Monday, April 7, 2008

Tribute to Library Learning 2.0 Media Clerks

Posted by MyraG at 10:23 PM 7 comments

You Did It! Congratulations!

We made it! We have explored, created, and learned about ways to use new technologies to learn, teach, research, communicate, entertain, and socialize. We have come full circle to our original goals for organizing the PST. Our original definition of Web 2.0, the Read/Write web, was:

  • Creativity – using free tools of the Internet to design and create Web content.
  • Connected – constantly connected to your PLN, your family, your friends, your employer, your future employer, your students, your peers, professionals in your field, and the world.
  • Collaboration – Social networking and Web 2.0 are all about strengthening relationships; working in designing, creating, and sharing the learnings from conversations and learning projects.
  • Conversations – about anything that interests you…from crafts, to education, to libraries, to the most current scientific research available. Conversations with your PLN – as small or as large as you want to make it.
  • Content -- user-generated content. We all have the ability to join the conversation and add to the content of the web, instead of just consume data. We have the ability to add, mash up, share, and use the collective intelligence of the Internet -- and the World. That's exciting!

We have only scratched the surface of the tools, conversations, and creativity that is now possible -- not only for our own productivity and learning, but what we can share with others. Your permanent assignment is to share what you have learned -- with a student, a teacher, your administration, your children, your friends.

Discovery Exercises:

  • Review the "Things" you have learned and note what you have accomplished in this class.
  • Read your own blog and see how far you have come!
  • Your final assignment is to write your reflection on this class as your final blog post (use your new tools!). Please be thorough, contemplative, and honest -- this will serve as your course reflection to receive credit. Make it as long as you need to fully reflect your experience and learning.
  • Keep commenting on the blogs of your classmates and continue to add to our Media Clerks Wiki. This document will continue to serve us as a great reference tool.

To help get ideas flowing for your final blog post, here's some things to think about:

  • Did the class meet your expectations?
  • What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
  • How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
  • Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
  • What could be done differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
  • Did the instructor cover the content adequately?
  • Would you do it again? ...or, better yet, would you do this class without the credit?
  • What suggestions do you have to improve on the content/delivery of the materials?
  • How will you apply what you learned? ...personally? ...in the library? ...with students?
  • How has this new information added to your job skills, and capabilities, as a media clerk?
  • How do you feel about blogging? ...will you continue to blog after this class is finished?
  • What is the most important thing you learned about yourself, technology, or working with your Personal Learning Network?
  • What would you suggest for another topic or area of study for our next Professional Study Team project?
  • What ideas do you have to add/develop programs to enhance our professional development experience and opportunities?

Thanks to all of you for your humor, patience, diligence, determination, creativity, contributions, and for being such great inspiration. This learning experience was so rich...because of all of you. I look forward to our next learning journey together.

Posted by MyraG at 8:30 PM 0 comments Labels: ,

Thing #23 -- Expand Your Mind

Where will your learning journey take you now? We have learned so much, yet there is so much "out there" for us to explore and add to our expanding repertoire of Read/Write web tools. Here's some great places to continue your learning in our own back yard! The professional development opportunities to learn about the Read/Write Web and Online Learning Tools continue to grow in our district -- try out a few!

Discovery Resources:

Atomic Learning -- Learn more about:

St. Vrain Virtual Campus

Office of Professional Development

Discovery Exercise:

  • Blog (your Thing #23 post) about some of the things you discovered in this exercise. What did you find that will be useful in your learning journey?
  • Where will you go from here?

If you want more:

Continue your journey! Here's some great places to explore more available for you to learn, create, share, and use. Happy learning!

Posted by MyraG at 8:29 PM 0 comments Labels: ,

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Thing #22 -- Your Cellphone as a Tool

No longer is your cell phone just a device for making a phone call. The capabilities and features of new cell phones now rival your home computer offering texting, photos, videos, blogging, social-networking, personal productivity, mobile office, online connectivity, ...the uses are endless. Our students are tapping into the communication, texting, and and social networking features; but, what about educational applications? Explore some of these sites offering ideas, applications, and ways of integrating this "life" technology into the classroom:


Discovery Exercises:

  • Explore some of the cellphone tools sites and educational technology sites. Do you think that cellphone technology can be used in the classroom?

