Gator Booknut

Thing 23

2009-04-09T17:12:00.001-07:00

All done!

Thing 22

2009-04-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

This was a great experience. I really did learn a lot, and learned how much more there is to know. I think my favorite new tools are facebook and slidecasts. Oh, and delicious. I use my delicious account almost every day. Those are the things that I think I will be able to maintain. It was also really enjoyable to get creative with the mash-ups and post silly things on this blog. As for the blog itself...not sure! I'd rather keep a link to the 23 Things on my delicious account so that I can always go back and get a refresher.

It would be awesome to have another course, maybe shorter, next year. Surely there will be newer, cooler sites to explore as open source software becomes more prevelant.

ButI guess that's where the blogs and RSS feeds come in. I have my RSS feeds right on my iGoogle, although truthfully I tend to only glance at the ones that show up in the window. But I did check out the links suggested here in Thing 22. The ALA Tech Source looks pretty...techie. I watched the presentation by Sarah Houghton-Jan on Librarian in Black and found out about Ning - I think that might be a good fit for me. I also signed up for ALA connect and joined a couple of communities. So we'll see.

Anyway, thanks for the opportunity. It really was life-changing for me.

Thing 21

2009-03-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, at first I really found the Assignment Calculator annoying! Who would use such a thing? It seems so tedious compared to marking on a calendar. And a drop down menu to select your class? Then I tried a bunch of the links on the step-by-step page, which seemed like it brought the student to useful information. I'm not convinced it would be of benefit long-term, but if you are just learning how to do research, maybe...

For my Research Project Calculator, I pretended to have a video project. This time the steps seemed more useful to me, since I've never made a video but have written countless papers. I'm going to show this to my twenty-one year-old daughter who's in college now and see what she thinks.

Could we use this to manage a project? Hmmm. Not sure. Seems like we would need different resources. For my projects, I would need quick links to statistics, images, booklists, etc. There's no help from a writing lab. I tried the Assignment Calendar again to see if I could get it to come up with different tools, but it didn't seem to. I think an online project management tool would be very cool, but these aren't the right ones.

Thing 20

2009-03-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

My favorite of the articles that I read was, "Fiction Reading Increases for Adults." I really agree with Dana Gioia's assessment that, "...the increase in literary reading to community-based programs like the “Big Read,” Oprah Winfrey’s book club, the huge popularity of book series like “Harry Potter” and Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight,” as well as the individual efforts of teachers, librarians, parents and civic leaders to create “a buzz around literature that’s getting people to read more in whatever medium.” I'd like to also suggest that many of the early Harry Potter readers - the people who were around twelve when the Potter series started - are now in the adult category. I think that those kids were involved in the mass reading fervor that attended Harry Potter, and may have retained an enthusiasm for reading the hottest new books. (That's my opine!)

I am NO GOOD with receiving snippets of books in any fashion. I've been getting these Dear Reader emails for years now, and never read them. There's no time for a snippet. Although it would probably make me a better librarian. Okay, maybe it's time to get back into it. There must be a reason why I never canceled my subscription.

I like Reading Trails, and I had an idea for a trail (Books that are better in audio) but after I went through the sign-up/confirmation process, the link for "Create a new trail" was busted. Well, I'll just have to keep that trail to myself, I guess!

Book Glutton looks pretty cool too! Maybe I'd read more if I had reading buddies. Or maybe I would just let my reading buddies down and then feel bad about myself.

Wow, I was pleasantly surprised to see the highest rated books on Metacritic. Not the usual suspects, very nice!

I do have Visual Bookshelf on my facebook account, although it's terribly neglected.

Thing 19

2009-03-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

The only other social networking site that I participate in is one that my gym has set up. After I put my info out there, I got a little nervous. I don't know why I don't feel that way about facebook. Maybe because that's where my friends are?

Anyway, I really appreciate this look at other sites. I went ahead and joined Gather, and joined the booklovers group. Let's see how that goes!

