Is it the end or only the beginning?

This is only the beginning of our technology journey! I am glad and excited about all the things we learned by doing the 23 things, even though I found accomplishing many of them at school frustrating while dealing with the filter and network problems. And it is difficult to find uninterrupted time to read, think about and work on them at school. I am enthusiastic about using the new tools in the library with our students, faculty, and staff. The library world is certainly changing at a frantic pace and I am glad that I have been here to see it. I agree with Karen that I could have used some Content Mastery help to ease frustration. A person to give advice when I reached a roadblock would have been nice (or just to point out where I had overlooked something important, like a password). Maybe an occasional afternoon session for those needing extra help. And while I often thought I needed more time, the deadline was a good thing or I would have just kept putting things off and not finish the list of tasks. And, of course, I am looking forward to learning how to use the Nano I earned. It was good to have a prize to work toward.

I have several favorites among the 23 things. Animoto is first because the creation is so much fun to watch and it is so easy to accomplish. Library Thing is already useful in posting our book club's reading suggestions on our library's web page. Image Chef is great for making signs and buttons to put on the library web page. It was good to have an opportunity to learn more about things that I had heard of, but didn't really understand - My Space, wikis, RSS feeds, YouTube, and social bookmarking. Future plans include a wiki for faculty and staff and podcasting for students to give book reviews.

I am looking forward to the next list of things to learn about and accomplish.

Thing #23 - Creative Commons

Since many social and sharing sites like Flikr, My Space, blogging, Del.icio.us, shared online productivity tools, wikis, and others have been developed, it only makes sense to change copyright to compliment the shared atmosphere of the Internet which, like many trends, will likely continue to improve and develop. The historical copyright that allows use and sharing on certain limited conditions or with the creator's express permission needed to relax to enable and promote sharing. Creators who want to share all or part of their works needed a way to allow and notify others of their intent. Creative Commons makes this possible with licensing and symbols that come with your membership. This is a wonderful development for the library world in education, particularly since many teachers are looking for creative ways to allow students to express their findings in an interesting and timely manner--ways that are so much more interesting than the historic research paper. It allows both educators and librarians to work collaboratively with people that they will never see or meet. Also, it will help me in educating both students and teachers on this new direction taken by copyright.

Thing #22 - Animoto

I joined Animoto and easily created my video "Pirates Read!" (actually it's about teachers this time) using pictures of teachers and staff with their favorite book or books. I was pleasantly surprised about how easy it was to follow the Animoto steps and create my masterpiece. Then I experienced great troubles trying to either embed it in or blog it to my lesson. Later, I decided that the network must have been having some problems because when I came home, I did it with no problem.

I think that this program will be of value for librarians to highlight various library activities and it can be imbedded right on your library web page. I'm looking forward to using it with our library web page. It should be a valuable tool for teachers who want another research assignment to take the place of the dreaded paper.

Thing #21 - Podcasts: no iPod needed

I really like the idea of podcasts for assignments and book reviews. It's great that you don't need an iPod to hear them, but have the option of hearing them online. Once again, I am thinking about Pirates Read! Lou and I want to learn how to make podcasts so we cal let the students make podcasts to add to our Books and Learning page. This will hopefully be a good way to generate interest in reading. I searched PodcastAlley.com and Yahoo Podcasts and found several book review series. I added YA Bookcast to my Bloglines account and am lookikng forward to finding new books for the library through it. (However, Bloglines says that I have subscribed to Ya Bookcast, but I can't find it listed anywhere. Can you help?)I also think that podcasting can be a great alternate assignment to a research paper. Now if we can just learn how to pull it off and actually do the technical parts to get these podcasts online and then we can help teachers accomplish it too if they want to use a new kind of assignment.

Thing #20 - You too can YouTube

I was really impressed with the A Librarian's 2.0 Mainfesto and the Did You Know 2.0 YouTube videos. They both offer thought provoking ideas on the new library of the 21st century. I did not find any that impressed me quite as much, but I found several that gave me some ideas of using YouTube in our library. The DPS Library Orientation is a great idea for Freshmen orientation each fall in the library and the music from Enya appeals to me. One could be developed in our library giving students information that they need to use the Poteet library. Two other examples of using videos for library publicity (another great idea) are Sesame Street - At Your Library and Wizard of Oz - A Tale of Library Circulation. Just for fun, I searched Mesquite, Texas, and found lots of videos from around here. My favoriet was Mesquite Country Christmas added just 3 weeks ago.

