Don't Try This at Home

Sarah's Big Jump, originally uploaded by sarybow.

Upload video to blogger blog (or other types of blogs works too). First I had to establish a connection between my flickr video and my blog, and then the posting was really easy.

P.S. This was the only video I had on my flickr!

Nombre Sept

I had not heard of meebo before this project, but appreciate any tool that brings together different types of chat clients in one area. I can see this being used in a library setting being used because if we were doing chat reference, we would expect many different types of chat clients being used by our patrons. Forcing patrons to only use one type of chat just doesn't seem right. I signed up for an account and started chatting with a friend in South America on AOL and another friend who was using yahoo chat. Nice.
I have heard of twitter before, but hadn't really used it much. I do have some friends who use twitter, so I signed up and started following them. I guess I could see some library uses for this, including indicating times when we are not busy, or as a reminder for people about programs, or if we get a bunch of new books in. But I think at this time, it would reach only a small audience. It seems that more of my friends use facebook, but I do like that you can send your tweets to facebook and have it automatically update. That way you aren't having to update different applications. Thinking about these 2.0 applications and having the NBA player get in trouble this week for tweeting during halftime is interesting. When is it ok to check in with 2.0? When isn't it? Does ubiquitous computing interfere with life or enhance it? The one thing I like about twitter is that you can follow news items, and other public figures without them having to add you.

Nombre Six

Communication tools is the topic for number 6. So I am just going to go through the list starting with email. I love love love email for both professional and personal purposes. I use folders and have started using follow up flags in Outlook to help me go through things, especially those that need immediate attention. When I am at my desk, I almost always have Outlook open, and see email messages come in. I think that I need to start closing Outlook during times when I need to work on a big project, or something that needs more brain power. I am easily distracted, and this was one of the suggestions in the article (sort of). We do use AskUs in AS to respond to email reference questions. I think that we may be using email more now to communicate with patrons now that we have an easy to use scanner at the reference desk. Being able to email a recipe, article, car wiring diagram or similar to a patron at home is a great use of this type of communication for a library.
Instant Messaging...Again, I have used IM for personal purposes and love the instant-ness of it. It is more casual than email, but quicker and easier for conversation like communication to take place. The article about IM mentioned a lot of use for homework purposes, and I know some libraries who do IM, that is the case. But the article was also written in 2005, so I am wondering how mobile wireless web capable devices will change this type of reference now and in the future. Would you just google with your iphone, or would you rather im with a librarian? FWIW, I chatted with comcast at some point for a patron and found it somewhat frustrating, but Elizabeth said that it was automated, so that may have been part of it. AFN.
Text Messages...hmmmm, I think I like the idea of text messages better than IM. The article talks about converting to email, to allow easy response from the library side. That would be easy. Texting often assumes that you will get a quick response, that that isn't always the case. From a practical perspective, I would that that you would have to publicize the hours that someone could respond to a text question. I wonder as phones become more web capable that IM or even email would just be used in the future. But my phone isn't web capable and I would like the option to send a text question, especially just for a phone number so I wouldn't have to call directory assistance!
Webconferencing...I looked at the schedules for the upcoming webconferences and wasn't able to attend any recently and the OPAL ones seemed the most interesting were spaced out by several weeks. I have attended webinars in the past and sort of feel about them as I do most lectures or conferences. It isn't the technology that turns me off, but the presenter's ability to use whatever technology (or lack of technology, say in a large lecture hall) to the advantage. Not seeing the speaker leaves out visual cues, so a really articulate speaker is essential in a webinar. Live webinars have the added bonus of two way communication, so the speaker can take live questions and answer, but I am also interested in video how-tos.
Google Groups. I looked at both of the google groups linked, and while both sounded interesting, seemed to be pretty much out of date. I think that this would be a great resource to use for a committee at MCPL. Having the options for discussions, pages and files is a nice way to group all the information together. We have used wikis to some degree for this, but this way seems a little easier. I have found in using wikis in groups is that wikis are sort of hard to format and not everyone feels comfortable using it as it isn't really that intuitive. But uploading files to share and discussions seem a little easier. This would work also with committees who work on different networks but need to share documents. I share documents sometimes with a group at MCPL in our shared drive, but if I were working with someone at IU, this wouldn't be possible.
Summary. I think that for the most part, librarians are pretty good at communication tools, but there are new ways that we need to make sure we aren't getting behind. Chatting seems easier in that you can clarify what someone is asking in real time (did you mean this?) where even over email, that doesn't work as well.

