Took a break from technology for the day

“There’s no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves” - Frank Herbert American science fiction Author and Writer 1920-1986

One must have balance in life. Today we went to Matagorda Bay for my daughter's birthday. It was a lovely day.

Checking Out Tomorrow's Library

The World Digital Library is being developed by the Library of Congress in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Librarian of Congress, James H. Billinfgton says, "The site 'has an enormous educational potential'... noting that its content is being designed particularly with children in mind. 'It has the capacity both to inspire respect for other cultures and their histories and stories, but at the same time to establish critical thinking.' Go to the complete article as published in the Washington Post and the World Digital Library website for complete information. Until WDL is ready remember the American Memory Web site which is the general model for the WDL is the Library of Congress's National Digital Library Program, launched in the mid-1990s and offers 11 million digital files culled from U.S. historical records -- from the Declaration of Independence and Civil War photographs to early Thomas Edison movies and recordings of interviews with former slaves.

Parents, Teens and Technology

As a parent of two teenagers and a iHCPL learner I found this research interesting.

You can check out the entire article at PewResearchCenter Publications.

I need one (or more) of these today

Thanks to technology or should I say lack of technology I feel pretty useless. I was able to find some books for some people but for me, when there is even one for whom I am unable to help it gets under my skin. I think most people are understanding.

Voice Thread

The idea is that you build a conversation around an image or group of images. The audience can chime in with voice comments or with text messages. The picture, which is the centerpiece, will be in the middle, with everyone's avatars and comments clustered around it. There's a demo if you go to the site. Take a look!

Week 7 - #17 Blog about Technology

I hope this isn't cheating by not writing myself but posting a link to this awesome YouTube Video Information R/evolution. It is worth taking the time to watch.

Week 7: #16 So what's in a wiki?

"Wikis can essentially be used for anything where collaboratively developed content or easy Web editing is desirable." This definition from Using Wikis to Create Online Communities By Meredith Farkas says it all. Of the discovery resources, I think this one and Wiki, wiki, wiki! were the most helpful. Wiki, wiki, wiki especially, mentions the disadvantages as well as the advantages of wikis. For the exercises I checked out all the examples and I added two of my favorite restaurants and my favorite animal to the iHCPL sandbox wiki.

Ball in the House

Saturday night my family and I went to The Centrum to see Cypress Creek F.A.C.E's (Foundation for the Arts and Community Enrichment) presentation of Ball in the House. We thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Ball in the House is a 5 man band from Boston, Mass. You have to see them to understand what they do. You can check them out on Youtube. For a listing of all F.A.C.E events held at The Centrum check out their website.

Week 6: #15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

I do not agree with much of anything that Rick Anderson had to say in his article Away from the “Icebergs” He says "As a Web 2.0 reality continues to emerge and develop, our patrons will expect access to everything – digital collections of journals, books, blogs, podcasts, etc." In my, allbeit brief experience, our patrons think though digital is nice and sometimes convenient, print information and information not retrieved from the internet is requested first and foremost. With regards to Reliance on user education I would just like to once again point to a previous post of mine about a workshop at the Cy-Fair College library branch which was all about how wonderfuly equipped and expertly staffed we are when it comes to servicing our patrons. And finally his third iceberg, the “come to us” model of library service, which he says means placing library services and content in the user’s preferred environment (i.e., the Web). Who says this is the user's preferred environment? It is an environment that is used more and more by more and more people but it is by no means in my opinion the preferred environment for everyone all the time. I promise you I will never read a book for entertainment on a computer screen.

In "Into a new world of librarianship" I am reminded of my days in library school. In theory "Librarians 2.0 plans for their users , Librarian 2.0 embraces Web 2.0 tools, Librarian 2.0 controls technolust , Librarian 2.0 makes good, yet fast decisions , Librarian 2.0 is a trendspotter , Librarian 2.0 gets content, however, in the real world we: don't involve "users from the get go in planning and launching services based on their needs", we have managers come in and tell us we are moving our reference desk to the circulation desk; we don't have to worry about buying technology for the sake of technology, we don't have a budget for that; we are certainly embracing Web 2.0 tools, iHCPL is an example of that, but the majority of my patrons don't understand me when I say "right click", so I don't think they are living in the thriving online communities of Weblogs, wikis and MySpace. I am however ready, willing and able to use Instant Messaging to meet users online should they decide to come.

All this said I do however agree with Chip Nigles in his statement that "the principles of Web 2.0 can help libraries collaborate in new and powerful ways". It is just not as imminent as some would have us think it is.

John Riemer says, "Expanding and enriching metadata will give libraries a competitive advantage and will support the bibliographic services of the future. " Agreed, the future and yes we should start now so when our users get "there" we will be ready.