(Next day) Wow, that was a terrible experience! I returned to Gather to find that I had posted over 200 items, over 30 photos, and more. I had a friend request from someone whose icon proclaimed something about seeing women naked. I couldn't find a way to unsubscribe, so I sent an email. I really hope I get off that site!

(Two days later.) If anyone was actually reading that and cares - I was able to unsubscribed. I'm a tiny bit scarred though. After 23 Things I may have to retreat into virtual solitude to recover from all this.

Thing 18

2009-03-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

I got a facebook account when I heard it was one of the 23 things. My twenty-one year-old daughter was surprisingly thrilled. I always thought it was for kids her age, but since I've had my account I've made so many librarian friends. It's a great way to keep up with people you meet at conferences.

Some of the notes that people send around are pretty fun. You learn a lot about the people you work with, and you get to stay home at the same time.

So for this Thing 18, I joined "Librarians and Facebook." I wish it would tell me which of my friends are in this group as well.

I don't know much about myspace, but I do love the page that our marketing person puts together for our library district (Alachua.) Those scrolling pictures with captions that pop up when you hover look really great. I think myspace is a lot prettier, and can certainly be more personal than facebook. But I'm going to stick with facebook because that's where my friends are!

Game 1

2009-03-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest challenges has been finding games for the web site. Here's one possiblity.

Make a game | Share | Free games | Pictogame

Thing 17

2009-03-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

After making my slide show for "I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato," I wanted to add sound - kind of desperately. I tried winging it on my own with Audacity but got stumped when trying to convert my recording into mp3 format. Anyway, I've already bored enough people with that story. But here, at last, is an attempt to wed the visuals of a book with sound.

Not a Stick

View more presentations from dcolson.

It goes a little faster than I would like, but at least it's a beginning. We are getting a new web site and all of us in Youth Services are excited to try book trailers and other promotional tools to get kids (of all ages) sucked into reading.

Thing 16

2009-03-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

My husband and stepdaughter did a claymation that they posted on YouTube:

I loved the library dominoes. I wish I worked in an academic library!

So I had a great idea for a little movie, but Jumpcut isn't allowing any more uploads. Argh! Maybe I can still put something together and have sound with it, to accomplish Thing 17 as well.

Thing 15

2009-03-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

This was something new! I didn't know anything about rollyo, and although I don't think I've devised the best application, I was happy to learn about this tool. For my searchroll I went with the lame idea of book reviews. I put in about six websites that I frequent, and then did a search using the title, The Knife of Never Letting Go (which I just finished.) My search only brought back reviews for amazon.com.

But when I used one of the searchrolls that was listed under "Starter Search Engine" entitled "Books + Authors" I got a lot of great results. There really was no point in reinventing the wheel. So I added a bunch of the starter search engines to my profile. If I find a site that isn't included I can add it. Pretty cool!

I did find some ideas for library appliacations. Someone had created a searchroll for "Preschool Crafts." Someone else had created "Children's Lit." There was also a "luv2read" that had teen books. I added all of them to my rollyo.

Thing 14

2009-03-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, something very cool about 23 things is that as you discover different cool technologies, you also uncover related cool technologies along the way. I was sitting next to a librarian at a meeting who had a little laptop computer. I noticed that her Google page was super cute and had all her applications right there. When I got back from the meeting, I created my own iGoogle. It has my aol mail screen and all my RSS feeds. So I was happy to get to this Thing 14 and feel like it was yesterday's news!

I confess that I had already peaked at the best calendars when we did Thing 10 and I looked at NEFLIN's 23 Things bookmarks. We had been discussing calendars and scheduling in our department, so I thought I'd see if anything free is available. There was nothing really better than our Outlook calendars (correct if I'm wrong!) and we are somewhat wedded to those as managers.

I seriously suck at to-do lists. Sometimes I scribble down 3 or 4 things that I want to remember, but that's about it. I don't even make grocery lists.

Nevertheless, I went through the process for 30 Boxes. I don't know what to do with all this info now. Maybe it will become clearer as time passes...

I also downloaded the CutePDF, but I don't get it. How do you use this software! I opened a PDF I had (that was already pretty cute) but didn't know where to go next.