The Adventures of Super Librarian speaks to all librarians as we zip around the library doing all the many jobs that fall to us.

Thing #19 - Go with the flow

I created an account in Bubbl.us to set up a mind map for the same staff development program. I didn't find it as easy to use as Gliffy, but I liked several of its features. It is nice to be able to change the color of the bubbles, but I will need to work with it more to make it a useful tool. I was unable to figure out how to blog it and I didn't find a web location so that I could add a link to this commentary. I was wishing for the tutorial like the one that Gliffy had. If it's there I didn't find it. I was able to download a jpeg to my computer so I am able to print a copy of the map to use in the staff development. I think I will enjoy it once I figure out all its techniques.

Gliffy is a fairly easy flow chart to use and it uses a cross platform between the various types of computers which is good when you are collaborating with others while making it together. The tutorial shows you how to use the various buttons that are available. Unless you pay, you can only develop 5 public documents. I did have trouble bloging my creation here, but the links for various types are good to use in a blog. I liked the web page view to show to friends on the web and the small image can be downloaded and then uploaded to your blog and the large image can hopefully be printed if you need a handout in a meeting (it doesn't look very good on my computer screen). I created a flow chart to explain our presentation during the next staff development day on campus. I like the drag and drop options for creating points on the chart, and the ease in publishing since all forms of the document are saved and the urls given to copy and paste.

Thing #18 - Discovering web 2.0 tools

I looked through both lists of the web 2.0 tools and eventually chose Google Maps from the short list, primarily because I was at school and it was the only one that caught my intrest that wasn't blocked by the school's filter. The tour explaining how to create your own map was clear, concise and useful. I like the tool and enjoyed looking around my neighborhood as well as Seattle, Washington where I am going in April. I particularly like the feature that allows you to see the satellite view of the area including rooftops and terrain in the area. For practice I created a map of schools located near my house. I like the idea that the map can be private or public and that I can go back and put in pictures or videos to go with each location. I think this will be a great way to document trips. Also, I think that it will be great projects for history classes to create maps, document sites of important events, and even put in pictures and descriptions of the site's importance. I'm sure it will fit into other classes as well. I also like the fact that you can email your creation, print it, and link it, as well as edit it at a later date. Another good feature is the ease of shifting your focus area around with your cursor. From time to time I need to help a person find a location in another area of town and this is a good tool to use to help them. It is much easier to move around in a small area than Mapquest.

Thing #17 - Web-based applications: not just for desktops anymore!

I created an account in Zoho Writer and created a document highlighting one of the neatest areas we saw on our summer trip to Canada last year - Singer Castle. I found it difficult to import the picture into the document as it brought it in looking way too large. Now that I have seen it on its web page, perhaps it was all right to begin with. I will need to try it again and see how it turns out. Putting in the text was as easy as typing in a word document so that was nice. When I tried to send the document to my blog, the site would not accept my blog information. I never did figure out what I was doing wrong on that even after going to Blogger to make sure I was typing in all the correct information. So I am evidentally not up to that challenge. Mary and Debbie, do you make house calls (this is a B-day)? Finally I saved it as a public document and gave others the right to add or edit comments. It will be interesting to see what happens with that. By doing this I am able to put the document's link in this blog post and share my creation. This will be a great way to create and share documents because it bypasses the inevitable problem of various computers having different versions of the software you use to create it. It is also a great way for libraries to share information about their events and programs. I'm sure I can figure out some way to use it with Pirates Read!

Thing #16 - Add an entry to the Sandbox wiki

I read through the sites and wikis seem to be a wonderful way to share ideas, thoughts, web sites, with people from all over the world. I set up my PBwiki account, sent back the confirmation email, but when I tried to add my comment, I was asked for a wiki-wide password, even though I was already logged in. Therefore, I was unable to add my comment. Luckily for this assignment, Mary and Debbie dropped by the room where we were working and pointed out that the password was at the top of the assignment page. Now my face is really red, but armed with the password, I was able to put my comment - Idea #5 - on (in) the Sandbox. Thanks Mary. One thing I really like about wikis is how easy it is to add or edit your information--much like using a word document for either copying and pasting or just typing in your ideas. This makes it possible for anyone who wants to participate in a discussion online to do it easily without html skills.