Dr. Wendy Schultz says it best when she says, "But let’s be clear: Library 4.0 will not replace Libraries 1.0 through 3.0; it will absorb them."

Finally, adopting A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto as a personal strategy is a good way to make sure we are ready for the transition from Libraries 1.0 forward.

Week 6: #14 iStar Challenge

The Kaiser Family Foundation has created an interactive online tool to compare the health care proposals of presidential candidates. The tool summarizes positions in four overall categories including access to health care coverage, cost containment, improving the quality of care, and financing. Users can customize side-by-side comparisons by selecting as many as four candidates for comparison that can then be formatted into a printer-friendly format. Documents comparing all the Democratic candidates and all the Republican candidates are also available. Information will be updated regularly as the campaign unfolds. The new tool is part of the health08.org, a website operated by Kaiser providing analysis of health policy issues, regular public opinion surveys, and news and video coverage from the campaign trail.

health care presidential election

Week 6: #14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

Subscribed to three mores blogs as a result of this exercise: LibraryBytes, eLearning Technology, and 2 cents Worth. For me Technorati is just leading to information overload. I've added more feeds to my Bloglines, more sites to my del.icio.us and now keeping up with all these exercises as well as the additional reading with all the blogs I am subscribed to, my head is spinning!

Week 6: #13 Tagging makes the web 2.0 world go round

I went to the Harris County Library's Cy-Fair College branch this morning for a great training on using Overdrive to checkout eAudio, Music and Video materials and listen to them on your computer or portable device. The workshop was presented as part of the LIFE: Learning, Inspiration, Fellowship, and Enrichment Program. You can check out their blog for more information. Claire, Tracy and Melissa were wonderful at explaining all the ins and outs of the entire process. It should be noted that they were truly grace under pressure as the technology was working only in so far as they could only show us rather than, as they had intended, letting each workshop participant do it for themselves. They were also able to effectively help those with a very beginning knowledge as well as those users who were more technologically savy. Afterwards I took advantage of their tech knowledge and asked additional questions about mp3 players and a fellow participant (a HCPL employee too, I believe) showed me how to add a site to my del.icio.us account from the library computer which was different than my home computer which has a del.icio.us icon in my toolbar. I was also able to get her opinion on tagging as well. I can't wait to get home and plug in my mp3 player (always love a reason to purchase new technology) and transfer the eAudio books I have checked out. I have had a del.icio.us account for awhile now and can say it has been great because I have access to my favorite websites no matter what computer I am on. My kids can also access my favorites no matter where they are instead of calling me and asking for the web address of that great history homework website.

Imagination Celebration October 20, 2007

Clear Creek will be holding their Imagination Celebration at Clear Springs High School from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on October 20, 2007. This year theye're teaming up with the Let's Get Literate Campaign to make the day extra fun. The event is free to the public.
Featured Authors:
Walter Mayes whose children’s titles include: Walter the Giant Storyteller's Giant Book of Giant Stories and professional title Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children 2nd Ed: A Lively, Opinionated Guide
Gail Giles whose titles include: Right Behind You (released 8/2007), Shattering Glass, What Happened to Cassie McBride, Playing in Traffic, Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, The Breath of the Dragon
David Clement-Davies whose young adult/adult titles include: Fell (release 9/2007 launching US tour at festival to promote sequel to The Sight), The Sight, Fire-Bringer, The Alchemist of Barbal, The Telling Pool, Children's titles - DK Readers: Trojan Horse, Zo-zo Leaves His Hole, Spirit: Stallion on the Cimarron
Meghan McCarthy whose titles include: City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male (release 9/2007), Strong Man: The Story of Charles Atlas, Aliens Are Coming!: The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast, Adventures of Patty and the Big Red Bus, George Upside Down, Steal Back Mona Lisa!, Show Dog
Jackie Hopkins whose titles include: Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians, The Shelf Elf, The Shelf Elf Helps Out, The Horne Toad Prince, The Goldminer’s Daughter: A Melodramatic Fairy Tale, The Three Armadillies Tuff, Tumbleweed Tom on the Texas Trail

Week 5: #12 The "Library" Elf will remind you!

I tried to complete this exercise Wednesday evening and most of the day on Thursday however Library Elf was down. So initially like much technology my first experience was frustrating because I couldn't do what I wanted/needed to do when I needed to do it. I had a similar experience on Thursday trying to make a dr's appt and every time I called on Thursday I got the voice mail asking me to leave a message or when I finally did reach a human voice she told me the system was down and I would have to call back later. Thursday afternoon I left the city to work a retreat in Hill country. I was without a cell phone or a computer for the remainder of Thursday, all of Friday and Saturday and much of Sunday. So it was a nice refreshing break from technology. I could just do labor the good old fashioned way, by hand with lots of elbow grease. I even pulled into camp and parked my car for the entire weekend choosing to walk (or run sometimes) all around the campus instead of driving. It was a great weekend though I came home tired. Sunday evening was spent celebrating my daughter's 15th birthday who is very "plugged in" as she got a 1 gig flash drive, several DVD's and a itunes gift card for her ipod. And sadly she was still disappointed as her gifts did not include the newest video game player that she was asking for. The rest of the evening was spent watching one of her DVD's Evan Almighty, a cute movie with many laughs for all three generations in the room.