Thing 13

2009-03-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

I didn't think Library Thing would have much of interest, since I have accounts on GoodReads and Visual Bookshelf. But I loved the link to the interesting info! Imagine being one of the "50 lowest rated authors!' Well, at least they got published. It was also cool to see a Gainesville Florida group. Maybe I am missing out.

I thought that maybe GoodReads would have a similar widget, but I couldn't find one on the site.

Everyone can see my books on Visual Bookshelf when we get to the Facebook thing.

Thing 12

2009-03-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

I imagine some variation on wikis will become commonplace as electronic collaborations become more common. It does seem more likely to be a resource for idea sharing rather than authoratative information. On the other hand, I often use wikipedia to get background on subjects that are unfamiliar. I'm working on the premise that misinformation won't thrive in an environment that is so closely scrutinized.

In any event, our library applications are internal at this point. When we get our new web site, we may be able to do cool things like have wikis for community programs or reviews of books and other materials.

So we have a wiki at http://ysacld.pbwiki.com/ that we are initially using to post collaborative booklists that support the displays in our department. For example, if someone sets up a book display on St. Patrick's Day, they often put together a list of books that can be pulled once the display is emptied. My entry is the booklist for Women's History. We'll also use this wiki for other projects that require many viewpoints gathered in one document.

Thing 11

2009-02-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

I have Digg on my blog. I like it, but I don't follow the links to many of the stories. Since this is our week to explore these social media sites, I should try an experiment and interact with my Digg more.

I did try Stumble Upon, but it got a bit annoying when I'd get emails with suggestions for websites that I might like. I'm guessing it takes a lot of input to trigger off any real recognition of my particular interests. Seems like it's the weird and quirky that gets the most attention from the public in general.

I think that really there isn't a lot of news/information that I'm interested in that I don't find through the usual avenues. We have Google news as our homepage on our computer in our house, I read the local newspapers every day, and I can't help but absorb some of the AOL news when I check my email. Then there are the RSS feeds. After a while, it gets repetitive and makes me wonder why all this external stuff is important anyway. Isn't the most important news my stepdaughter's good grade in spelling?

I do see that these interactive websites do offer relief from the single-minded viewpoint of the local news channel, however. Maybe we're in the stage of infatuation where it's all good because it's all new. It will be interesting to see how social media evolves, if it will become controlled by the same forces that shape conventional news sources, or if it will actually be a venue for unique perspectives on world events.

Thing 10

2009-02-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

When I found out that delicious.com would be one of the 23 things, I went ahead and set up an account. I was already needing something like this as I started using the Firefox browser more than IE and ended up with bookmarked favorites scattered here and there. So delicious is perfectly mobile - great for getting to your stuff no matter where in the world you are!

Most of my bookmarked sites are work-related. Yes, I'm that boring! I'm always looking for cool teen websites, or examples of applications that we might want for our website, etc. I also use it to remember the name of the gym I like in Charleston, or for quilting patterns, or book review sites. But truthfully, most of my tags are "teens," "library," and "website!"

I also spent a little time with NEFLIN's 23 Things bookmarks. (And I bookmarked them of course!) That will be a nice legacy for us after we complete the program.

I tried repeatedly to sign up for furl, but all my user names came back as taken, and finally my email came back as taken. Took that as a sign and gave up. Pagekeeper looked cool, but they wanted way too much info.

Blogging is not as boring as I thought!

2009-02-12T16:37:00.000-08:00

I never wanted to start a blog. Who, I wondered, would care about the minutia of my pitiful life? Well, that actually turns out to be a non-issue. Having my own blog allows me to follow other blogs and following blogs turns out to be lots of fun. I'm getting addicted to seeing everyone else's posts!

All of the tools we have explored thus far have really helped me realize that these are just elements of creation, no more sophisticated than crayons in a sense. Someday we'll look back and chuckle at how basic it all seems in retrospect. ("Remember when we all set up those flickr accounts - so cute!")

Thing 9

2009-02-07T13:20:00.001-08:00

I am seriously interested in Thing 9! Thanks for giving us extra time.

