Week 16 - Final Post

I, like many of the others who have participated in 23 Things Kansas, can't believe how quickly the time has passed. I have learned so many things that I thought never to be able to understand and have gained a confidence to use these types of communication in both my personal and professional life. I must admit these past weeks have been somewhat trying at times but overall has been a great deal of fun and a huge sense of accomplishment. I've enjoyed showing others what I've learned and had the pleasure of passing along some of the new technology skills. I would encourage those who for whatever reason were not involved in this 23 Things project to take advantage of the next offer should it come along. You won't regret it!

Week 15 - Wikis

For activity #1 I chose to edit the Wikipedia webpage for Gardner, Kansas. Under "libraries" I added detail information about the Gardner branch of the Johnson County Library.

Activity #2 took me a bit longer since I had trouble with item 5 where we were supposed to link our new page from the 23 Things Kansas Participants page. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong after reading over the instructions a few times and then reading some of the comments posted by others who were having a similar problem. I did finish the task and now it seems like it should have been so easy. Guess I couldn't see the forest for the trees...

Week Fourteen - Library Thing, Etc.

I am already a member of Good Reads and so decided to update my account rather than start a new subscription to another review site. I have a number of friends that also use Good Reads and it's fun to share titles and reviews, especially when you can learn about books that you might not otherwise have picked up. It also helps to recommend books to others when I know their reading tastes.

Week 13: Slide Sharing

What a fun way to share photos (and music too if you like). It's also good to find that these sites are quite user friendly and that they take you step by step to the finished product. Lots of options within the site also make for a unique presentation. I love it!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Week Twelve: Screencasting

Here's the screencasting site I created and I must say of all the projects thus far I think it's been the most fun.

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/c6fbo21mg

It took several attempts to get my screencast the way I wanted it and even now it's not perfect but I can see myself using this more and getting better at it as time goes along.

In regard to library use, so many times we repeat the same instruction over and over and this would be a great tool for the more frequently asked questions.

Week Eleven - 23 Things Break

Takin' a Break...

Week Ten: Video on the Web

This lesson, as most of the lessons before it, was much easier to do than I anticipated. If I've learned anything thus far it's that you've got to give things a try first and leave the "I don't think I can do that" attitude behind you. New technology can be pretty intimidating to me but I'm having so much fun with this and learning a lot!

Week Nine - Instant Messaging

Staff at the library where I work has used instant messaging to communicate with each other. It is much quicker than an email and usually gives you instant reply capability. My concern would be that a person might use IM instead of an email to communicate important information or detail and that information/detail would not be saved as you could an email. At least that's my understanding of the way IM works. I wouldn't worry about being interrupted by IM when I'm needing to concentrate on other work since I could use the "off line" status if necessary.

Week Eight - Cloud Computing

As indicated in the introduction, I along with many others have already done cloud computing. I use it as a tool to get constructive feedback on my works in progress. I created a Google document and downloaded my pages to be critiqued. Then I invited the others in my critique group to log in and make suggestions. They in turn also have Google document accounts and invite me in. It is much easier than making copies and meeting in person although there is something to be said for a more personal approach to critiquing...

Week Seven - Microblogging

I can see where using microblogging tools would be very helpful in keeping up on trends and latest news. I would probably need to take some of the advice I've seen posted--don't stress out by trying to keep up with everything, just do what you can. The information overload factor I think could be managed this way. I did find it a bit difficult to find people to follow since I wasn't familiar with some of the sites and wasn't sure that was what I really wanted. What I ultimately chose was BookTV, NY Reviews, and Publishers Weekly because I am already somewhat familiar with them. So far these have been interesting at the very least and I may decide later to check out some of the other sites to get a better idea of what will be most helpful for me. As a librarian, keeping up on books is crucial to me so I can definitely see where microblogging would keep me in the know...

Week Six - Tagging & Social Bookmarking

This took a lot of explanation and video watching for me to understand but once I started picking up on it the pieces began to fit together. Although I don't yet feel very comfortable putting too many bookmarks on the Delicious site, it is quite a resource when looking for subjects and information. I have sites bookmarked on both my home and work computers so once I become more proficient I know this will be more useful. I really like the fact that you can keep some of the sites private if you prefer.

Week Five - RSS and Feed Readers

I chose Google Reader since I already have a google account and the Reader section has proven to be very simple to understand and use. I subscribed to two RSS feeds: Colonial Williamsburg and Gardner Area News. Colonial Williamsburg is a favorite site of mine and until this lesson I didn't realize how easy it could be to keep up on this site without constantly going in to check out what's new. I chose Gardner Area News as my second RSS feed subscription to get updates on the area in which I live. What an awesome advantage this is to information gathering and as others have stated I know I will be adding other feeds as time goes on.

Week Four: Photo Sharing 2

Well, very frustrating... but I finally figured out how to get my photo uploaded to this site... I hope!

Week Four: Photo Sharing

I have had a Shutterfly account for several years and know pretty well the benefits of having photos stored online. However, having said that, I didn't realize how many other options were available as far as sharing photos, tagging, sorting, etc. I will definately be using this more now that I know what else is available but will probably not use it professionally, only for my personal photos. I may at some point open up another account for library photos that can be shared with coworkers etc.

Week Three: Online Meetings

The webinar I watched was an archived program from SirsiDynix called "Bite-Sized Marketing: Real Solutions for Overworked Librarians" by Nancy Dowd, Director of Marketing, New Jersey State Library. I felt the information was both useful and very timely given the economic situation facing most libraries today. She spoke about branding, strategy, making your case to the public about being an essential service and much more. The original session included voting options at the beginning and end of the session as well as a question and answer period which gave it a similar interactive quality to a live, in person meeting. How to obtain a copy of the author's book as well as other sources for additional information about the topic was also provided. Personally, I loved the webinar presentation and see great potential for this type of interactive meeting. It met all the criteria for a successful presentation/meeting without the time, energy, and cost associated with having to physically getting a group of people all in the same room at the same time.

Week Two: Online Communities

I'm trying my best to get caught up here!

I signed up on LinkedIn. I already have a personal Facebook account and like others I've seen posted I didn't want to mix library business with personal business. Having said that, I can see where you could have two separate accounts and make that work well but I wanted to see what another of the communities had to offer. I think I like the LinkedIn site because of its professional application, and I could see JCL using this community in a number of ways. Searching for applicants to fill positions, sharing ideas for programs etc, and maybe even to share info on events.

Week One: Blogging

Hi! My name is Margaret and I work for JCL. I'm a member of the Tech Squad and am taking part in 23 Things as a learning opportunity.