Then it was up this morning to rejoin the technological world by calling to make yet another dr's appointment for the other daughter who reported to me she has a stye in each eye. Only to call and get the voice mail for almost 2 hours. When I finally reached a human voice I was able to make an appointment. I also called the same dr's office I had tried on Thursday and successfully made that appointment as well. Since I felt that I was on such a technological roll, I'd try and complete my final exercise for week 5 before having to get ready for work. I am signed up for Library Elf and have my HCPL card, both girls HCPL cards and my mother's HCPL card register with Library Elf. I tried our Houston PL cards but they must be expired since that didn't work. I would be nice if Library Elf could tell me if they were in fact expired. But seeing as how I went to the HPL site and tried the card numbers and it wouldn't even tell me if they were expired then I think that's asking a bit much from Library Elf. Once again it will take some time for me to form an opinion but I really like the Check My Cards screen. The format is pleasing to look at and conveniently all on one screen.

Week 5: #11 A Thing about Library Thing

I have had a LibraryThing account since July 2006 and my goal was always to get all the books I own cataloged however this has never happened but I have been able to get almost 100 books entered. Entering books has become a great deal easier since July 2006. I also have a software program that catalogs your personal library installed on my computer at home (yes, Secret Asian Girl, my cd's and dvd's are alphabetized and the shoeboxes in my closets are labeled) but this is much more convenient. I am installing the search widget for my LibraryThing exercise.

My WeeWorld Avatar

I created my WeeWorld Avatar:

PA Book Sale Volunteers Find Abolitionist Text and Slave Memoir

From the Library Journal Print Page:

Volunteers sorting through books for a public library book sale came across a rare find: a single, leatherbound volume containing a first edition of Lydia Maria Child's 1833 book, An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called African, and an 1840 second edition of The Slave: Memoirs of Archy Moore. Liza Holzinger, coordinator of the Bethlehem (PA) Area Public Library book sale, told reporters she couldn't believe what landed on her desk. "I was pretty impressed by it, especially after I started doing research on the topic," she said.

OverDrive Signs Pop Music Label for Downloads

Found this interesting article in my newsfeeds this afternoon and wanted to share it with everyone especially those that will be attending the training at Cy-Fair Library on October 17th:
OverDrive Signs Pop Music Label for Downloads

OverDrive has just struck a deal with a forward-looking pop label to make music from chart-
topping acts like Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan, and The Cardigans, available for
download

My Yahoo Avatar

Week 5: #10 Play around with Image Generators

Stayed up till the wee hours of the morning last night playing with image generators. I had already made my avatar at meez.com which was tons of fun. I subscribed to the Generator blog and spent lots of time checking out many generators from there. I created the Monopoly Card below using the Monopoly Card Generator. My family and I are big Monopoly fans and I am always the shoe. Another fun thing I found using the Generator blog was a music video generator called ANIMOTO. I made a 30 second music video of my daughter riding horseback - it only took about 10 minutes. Cool and she liked it too! The Text Collage Generator looked cool at first because I was thinking you could type in the words you wanted in the collage but unfortunatly it turns out the words are generated for you based on emotions. I was hoping to make one of German vocabulary words for daughter. I created a Yahoo Avatar and will post it though I think I like Meez more. I also liked the Comic Strip Creator and made a Snoopy comic. So that only leaves FD Toys which I used in a previous exercise but I will definetly be back to this site to use the calendar creator. My kids will really like that.

Monopoly Card Generator 2007

Thought this was cute and I could print these out and give to my daughters for chores well done...

From CBS Sunday Morning Show

As seen on CBS Sunday Morning show this past Sunday: Check out this story, it just might renew your faith in today's youth.

Chad's nonprofit organization, Living Lands and Waters has a website: http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/

He has also written a book called From the Bottom Up:One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers (National Geographic Books)By Chad Pregracke, with Jeff Barrow

Week 4 #9 Finding Feeds

Ok well I have spent a great deal of time on this exercise but I am not sure why? I guess because I didn't feel I had something specific to search for? I checked out all for search tools and although I found something interesting/unusual using each site I am not sure that I would necessarily be able to find exactly what I was looking for using any of them. In exploring these tools I merely browsed through what was out there. If I had something specific for which I was looking I don't know that any particular one over the other would help me locate the desired outcome.