The first part that I explored was the slide show. I wanted to be able to upload PowerPoint presentations into a web application that I could access anywhere. I couldn't figure out how to do this on Zoho, but I'm going to work on something else for that. Slideshare worked great. I uploaded a picture book that I had saved in PowerPoint; it took like, two minutes. Here it is:

I Will Never Not Ever

View more presentations from dcolson.

I see that I can add audio - perfect! Just need to figure out how. :-)

Here is Picture Trail. I didn't use a library application for this because I had a lot of vacation photos; it seemed like a fun way to display them.

I've also wanted to find a quick and easy way to make databases. I tried Lazybase, but both times I got the message "Server got itself in trouble." This was both at work and at home. My husband pronounced it "completely busted." Then I spent a long time playing with something called Caspio. I wanted to set up a database for the audiobooks that I listen to this year. After watching the tutorials, it seemed pretty simple. So I set up my humble database. When I got to the step of deploying it, however, it disappeared. Sheesh!

I also investigated Drupal a little bit - too fancy for me!

Anyway, this was a super-interesting thing. I can see lots of applications for library work, since we're always trying to come up with interesting ways to present books, both in their entirety and as background for booktalks. I want to try a book trailer as well.

Thing 8

2009-02-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

The You Tube video with the IMing librarian was cute! I think the only phrase you really need is "DW!"

I used to IM a lot when I first met my husband on match.com. That was about 5 years ago. Now we just talk face to face. I don't know much of the IM lingo. One time I tried to fool my teenage daughter by typing TOS (instead of POS) but she just rolled her eyes and said it was lame.

Here's the library application I can envision: Staff are communicating with each other while stationed at different desks. Particularly at the large branch, it would be an efficient way to ask a quick question. In some ways it's better than the phone because the patron can't see what you are typing. We could have our own IM abbreviations, like AET (already explained that) that let us communicate even more secretly.

I've sent very few text messages. They're still pretty labor intensive for me, and my eyesight is fading pretty quickly. Now that my cell phone has been stolen, I'm sort of out of the texting business altogether.

Email has definitely improved productivity, especially when communicating with people you don't see in person very often, and when there is something that needs to be communicated to a large group. We do have trouble with staff who don't keep up with email and miss important bits of information, or fail to act on something in a timely matter. I think it comes more naturally to the younger employees.

I have attended web conferences in the past. It can be a bit of a hassle to get it set up and be there at the right time. I think we need better tech tools for this to become a more commonplace way to communicate. None of the upcoming OPAL conferences looked very interesting, but I may double back and do this later.

I tried setting up a twitter account, although I don't really get twitter. It's got to be as annoying as it sounds! Anyway, there was a problem importing my contacts so I didn't get to twitter anyone. Consider yourself safe for now, Contacts!

Time Green's Football series

2009-02-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, the question is: Do kids who like playing/watching football also like reading about football? Ken votes no. I think that such kids who are forced to read something might object less to football than other topics. So these books are for them. Absolutely incredible and transparent plot lines with two-dimensional characters...well, it's a selective recommended read, at best.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

2009-02-01T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is an okay recommend for girls who like a little fantasy in their romance. Laurel was left on the front steps of her adoptive parents when she was very young, but has grown up believing she belonged to them. There are some hints that she is a bit more "different" than the average homeschooled teen, but nothing to prepare the reader that she is actually a plant. Anyway, all of that is secondary to the romantic tug-of-war between two hot guys, one human and one, well, not. I think teens will like it, although I had to skim the last 30 pages.

The Dangerous Book for Dogs by Rex & Sparky

2009-01-31T17:18:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Jennifer Mitts, I checked out this crazy-funny book that follows in the footsteps of the popular Dangerous Book for Boys. Chapters like, "How to Pick a Pill Out of Peanut Butter" and "How to Escape Humiliating Costumes" are illustrated with spot-on perfect line drawings of clever and hapless pooches. I was crying, it was so funny. Ken and I picked up The Dangerous Book of Cats at the airport, hoping to be similarly amused, but it just didn't happen. Maybe cats are beyond parody? Anyway, this is another great non-fiction title that should find readers in all age groups.

