23 Things

I really enjoyed going through Learn and Play! At first it was a little bit frustrating, because I am not super technological, but I got the hang of it. There is so much to learn, with so many possibilities. The way the program is presented lets you go slowly, absorbing at your own rate. I finally hit my stride and grew very confident after the RSS feeds. And there were lots of people ready to help, as well as me helping other people. With encouragement from those who ran the program, as well as the cheerleading they did, it was a very enjoyable process. I read my feeds just about every day and will certainly go back to learn more about importing pictures. When I think of how I used to do artwork online, I realize how far we have all come with the growing importance of everything Web. I am happy to be able to semi keep up with the internet. Thanks!

Moldi

It only took about 2 minutes to download Julia Child's book onto my MP3 player. I did it from the test site in the A/V workroom that we were encouraged to use, because we were expecting a download station in our division. That is real convenience, if you have a player other than an IPod.
So, we got the download station, and I think the fact that it doesn't accomodate IPods is slowing it's usage. When it is possible to use an IPod (they said it would be this summer), we might see much more action.
Come try it out if you have a palm pilot or MP3!

Podcasts

The world of podcasts is large and diverse. I got lost right away as to how to find an interesting feed to subscribe to. Finally, I hit on one from the Free Library of Philadelphia. I think their author interviews look very good and I can't wait to listen to some.
Most of the Library's feeds I saw were grossly out of date, so maybe there isn't all that much for a Library to podcast about?

youtube is wonderful

Youtube is great for many reasons. I have a chance to find a show like "The Hills" if I miss an episode. I can watch what Sarah Palin said on the campaign trail. I can find videos that are funny. I can just see what is hot and what people are watching now.

It is a very good social instrument for getting information fast and giving anyone a chance to be a director, actor, or newsperson.

I found this funny video by accident in which a man is teaching a chimpanzee to ride a segway.....do you think he can learn? Watch and find out.

Power Tools

After examining several tools that I found on Power Tools (not previously known to me), I just got lost. I am not one to wade through mountains of information and articles I am not interested in. I found it to be too much. The ones I liked best are del.icio.us and worldcat., ones that provide a service.
I think the toolbar is really cool and useful for library patrons. We should continue to spotlight and teach them useful things.

Web 2.0 Nominees

That was fun, searching all the nominees and award winners. There are so many of them! I kind of got lost in the Retail section for a bit, but I recovered myself. The big find for me was an air fare locator through http://www.msn.com/. It is accessible on their website by clicking Air Tickets/Travel, and is called Farecaster. I really liked how it works and passed the site on to my kids.
As for Library use, I think there are various sites worth looking at. Some, we already have explored.

Using Google Docs

Initially I thought I had lots of ideas for using Google Docs. This could help Staff Relations, but I am no longer on the committee. This could help our department. We can upload the schedule to it and everyone could post their own changes as they arise. That sounds a little chaotic to me. We could post our Shelf Reading assingments and sign off on them instead of posting the sheet on the wall. We could post our Collection Analysis assignments and everyone could follow the progress being made. I am sure we will talk about all these ideas at the meeting, but Dave has already said he wants us to use the Wiki he created for our division, so I have to find out which is easier and which will meet our needs better.