Nombre Cinq

Ok, the trading card was sort of fun. I know other people who have done those, but I never actually thought of doing it myself. I also made a "motivational" poster too. I was not familiar with Big Huge Labs before this project, and it is super easy and fun in a time wasting sort of way. Again, I would like to think of ways of incorporating this into my work. I think that the trading cards would be fun to create for some book characters (think: Twilight), as part of a book club. Or see who can come up with the funniest trading card for a character out of David Copperfield. I am always amazed by the humor and wit of teens...especially those who read. Posting these trading cards to a blog or something I don't think would be in violation as long as you weren't using a copyrighted image (I think).
I know that we have the software to create our own Read posters (you know the ones with celebrities from ALA). We've talked about how to make this a part of a program or how to incorporate it into National Library Week.

Nombre Quatre

Yay Flickr! I have been using flickr to share photos for several years now. This is another type of technology that I use for my personal life but haven't really incorporated it into my work.
I am a crafter and I love to take pictures. Lots of pictures. Elizabeth always asks me if there is anything that I wouldn't take a picture of. This might have been after I took a picture of my new composter and posted it on flickr. I regularly upload photos, tag them, organize them into sets and collections and view pictures from my friends that are in my contacts. I also use the groups feature too. I frequently look at quilt groups, groups that post pictures of gnomes, The Clash, Bloomington, and other random crafts. I use groups to keep up with other people's posted photos and share my own.
I have been thinking about doing this for library related things too. Why not? I gather loads of good inspiration and ideas from email listservs, why not photos too? I would like to use flickr (or similar) in the future especially in conjunction with a teen blog to share displays, projects or other teen related information. Making this sort of networking connection is important, especially with teens who I think would totally feed off the visual. Knowing that, say, their artwork they created in a program was posted online would be cool. So I created a new account and will add library related photos from time to time. Using flickr is so natural for me in my personal life, and I would like to continue to use these 23 Things as a way to enhance my work life too!

Challenge: I tried out picnik for the first time. I usually edit photos in Photoshop at home, and don't really have time to do a lot of edits though. But picnik seems like a quick and easy tool to edit photos in a hurry, or if you don't have photoshop. I created a pencil sketch of my cat, Loki doing his favorite activity. I like that you can quickly edit a photo in picnik without having to create an account, which is great for quick resizes.

Nombre Trois: RSS

Several years ago I discovered craft blogs. I would add them to my favorites, and regularly go through them one by one. One craft blog would link to other craft blogs and I eventually had a list of about 30 or so that I regularly checked on. It was sort of time consuming, and my list was tied to one particular computer.

Enter Bloglines. I was able to add most of the rss feeds of these blogs that I read to a bloglines account. The web based account allowed me to check these blogs from anywhere. Now I know Elizabeth might give me flack about this, but really reading these blogs had a major impact on my life. There were other young quilters out there! I became inspired by them and really learned so much. I don't think about it really in those terms on a daily basis, but it is true.

I've only ever used bloglines, so for this thing, I tried out the Google Reader. I think I like Bloglines better, but maybe that is becasue I am just used to it. I added some of my fellow employee's blogs, and some book blogs using the discover feature that were new to me.

So how do we incorporate this technology in the library other than as a way to keep up with library, book, movie and music blogs? Our catalog already has rss feeds for some items (though I've subscribed to these, and then unsubscribed as it is a lot to wade through) and I would like to move in the direction of a using blogs for updated content in the future (think YA especially) and we could then use rss as a way to update other social networking utilities and connect with our patrons or potential online patrons.

Nombre Deux: We are the Web

Why am I doing the 23 things? I have done most, if not all of the 23 thigns on the list already. But I am a librarian, so I also know the value of continually trying to learn new things. I also have done the 23 things previously in a personal context. I am constantly using web 2.0 technologies to communicate with my friends, join social networks, contribute content to the web, communicate, share and connect. But what I haven't done is use these technologies really as a major part of my job, or on a greater scale of librarianship.

One thing I thought was interesting from the Blyberg article is he talks about a personnel shift in libraries from librarians to coders. But my question is why can't these people be the same thing? And I am not just talking about basic web design either. Most recent graduates of library schools have the skills to take some of these web2.0 technologies and adapt them to library services, and think about them from not only a technology perspective, but also keep in mind the principles of a library.

And I like the idea that not only do W2/L2 have the possibility to connect easily with other libraries, but also with the community. MCPL is a library that prides itself on community connections, with surveys, focus groups and such. Using W2 technologies seems like a natural step in continuing this connection in another type of space. I think of teens in this aspect, but I don't think it has to be limited to any age group.

I look forward to thinking about how to make this work for our patrons and staff and not only to do it as an exercise in technology for technology's sake.