Saturday, April 25, 2009

Week 7, Thing # 16

I have been looking forward to this week for awhile.I was first introduced to Wiki's in the Summer School Library Class in 2007.
I find wiki's interesting. I like the idea this piece of technology can be private. It can be edited. People worry about wrong information. I find ownership of a document can be very territorial...
I went into Book Lover's Wiki from Princeton Public Library. This wiki was catagorized by genres and rating. I went to the five stars. I think I found my reading list this summer. All grownup books. One I had listened to on tape.
This idea of a book lover's list would be great for ASD librarians to do as a PR piece. Here's the idea. We could break up into our areas or stay a one bunch. We could catagorize by genre. We could actually have two lists. One of books we have read for kids and one for adults. Each librarian could write down a favorite book(s) read in the past or present. A list is made on paper. ASD publish it and we could put in newsletters, post around town at coffee shops, book stores and other stores that support this. This would be great to tack onto a public bathroom wall. We could also have past librarians, public librarians put into this. During the school year, this could be the library reading program. The information can be gathered at a quarterly meeting. I have this idea that more ideas would be gathered than sent off from the individual school library.
I went to Blogging Libraries Wiki. Under school libraries, I viewed elementary school. Not as many choices as middle or high school. Still a good site. I felt for the frustrations- an author coming and parents on cell phones not watching their children, not enough time to teach the essential library classes. I am sending in some of my ideas and empathizing w/others. Then awed at the inspirations. Teaching students about wiki environment, posting safely by looking up wacky facts from a variety of sources,
I read Bering Sea School District wiki. Thought it was Darla, but didn't know until someone posted to her. I loved reading Darla's wiki. She is really a prolific writer. I always enjoy talking with her. She is truly in front leading the way. I am glad she is part of the Bering Sea School District.
I like the idea of Wikis and their many uses.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Week 6 #15

I went to Wikipedia first to get a definition and info on what Library 2.0 means.
The idea of our younger users (K-3rd grade first quarter) having a valid reason for OPEC is not valid at this point. At this point I do not see OPEC as released to flow in every direction (library to user, user to library, library to library, and user to user).
It also seemed that Library 2.0 is garnered toward the active and empowered library user. My question is what about the user who uses it on occasion or even rarely? How does that user fit into the scheme of things?
I can only speak for the school library and the school librarian? I see school librarians slowly flowing in all directions for the patrons we serve. In working on my school project this year, I talked with one of the school district techs. Her comment is teachers across the district are very slow to embrace technology. So, my thought is where does it start in the individual school- the librarian or a single teacher? In my view, the finger is pointing at the librarian and the tech person for our school.
I think having a library coordinator who is drawn to technology and often focuses our quarterly meetings towards technology is a very good start. Next, what we as librarians do with this technology is the next step.

I read Dr. Wendy Schultz 2006 article called ...To a Temporary Place in Time. This is another article of what libraries used to be, what they are becoming, how libraries and librarians embrace technology and then winds back to customer service is everything. Like other individuals, I like writing from my home in casual clothes, no shoes on with my animals curled up around me but I also like the face to face contact with a person who has the knowledge I am seeking, in a place where that knowledge is tangibly stored with others seeking answers to their questions.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Week 6 # !4

Finally #14.
1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “School Library Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
Blog Posts came up w/ 54 posts.
Tag Posts came up w/0 posts.
Blog directory came up w/243 posts.
I found technorati frustrating. I found some interesting ideas about where librarians want to see libraries/school library media specialists venture.

I like how Technorati highlights the tag.
There is more diversity in the websites that show up in the tags.
I love the silliness portrayed when a website is not available:
Sorry! We have a zillion pages, but not that one.

4. Now that we’ve worked with tags in Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Technorati, what are your thoughts about tagging? What are its advantages? What are its disadvantages?
Each site has an individual thing to offer. They all run on the same premise of using tags groups and can benefit the librarian and the library in some way.

Del.icio.us is for social bookmarking, Flickr is for saving photos and passing it on to friends, family and the world and Technorati to sort through the thousands of blogs the world has to offer.

I am the most familiar with del.icio.us. Saying this, I also have not used the full potential of this wonderful social bookmarking site. Did I mention I love this site?

I love flickr. Last fall, I was home for my cousin's 70th birthday celebration. I took some great photos. Somehow I deleted them in the deal I save them on in my camera. I wish I knew about flickr then. I could have saved myself a lot of grief...
I like what this person said about working for Flickr. "One of the amazing things about working at Flickr is the vast amount of incredible photography it exposes you to. Which can often be both wonderful..."

"Truthfully, I find sites like Technorati overwhelming at first. There are so many sites I want to view at once. (Prioritizing is not always my strong suit). What I like about this site is knowing in the back of my head it is there. I found many of the websites I browsed wonderful.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Week 6 #13

I can not get into the Santa Cruz tutorial on del.icio.us. Will have to do this at home. Tried some other searches to get on. Nothing happening. Wish this was on Teacher Tube. Finally watched it today. Great overview .
I have used del.icio.us as a way to hold my favorites. I have not used it to see what others are saving. I feel this tutorial gave me a reason to go look. As many librarians do, I am always on the lookout for great lesson ideas.

On to the next step of looking at SJLibraryLearning@'s. This looks like a gold mine for librarians. I can't wait to delve into it.
In the article: Friending Libraries: Why libraries can become nodes in people’s social networks. Several typo errors found. didn't explain node. I started getting frustrated that women were considered a fourth group. I just wasn't that impressed w/this article.
I will use this as a source to view what others are using for educational, librarianship class.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Week 5 thing #12 Voice Threads

In March, one of the ASD librarians came out to Bartlett Area and gave us a lesson on voice threads. What a cool educational tool.There are so many uses for it educationally. Students can demonstrate any of the subjects on it, people can be permitted to dialog on it or not and it can be saved for awhile.
After watching the lesson this, I wanted to come back and have students work on this. One teacher I talked to wanted to do something with Mother's Day on it. This wasn't exactly what I have in mind.
I like that users have to be 13 to join this.
My sixth graders went into voice threads. I had them peruse the site. I also suggested to them they could use voice threads as one of the two visuals assigned for their current project. Presently, I do not have any takers.
In the projects, students have to do some research, write down what they want to say, have this edited,rewrite, come up with a picture- photo or drawing and then scan that and last record their words. There is so much learning being done by the student.
Another quality I like about voice threads is it seems incredibly safe for student usage. Did I mention I can't wait to start using it.

Week 5 Thing #11 Wigets from yourminis


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I love stuff that moves. I love aquariams I don't have to clean.
Students will love this.

Week 5 thing #11

At first, I went and looked at all the sites choices. This was a little overwhelming. So, I chose the short list.
Some of the choices I knew about and use. I love Pandora. It is a neat concept. I like being able to chose the genre of music I feel like listening too. I also like the idea of hearing unknown musicians. This site has a ton of old stuff. Ya know from the '80's.
Ann Morgester has shown me several of the choices found on the short list:
Del.icio.us and Flickr.
Craigslist is addicting... I love your junk and it will look so good in my house.
Delicious is wonderful.
I thought the food choices could have been better. Food network does such a great job.
Some choices can not be seen on our school filter.
Naming something that one has a piece of themselves in is daunting at best. I love the names people have come up with to grab our attention.
Games sites are hit and miss. Some are caught in the filter and some can be played on our school computers until the filter people detect it or someone tells.
I liked this site.