Thing #15 - Wikis and how libraries are using them

Looking through the links that are provided on Wikis points out seemingly numberless ways to use this technology in a high school library. Avoiding vandals and spam or editing wars seem to be the most pressing problems in setting up a wiki where absolutely anyone can add or edit information. Naturally, my first inclination is to try it with Pirates Read! to see if they will discuss the book we are reading this month on a wiki (since obviously using a blog isn't working very well). It may promote the interest that edublogs is lacking for us. I also would like to start a book review wiki for the faculty to give them a chance to recommend books to everyone. I know there are readers on the faculty who would like to share information on good books that they have found, and I think they would enjoy reading what others like. Some of the assignments that teachers are researching in the library would lend themselves to a wiki where only class members are allowed to participate. Finally, developing a pathfinder wiki with teachers should make information more readily to the entire class as well as allow them to share research findings and sites with each other. I was impressed with Donna's wiki and I think it has great possibilities for all the schools in MISD.

Thing #14 - Read some perspectives on web 2.0 and the future of libraries

Library 2.0 is certainly far from the traditional library, but libraries are going to have to adapt to the quickly changing technology in today's world. Rick Anderson's "just in case collection" iceberg is already a challenge. It is difficult to keep that collection current and up to date with a changing faculty's needs. Just about the time you get a good collection built up focusing on one teacher's research needs, the teacher moves to another school or changes the assignment completely. Now we have such a large collection of online databases covering nearly every research need and this collection is always being updated with the latest information. We no longer have to have the latest book to cover every topic. Students keep up with all the latest technology and libraries need to do the same to meet them at their point of need and to relate to them with the technology that they respect and understand. Right now I am overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to incorporate all these new things into the PHS library system, but I think that it will be increasingly necessary. Sharing information through blogs, wikis, social networking, and cooperative tagging will become increasingly necessary in this time of huge quantities of rapidly changing information. It makes sense for people to work together in all of these areas.

Thing #13 - Tagging & social bookmarking with Del.icio.us

I like the idea of using social bookmarking sites in the library. Since students are able to use most of the library's resources away from school, they should also be able to access the bookmarks that have been chosen as relevant to the assignment. Social bookmarking sites make this possible. It will also be much easier to construct than by going to each computer in the library to bookmark the relevant sites for each class--and can easily be added to the Pathfinder for an assignment. It also allows teachers to set up a web based list that is available to their students on any Internet computer, as well letting them know what others think of sites they have chosen and letting others suggest sites through their lists. The web world is so large and overwhelming now that it is always nice to have help finding the sites you need and Del.icio.us will be helpful in building a site list. I also liked the fact that Furl will let you post a certain part of a site to your list without having the entire site in the way. Sometimes it is difficult to find the certain piece of information if you are looking at a large, complicated site made up of many parts. This should make it easier for teacher's to pinpoint the exact part that they want their students to consider. (I would feel more comfortable in using all this new technology if we had more workshop training sessions to work on the assighments.)

Thing #12 - Explore social networking

I was glad to have an opportunity to explore the networks that people (expecially students) are always talking about. As always, my first thoughts run to Pirates Read! and ways to use it to promote the book club and the various books we are reading. I explored MySpace, Facebook, and the Mesquite Ning - joining MySpace and the Mesquite Ning. (My cousin, a UT Austin student, uses Facebook for assignments in all her classes.) I looked up the political candidates and found searching somewhat easier in My Space. It's interesting what the candidates put on their page for voters to see. They have jumped right in to make use of this new way of reaching people. It's also interesting to look at libraries pages and see the uses they are making of this tool. I can see why students are so fascinated with this type of networking. And, I can see why they refuse to use other blogs, like the one established for Pirates Read! since MySpace is like a one stop place for all their networking needs. With limited time, students want one thing to check and checking a second blog is entirely too time consuming when MySpace is their first (and only) stop. Once they spend all the time it takes to get it set up just like you want it and finding and inviting friends, they are not inclined to go anywhere else. I will be glad when MISD relaxes its My Space policy so we can make use of this tool to network with all students, not just book club. It seems to be a great way to let students know about new books in the library and giving them information on both books and other library programs. Also, this assignment was quite frustrating to work on at school since we are blocked by MISD. I was unable to get into some things at school even with my login and password.