Making Books in Fun to Watch

This is a neat video about how books are made.

Enjoy!

Digital Preservation

This is a cool article about Digital Preservation in a Box and how to preserve digital information.

Learning 2.0 Master

Woo hoo! I am a learning 2.0 master!

I really enjoyed learning about all the "things" that can be done to improve our online presence and to have fun.

With my new job, I use Twitter to tweet what I accomplish. I never thought I would use Twitter, but it's a great way to push information to various people (just make sure you have followers and use the # and @ symbols correctly). I still love blogging with Google and Wordpress and getting information out to everyone. Google Docs are one of my favorite things to use. I use them every single day and have a lot of collections/folders in my account.

I think that Wordle is really fun to use to make word clouds from tags or just words you manually type in. I like Skype because it keeps me connected with my family in Washington and in other cities.

I really enjoyed learning and refreshing my mind with online tools. It has been a great experience and I highly recommend it.

Google Docs - FORMS

I love using Google Docs! It is so simple once you figure out how to use it. Here is a survey that I would appreciate if you would take the time to participate. Thanks!

Wordle - Tag Clouds

I really like Wordle! It is so fun to use. And you can pick and choose the colors and fonts you want to use for your tag cloud. Pretty neat huh?

I used the option of using the tags from a blog. I used the School Library Monthly Blog.

Podcasting

I have listened to a lot of podcasts, but I have never made one myself. It's weird listening to myself talk.

I found a cool website that does podcasts about books that could be beneficial for a school library to listen to in order to find new books for the library.The 2011/2012 Isinglass Booktalk Podcasts are pretty cool. It is a real project that Hopkinton High School & Hopkinton Middle School Library students have been part of. 


The website says, "Welcome to our Library's podcast series. We chose Isinglass booktalks because the Isinglass Teen Read Award is such a great project. It is real! Actual 7th & 8th graders (as opposed to their parents, teachers, or their librarians...) nominate the books, read the books, and choose the winner each year. Our hats are off to the Barrington Public Library, Amy Inglis, and the teens who have spearheaded this effort since 2002."


I listened to the booktalk for Matched by Ally Condie. You can listen to it here. I've read the book and agreed with most of what the podcast stated. Overall, I learned that podcasting is a great way to get out information to a lot of people. And it is nice because it is a break from reading. In one of my classes, we got to listen to NPR stories instead of reading. It's nice to have multiple ways to learn about a subject. Plus, with NPR, there is usually a transcription of the story as well as the audio.

I like subscribing to podcasts via iTunes. One of my favorite podcasts I subscribe to is Stuff You Should Know by How Stuff Works. It is all about random facts and I love learning about random things. This podcast also gives you a great way to start conversations with random facts.

YouTube

I really like YouTube (for the most part). I actually posted a holiday song video from YouTube every single day in December on my personal blog (if you want to check it out, let me know). Another video website is Vimeo. It's pretty cool as well.

This video is for "libraries of the future" and even though it's on the long side, it brings up a good point that libraries need to stay on top of technology in order to be successful. It starts with a 1950s movie about libraries and then moves into a parody by Mr. Eugene Oregon. Libraries will still be needed, maybe not for the same use, but are still important.


This video brings me back to my childhood. It's from Arthur and it's pretty funny. But you know, "having fun isn't hard, when you've got a library card!" It's a catchy song.

Twitter

I never thought I would get a Twitter account. I have other social media sites to keep track of, why would I need another one?


After playing around with Twitter for a while, I enjoyed finding libraries, news stations, and TV shows to follow. It's nice to have one place to get updates (it's like Google Reader, but more condensed). I have not started following my friends and family that have Twitter, but I am sure once I get more into "tweeting," I will have more conversations with them via Twitter. It's also nice to keep my profile and tweets private.


Once I got over the fact I didn't want a Twitter account, I found that Twitter isn't that bad. And I actually enjoy reading the headlines and fun facts from my favorite sources.


I think Twitter is a great way for libraries to get information about events or cool news out to huge amounts of people in a very short time. As long as the library has a lot of followers, it can use Twitter for its benefit. I know I would love to know what's going on with libraries and what events are happening at the library.


Tweet Tweet!!!

RSS Feeds & Google Reader

I have been using Google Reader for years and years now. I absolutely love it. It's neat to categorize the blogs I subscribe to and have them all in one place! That makes it super easy to read everything I am subscribed to all at one time. I have been following a few library, instructional design, and elearning blogs for a while, but I will just write about a couple of ones I found that are pretty cool.