  • What are some problems and issues you foresee in using cellphones in the classroom? (kids access -- cost, have vs have-nots, methods for including kids w/o phones or services).

  • What is one way you could use your cellphone as a tool for your own personal productivity?
  • How could they be used in the library? ...in the classroom?
  • Write about your thoughts, on your blog, on using cell phones in the classroom and for your own personal productivity.

If you want more:

The power of the web is coming to your cell phone. Learn more about how to take advantage with these tools:
  • Mobile Web - Directory & Search Sites
  • DialDirections - free directions to an address, business, or event, sent as a text message directly to your cell phone.
  • Fring - free calls over your cell phone (requires download, and either 3G or WiFi connection for phone).
  • JahJah - free local VoIP calls, long distance at local rates.
  • Jott - your voice translated into email and text messages.
  • Phonevite - voice messages sent automatically to multiple numbers.
  • TalkShoe - record phone or VoIP calls, publish as podcasts.
  • Talkster - free, ad-supported long distance calling.
  • ToneMine - mix and download free ringtones.

Posted by MyraG at 4:00 PM 1 comments Labels: ,

Thing #21 Copyright and Freedom of Information

Social networks allow us to create and freely exchange information. But with the free exchange of information comes the responsibility of how we use and share it, and how we give credit to the author of that information. Check out this video, “A Fair(y) Use Tale” and learn some history of copyright.

In the library and classroom, we are often faced with copyright challenges of when it is acceptable to copy something and how much of an item (Fair Use) we can copy. Our students, as part of the always plugged-in culture, "cut and paste" information for posters, projects, presentations, as well as research projects. How do we teach them the ethical use of information. How do we define the ethical use of information in this easily accessible and constantly changing information-rich landscape?

In the networked world of file sharing, downloading, and RSS, we must acknowledge and teach the ethics of information gathering and sharing. Creative Commons is a copyright license that allows us to choose to share our intellectual property. This course is designed under a Creative Commons license and is an example of how one can take a piece of information or a product and re-work it to make it fit your needs. By acknowledging the original authors, they have given permission for us to share.

We covered Open Source software and the implications of availability and free use. But there is more to consider in the realm of software authorship, ownership, and use. We are addressing the free exchange of information, software source code, and collaboration in software development.

Discovery Resources:

There are several discovery resources addressing copyright issues, the freedom of information, and freedom to create, use, mash up, and build upon the work of others. This is rather a broad category, but one of high significance as we look at the Read/Write web, creating and collaboration of content, and the use of freely available softwar applications. You may want to expand your reading on these areas of information creation and use by starting with some of these resources.

Discover Exercise:

  • Write your blog reflection on copyright issues and how we can teach this foundation of Information Literacy.
  • What are ways we can teach the ethical use of information to our students?

Posted by MyraG at 3:55 PM 0 comments Labels: ,

Thing #20 Social Networking

Any article or conversation about Web 2.0, the Read/Write web, will focus on the 'experience' of the Web for the user. The platform that moves the user from passive information (as in what might be called Web 1.0) to one of rich, dynamic content and broad, interactive participation is social networking.

Web 2.0 has extended this concept to include user-generated content -- users create their own social networks, sharing experiences and events, communication, news, photographs, music, video, and other content with not only their real-world family and friends but also the virtual world of ‘friends’ on-line with whom they share interests.

As with a lot of 2.0 tools, pinning down a definition of a “social network” is difficult. Here are a few characteristics of social networks: profile pages: when you sign up for an account on a social networking site, your “profile page” becomes your home base. Most social networks allow you to add as much or as little information about yourself as you’d like. Common fields include your name, contact information, interests, and a photograph of yourself. Some social networks allow you to customize your profile page by changing the design, color, or look of the page.

MySpace and Facebook, for example, are two of the most popular social networks. "Friending" is probably the most important characteristic of a social network because finding friends (existing or new) on a social networking site is pretty much the point of being there in the first place! So, most social networks allow you to add another person/profile as a “friend” or a “contact” and your collection of friends becomes your own personal social network (not dissimilar to the way social networks form offline).

