Sunday, February 28, 2010

Method 12

Method 12

Exercise:

Evaluated program. Thought it was great and helpful. I would like to see more trainings like this offered in the future.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I had heard of most of these items before, but had little or no experience with most of them. I enjoyed the opportunity to actually use them. The fact that my progress had to be posted to a blog made me familiar enough with this process that I have complete confidence that I can teach my teachers how to do this.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I did not realize the extent and variety of podcasts available and I was surprised that so many are available at no cost.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? This admits to a shortcoming on my part, but I am somewhat undisciplined when it comes to deadlines. I would like to have seen some due dates built in like having to complete the first 3 steps in 3 weeks or something of that nature.

And last but not least…
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? I would definitely sign up for another program like this. It gave me direction in learning new things. Although I didn't have to, it was nice to know that I had an expert that I could contact if I got stuck on something
Method 11
The first place I stopped was NPR. Of course, I found something interesting and downloaded it. I had to download Apple Itunes to play it. Since it was a radio program, there was no video, but I liked it and have saved it and bookmarked the page so that I can go back and subscribe.

I was surprised at how extensive the offerings are on the BBC site.

I found a few things at CNN that I would like to view. The one that I tried to download took much longer than the one from NPR, possibly because it also contains video.

I haven't tried it yet, but I am almost certain that the district will block podcasting.


Of the selection of library podcasts that I looked at, the two kinds that seem most useful to me, or rather, the two that I would be most likely to use, are the interviews with authors and the book talks. We are located in a rather remote area of Texas, and arranging author visits is expensive. I would like to encourage our students to develop book talks which could be accessed through our library page.

On Storynory, I found and listened to the Raven: http://storynory.com/2009/10/06/the-raven/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Storynory+(Storynory). Several teachers request this each October. How exciting to be able to give them a podcast of it. I will need to look for other readings that can complement the ELA curriculum.

I went to podcast alley and was surprised to find over 4000 selections under comedy. http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_genres.php?pod_genre_id=6 It took me a minute or so to figure out how to play them because when you click the title, it gives you a choice of "subscribe," "vote," and "details."
You have to select details to get to the area to play the podcasts. I selected a couple, and these are not for children. They do have a kids and family section. I was surprised to see that roughly 1/3 of the items listed under religion and spirituality had witches or pagan in the title.

A search for "author" resulted in 200 hits. This is something that I will explore further to look for podcasts by or about some of our popular young adult authors. I think that this will be the first project with podcasting that I would like to work on for my library. I will need to search to see if someone has already compiled such a list.

A second project that I would like to work on is a collection of book talks. I will need to try this out at work to ensure that students will be able to access and play them.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Method 10

Method 10

This took much longer than an hour. I kept wandering off and reading different topics of interest, and having to pull myself back on track. I added some of these with information on teens, teen readers, programming for teens, etc. to my bookmarks so that I can do some further reading.
I created a login and a comment under favorite music, favorite movies and finally, favorite blog.
I thought that these were interesting. I have created pages and sent to teachers for them to use when doing research with their students. Last week, one of the 6th grade teachers gave me the topics that his students would be doing research on. I created a Word document with the three databases that I felt would be most useful, log in information, and links to articles on the topics that his students were researching. This would be ideal to set up as a wiki. He and the other 6th grade teachers could add articles that they felt were relevant, other websites, etc. Then it could be updated easily by any of them at any time. Next year, any one of us could edit and update the links.

Also, the ELA teachers in my district are teaching a different novel each six weeks. We could set up wikis for each of these novels and add links to related materials. If I run across something, I could go to the appropriate wiki and add in a link. I wouldn't have to worry about emailing it to them to see if it is something that they could use. The next time they viewed the page, the links would be there and they could see who added them.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Method 9

Method 9
I had never heard of Meebo before. I was so impressed with the description that I decided to download and use it. I had a couple of friends contact me about signing up for instant messaging with different groups. It was just too many usernames & passwords to remember and too many things running on my old, slow computer. I signed up for MSN messenger, and anyone who wanted to chat with me had to use that. Then, a couple of months ago, I discovered that I could chat with friends through Facebook.