The Year We Disappeared

2009-01-31T16:58:00.000-08:00

Cool, a young adult non-fiction book. This was co-written by Cylin and John Busby, a daughter and father team. John Busby was a cop on Cape Cod when he was shot by a bad guy. His jaw was destroyed, his tongue nearly severed, and only a tiny piece of his chin recovered. (Do I have your attention? You bet!) Cylin was nine years-old when this happened. She and her dad alternate narrating chapters, telling the story of the subsequent death threats to the family, and their ultimate top-secret relocation. There were a few slow spots, where one of them would recount something that other had just discussed, but I thought it was mostly two thumbs up. John is a real hard-ass, recounting numerous past encounters that demonstrate his take-no-crap attitude. Funny, I used to be annoyed by people like that - now I cackle in approval. Anyway, Cylin has written a number of teenish books (think Bratz) but writes her portions as the nine year-old that she was at the time of the shooting. Amazon has a nice little video about the book, if you aren't already intrigued! I say thanks to the Busby's for giving us a great book that should be easy to sell to teen readers.

Thing 7

2009-01-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

Imagechef was cute. I posted my "work" there on my blog. See image with cat. I can see using this at the library for summer reading incentives or volunteer rewards.

The Photo Calendar from Letter James looks fun! That could be a cool thing to make for library PR, or to commemorate a year of programming or something.

I love sharing photos online, but not everything for everyone to see. Picasa Web Albums let you allow only people who know the password to see the photos. I like that, because sometimes other people in the photos don't want them shared. This has allowed me to share photos from my stepdaughters' childhood only with them, in a way that's accessible to all of us.

2009-01-28T19:13:00.001-08:00

Thing 6 - Part 2

2009-01-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

The map thing worked - whoo-hoo! (See Thing 6 - Part 1.) I got that from http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ I had to sign up to get it.

I didn't have such great luck "Warholizing" one of my photos at the same site. They wanted money to make it look nice. And I couldn't get it to upload anywhere.

I don't know how these particular tools will fit into the library, except for some excellent art work for bulletin boards and other displays. The Flickr letter thing could be really great for that purpose.

Thing 6 - Part 1

2009-01-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

Where in the USA has Diane been?

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Thing 5

2009-01-28T18:00:00.001-08:00

I started a Flickr account to keep track of the images that I like to save for library projects. I love to use free images from places like microsoft clip-art, but I don't always have time to hunt them out. For example, I did a bulletin board for Black History month, and started collecting images weeks ahead of time. But sometimes I just find something cool that I want to save, like the one here. When I need it, it's there for me to use.

I also have had a Picasa Web Album for several years. I started it for my stepdaughters, and it's only accessible if you know the password.

Well, I attempted the second part of Thing 5, which involves taking digital photos at work. I wanted to take a picture of the bulletin board that I made using my flickr images, but the camera at work had a low battery. Coincidentally, the local newspaper ran a photograph of the bulletin board, so I scanned that. Hope it counts!

Denver 2

2009-01-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

(Most of the 2009 Alex Award Committee - photo thanks to Charli Osborne)

Excellent conference! Midwinter is nice because everything is low key. There's more time to chat with publishers at the exhibits, and a sense of comraderie because everyone is pretty busy with committee stuff. I am currently on three committees. One of them, the Alex Award, is ending with this conference and my new one, the Odyssey Award, begins...well, pretty much around now. The others are a committee that is planning a pre-conference program for Annual on career advancement, and a task force on teen spaces.

Everyone on the Alex committee was pleased with the ten books selected for this year's award. We were also tickled to be sitting in the very front of the room when the awards were announced (A for Alex, after all!) I will miss these guys a lot now that my term is done. But in YALSA we keep combining and recombining on our various committees, so I'm sure I'll see these dear YA librarian friends again!

After the conference ended, Ken and I went down to Littleton, a Denver suburb, to visit some of my relatives. My dad's older sister, her husband, and five of their six daughters live in the area. I didn't get to see EVERYONE, but it was great visiting with my cousins Susie, Karen, and Anne, my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Joe, and Rachel, a charming young aspiring middle school teacher. My dad and sister were out there as well. It was Ken's 47th birthday, and everyone got in the spirit. They're a great bunch of people to be related to!

