OCL Web Challenge #23 Wrapping UP

Celebrate! That I am! I finished the challenge and I feeeeel good!

There were a lot of favorites, I opened a del i cious account and have used it on more than one occasion to my surprise. Of course the library thing is a lot more efficient than my various lists of books I have read and then misplaced. I enjoyed the podcasts and since before I had only inadvertantly recorded them to my library in I Tunes (never remembering how I did). Now I know and will definitely explore this again. I knew there was a lot on the internet and never realized how much. My RSS feeds helps in that regard to sort through. I liked the flicker account and will definitely use that as I am constantly taking pictures (much to my family's dismay).

One of the things that I was not crazy about was that some of the things such as flckr required different passwords and different accounts - Yahoo was required. I now have two google accounts - one for my home use and one for the challenge. It was hard rememering all of the passwords.

I think the best thing for me is that I now know what all the fuss is about and can join in the conversations of more computer savvy grown children and younger colleagues and patrons. It was a great experience and I hope we have more like it! I am definitely on board for life long learning and I know I can do it!

OCL Challenge #22 Listen NJ

I did this on my home PC. I have an Apple IPOD so I couldn't download it to that. I browsed the site and followed the instructions to Download & Install the free software Overdrive Media Console. It was relatively easy to and I checked out Pride and Prejudice and just clicked on chapter one to see if it all worked and lo and behold I was able to hear it from my computer. I was happy. I hope IPOD's will become compatible in the future as I think it would be great to listen and walk! Thanks for giving me the key to another wonderful library tool!

OCL Web Things #21-Finding & Listening to Podcasts

I have I Tunes on my computer and I have an ipod. I looked on Podcast.com and found this http://podcast.com/show/57853/ . It is from Oprah and it is on spirituality. I also put it in my I Tunes library under podcasts and put it on my ipod.

I also have 993 songs in my library in I Tunes and have them on my I Pod. I subscribed to the following podcasts : Meet the Author, Oprah.com's spirit channel, Take Control of Your Career Intervention and WOR - Dr. Joy Brown.

I have only used my I Pod in the past for music but this will add another addition to my world - dd's world.

OCL Web Challenge #20: YouTube & You

I explored You Tube-watched the video on how it got started. I didn't realize that it is only three short years ago in 2005 that this whole thing was born. Amazing Simply Amazing. I saw a lot of interesting videos but this is the link I picked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJkGFJzQqRk

I love American Idol and I have watched it from the beginning- I love David Cook and even voted (only the second time I have ever done so)

OCL Web Challenge #18

I watched the turorial about Google Docs. It was pretty simple and easy to follow. I went to the OCL email address that was listed on Ocean Net. I added my name and clicked save and close and understand that an asterisk will be put next to it.

OCL Web Challenge #19

We have a lot of activities at our branch. I think one of the ways we could use this would be write a document about one of the programs at our branch for example for our Earth Day function. We could write a document and each person in the branch could write their suggestions or comments on one document in present day time rather than emailing and attaching their edits or comments where it gets very confusing

Challenge #6 More Photo Fun

Gingerbread House
Originally uploaded by stargazer8

Here's the Gingerbread House but now it is coming from my flickr account.

Challenge #7 The Scanner & You

scandonna
Originally uploaded by stargazer8

This is my photo that I downloaded from my branch. I feel more enthused now that I am getting more and more into this

Challenge #5 Flickr (or Photo Fun)

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Originally uploaded by downgongway

I love pictures like this. They take my breath away!

OCL Challenge #17 Playing in Sandbox

This was really fun. I loved looking at all of the clever things people posted. The crowning achievement was the linking of my blogger name to my blog. I clicked on it and presto I was there. Amazing- Simply Amazing!

But granted not as easy as I thought it would be to do and I did need a little help.

Thing #16 Learn About Wikis

I explored the Ocean County Library Success Wiki - I was surprised at all of the infomation that you can find . I have always been curious as to how to get published and there was some information on Getting started in the publishing world as well as a Booklovers wiki which I really will use in the future. I like the whole aspect of people being able to interact and edit and add information and then save it to a new document and building and building till you have a cohesive list to follow. I think this would be good with programs in our branch for example for a function such as Earth Day. Someone would first write what they were bringing and then add things that were still needed etc. etc.

Thing #15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

What I got from this perspective is that it is a case of "When in Rome Do As the Romans Do"! If we don't we stagnate. It is too bad that we cannot be a monopoly on information as we once were but since we have to provide our patrons with the best source for their needs it is only natural that we should become more internet savy. We should also provide our patrons with the education necessary for them to be able to access this information.

As the article stated that there has been a 55 percent drop in circulation rates over the past twelve years so I guess we should make way for more computers in the space that the books once were.

