Thing TWENTY-THREE

Wow - it is with a mixture of joy and sadness that I complete thing twenty-three. I have spent a lot of time and energy, and shown some patience and deep thought throughout this wonderfully fulfilling venture. I, too, am looking forward to the results from somebody who's a lot more intuitive than I to set up some more things for me to explore. I am very happy I set out to complete these things during a slower work time, so I could dig in and really explore each thing in depth. Thank-you for providing me the opportunity to feel I'm now professionally "with it".

Thing TWENTY-TWO

Thing Twenty-two is all about continuing the quest; learning as much as you can about the wonderful world of web 2.0. The second generation has a lot to offer. It has been so easy to pick up new techniques, become comfortable with new applications, and test out new theories . I have a lot of webinar training experiences, online tutorial viewings, YouTube moments, and a few face-to-face sessions on teaching old librarians new tricks! I have become excited to learn more, and will now be searching more diligently through blogs and schedules of webinars for training opportunities on library 2.0 concepts. I have thoroughly enjoyed the 23thingsonastick, and will look forward to this being expanded upon. I will also use this blog to continue to record events and webinars that enhance my library 2.0 understanding.

Thing TWENTY-ONE

This is thing twenty - more socializing on the web. I found some pretty cool sites for a person to get connected with a lot of people from a lot of walks of life. The groups that you can get into are endless! I am a member of Webjunction and have participated in a number of webinar sessions. The latest one was: Teaching Old Services New Tricks: Integrating Web 2.0 trends into everyday services and tools. I recommend that one to everyone. The 23 things on a stick group in Ning was also very interesting. I had no idea that my profile was going worldwide. I realized this when a message that my video that I had added was being converted was in about 8 languages! This had a few interesting threads of conversation going - and I may get back there soon and comment on some. One of the interesting threads was about finding time to complete the THINGS and how were people getting that done. I added my NING BADGE and will wear it proudly!

Thing TWENTY

Facebook was the social networking tool that I chose to blog about in Thing Twenty. I decided to set up a Facebook account this Spring Semester, knowing that it was one of the "23 Things" and used that as my excuse to get going on it early. It has been a great tool for communicating with current and former students, as well as my own kids and their friends. I have been successful in getting a few other moms to get an account as well, and we have been having a great time peeking into our students' worlds. It is such a popular pasttime with our students that I wanted to see what the appeal was. I found it to be a great place for communicating, sharing, and feeling a part of a group. It is fun to share photos, thoughts on bumper stickers, sticky notes, and profiles. I was surprised how many of our students asked me to be their friend. I will try to use it as a way to support, encourage, and bring a positive influence. I joined the group: Libraries Using Facebook Pages, which I haven't had time to work with yet,and another called True Minnesota Twins Fans. It is so easy to add applications that make the personal page more interesting, and useful.

Thing NINETEEN

This was a thing all about Podcasts. I have been interested in podcasts since I was in a webinar a few years ago. It is an interesting and useful tool; one that has endless possibilities for webpage linking, educational purposes, and just new knowledge. I decided to do a search on "things that you never heard of until technology changed our lives". The podcast that I have linked to is one on "TEXT WALKING" - there's a real danger here. The podcast is one that the NPR has put out from its All Things Considered radio news program. It was interesting in that people are now getting hit by cars or falling into holes in the sidewalks as they walk and text message at the same time! So sometimes I guess technology isn't all ~GOOD~.

The title: Thing Nineteen is the Link to the Podcast - Have a listen.

Thing EIGHTEEN

This Thing was the wonderful and amusing YouTube. I have discovered I can spend "just Oodles" of time, when I have that rare commodity, watching what other people consider worthy of sharing in video. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's thought-provoking, and sometimes it's "they got a lotta guts to put that out for the public to view". But one YouTube entry that I was alerted to just recently was one of my nephew (a tech master), doing a commercial for a Sioux Falls Movie Theater. So I have to stay with my Friends and Family theme and put this creation out there. I am so proud of it, I want to share...

Thing SEVENTEEN

I have used the group of databases provided by ELM for quite some time, and have been familiar with most of the tools. I have had Search Alerts set up in the past on topics that I have been using in the Internet Search Strategy pages, and appreciated staying current on new search techniques. I took a webinar in May regarding the latest Ebsco Products as they work to make their set of databases even better for the students, and library patrons. The Page Composer was really neat - never knew it existed before the webinar.
ProQuest has always been a wonderful source for Newspaper articles. The feature to mark, create a webpage and email was also something I hadn't tried before. What a great way to save your articles and share them, without needing a flash drive to save them to, which students are never able to find when they need one.
NetLibrary has always been one of my favorite things to show the students when we go into the classroom. It is just not used enough, and there are so many nice features. The notes field is one of the features I show the students, who all leave the training session enthused about the site.