Thing #16

From my point of view, it seems that trying to keep up with Web 2.0 is like trying to keep abreast if not ahead of our students. It's good business to upgrade and make our library more like the virtual realities so many of our students seem to exist in now. By adopting and adapting features they find attractive and entertaining, we can create useful features for them and keep the library a resource that they will use.

Week 6, #14

Technorati is very interesting. I can imagine it would be extremely valuable to reach people with interests similar to yours.
The aspect of tags that worries me is that you can add tag words which have nothing to do with your site which may attract more hits but would frustrate people. For instance, this blog is primarily a teaching tool so I can explore and experiment with many new applications. If I added the names of these applications to my tags, others seeking specific information would waste time visiting my site and wading through the posts.

Week 6, #13

The most important aspect of this feature, is that I can save all my favorites and not worry about losing them when a computer is upgraded. It would also be wonderful to be able to add links from home as well as work. This will be a fun thing to set up when I get back to work.

Thing #12

This would be a very powerful tool to put on our library's website. I can see creating searchrolls for different projects. This would help students who have difficulty searching because of language difficulties or if they are easily distracted when trying to search with Google.

Thing #11

I can see how the Internet can become addicting. I went to the awards site and scrolled through the award winners. I opened Digg then clicked on the item featuring Times 25 best sites then....
It brought to mind a television commercial showing a guy sitting in front of the computer celebrating the fact that he finished the Internet. There's so much that's interconnected you could spend all day clicking on links and never visit the same site twice!
I visited the Ning site and I could definitely see setting up a teen book club on it.

Thing #10

It's truly amazing what people can design! It makes me wonder if my son will ever be able to write a program and profit from it.

Thing #8 & #9

RSS is a fun feature to play with. I made one with Google Reader and put it in a prominent spot on my personal Google page which I have had for several months. I put some fun sites like Onion and book reviews from the NYT. I also added Readers' Club Latest and Unshelved.
I can see how it would be fun to set an RSS up for various projects such as natural disasters and provide links to news services and science publications for the latest information.

Thing #7

This past year, I investigated using ebooks in our library. I started by putting links to all of Shakespeare's plays in our catalogue. I don't know if any students have used it yet but it was one of those challenges that I enjoy tackling. I found a site that featured only Shakespeare since others like Project Gutenberg had many books that would not be considered appropriate for a high school and I also liked the layout of the pages better. I will probably add other books that are in the public domain that are used in our curriculum next year.
I have a hand-me-down Ipod I should play with. It has some music already on it but I should try to learn how to load my own choices and investigate downloading ebooks from our county library.

Week #3, Thing #6

It's exercises like this that make me feel old. I'm sure many young people could fly through these apps and find something to do. I wanted to make a world map and attach the pictures of book covers to locations where the books took place but I couldn't get it to work. I finally found an application that allowed me to use the picture I took in my library in the header. When I go back to the library, I'll take different pictures to get a better banner, but I like the effect.

I've been thinking about the 7 1/2 steps and I think the hardest one for me is #4, having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. It's been so long since I've had to really buckle down and study something I don't know if I have the concentration level I had in college some decades ago. I do welcome problems as challenges. I'm not happy unless I have a new project to work on, particularly if I have to do a little studying to make it work.

Thing #4 & #5

I'm all registered which is added committment to completing the course. And I already have a comment from the 2.0 team. Thanks guys!

My daughter and I went to school to take a picture of the library. If you look closely, that's her behind the Harry Potter book.

Flickr is pretty amazing. I did a search for pictures of the Virgin Islands and found some beautiful shots people have taken of my childhood home. I'm heading back to that site now to play some more.

Thing #3

Designing my avatar was fun once I figured out how to work the site. My daughter was watching over my shoulder and helped me by showing how to have more than one site available on Firefox. It was a little tedious trying to go from one page to another. The penguins, by the way, are the mascots for my daughter's school.

I know I am starting late. My last day at work was Wednesday and I now have some catching up to do.

Week #1

I find myself feeling quite self concious writing here and knowing that (hopefully) many others will read this. So the exercise for me is not only creating a blog but putting myself "out there". Speaking in front of others has not been a problem for me, so writing in front of others shouldn't be either. The plus side of writing over speaking is that my audience won't hear any hesitations and I can back up and correct things before anyone reads them.