Feedster was "pretty" but green and as Kermit will tell you, "It's not easy being green." But I did find 31 Flavorite Authors! (see previous post for more information) while exploring Feedster.

Topix had a decent appearance and the ability to feed very locale specific information was interesting. I typed in the zip code for where some of my extended family lives in Mehoopany, Pennsylvania and found out all about what is going on in their neck of the woods.

Syndic8 was the "public broadcasting" of the four search tools. The graphics were definetly low tech but the search capabilities are there except when Syndic8 is offline -- database backup in process which I received both tonight and last night at about 11:10 CST so there you have it on Syndic8.

And finally Technorati, which was also easy to use but I have to ask what is it with green? I got to see and hear about all the good times people are having in Munich where the Oktoberfest is taking place but the most intriguing of things I found using Technorati was Google Blackout? - talk about a search geek with a computer. It's ok I am not insulting him, just repeating what he says on his blog. At first, he determines the site to be a countdown to 1/1/08. But wait "just for kicks," he turnes off the javascript to see what that would reveal about the page and with a Davinci Code like twist now it appears to be GPS coordinates that point to Google's Mountain View office. And wait! "What’s more, the source code now includes a link in the header to a Technorati search for Google Monopoly.

YIKES! I am going to bed!

31 Flavorite Authors!

31 Flavorite Authors!

From Reader Girlz: YALSA and readergirlz have teamed up to present an amazing month long experience to celebrate YALSA’s Teen Read Week. The readergirlz divas will be hosting 31 authors for 31 days! Readers across the world will be able to chat nightly at a group forum with a different YA author each evening in October at 5 PM PST/7 PM CST. Here’s the full schedule:
October 1st: Meg Cabot
October 2nd: Tiffany Trent
October 3rd: Brent Hartinger
October 4th: Lorie Ann Grover
October 5th: K.L. Going
October 6th: Nikki Grimes
October 7th: Ellen Hopkins
October 8th: Justina Chen Headley
October 9th: Chris Crutcher
October 10th: Ann Brashares
October 11th: Sarah Mlynowski
October 12th: Cecil Castellucci
October 13th: Kirby Larson
October 14th: Tanya Lee Stone
October 15th: John Green
October 16th: Sara Zarr
October 17th: Deb Caletti
October 18th: Rachel Cohn
October 19th: Kirsten Miller
October 20th: Mitali Perkins
October 21st: Sonya Sones
October 22nd: Lisa Yee
October 23rd: Carolyn Mackler
October 24th: E. Lockhart
October 25th: Janet Lee Carey
October 26th: Gaby Triana
October 27th: Lauren Myracle
October 28th: Holly Black
October 29th: Cynthia Leitich Smith
October 30th: Dia Calhoun
October 31st: Stephenie Meyer

1. Join the readergirlz group forum on MySpace NOW. You must be a member of the forum to participate in the 31 Flavorite Author chats.

2. Friend readergirlz at MySpace

3. Chat every night throughout October (5 pm PDT, 8 pm EDT) with your 31 Flavorite Authors.

4. Win FREE books! The thirty-first person each night to comment on the Flavorite Author chat will win a FREE book.“What could be more perfect than YALSA’s Teen Read Week for the darkening days of October? Teens can turn up the lights, ignore the gloom outside, and curl up with a stack of books by authors who write just for them.” - Dia Calhoun, readergirlz diva, Avielle of Rhia.

Week 4 #8 RSS

Ok, I have checked out the discovery resources for the week abour RSS and newsreaders and I am ready to weigh in. The Bloglines account was easy enough to set up and subscribing to the feeds was also, once I decided which ones to subscribe to. The Using Bloglines tutorial from the discovery resources was somewhat long but worth getting to steps 7-10 for using Bloglines for more than just subscribing to blogs. I particularly like the podcasts and thanks to the the link provided to podcastalley, I was able to find I podcast I used to listen to on a previous computer and lost when I changed to a new computer. The feeds I subscribed to include the iHCPL blogs created by my fellow workers at the Fairbanks branch, a Flickr photo feed for my favorite city in Germany, HCPL Newsletters; Books on the Air, Teen Scene, Teen, HCPL at the movies, Best Sellers Nonfiction, and Children's Picure Books, my three favorite blogs; The Goddess of YA Literature, The Shifted Librarian, and MA Bell's Blog, and my podcast.

That being said now, I have to say I have all this capability on my internet homepage so I'm left to wonder what Bloglines has over what I am already using. I am very happy with what I am already using and I don't think I would change my homepage to Bloglines however I will stick with it and try it out for the duration of the learning experience in order to have a more informed opinion. I suppose if all this was new to someone, Bloglines would be a easy way to get started though. It is always nice to get to know other services in case a patron would have a question about a particular service. You can't exactly say "I don't know I use Yahoo."