Summary
04 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
Now that I have finished the 23 things, here are my thoughts on it.
I think a lot of the tools used in this tutorial are very basic and I found it rather monotonous to “learn” them again. Things such as creating a blog and watching a youtube video are things that I have done many times before. I think those are great exercises for people who know absolutely nothing about the Internet, though. I also think it would be useful to discuss the 23 things in class because it seems like this is completely separate from class when in reality it is one of our assignments.
I think the library specific tools such as LibraryThing were really good to learn how to use. Those were the things that I had never heard of before and the ones that will be most useful when I complete my MLS and get a job in a library.
I also think that it is important for whomever runs this program to keep better track of the tools in it and how well they are working. There were issues with many of the tools that were not discovered until we attempted to complete the task. The Internet is always changing and the tutorial needs to be kept up to date if it is going to be useful.
Overall, I think I learned quite a bit from the program. Even though I might not go back and use a lot of the tools learned, it is good to know that they are out there in case a patron would find one of them ueseful.
Zotero
04 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
Zotero is a tool used to create citations and keep track of articles. I found it rather difficult to figure out and the fact that it froze my browser multiple times is reason enough for me not to use it again. If I hadn’t have had to use it for this post, I wouldn’t have bothered trying it on a different computer. Even when I did use it on another computer, it still froze the browser.
I think if there wasn’t the issue of it freezing my browser and if there was a simple page that explained exactly how to access it, it would be a very useful tool. But until the creators fix those issues, I won’t be using it again. Here’s a link to my library. Click here.
13 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
The additional Web 2.0 website that I selected is Twitter because it’s one of my favorite websites and I’m constantly thinking up ways it would be useful in the library. I’ve been using Twitter for nearly a year and a half and it’s a really useful social networking site.
There are many things I love about Twitter but my favorite thing about it is that it’s really easy to communicate with people who live far away with it. I have a lot of friends who live in other states and even countries and Twitter is a great way to stay updated on their lives and keep them updated on mine. Another great thing about Twitter is the fact that you can follow celebrities, politicians, authors, and other famous people. Twitter is even a great way to stay updated on current events, by following news agencies.
I think Twitter would be really useful for libraries because it’s such an easy way to get information out there. If a library had a Twitter account they could post updates about events on their account. They could advertise that they have an account and tell patrons to follow them. Libraries are constantly looking for new ways to advertise their programs and features, and Twitter would be another way to reach the community. By having a Twitter account, the library will seem up to date on technology and this might attract people who are very into technology.
People who follow the library could even ask librarians questions via Twitter. Librarians could post links to useful websites for homework and research. The opportunities are endless for libraries to take advantage of new technology, including Twitter and other social networking websites.
Library 2.0
02 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
(Note: I have not done the Zotero post yet because the add-on froze my browser and I have to figure out how to get it to work right.)
Library 2.0 is an interesting concept. To me it just seems like the concept of libraries keeping up with the times. With the advent of computers and related technologies it would be easy for libraries to somewhat fall by the wayside. Instead, librarians have embraced this new technology and brought it into the library. Instead of technology causing a decline in library popularity, it has done the opposite. Technology has brought people into the library. People who cannot afford computers go to the library to access the Internet and use software. Librarians are the source of knowledge about technology used in libraries. Any job requires workers to keep up with the times and librarians are no different. Just like grocery stores embraced the technology of barcodes for products, libraries have embraced computers. Any business is going to fall by the wayside if it does not keep up with the times and while a library is very different from a grocery store, the principle is the same.
Rollyo
02 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
The Rollyo search engine website is a site I had never heard of. However once I read a bit about it I realized that it would be incredibly useful in libraries, especially school libraries. Since I am getting certified for school media specialist this will be a good website to remember when I get a job. It will be useful because I can set up a Rollyo search engine with good research sites and give the students a link to the search engine and have them use that to search. That way I will know that the students are finding relevant and reliable information. I think it would be more useful for elementary school age students because in high school students need to start learning for themselves what is reliable information, which would require them to search the entire Internet, not just a few select sites.