I found iLibrarian through some other blogs I had been reading. I really like the fact that it about how libraries are trying to keep up with the new technology and everything that is happening with libraries transforming to being online. iLibrarian also tells the reader how to use the technology that is out there for the library's benefit. For example, there is a post about how to use Pinterest for a Business. It pulls ideas from other blogs to give new and innovative ideas to librarians and people in general.

I also have an interest in elearning. I found the elearnspace blog when I first started graduate school and it has been eye opening. This blog focuses on the open courses for anyone to view and the pros and cons of the courses. This post is about the future of education and how it will be with the openness of education and how to analyze students. I may not agree with everything on the blog, but it is a good way to get me thinking about education and where its future will be.

Here are the URLs for the blogs if you didn't click on the links in the post. iLibrarian: http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/ and elearnspace: http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/.

Library 2.0 Article

While reading this article, I realized that adapting to technological change is how libraries will survive. I am not a librarian or an educator, but I do enjoy books and getting information to the masses in the best ways possible. I think that school libraries need to stay true to themselves, but at the same time, they must adapt to their environment nowadays (kids that won't put technology down). 


It is imperative that these kids learn how to be information literate in all forms. Sometimes I think that we are becoming so dependent on technology, that we forget how to do a simple task. For example, why would someone haul a huge dictionary to a table when he or she could simply search for the word or term online? I do that all the time. I am not saying that technology is bad, but I believe that students need to know how to use reference materials and other library materials without technology.


I liked what Christopher Harris said about librarians new interaction with people, "Consequently, librarians, while still based in the media center, will interact more directly with students as well as their teacher peers in new spaces." Library 2.0 is a good thing for librarians to teach the students new ways to engage in learning and finding information. 

Harris writes about how the library does not need to get rid of the traditional values, but just adapt to the new 2.0 skills that work best with the library they are part of. Harris ends his article with a "2.0 Primer" with ideas and websites on how to adapt to the new ways. I think he has some good thoughts about learning 2.0.

I find it funny that this article was published online and instead of printing it out and reading it that way, I simply read it online. Oh how times have changed!

Technorati

Who knew there was a place dedicated to search for blogs?! I sure didn't. 


When I went to Technorati's blog directory, I didn't know what to expect. 


There are major categories and within those big categories, there are sub-categories. For example, entertainment, business, sports, politics, autos, technology, living, green, and science are represented someway. The categories that are well represented are entertainment, business, politics, technology, and living. The categories that are lacking compared to those categories are sports, autos, green, and science.


I searched the blogs for "books." I got 11 results out of the 1193066 blogs on the site. I was surprised that I only got that many results. When I searched blog posts for "books" I got 1129 results about books.  It is interesting to see the difference of searching the blogs versus the blog posts. I think it depends on how the blogs define themselves and the tags on the blog posts give more results.

Diigo

I have heard of Diigo, but never used it. I think it would be beneficial to use to have a way to keep your favorite websites together. Also, it is a good resource of how to keep your research together when you are writing a paper or designing a learning module.

I looked through this Diigo group about elearning 2.0 and social software. It has a lot of links to social media, cloud software, computer issues, and learning processes. Some comments and questions are though provoking from the links on this group. I think this certain group would benefit educators or people that want to know more about social software on the Internet.

Rollyo

Well, I tried to create a Rollyo: Roll Your Own Search Engine. I registered, set up a search engine for this blog. Here is a screenshot of what I did:

I made a Rollyo with sites for learning and reference. It is just a simple one with a few websites for educational purposes. I think Rollyo would be beneficial for media specialists or educators that want their students to search only sites they think would give the students the best results. It's neat to create your very own searchroll that will only search what you want it to. Pretty cool.

LibraryThing

LibraryThing is a pretty neat tool to use for anyone to use. It's fun to pick and choose the books to link to your profile. I had a great time searching for my favorite books and adding them to my collection. I could have stayed on the site for a long time putting all sorts of books into my collection.

For librarians, it would be a good way to separate books into different topics and have the collections ready for students. For example, one collection could be about the Civil War and another about Photosynthesis. It would be an easy way to teach kids how to find books. LibraryThing is a cool technology to use for anyone.

Generated Image

I made up a newspaper article image via here. It was fun to input the information and have it generated for me.

