u really want to know????

This assignment has been an enjoyable yet frustrating experience for me. Some of the tools here were neat but kind of useless, some were just down right irritating and some i did think were pretty cool and would use again.

• What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

  some of my favorite things that i did was the web.2.0 list finding the geni site on genealogy. flickr was cool but i dont kno how useful it is. i just liked searching through the pictures. i also liked rollyo as a search tool. that it has set up databases with topic related links is a neat idea.

  the news feed RSS stuff was not my favorite. i dont think its pertinent to have news that intertwined in your life. they have sites like cnn and msnbc and foxnews or any other types of sites like entertainment music that you can just go see on your spare time. i dont see the need for this in ppls lives
• while youtube is obv one of the most famous audio/video sites used, that is for a good reason. its easy. podcasts are THE DEVIL.....completely irritating....thats all i can say about them...

• How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
• i think it has made me see that there are tools out there that i did not know about and with the rate of increasing technology there is no way to know everything that is out there. so keep searching and try anything at least once...even if it does turn out to be THE DEVIL

• Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
• the one thing that really sticks out to me is the web 2.0 stuff and the blog sites. i knew what blogs were but never got into them but i kind of enjoy being able to rant in an unformal yet public light about thigns that people might like to read about and relate to or debate in a friendly manner.  
•  

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

i think the program is done pretty well. i dont tihnk alot of the tools are very pertinent or are too similar to each other and therefore redundant to be made into two different tools. but maybe switching up some of the tools for things more geared towards specific libraries that the students are interested in. but thats just me i guess. 

overall it was a  good experience. i learned alot and am now a little more literate if anyone ever asks me about one of these tools i have some experience even if i am not an expert. definitely helpful to know.

 

web 2.0....geni

the topic i chose was genealogy. i have always enjoyed projects wehre i had to do family  trees and hope to have some time to actually make it a hobby some day. this site is realllly cool. its easy to use and you can invite other people from your family to join to help create an accurate tree. it placed second on the awards list but i liked it better than my heritage which i tried out first. it was just simpler and better for getting started. probably going to use this tool in the future. i did not like that there is no scroll bar when your family tree gets to big to be displayed at once on the screen. you have to drag around the screen to move around the tree. this was not my favorite but other than that i really liked it.

http://www.geni.com/

zotero????

i dont really understand the point of this cite. while like others it is neat to be able to group favorite sites together, this one has way to many extras that you need to actyally make the site funtional. plus i am not an avid mozilla user so this site didnt work well with my internet explorer. too many plug ins and add ons and syncing.....just not very user friendly bc its not very basic...krug would be upset.....there is a favorites tab in most web browsers for a reason. this is not needed and way overly complex.


 http://www.zotero.org/schavann/items

library 2.??????

the perspective i liked the most was the one by Dr. Wendy Schultz about everything being a temporary place in time. She talks abuot how libraries like everything else in the world has not been a static entity. it has gone through phases and changes along with technology. however not only technology, but becoming its own community as well including things like cafes and business fronts and other things besides books and computers. i like how she refers to it as a combination of a "mind gym" and a "mind spa". its going to be an all encompassing institution of challenge, relaxation, invention, tradition, and other aspects of society that seem to be total opposites but are still compatible and come together in a library setting. very cool.

rollyooooooo

Rollyo is also a neat tool. I like that there are preset rollyos that ppl can use. the ebooks one is convenient for finding textbooks online (since they are wayyyyyy cheaper) but the one i liked the most was the rare book library. as a hisory nerd of course i like that there are sites that specifically aim at thigns like rare books from teh past listed in legit sites.this would also be useful in a library setting. you can use the site for social networking as well tho. also i like to look up articles about sports to keep up what is going on in hockey and football and this helped me use search terms on my own chosen websites to pick what i could use.

aint nothin but a library thang

Library thing is actually a really cool tool. being able to log your own books and even have suggestions made to you about what you should read based on your interests is really neat. almost like on amazon where they give you suggestions based on what you buy or look at. i like the forums. its ilke having virtual book reading club with people from all over the place. its really easy to use to. if you can find a book on amazon or ebay you can find it here. you dont need professional training on cataloging to make this catalog. it automatically does it based on your search keywords or ISBN. i believe it actually gets its information from amazon.com if i remember correctly. you can tag your books and organize your catalog however you want which makes it easy for you to retrieve them later. i think this is something that should be utilized and displayed for library users and even in institutions for employees to use for research or whatever else.