While I think Rollyo will be useful in my future career, I don’t have much use for it now. I do not have a select group of sites I research with, so it would not be helpful for my research. I did create a Rollyo search for my favorite websites, which can be found here.
Library Thing
02 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
Library Thing is a website that allows you to create a catalog of books that you have read, interact with other users, and review books. I came across a very similar website a few months ago called GoodReads that pretty much has the same features as well as a few more such as author blogs. Both sites are very user friendly and are great ways to interact with other people who have similar interests and discover new books that you might not have otherwise have discovered. Library Thing seems like a great source for librarians and it seems like it would be very useful in a library. Librarians could set up their own account and enter books into their catalog that they suggest patrons read. Patrons could then access these catalogs on a computer. Here is a link to my own Library Thing catalog and here is a link to my GoodReads catalog as well.
Google Applications
29 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
Google has a lot of other applications besides their search engine. I’ve used a few before like Google Earth and Google Maps. iGoogle is my favorite because of all the little apps you can put on it. For this exercise I chose two applications I had never tried before- Google Calender and Google Alerts. I set up a calendar and put a few events on it, although I’m not going to link to it because this is a public blog. It seems like it would be very helpful, especially for someone who is very disorganized or has a lot going on in their life. For Google Alerts, I set it up that I would get an email once a day with alerts to anything related to Harry Potter, which will probably be very cool. This seems useful as well, especially for someone who has to keep up to date on various things.
Google Docs
29 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
For this exercise I had to explore Google Docs, which is actually something I already have experience with. I’ve been using Google Docs for as long as I’ve had my gmail account and I find it incredibly useful. My favorite reason to use Google Docs is the fact that I don’t have to worry about file extensions. When people send me documents to my gmail account all I have to do is open them in Google Docs and not wory about whether they will actually open on my computer. If I’m on another computer and I get on my gmail I don’t have to think about downloading stuff onto someone else’s computer and again, I don’t have to worry about file extensions.
However, I prefer to use my word processor to actually type and work on my documents. I prefer the layout of my word processor to Google Docs and I can also work on it even if I do not have Internet access. Overall, I think web-based applications are useful, but I do not think they’ll replace actual applications that are put onto compputers.
Wikis
29 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
Wikipedia has been a popular website for many years, especially amongst students who wish to find fast and easy to understand information about a subject they are researching. While most teachers and professors would cringe at this practice, Wikipedia and other Wiki sites do have some use. One great example is using them for libraries. There were many different library related Wikis to explore during this exercise. I found them all very interesting and useful. Booklovers seemed like it would be very useful to library patrons, although it did not have very many book reviews on it. If people start putting more reviews up, it would be even more useful. Library Success was very thorough and seemed like it would be incredibly useful in running a library. All the Wikis in this exercise were easy to navigate.
Overall, I think Wikis are a great idea for library purposes. The issues with Wikipedia involved with research aren’t really relevant to just using Wikis for general knowledge. They’re a great resource and libraries should take advantage of them.
Technorati
21 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
The next lesson was on Technorati, a website that catalogues the millions of blogs that exist on the Internet. Despite the fact that I’ve been blogging for years, I’d never heard of this site and was curious to explore it. The first thing I did was search to see if my other Word Press blog was listed and it wasn’t. Perhaps one day I’ll sign up for a Technorati account and list it myself. Technorati seems like a very useful site for people who wish to find blogs on a certain topic. There’s a search function to find a specific blog and the blogs are also listed by category.
When I searched for Learning 2.0 in blogs I found nothing, but I found one blog when I searched for it in posts. The other part of the assignment was to explore popular blogs, searches, and tags, but that part of Technorati was not working. This is just another example of how when learning with technology, things do not always go as planned. Instead of exploring that, I looked at the list of blog categories and explored the ‘books’ category. There were a lot of blogs about books and some looked quite interesting. I think Technorati is a great resource for librarians and anyone interested in finding book reviews.