The Renaissance Learning website has something like this. My campus recently switched to A.R. Enterprise. We did not receive the usual User's Manual binder that we get when we get new software. Their user manual is online. Earlier this year, I was trying to find the online help file when I noticed a live chat box. I don't know when it showed up. I had never noticed it before. I clicked on it, provided my account number, and a description of what I was trying to do, and whoever was on the other end had provided me the answer in a fraction of the time that it would have taken me to find it in the documentation.

I got the Meebo widget code and tried to place it on the library homepage that came with our library software. It did not work. I had to send it to myself since the district has blocked Meebo. That may or may not be the reason it doesn't work. I think that it is a great idea. I would like to see it set up. It would be really handy to converse with teachers also. I wouldn't have to email and wait for a reply to ask for students, check to see if they are finished with an item someone else needs, let them check on the status of repairs, request items, etc. Unfortunately, the district blocks all chat. Maybe if enough librarians request it, they might allow it.


Option 1: I chat with various friends and relatives on Facebook. I find it neat that you can open several chat boxes at a time and carry on several conversations almost simultaneously. The only problem I ran into here is when chatting with my friend, Carla, and my sister, Carla, at the same time. We all play FarmVille and have discovered how to send a link to prizes via chat before posting so that anyone can get it, or notify each other that we are about to post so that they can it first.

Option2: I had intended to finish up this program over Christmas vacation. I did chat with someone at tslacdl who was on the phone when I first came on. I had intended to post that same day, but misplaced my password information. I don't recall exactly when this was, but thinking back on it, reminded me of a nifty feature that Renaissance Place has with their chat. After the user finishes asking their questions and getting instructions, the helper can send you an email with the script from the chat. That way you can refer back to it, if you don't remember exactly what they said to do.

Over Christmas vacation, my husband set up Skype on our home computer. He is working in another city and this allows us to keep in touch. I prefer the video/audio to chatting when holding longer conversations with friends & family. Chat is fine for gaming, frivolous conversations, quick reference questions and strangers.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Method 8

Method 8

When I saw the topic for method 8, I set up a page for my library. I had put it under my name, since I am the sole librarian. I posted a photo from a recent event. I tried to change the name to the school library, but that doesn't seem like it is going to work. I didn't know what else to put on it until watching David King's video. This presented a number of excellent ideas. I will need to watch it again after making my changes.

I would like to add a blog of what is new or what is going on each day. I would also like to link to a Googledoc of my schedule, so that teachers can see when the library is available. I also intend to create user guides for students to us when using different databases. The major problem is, the district blocks all Facebook pages. Once I get everything set, I will ask our technology department if they can unblock that page. If not, the students will have to use it off campus. Even that will be better than nothing because they will be receiving some library guidance.

I need to find out how to set up a fan page, but not yet because I don't have much to be a fan of.
I looked up the Library Guides in Facebook, but noticed that most of the libraries listed are university libraries. I couldn't very well add mine since it is under my name and I don't have any guides. I wish to investigate this further. Another item that was listed in the comments under 10 ways to promote your library, was Camtasia. What is this, and what is it used for?

I didn't even consider the consequences of setting up the library page. I did not realize that this would prevent me from having my own personal account. I tried to change the name after I started it, but no one from Facebook responded. I will probably just create another under the school name one I get everything the way that I want it. I personally wouldn't be interested in the account if I were no longer employed there, but I can see how that would be problematic. One of the librarians commented that they set up the account under the name of the founder. I hesitate to do that though. I did not see any way to switch from an individual account.

I looked at the Texas Tech pages. I prefer the Facebook pages. First, I was already familiar with Facebook, and so I knew what to expect on each tab. Secondly, I prefer Facebook because the tabs all had information about the library. With MySpace, when I clicked on the other tabs, they had nothing to do with the library. I tested this out with the Austin Public Library and Library of Congress sites and discovered the same thing happened. I would not set up a MySpace page for my library, because I wouldn't want students associating the content on those other tabs with the library.

The "peek" at Library of Congress Twitter page quickly turned into 30 minutes as I explored their blog on Photochroms. I'm bothered that a recent twit mentions that their feed had been hacked. I wouldn't have any idea how to fix this if it happened to me.