goooogle is taking over

i went through the list of apps and the two i liked the most were the calender and books. The calender was cool because you could add events access them from any computer with internet. I like that you could add attachments to events like if y ou had a meeting adn wanted to add a file that was needed for the meeting as a backup in case something happened to the original file, also i liked that you can add guests to these events. I did not like the rigidity of time slots available. there were only half hour time slots, you could not have someting at 1:15 or 2:45. i did not like that but other than that i liked it.

google books is something i have used alot in my UG work. i like that it has search features to locate certain words and you can zoom in to make print biggere and easier to read in teh pdf. you cant print them most of the time but i used to just read thema nd write it down my notebook when i found relevant.

while google has alot of good tools, i believe our reliance on technology to keep our lives organzed will some day bite us in the butt. i myself am oldschool i have a paper planner and i like to print and read my research on paper with a pen and a highlighter. but this is the world we live in and eventually everyone will have to adapt to the use of technology in every little aspect of life.

web apps like google docs....hmmmm

while i think applications like google docs have their place i dont think we could ever go as far to say they could completely replace microsoft word or office tools. while it is convenient to have documents you can share and edit on a server, alot of writing is not something that should be on such an unsecure line ilke a server. take for example unique ground breaking research of some sort. as a historian i would not want to put my research up on a network that could be accessed by hacking. i just would not feel comfortable doing that. also if teh internet went down it would be impossible to access these documents as well,. simple technological mishaps could cause serious problems for people if all their work was based on servers. like i said while it is handy for some instances and class discussions, i dont think it has the practicality that microsoft word has.

#15 wikiwikiwikiwiki

Wikis are a really neat tool. THey are very convenient and i dont think there is a person out there who hasnt used wikipedia to looks something up before. Libraries could use wikis for book or material requests. making that request open to the public could create a link where someone else who may have the material could be able to lend it out if the library cant. I liked the genealogy section on the SJCPL homepage. i think that is really neat and also something that can be used in libraries since it is a common hobby of many ppl. The ALA page is also a good idea where people can become aware of events and comment on if they are coming or what they think about the event. There was an error when i tried to open it but i think the idea behind it is really good. the Bull Run Library wiki was kind of confusing. i was not a big fan of how it was set up. but overall i think wikis are a useful tool. one of the better tools so far in teh 23 things.

#14 Technorati

Searching in blogposts brought up some strange search results. it did not seem too specific. there was not really anything relevant that stuck out. i could not find a way to search within the tags section. it only had the most tagged tags in teh past month by alphabet. The blog directory did not bring up any results for learning 2.0. Overall this does not seem like a good tool for this specific entry but it looks like a good site for more pop culture or entertainment based information. The top 100 blogs part also shows this idea but along with technology and politics posts. Seems like a neat site to play around with.

stephanie

#13 Tagging and Social Bookmarking

I lke this site. It does not seem much different from Diigo though.The basic concept seems to be the same. Both sites are good research tools for anyone looking to get started on a topic by brainstorming. I like both sites.

#12 RSS search tools

The RSS search tools were all pretty good but some were definitaly better than others. The one i actually liked the best was actyally the one on the google reader page. You just click on  add a subscription type in a few keywords and the sites come up and you add them right away after checking them out. I also like the topix.net. It was simple and straighforward. i felt the other two were a little harder to use but still not impossible. both got you to what you wanted to get to. all could be good tools for searching RSS feeds. i like to follow sports hockey and football so i added those feeds to keep score and story updates. thought that was neat. looking forward to playing with it a little more.

stephanie

#11 RSS and Newsfeeds

The RSS newsfeed tool is really cool. i find it hard to maintain however. i do not go online for reading news a whole lot and it can get backed up easily if you dont go on alot to read them. i dont find it very helpful for my lifestyle as it is since i dont use the internet on my phone bc i think its dumb and like i said i dont have a lot of time for leisurly reading anymore. however it is a creative tool for work reasons to keep updated on specific libraries or sites that relate to your work so someday it would be a tool i would probably use quite a bit. the charlotte.com newsfeed site kept freezing up on me. im not sure if that was just my computer or the link but i had a hard time getting it open. other than that it all went well.

stephanie

#10 Audiobooks...

this was really neat...i found an audio file for The Natural History, by Pliny the Elder from ancient Rome. This was one of the earliest biology/history/science books that many after were based off of. I took a class on Roman Art and Architecture and Pliny the Elder was presetn when Pompeii was covered by the volcanic explosion of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD. His son Pliny the Younger continued his work after his death. I browsed the catalog for a little bit as well and there is alot of other cool ancient books that would be difficult for many people to read and understand on their own so hearing it from another persons voice often helps them be able to process it as they are hearing it. A+ for this site!!!