The “friending” aspect of an online social network often accounts for why some social networking sites are popular with specific groups. For example, Facebook began as a social network for college and university students; it has since opened up to allow anyone to join the network, but it still remains most popular with students. Why? Because people go where their friends are and where people share common interests.

With real life social networks, groups tend to form around common interests, therefore most online social networks allow users to start a group or join a group based on their interests or common goals. Depending on the social networking site, you will probably find a group that represents your interests, regardless of what that interest might be! While many 2.0 tools use some of these elements (e.g. “contacts” on Flickr, “friends” on Digg, profile pages on YouTube), most sites that are considered to be online “social networks” have all these elements in common.

Another way of looking at it then is that “social networks” exist primarily to help people keep in touch personally or professionally. These sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and Ning, provide users the freedom to add pictures, slideshows, audio and video excerpts, and even custom designs. The other sites concentrate on users’ specific common interests such as video (YouTube), photography (Flickr), music (last.fm), or books (Library Thing).

Because Myspace is popular among teenagers and young adults, some libraries have used Myspace to connect with their younger patrons. Read through the Discovery Resources links below to get an idea of what different libraries are doing in Myspace and what librarians are saying about it.

Unlike the other major social networking services, Ning distinguishes itself by focusing on the creation of groups and offering the user a fully customizable space to ‘create your own social network for anything.’ Using tags to describe these networks, users find groups with which they have common interests, with less emphasis than the other sites on finding individual friends.

A number of libraries, public and school, have started to explore the potential of online social networks to reach their users. Here are a few examples:

Explore a couple of Ning groups, such as:

Discovery Resources

Discovery Exercises:

  • After reading through some of the resources above, what do you think about libraries using social networking sites?
  • Are you a member of any social-networking sites?
  • Post, on your blog, your reflection on social-networking sites and add any other thoughts you might have about social networking in general.

Posted by MyraG at 3:50 PM 0 comments Labels:

Thing #19 -- Microblogging with Twitter

Acording to Wikipedia, "Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (e.g. on a cell phone), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook". Twitter can serve as a learning network, a collaboration tool, a social network, a news source, a marketing tool, or a way to network with others on specific topics. You can set up a powerful personal learning network -- sharing website links, blog posts announcements, and notices of events and conferences. If you'd like to find out more about Twitter, try these discovery resources:

Discovery Activities:

  • Reflection blog post -- write about your thoughts on Twitter.
  • What is one way this could be used in the library? (or new ways, if your library is already using Twitter).How could this type of service be of value to you? How could this type of service be used in your own professional learning?

If you want more:

  1. Set up your Twitter account
  2. Find others with your interests
  3. Twitter for a week
  4. Write a second reflection on your use of Twitter.

Posted by MyraG at 3:45 PM 0 comments Labels: ,

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Thing #18 -- YouTube, TeacherTube, and User-Generated Video

Within the past few years, online video hosting sites have exploded allowing users to easily upload and share videos on the web. Among all the web 2.0 players in this area, YouTube is currently top dog serving up over 1 million video views a day and allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily, but also embed clips into their own sites easily. Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from 1970s TV commercials and 60s and 70s music videos (hey...here's the REAL music) to library dominoes and a video made by library school students for National Library Week. There's also the cult classic Conan the Librarian. See also:

Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching, too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has to offer.

Discovery Resources:

Discovery Exercise:

Explore YouTube or TeacherTube and find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.

  • Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
If you want more (optional):

Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and paste code for the for "Embeddable Player.” Note: you'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.


NOTE: Videos, like music downloads, are bandwidth hogs. It is recommended that you complete this exercise during light Internet usage times. Also, don't forget that YouTube videos are blocked -- you may want to concentrate your video exploration to TeacherTube.

Posted by MyraG at 2:38 PM 0 comments Labels: ,

Thing #17 Explore Web 2.0 Award-Winning Apps

Throughout the course of this Learning 2.0 program we’ve explored just a small sampling of these new Internet technologies and websites that are empowering users with the ability to create and share content. But, given time, there are so many more we could explore. There are hundreds of web 2.0 tools with only a handfuls emerging as dominators in the market. And although time will only tell which of these new collaborative, social networking and information tools will remain on top, one thing is for sure, they're not going to go away (at least anytime soon).