Skype Me!

Skype is a neat way to stay in contact with your loved ones, but it is also a great way to bring in guest speakers or chat with another colleague. Skype is fun to play around with and especially for me, since I am far from my hometown, it is a great way to see my parents and talk to them.

Perhaps a cool idea would be to have people that cannot make it into the library for story time or reading time and use Skype for them to see and hear the kids. I also think that Skype would be beneficial for a kid if they are stuck at home with a contagious disease, but can still learn. Skype would alleviate the contagious disease but also let the kid learn!

I think back to when I was growing up, and instant messaging was all the rage. Now it is video calling via Skype or another video conferencing program. Skype would be a great way to include those that are not usually included in a lesson. You can also employ the instant messaging with Skype. It is pretty cool.

Another point for Skype is that you can call phones from the program (if you pay a subscription fee).

So, download Skype and get calling.

Wiki What?

Wikis are a great way to get information out to the public in a way that most people can understand. Wikis are also a way to collaborate and combine ideas with multiple people. It is great to have a space where a group of people can come together and work on a single project.

I am using a wiki for one of my courses and so far, it's been great. I really enjoy being able to design, edit, delete, add, etc. to the wiki. We've been collaborating and editing our wiki. We are learning as we go along and now I know even more about wikis than I did before.

It is an easy way to start a site for a topic to get out information. I think it's pretty neat that libraries can use wikis as a way to have a web presence. And the best part, if you don't have a lot of money, it's FREE! I know that you can buy packages that allow you to do more with the wiki, but just for a small library, a free wiki would be a great start.

I also think that wikis are a good starting point to any research question or if you just want some background on a topic. Most of the time I search Wikipedia to get a base for the topic, I rarely use Wikipedia in academic papers, but it's a good place to start. It's hard to trust Wikipedia unless it has reliable sources.

I found a Harry Potter wiki that looks pretty awesome. It has a lot of information regarding all things Harry Potter. Enjoy!

Flikr Photo

This is a pretty neat bookshelf from here. First of all, I like the color of the shelving unit. I also think the design is inventive and eye-catching. If I were a little kid in my school's library, I would go to this shelf to look for books. This image evokes a whimsical, playful, and delightful feeling for kids and adults to view. The color pops and makes the library bright.

Lifelong Learning

Lori Reed's Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners allows us to view a slideshow on how to become better learners.


She discusses the seven and half habits of lifelong learners which are as follows...
Habit 1 : Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2 : Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3 : View problems as challenges
Habit 4 : Have confidence in your as a competent, effective learner
Habit 5 : Create your own learning toolbox
Habit 6 : Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7 : Teach/mentor others
Habit 7 1/2 : Play!


I love learning and that's one of the reasons why I decided to go to graduate school. The habits that come easily to me are the following...


Habit 1 : Begin with the end in mind
I like knowing where I am going and how I am going to get there. Of course, I am always learning and changing my ways, but knowing the "end result" helps me direct the process.


Habit 2 : Accept responsibility for your own learning
I am responsible for myself and what I do in my life. I react to my surroundings but they do not define me. I learn because I want to, not because I have to.

Habit 3 : View problems as challenges

This habit is easy, yet difficult for me. I like being challenged, but at the same time when I first hear or read the problem, I automatically think about everything that could go wrong. I guess I need to be more positive in my outlook of challenges.

Habit 4 : Have confidence in your as a competent, effective learner

Confidence is something that I have to work on. I know I can do a lot of things, but I usually have to build my confidence up before I can accomplish the task. I am constantly working on this habit.

Habit 5 : Create your own learning toolbox

I would like to say I have my own learning toolbox, but I don't know if I do to be honest. I have certain ways I learn and things I like to use while I learn. But I am always adding to it and taking things away.

Habit 6 : Use technology to your advantage

Technology is great. I like to use it as much as I can, but sometimes it is difficult to use it correctly. This is another habit that I need to work on.

Habit 7 : Teach/mentor others

This habit is very important to lifelong learning. I like how I can learn by teaching someone something I learned before. It solidifies the concept and allows me to serve others.

Habit 7 1/2 : Play!

When you work hard, you should take time to play and relax. I always need a few hours or a day when I can just take a mental vacation and let my brain take a rest. I usually end up reading or designing something. 

I always am learning and always will learn. I never want to stop learning, even if it is just random facts.