The bottom line is that we must move forward with the times and be on the cutting edge and one of the best sources of information once again

Getting Not-So-Technical With Technorati

I looked up some of the newer posts tagged "Learning 2.0" and I was curious to know what twitters was as that was referenced on the first one and apparently it is micro blogging. I guess I would have never found that out if I didn't do this exercise. Technorati to me is just another search engine. It is pretty easy to use and I guess the more you have at your disposal the more you will learn. It is certainly opening my eyes to a lot of different avenues of information that you can get on your computer.

In looking at the blogs that other people have posted I observed that celebrity commenting is very prevalent, something I knew before but never realized the extent that people would be interested in it. I can definitely see how this could be a learning tool and a place for socializing and finding out different opinions and really opening your mind and learning new things. I would think advertising firms, and businesses would be able to keep abreast of all of the new trends and act accordingly. In this economy ways of saving money would also be of interest.

Tagging, Folksonomies & Social Bookmarking in del.icio.us

I read and re-read and finally it clicked. I even set up my own del.icio.us account. I used to just put things in favorites but really got cumbersome and I would inevitably forget I put it in there and have to search. del.icio.us is a much better way to keep things organized. I think it would be especially helpful in doing a research paper. I always find sites that I look at frequently and I will transfer them from the Favorites to this. I found the tag cloud is a great way highlight the most popular ones.

Web 2.0 Challenge - #12 WorldCat

I explored World Cat and searched for the book, The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller. I found out that there are 2,387 libraries that have a copy of this book. I typed in my home zip code and found out that the closest one to my home is The Ocean County Library, Toms River Branch which is 3 miles from my home. I clicked on the different tabs and brought up the following:
THE SENATOR'S WIFE. By Sue Millerby J WarnerType:Article; EnglishPublication:NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 113, no. 2, (January 13, 2008): 16-16Database:British Library SerialsOther Databases:ArticleFirstISSN:0028-7806BL Shelfmark:6089.766000OCLC:225405472Citations:Cite this Item Export to EndNote Export to RefWorksGet It

I do think that it would be very helpful when requesting materials for the library

Net Library

I used this search engine and it was pretty easy to bring up. I put in a subject of stalking and also crocheting. The bad thing about it was that everything with these words come up. Some of the things are not relevant. I also looked at the list of ebooks. I think I would be able to show someone how to use it if they had a specific title of a book. I would probably be able to use it in the future when I have more time to check it out.

My Thoughts On Library Thing

I absolutely love it. I have always made lists of the books I have read even when I was younger but this is the best tool ever! I am always looking for books to read and this is just another tool in my quest to be totally engrosed in a good book. I am in good company with the books I have read and it looks like from the reviews that most of the readers enjoyed them as much as I did.

Books I recently read

These are some random books that I have read fairly recently

This was a wonderful day that I spent with my sister, Karen at the Philadelphia Art Show. It was simply amazing!

GPS Systems

Gone are the days of looking at a map. I could never read one anyway and I would invariably stop any breathing and walking human if I was in a panic and I was lost and ask them for directions. Then I discovered mapquest which I still use. Recently I was really impressed when I went on a day trip with an old friend who if I am being kind is a nervous wreck and has even less of sense of direction than I have. We were headed to Staten Island from the Freehold Mall. It was an adventure and we arrived at our destination with plenty of time to spare and all with the help of "Polly" otherwise known as "Garmin".

It is an amazing device and I really welcome it as it will enable me to go with confidence to places unknown and expand my world (that's "dd's world).

Topix.net

The best an easiest search engine for me was the Topix.net. It reminds me of google which is the state of the art one for me. All you do is put in a topic and it brings up whatever you want. I typed in Offbeat stories and that was pretty interesting. It brings up things that are going on in the place where I live. (Sort of like talking over the backyard fence for computer geeks).

RSS Feeds

This is a great way to have all of your interests consolidated in one place. It can open up a lot of new areas that you have never thought of before. One of the features of this is the ability to look at an article and if it doesn't capture your fancy immediately you don't have to waste your time on it.

By browsing through and checking the ones that hold interest you can eliminate a lot of wasted time. If you don't want to look immediately at the article it can be saved for a later time. I realize now that I have just touched the tip of the iceberg and am amazed at how much information that there and how easy it is to get it by using this feature.

I am very interested in all kinds of music and this will keep me up to date as far as the latest ones. Recipies are also something that I am interested in and this will definitely help.

Gingerbread Houses at Plumsted

This was a craft that was created for one of our Christmas activities at our Plumsted Branch. The kids enjoyed it alot. I helped Rachael set up and there was Christmas candy to be had and a wonderful time was had by all.

Finally with a little help from my friends.....

The habit I find easiest is setting a goal. The habit I find hardest is keeping up with technology.