Building a better box

It is amazing to me how much effort and thought it takes to be a "life-long learner". Recently I have been "teaching myself" html and web page design. Of course, "teaching myself" involves finding a new place to find out how to do every step...blogs, online tutorials, support services, help indices... But I am finding that 7 or 80 hours later it is pretty much all out there. Just recently, I have been "building a box". Sounds easy, but I want it to have rounded corners...that takes looking up the vocabulary for the processes before even beginning to understand the processes. But there are sites where all that is explained and even "plug and play" sorts of box creators. Then, if you decide to use images, there is more vocab to understand before using the image creation software. But the software is there to be had and there are online "books" of instructions. Then there is deciding what the box will look like. (and changing it when your tech person finds a new wall paper that will be perfect for your web page! What a sucker...I spent 4 days getting those green and brown boxes to look good, not to mention they work...sort of! And now I decide to change the colors?) But there are sites with backgrounds and wallpapers and images and instructions on how to download them all. Back to the free software to adjust colors and shapes somewhat...another seven or 80 hours! And when it is all perfect, try it on another browser...oops! Yes, life-long learning assures us all that we will never lack for things to do, and the "new" web seems determined to support all our efforts.

I attended a workshop recently where the presenter was espousing the oft-heard saw that we must stop educating students for yesterday and start educating them for the future...Who is she kidding? How many among us could even begin to guess what the future will bring even five years from now, let alone when our beginning students reach an age of employment! Will even the most involved of life-long learners be able to help them keep up? Sometimes I think not, but I am having fun trying!

Week 9, Thing # 23, Summary

So we come to the end...or the beginning? This has been a very entertaining and enlightening journey so far. Lots of things to learn and do. Some of my favorites were Flickr and the mashups (sounds like a rock band!), finding some library-oriented blogs that I enjoy, and the many creative suggestions of my colleagues on how to use what we have learned. The timing for this class was excellent, as these are the "things" I was planning to explore this summer on my own. And this program went so much farther than I would have done, since I lacked the knowledge to "know what I needed to know"! There are things I have already discussed with teachers as possibilities for projects for this year. My biggest surprise, probably, was how much fun and anxiety was had over the issue of avatars. I didn't expect we would all care so much! Would I participate in the future? You bet! I am hoping that there will be followups coming. I really liked the format of the "schedule" for the class...I do better with deadlines! and it encouraged lots of us to get a move on, rather than postpone. I wonder if there would be a way to encourage more "social networking" in the future? Joining some of the wikis will help. Hopefully I will make time to keep up.

Thank you to all of the CSLA members who helped create this fun endeavor.

Week 9, Thing # 22, eBooks

World eBook Fair collection contains letters, essays, etc. from the great philosophers. Could replace the rain-soaked collection of same that used to be used every year by a social studies teacher! Also the government printing collection... Even a collection of math books... And physics... Some music... The technical book collection alone would be personally worth seeing... Looks like a pretty good deal for 8.95/year.

Librovox, perhaps not so much, but Google's eBook search worked well on the "philosopher" test. (Did I mention Google and world ownership earlier in this blog??)

Week 9, Thing # 21, Podcasts

Interesting that I was able to find numerous knitting podcasts (actually, I sometimes think of things other than knitting!), but few concerned with reviewing books. I did find the "Hennepin County TeenLinks Podcasts", featuring reviews of books, movies, and other interesting tidbits done by teens. Hennepin County strikes again! Every contact I've had with their teen programming has been an eye-opener. You can find them here Check out in particular the "Eden Prairie Library You Tube Contest". I plan to see my video teacher as soon as I can corner him!

In the end, I did find the New York Times Book Review Podcasts and included it on my Google Reader. Now to find the time to listen!

Interesting note: talked to my tech person today and was describing this class. He has lots of questions, and has been thinking about trying to set up RSS feed for our school. I don't remember that we "learned" how to set them up, but I will return to that "Thing" to find out.

Week 9, Thing # 20, YouTube

YouTube, as we all know, contains tons of interesting video. Fun stuff, educational stuff, other... well. I don't know if it is my computer, cookies, cache, or what, but it seems excruciatingly slow to me. I don't get the buffer things where the vid stops for a few seconds to get a second wind. Explain, please. I found a fun video illustrating a knitting machine made entirely of Legos. Not really useful in terms of the knitted fabric created, I would think, but extremely interesting. Here it is embedded from YouTube...