#9 Podcasts...devils?

i did not enjoy this exercise at allllllll. the podcast sites were a nitemare. the sites listed in teh 23 things that said they didnt need software, some actually did and i had to download it for podcastalley.com. after it was downloaded i could not figure out how to use it for the life of me. i got very frustrated. i went to podcast.com and had the same problem. perhaps someone could refer some easier podcast software? i could not figure this stuff out. i just use youtube. lol

#8 Youtube exploration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3DTCOtV9w

it has a recommended area based on the videos you watch. I watched a video on WWII and a bunch more popped up on teh side that related to it that video. Also ilike that it has a most popular area but it is clearly split up by topic as well.

ive always been fascinated by the civil war and WW2 while searching through youtube i found this really neat footage from WW2. the reason it jumped out at me is because it showed paratroopers and i recently watched the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers which focused on a troop of paratroopers in WW2. Hope you all think its as cool as me. Also i like the dark music...it really sets the tone for what the reality of the footage is and how sad this time was.

#7 Flickr Montager

I love mosaics!!!! I fell in love with them in a Roman art and architecture class where they were very popular form of art. i have created many of my own using photo programs and also physical mosaics that i have hung on my wall. My senior year yearbook cover was actualaly a mosaic of all the senior photos, which was in part my idea!!! The flickr montager is cool beacuse when u roll your mouse over teh little images it allows u to see a bigger thumbnail of the image while still getting to see the image as a whole which is the awesome thing about a mosaic. Its like a main message shown through lots of little messages or in this case photos that can tell a message. Really cool!

Stephanie

registered blog #5...again little late but better late than never!!!

my blog is registered with the class and used in the log to track my progress with the 23 things. This is just posting for purpose of it being recorded in the blog...sorry to bore you lol....

Stephanie

Test blogs...a little late #4

well i already blogged about the 7 1/2 things part...and i know that the test blogs worked...lol...this is just for posting purposes in the logggg.

Stephanie

Create a blog #3

I created a blog using blogger. It was really easy. This is late because i didnt realize we needed to post a blog about creating a blog. But I did it! yayyy

Stephanie

flickr blog for #6

The Commons seems really interesting. It is a window into history with some of the most important photo archives in the world like the U.S. Library of Congress and the Smithsonian and others!! Heaven for any history buff such as myself and I know there were a lot in this class so I thought this would be cool!!! I had no idea flickr even existed so this is a really cool tool to look at old pictures and thngs like that. Good find.

Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3952551585/

The Headquarters of Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. This is interesting that he would have headquarters so far north into Gettysburg, PA but also makes sense since this was the center of the fighting in 1863 when he established his headquarters here. I have always been fascinated by Robert E. Lee because of his stance on the civil war. While he was born of Virginia which was a southern state, he was actually against the idea of slavery which was of course one of the main issues of the civil war. However, back then a man’s loyalty was often to the home state and not to a nation. Nowadays we consider ourselves Americans overall, not New Yorkers, but back then you were a person of your state. Lee was a Virginian he said he could never have gone against his own homeland of Virginia. He actually turned down an offer to be head of the Union army because of this. The man was a genius and if it wasn’t for the manufacturing advantage of the North I believe Lee would have been very capable of having the south take the war.

Thanks!!!
Stephanie

Thoughts on 23 Things exercise 1 & 2.

23 Learning things to do


1. Its ok to play!!!! You can have fun. Just because you are in a library setting does not mean you can't have fun with the internet.


2. 7 and half habits of successful lifelong learners: let go of old-school learning experiences.
Learning does not have to be done in this way and probably wont be done for most of your life.
Life long learners put learning first and put you in control of your outcome.
Life long learning can start at any age at any time in any place.All about attitude!

A. Easiest habit- Begin with the end in mind.I always have a plan and know how I am going to get there.

B. Hardest habit- View problems as challenges. While i always have a plan I have a hard time straying from my plan and often get discouraged when things dont always go the way i want them to.