I read through the ”How Your Library May Not Be Using Twitter But Should“ article with interest. I was mentally checking off which ideas I might like to try. Then I read through the responses. This is, in my opinion, the most interesting part of our local newspaper. I send links to articles several times a week along with a note to "make sure that you read the comments." I loved andrew r's response to style 5; it was laugh out loud funny. Of course, we do that sort of thing in the library all the time when we pretend to be shelving books, but then step over, after eavesdropping, and say oh, "is this what you are looking for?"

The first article in step 8 is no longer available. I read the second article. I remember being attending an Internet safety training several years ago. The presenter was cautioning putting photos on the Internet. When I asked why, he couldn't come up with a good explanation. Several months later, I found where he had posted a video of one of his classes on YouTube. I think that it is pointless to avoid posting photos, because even if I don't post my photo, someone else might. On my page, you will see photos of two people who have no idea that they are there.
I had an incident a couple of years ago. The district published a group photo of the librarians in a local paper in celebration of National Library Week. A couple of days later, I received a harassing phone call from some nut who had seen my photo in the paper and decided to contact me. I've had other women tell me about their daughters receiving inappropriate calls from strangers following the publication of their quinceniera photos in the paper.

I think that it is good that Facebook doesn't allow users under 13, but I've seen plenty of things posted by people over 30 that make me cringe. I point out some of the things I see to my daughters, and ask them "If this person were applying for a job with you, would you hire him?" I point out that his video, photo, information, can be copied and come back to haunt him years from now. I have cautioned them not to upload any photos without my consent and not to chat with anyone other than their aunt or cousins. The girls are preteens. They have avatars instead of photos and I have not posted their photos online, yet. I took some last week that I would like to put up, but will probably put them on Flickr where only my sister can see them. I don't want their faces photo-shopped onto someone else's body.

While I am very careful about what I post on my page; I haven't been as careful about the chatting. Occasionally, I wonder if that is being saved somewhere. I think that it would be especially important to be careful about what is posted if it is by someone representing a business or organization. My personal life is pretty tame, so I wouldn't really care if people at work know where I go and what I do. It is my personal opinions that would get me into trouble. I try to treat everything I post as though it could be read by anyone, because in most cases it can.

I added myself as a fan so that you can see what I've done with my library page (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000546641824). I shouldn't have a problem keeping this page separate as I only use this email address for library work, trainings, etc. I will probably will disable it after this training, and start over as a business account under the libraries name. I do wonder what the school administration may think of this, but as I'm one of the few people who actually reads handbooks, I know that no one has updated our handbooks to include guidelines on the creation of personal pages. The district encourages us to use their website, but there are limitations to what can be added to it. I can have links to websites on my library homepage, but not to documents. There is a man in our district who is going to train me in using Moodle. That may be a better alternative.

I think that social networking sites provide opportunities for library outreach, but when I'm looking for information, I go directly to my library's official website. If the library has no alternative, these would be good, but I still prefer the regular webpage. I think that Facebook or MySpace should be seen as free advertising to point users to the library page, or to comment on items listed on the regular page.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Method 7

Method 7

1. I am glad that they finally got rid of those dots in the address. I set one up as part of a library training several years ago, but never used it after that mostly because the web address was too hard to remember.
Set up delicious account: http://delicious.com/TinaBillman (lucky to have an unusual name).

2. Found Thunder Bay's Delicious bookmarks and bookmarked their list. Also added one for Library Thing. In an offtask activity, added an RSS feed for one of Library Journals topics.

3. Watched it. Learned how to use Technorati to find top tags and blogs.

4. Selected a few libraries at random, and viewed their bookmarks.

5. Wow, 2893 have marked 23 things. It is on the list of the 5 most recent. The second most popular item was on Male grooming.

6. The most commonly used tags also seem to be the ones that people are most likely to use when searching for items. It is a positive thing that they are using natural language.

7. I can immediately see the advantage of using Delicious or a similar site for personal bookmarking.

I see potential for library use. I need to play around with it more. Right now, I have links for the sites that teachers and students use most frequently on the library homepage. I can see how the tagging would help them to locate the particular site that they need, so I will set up a delicious account specifically for my library where I can put in descriptions of the different links.

Oooh. I tried to click the Several Habits of Wildly Successful Delicious Users and got a "You don't have permission to access /2005/12/the_several_hab.html on this server." message.

505: Where the Red Fern Grows

505: Where the Red Fern Grows