Week 10 The End!! 23 Things

I've discovered so many things through this program! I didn't know anything about rss or wikis, at least not how they worked and why they were useful. My favorite activities were avatars, movies and photos. I already had a myspace page and used youtube but it was still fun to look at other sites. I post a lot of photos online but I didn't have a clue that there were so many ways to enhance, animate and use them to make posters, trading cards and such. Just blogging and adding all the elements to my blog was so much fun.

I think this program has made me more curious about new technology and I will definitely look for updates and new programs that make the internet world more exciting and productive.

I've passed on several of the 23 Things (like Zoho Writer, Flickr Toys) to friends and family. Actually, one of my grandsons is doing the online program for customers. He thinks it's all very cool!

This is certainly something that should be incorporated into computer classes! I think people would be amazed to learn the fun and interesting things they can do online. It could be billed as "Beyond Microsoft!!"

This has been a great program. It was something that brought staff together, competing for bling and helping each other work through the exercises. The fact that you could get behind and still catch up was nice too. Perhaps this is something that could be made available to all new hires to get them up to speed with all the latest trends. Since it would be hard for Grace or Fay etc to monitor ongoing progress, perhaps it could be offered once a quarter and the participants could notify someone when they had completed the 23 Things and the blog could be read then and training credit given.

Congratulations to all who were involved in producing this program! Beth's videos were hilarious.

Week 9 Post 4 Downloadables

I took the OverDrive training when we first added it to the collection. I've demonstrated how to download to customers and have recommended it to several of our regular cd users. Everyone has been very pleased with OverDrive and judging from the circulation stats it has become one of our most popular services. The addition of movies this year has been a big hit too. I have downloaded music to my pc at home and enjoy listening while I work.

Week 9 Post 3 Podcasts

There certainly is a lot out there to look at/listen to! I found a piece on NPR by author Annie Lamott, "An Ode to Libraries in the Age of the Patriot act" She had wonderful things to say about how libraries were something we could be proud of and how wonderful they were, especially for children. I found a good one for teen librarians. Now I'm working on getting the rss on here. And, I found a good one for SirsiDynix. They offer lots of neat training.

Week 9 Post 2 Animoto

This has got to be one of the greatest things out there! I made a movie in about 5 minutes then I made another and another. I've told everybody I know who loves pictures to check it out. What a fun thing to do with all those photos just hanging around flickr and my computer! And unless you want the longer videos, IT'S FREE!!!

Week9 Post 1 YouTube

I'm a big fan of YouTube. My sister and I are always trying to outdo each other at finding really outrageous videos. I also enjoy finding clips of old bands or my current favorites. A posting can make an instant celebrity out of an ordinary person or can record a celebrity's less than stellar moments for posterity.
The clip I chose is Sparta or The Mean Kitty Song. There is a series of these little vignets featuring a cute little kitty who looks and acts just like my Bandit.




Sparta Mean Kitty Song

Week 8 Post 2 1/2 Google Docs

Tried Google docs and didn't like it nearly as much as Zoho. Looked almost like MS Word. Also, I tried and tried to post my doc here and never could get it loaded. With Zoho it was a snap. The great thing about several of the new tools we've tried is that you can store your stuff (spreadsheets, photos etc) off your computer which saves space and allows you to access your things from any computer anywhere. And your friends can see it too if you choose. They really make sharing and editing work so much easier and faster.

Week 8 Post 2 Zoho

Welcome to My First Zoho Writer Document

I had no idea something like Zoho existed. What a great thing for people who don't have a computer at home. Also, since MS Vista doesn't seem to recognize it's older siblings, these types of tools would help solve that problem. Since I have no idea what I'm doing here other than trying out all the neat features, ¢Ω I'll try some more things to see if I can make them work.

This program seems to have many more features than Microsoft Word, such as HTML, smilies, etc. Inserting that image was very simple. Now I'm going to try to get this into my blog. Hope it works!