The librarians' 2.0 manifesto was very thought-provoking. I have bookmarked it to easily return during the coming year. Living up to it may prove difficult...especially the part where others may "resist".

Exploring the other sites, looking for "high school library tour" or "library tour" brought very little of use. Either the Quick Time videos didn't work, or the "tour" was deadly boring! Still I persevered to finally find two possibilities:
one by students...



and one by Nick Baker, who made "March of the Librarians" (which was very fun, by the way)... Williams College Welcome Video

Nick also had a very fun video introducing the library staff:

Week 8, # 19, Library Thing

I explored Library Thing while checking out the Web 2.0 Awards. Just went back and looked some more, including librarians' blogs. They are also interesting.

Perplexing note: I went back to "older posts" to see what week, etc. I had commented on Library Thing. I had put a tag cloud into the post for Week 5, which showed when this post was not "older", but does not show now. Then I clicked on the title to show just that post, and there was the tag cloud again. I assume this is to save space on the page?

Also, I experienced the desirability of tags, which I had NOT put on earlier posts!

Week 7, Thing # 18, Zoho Writer, etc.

Somewhere in my explorations of Zoho, I saw a comment to the effect that this is an ambitious undertaking. I would certainly agree! So much power in one place... And if we are talking about creating documents, is this not a better venue than a wiki, as it can be formatted into final form here? I look forward to exploring the possibilities with the rest of our district library staff.

BTW, the "meeting" section completely lost me. Much that is here deserves more exploration time.

Technorati Tags sharing,documents,Zoho

No particular week, no particular thing...just Wikipedia

Interesting article in the local paper: A UCSC professor has developed a method of examining the accuracy of information in Wikipedia. Rather than authenticating the information itself, the method bases its evaluation on the number of times the particular contributor has been corrected in past Wikipedia contributions. Variegated colors of orange indicate the author's "reputation". Idea being...the darker the orange, the less likely the information is accurate. Interesting concept, but not without its shortcomings. Read the comments following the article. I guess the bottom line is still: verify any information obtained through wiki-type articles, blogs, etc. Same thing we library types are always saying!

Week 7, Thing # 17, Sandbox

Editing someone else's writing is always a daunting proposition. Will they like what you add? Will they resent the changes? Are your thoughts really as valid/good/smart as theirs? Will someone think what you say or do or change is foolish/dumb/stupid? Do I need a psychologist?...

Anyway...the sandbox was great. A totally safe place to try out this wiki stuff. I even made a change! And added an idea. I like the sharing of ideas. Just visited two of the categories so far, but got lots of mental stimulation.

I do think that in using this sort of tool we need to consider the shy student who doesn't feel comfortable putting thoughts in writing for all to see. Some way for adding comments that are anonymous, but also allow the instructor to know who did what. Can we do that?

Week 7, Thing #16, Wikis

The Princeton Public Library BookLoversWiki gives me an idea...the sharing I suggested a few posts ago concerning reviews of appropriate adult for high school books should be done in a wiki. Once I have completed this THING, I will certainly know everything I should know to start one. ;-)

As I was hoping, I don't really have to create the wiki for "Incredible books for High School Students", because Joyce Valenza has already done it! Yeah, Joyce! http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbwiki.com/

I was very impressed by the sample Lit Circles wiki. What an organized assignment. Ditto for the St. Joseph's County pathfinders. I think this is a very good use of wikis. I also checked out some of the teen services MySpace's. They are pretty cool, and attractive, and I like the "Ministry of Magic" or "Draco and the Malfoys" music. But in reviewing the "friends", it seems there are more authors, other libraries' teen services departments, storytellers, etc. than there are teens. Can we really reach teens in this way? I don't think we are cool enough for that.

School staff and district librarians would have many uses for wikis, as many of the examples showed. I recall trying to rewrite a job description that we could all approve last year. Sending the Word document around and trying different colors to emphasize changes didn't get it! This would be so much easier. Also, I would like to see teachers use wikis for the "cooperative note-taking" or a group paper. I think these opportunities would appeal to high school students. Also, I would like to try a book review wiki, although reading about the possibility of having a "catalog wiki" gave me the willies! I'd love to have the reviews available when students or staff searched for a book, but I would need to know that some parts of the catalog entry could be locked!

