costumes welcome, good attitude and sense of humor required)
I am so grateful to have RSS. It really does make it easier to keep up to date on information from various resources. I started really using my bloglines account after a knitting buddy of mine posted his bloglines on his knitting blog. I thought, "Wow, that's cool." I got a bloglines account.
When I changed jobs about 15 months ago, I created a bloglines account for items that could be helpful for work topics. You can look at my bloglines account if you want. I have my feeds in folders to help me keep them organized. One of the things I like about bloglines is I can clip or blog interesting posts from my feeds that I might refer too later. It's a nice way to keep a "this might come in handy" folder electronically.
I've only used bloglines for my RSS feeds. I know a couple of people who really like Google Reader. And some people have their RSS feeds in their myYahoo page. Have you used any of these other ones? Why do you like yours?
CML has already taken advantage of some RSS feeds by posting the Columbus Dispatch by including the "Today's News from Dispatch.com." The job postings page on the website also gives people an opportunity to create an RSS feed so they can be automatically alerted for new jobs posted. I think it would be great if we could add RSS feeds to our intranet (CMLsi) and show the job postings, upcoming training opportunities and public events.
I think my RSS feeds have saved me time and given me access to so much new information that I would have missed before. I losts time by going out to the blogs to see if anything was newly posted.
For those of you who don't know, I knit in my off work time. In fact, I teach classes about knitting at a local yarn shop (LYS).
Technology has made it really easy for like-minded people to find each other and communicate. Think about it, 10 years ago the internet didn't offer the variety of items and ease in use. But now, if I need to find a knitting pattern I can do a search in my favorite search engine and BAM! in less than a second, I've got listings of patterns that are available. Cool huh?
If I need help understanding how to do a certain stitch in knitting, I can find a video on youtube or somewhere else that will show me what it looks like to do that purl stitch. This is really helpful because sometimes just reading the book doesn't make sense.
Technology also gives me a chance to find other people. I can search the internet for knitting blogs or knitting groups or local yarn shops close to me and be with other people and knit.
At the basic level, the technology that I need to have access to is a computer that is hooked up to the internet. I can find this at the library if I need it. A printer would also help if I need to print directions to get to my LYS.
Being a visual person, I like seeing images that others have created. I also like the idea of being connected to other people and found that flickr graph was a great tool to see the relationships between people that I know. Perhaps it's the idea of the "six degrees of separation" (or kevin bacon) that intrigues me, but I think we're more connected than we realize.
I joined the fun and created a trading card.
I didn't take too long to fill in the description so I might want to go back and change it later.
I had to watch the clock and really limit my exploration time because I had so much fun seeing the images people have uploaded. Here are lots of creative people that are willing to share their images.
I posted this right from flickr by clicking on the "blog this" above the image. It made it very easy to post. I only had to create a flickr account and give permission for flickr to work with my blogger account.
It made giving the attribution to the artist easy. It did it automatically. I think I'll post one of my own images next.
By 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 21, 2008, 158 blogs were registered as part of Learn & Play @ CML. It's great that so many staff are playing around with the 23 things. Was it hard to create your blog?
Over lunch on Tuesday, I was chatting with some friends about blogging. We were talking about the good and the bad. I read a lot of blogs (to be honest, I scan many of them) and post comments on a few.
What makes a good blog? I saw this post that came up in my RSS feeds and I wanted to link to it. Merlin Mann answers the question "what makes for a good blog" and shares his list of 9 things. Merlin does a nice job of summarizing key points. I do like his number 2, "Good blogs reflect focused obsessions." I understand completely. I knit. I'm amazed at how many knitting bloggers are out there! It's the knitting we have in common. It's the blogs that have given us and opportunity to share our obsession and help each other.
I admit, this isn't the first blog that I've ever created. I'm rather fond of the Common Craft: In Plain English videos. They do a great job of helping to increase my understanding of a variety of things in less than three minutes.
I've used blogger, livejournal and typepad previously and like the convenience of blogger. Typepad wasn't free so i didn't stay with it very long. :)
Blogging isn't for everyone. By that I mean, not everyone wants to spend time making posts on a blog. It can seem like work to some people, including me. What I like about blogging is the ability to read about what other people are experiencing or thinking about. I imagine there is a blog about anything out there. Some blogs are private and act as an electronic diary. This would be a great way to keep thoughts together on the web so they can be accessed from anywhere.
Easiest for me: Habit 7: Teach/Mentor others. I find it exciting to share how to do new things. I like better when I see someone "get it" as they are trying to learn something new. Laughter and humor help make me feel comfortable to do something that I've never done before.
Hardest for me: Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind. This part is planning. When it comes to my "learning" I need to take the time to really understand what it will look like when I've learned that new skills/concept/whatever. This takes time to fully understand and I don't make the time to do that important planning. I'm glad we're doing the Learn & Play @ CML because that planning has been done and I'll be able to learn about the Web 2.0 stuff that I've not fully discovered.
Thoughts about the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners I think Lori Reed is excellent. I follow her blog. (and tweets) The many ways we learn include formal and informal methods. Art Vandelay posted this link to an illustration that gives an example of these methods. Lifelong Learning is attitudinal. And if I'm honest, sometimes my attitude doesn't make it easy for me to be open to learning. I'll get frustrated and it stops being fun and becomes work that is not rewarding. I like hard work that is rewarding and find it invigorating.
Then, we kicked off Learn & Play @ CML with sharing that staff can play at work to complete 23 discovery exercises to learn about Web 2.0 technology. When staff complete these 23 things, we get 1Gb flash drive and entered into a raffle for some really great prizes.
Now, I'm off for a good night's sleep so I can work on thing #1 tomorrow.
I'm fortunate to have enjoyed learning some really great things by being online. Posting a video YouTube is one thing that I've learned by exploring online. I thought I would post the video here. What I like about viewing videos is that it's helped me learn new things and actually see how excited someone can be about what they know.
I'm excited about Learn&Play@CML. I think about patrons when they come into our locations to surf the 'net. They know more than me! They're having a good time and I want to have fun too! John said it well on his blog. Together, we're going to be able to learn 23 things about web2.0. For me to learn something, I need to have fun! I can't wait to be able to share what I've learned with someone at work. Even better, I look forward to someone teaching me. I'll video that! I wonder who will teach me.
Learn&Play@CML starts soon and I'm excited to do the exploration.
Being the Project Manager of this tactic 5.2.4 has been a learning adventure. The team that worked on the project is excellent and have worked hard to bring a great program to CML.
I'm looking forward to completing the "things" along with my colleagues. There are so many wonderful things to explore on the internet and I want to share with others what I liked and didn't like.
I'm hoping that I'll learn a lot from other staff. I think everyone doing the same "things" together will help me learn so I'll be able to apply some of these ideas to work and home.
I hope staff comment on my blog. I like to hear from others.