If I get a chance later this week, I'll write about the awards....

Denver 1

2009-01-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the Denver airport at 1:45pm, and somehow I made it to my 3:00pm meeting! It was our initial Alex Award meeting. I really love this part; going through all the books and discussing them. That meeting ended at 4:30. Ken and I went to the special exhibits opening at 5:30 and quickly accumulated our first batch of ARCs. Then we met the rest of the Alex Award committee at Racines for dinner. The plan was to then go to a Random House event at the Denver Aquarium, but Ken and I were just too pooped.

Today is a busy meeting day, but for now I'm still trying to finish reading the Alex nominations. It's cold here! Last night there were snow flurries. We might actually see some snow before we leave.

Thing 4

2009-01-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I started getting RSS feeds from some of my favorite sources, such as Salon.com, NYT Book Review, Powells, and the Shifted Librarian. But I've pretty much neglected them for the last year or two. It was fun to get re-acquainted and remember how much time can speed by when reading them!
I also picked up a few new ones - NEFLIN's 23 Things, YALSA, and Booklist. I receive Unshelved in my email at work, but since the pictures don't show without the bother of right-clicking, I added that to my Google Reader. AND I picked up the Library Storytime from the Jacksonville Public Library.
All very exciting!

Thing 3

2009-01-20T10:29:00.001-08:00

Technorati.com wasn't so great for me. Mostly I'd follow a blog that gave me good book ideas, but when I searched for "teen books" on technorati, I got a very random selection of posts with the words "teen" and "books" somewhere in them. The videos that came up were relevant, however. Google Blogsearch was great in comparison. There was only one blog out of the first ten results that didn't focus on teen books in some way. I found some good leads on blogs to follow that way.

I also added "Sphere." I hope it's not too annoying!

Three Sheets

2009-01-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

Three Sheets is a television series about a "comedian" who travels the world exploring drinking cultures. Yeah, a drunk comedian - how funny is that? Anyway, Ken and I are always interested in new drinking frontiers, so we got the first season from Netflix. The interest level of the episodes is variable. Belgium, for example, was very interesting. Costa Rica was less so. The comedian, Zane, is a little disappointing if you're looking for Anthony Bourdain, but he's growing on us. Each episode includes experimenting with a local cure for hangovers. That's pretty helpful, since all the drinking looks like a lot of fun. It's so easy to forget about the morning after.

Thing 2

2009-01-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

Since, we have the opportunity to discuss fitting 23 Things in our work schedule, I found Thing 2 actually took longer than Thing 1. I guess because of the reflective element. A task like setting up a blog goes pretty quickly, if the gods of technology are smiling on that particular day. But reading and thinking take more time.

I loved the part of "The Ongoing Web Revolution" that spoke about trust. For my part, I don't have qualms about posting my real name or my real picture online. I have a hard time understanding that kind of fear, to tell the truth. We let any crazy person walk up to us in the library every day, and then we worry that someone will detect our online identity? It seems like a useless concern, and really does damper the collaborative spirit that can come from online interactions.

I also like the part in John Blyberg's blog about traditionally support services that are poised to play a greater public services role with the advancement of L2. I hate that divide between those who work with the public and those who do not. All of us are beholden to our constituents, not just the ones who "bear the brunt" of public interaction.

And I like the chance to develop more internet tools. My 21 year-old daughter will be flabbergasted to find me on Facebook!

Movie Recommendation

2009-01-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

Crazy Sexy Cancer is the self-orchestrated documentary of a beautiful, charismatic young woman who discovers that she has cancer growths in both lungs and her liver. She also films other women that she meets who share her F*** Cancer attitude. Sweet without becoming schmaltzy.

First Thing!

2009-01-12T05:23:00.000-08:00

Monday morning - my favorite time to start something new! The first of 23 things was really quick and easy. Welcome to all fellow technology adventurers!