Week 6, Thing # 14, Technorati, # 15 Library 2.0

A search in Technorati for "Library 2.0" brought up interesting discussions of the implications of Web 2.0 for our profession. For years we have been trying--in vain, I sometimes think--to keep up with technological advances. With 175,000 new blogs per day, multiplied by all the different types of new Web 2.0 tools, the possibilities would seem to be endless. Others may pick and choose as they see fit, but we, as librarians, are expected--or we expect ourselves--to understand them all. What a daunting prospect! Must needs more reading on this subject.

I suppose if there were anything "interesting or surprising" it was that so many of the top blogs concerned themselves with marketing, making money, etc. I suppose it makes sense, but I had just not thought about it. Also, it seems that relatively few of the top blogs are concerned with celebrity watches.

Advantages and disadvantages of tagging?...tagging is certainly helpful, as blogs without any means of pinpointing searches are pretty useless except to read for the pleasure of the subject or the author's voice or...however, at the same time, it can be difficult to choose the tags to search. Searching "Harry Potter" brought up only two or three entries, which seems like it can't be right. All-in-all, I think bloggers should make an effort to tag in such a way that others visiting their blogs can find relevant posts. That would be especially true in professional blogs which might be researched for information.

Week 6, Thing # 13, Tagging

Tagging...hmmm...doesn't that look something like this...:
(created using "graffiti creator")

Tagging makes sense and feels comfortable. Coming up with tags that might be useful to other people or that I might actually remember later is less so. Browsing SJLibraryLearning 2's bookmarks presents many interesting possibilities.

I have a teacher who has been singing the praises of del.icio.us for months. I am glad to have time and motivation to spend some time there myself. He will be so impressed when we get back to school!

Week 5, Thing # 11, Award-winning Web 2.0 Applications/Ning

Tried setting up a wiki on both WetPaint and PBwiki, as I was surprised to see that WP beat out PB for the award. I totally agree with the committee. WetPaint was lots easier, including having to respond to an email before setting up the PBwiki. Also, WP sent emails to my "invitees", rather than my having to do it myself. Both took less than 15 minutes, including the first post. I also liked the fact that WP offered a variety of templates. PB, however, offered some templates and other stuff specifically for educators. "classroom", syllabus, etc.
I also used a site called "Wayfarer" to create a map to my home, which I could then send to friends. That was pretty cool.
I also enjoyed looking at Pipl, searching out mention of myself and relatives. Some interesting entries came up.
Must move on now, or I will not finish before the new year!

Week 5, Thing # 11, Award-winning Web 2.0 Applications/Ning

LibraryThing is fun. I remember seeing this site before. Put in five books only and got some pretty good suggestions. (added 8-2-07) Spent some time adding the books on my "to read" shelf. Looked at the tag and author clouds, which I think are pretty neat. Let's see if I can insert one here:
Yeah! it worked.
I also checked out Arcaplay. Probably a mistake...they had Fowlwords, which is a game I try to avoid, but fell off the wagon for a while there.

Week 5, Thing # 10, Image Generators

I was very excited about the "Simpsonizer", as my husband is a real fan. Tried many times to "Simpsonize" him, but no luck. I don't know if the photo didn't have enough contrast or what the problem was: "the thing-a-ma-bob can't read the do-hickey" (or whatever) didn't give me much guidance as to how to improve my chances. I like the Flickr Toys because you can use your own photos as well as those you find on Flickr.
Tried Image Chef, and created this READ sign. Possibilities there, too.


Found a button maker from the list at www.imagegenerator.org. Having spent countless hours last school year creating buttons for my library web site, I can definitely see the usefulness of this program...now, if I can just get it to work...


Another find on the imagegenerator list: Logo Maker



Lots more to explore here.

Week 5, Thing # 12, Custom Search Engines

Tried the Rollyo search engine "thing". I see definite possibilities, especially in planning with teachers for specific lessons. I have "class resources" on my library web page, with sites to use when teachers bring students for certain units, but they need to be searched individually. I can see using the custom search engine process to allow students to search a carefully selected group of web sites for more efficient sessions in the library computer center.

