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.