Also tried Google CSE (Custom Search Engines). I read a blog entry from one of the library feeds which said that you didn't have to list sites URL by URL, that Google would give a bit of code which would search any site already listed on a page...seems like what I was discussing above. But I found the process to be pretty identical to the Rollyo "thing". I must spend more time playing and reading the blog entry again to find out what I missed. It would be much easier to add such a search box to each teacher's resources page than to re-list all the URL's. On the other hand, I found I can just go to my bookmark organizer, highlight and copy all URL's in the (in this case) html folder, and then paste to Google's CSE. Not really too hard.

I read something recently...science fiction, a joke, whatever...which mentioned Google taking over the world. I get it.

Week 4, Thing #8, RSS

Okay, here is a perfect example of why I don't love blogs: I'm looking at the discovery activities for RSS feeds; click on the "differences" among bloglines, RSS feeds and Google Reader; get to some guy's blog which discusses iPhone for an entire page. So I search for Google Reader, then bloglines and Google Reader, then Bloglines Google Reader rss feeds...I get some clues, but no "discussion of the differences..." half hour gone, and I am none the wiser. I assume that in order for a blog to be efficiently searched, the blogger must attach tags that are intuitive to most readers... perhaps we need Sears for bloggers?

Be that as it may, my new Google Reader will be a great help with the need to know vs the time I have. Linked to the local paper's local news may actually allow me to at least scan the news each day so as not to miss anything going on in town. Ditto the BBC and NYT headlines. Getting daily book reviews will help with collection development, of course. Hope to find an appropriate "for high school" book review source...that delicate cross between adult and YA... Anyone know of one?

Week 3, Things #6 & 7, Flickr fun: motivational poster

CATS
Originally uploaded by cardinal reader

As a part of "Tech Truffles for Librarians", we explored some fun Flickr mashups. I especially liked the idea of using trading cards to promote library use and increase check outs. I would like to try cards of staff listing their favorite books or... Then when someone checks out a book, they get a card. Perhaps one a month? "collect them all and win a prize?" "trade with your friend (if you didn't check out a book this week)?"
This time I tried out the "motivational poster creator". We should all be so relaxed!

Week 3, Thing #5, Flickr

spidergirl
Originally uploaded by cardinal reader

This is one of the favorite photos I have ever taken. This little lady lived in our garden for most of one fall. This post was added using Flickr's blog tool.





This photo was added using Blogger's "Add image" tool. It shows the computer center in our library.

Week 2, Thing #4, Register a blog

Okay, registering was a piece of cake. Reading the blogs of others is interesting...maybe I will make my peace with this form of communication before I become one of the "in my generation" types!

Pictures next...let us forge ahead.

Week 2, Thing #3, Set up a blog

Set up a blog? No, I don't think so...Oh, it's required, huh? Any way I can keep other people from reading it? See, I really don't like blogs much...unless they have good information about knitting...I don't quite understand why people want to broadcast their lives to the world...just not my style...still, if it's required...I soon found the way to delete a blog, and that made me feel better...Now, how does one name a blog? This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly!

Blog set up, deleted, and set up again...the avatar was fun...sort of like paper dolls...very young-looking paper dolls!...I finally figured out how to change the hair color, but now I can't find the button for "brown-turning-gray"! Couldn't go with the library backgrounds, either...if we're talking books, I want a comfy chair and a cat...laptop works well in this setting too, except when the cat insists on sitting on the keyboard!

Week 1, Thing #2, Life-long Learning

Life-long learning...none of the 7 1/2 habits particularly surprised me, except possibly the toolbox...I don't think I've ever thought of it quite like that...Play is pretty easy for me...I think we learn better when things are fun...challenges attract me, although I often end up fighting them through rather than learning gracefully...crashes of confidence are not unusual...I'm pretty good at making goals, and often focused (could one say tunnel-visioned?) on meeting them...

Week 1, Thing # 1, Getting Started

School Library Learning 2.0...sounded interesting from the very beginning. Thanks to CSLA for sending out reminders to get us moving. All three high school librarians in our district decided to go for it after a lengthy email discussion. It took getting through Things # 1-3, but we are getting pretty excited about it now. Sharing will make it much easier to get to week 9, I think...as long as at least one of us understands each new Thing!