For this discovery exercise, participants are asked to select any site from this list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees and explore it. With so many to choose from, it might be handy to first select a category that interests you (like Books or Personal Organization) and then simply select a tool/site to explore. Be careful to select a tool that is Free and that doesn't require a plug-in or download. The majority of these are free, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Discovery Exercise:

  • Select any site/tool from the list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees. (If you prefer to select from just the winners, here’s a link to the short list.)
  • Explore the site you selected.
  • Create a post about your discovery. Be sure to include the link so all in the class can explore your choice. Do you have a project that you created with the tool?
  • What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any applications for its use in a library setting?
  • Be prepared to share your find, in a 5 minute presentation, with the class next week.

Posted by MyraG at 12:46 PM 0 comments Labels:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Thing # 16 Learning a Language

As an adult learner, learning a new language has been a challenge: money and time for classes, software, books, and instructors. Although there are several online tutorials and practice sites, the element that has been missing is the social networking aspect. To learn a language, you need to not only learn about it, but hear it, read it, speak it, and practice. Short of a trip abroad for total immersion, LiveMocha offers a 21st Century learning approach to learning a new language -- a "web-based language learning solution integrating online instructional content with a global community of language learners". All you need is an Internet connection. According to the LiveMocha site:

"Lesson plans include over 160 hours of beginner and intermediate level content teaching everyday conversational language along with a full range of practical reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises. LiveMocha also leverages the native language expertise of its members by allowing them to enhance the content with grammar tips, alternative phrases and colloquialisms".

In true social networking format (leveraging the collective information and intelligence on the Internet), you can learn, listen, communicate, and interact with other learners, native speakers, and tutors from around the world. Chat with others, integrating writing, listening, and speaking skills and tap the expertise of native speakers. LiveMocha brings several skill levels together as you learn at your own pace, whenever you wish, for as long as you wish.

Currently, on the LEARN section of the site, you can enroll in one of four levels of online instruction offered in the world's six most popular languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Hindi, and Mandarin Chinese. Instruction in other languages will be added in the future, but with the PRACTICE and SHARE sections of LiveMocha, you can communicate in any language with anyone in the world!

Discovery Resources:

Discovery Exercises:

  • Log on to LiveMocha and click Get Started or Register to set up your account. You will need to activate your account through your email address.
  • Blog about your thoughts on this type of e-learning experience and what you learned in exploring this site.
  • What other language learning sites have you found?

Posted by MyraG at 6:00 AM 0 comments Labels: ,

Thing #15 -- Audiobooks and eBooks

The availability of audiobooks and ebooks, free and fee, online has exploded in the past few years. With the Google project to digitize entire libraries, Project Gutenberg, and others bringing public domain books to the web, we have the availability of thousands of books online. Additionally, with the movement to open source and sharing, many more books are appearing online, much to readers' delight.

Although most authors' work is protected under copyright law, many current authors and copyright holders are investigating open access options of the Internet. Neil Gaiman, for example, posted on his blog that he wanted to make one of his books available online... Free. He polled his readers and the overwhelming choice was American Gods. This book is now available, online, for one month for anyone wanting to read his book.

The publishing company Tor, long known for science fiction and fantasy books, now offers a free download of a new Science Fiction title every week -- simply for the asking. Other types of services are also appearing such as email books -- DailyLit sends books in installments via e-mail or RSS feed, free or pay-as-you-read.

Discovery Exercise:

Explore some of the audiobook and ebook download sites:

Discovery Exercise:

  • Write a blog posts about two of your favorite audiobook or ebook finds and provide links.
  • How are these types of sites valuable to you? ...to your library?
  • How will the availability of books online affect libraries of the future? How can libraries compete with this type of availability?

Posted by MyraG at 5:59 AM 1 comments Labels: ,

Thing #14 Podcasting

The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS. In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the few years, it’s easy to see why.

Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries to much longer in-person interviews or panel/group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portal device) with headphones or a speaker. iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple is a directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options. Another option is the Zune Marketplace site (a Microsoft service). Again, you don't need to own a Zune player to listen to the podcasts. There are several podcasts on dozens of topics and interests. You can subscribe to these services for regular downloads of your favorite podcasts.

Discovery Resources:

For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Once found, you can easily pull the RSS feed into your blog reader (i.e., Bloglines or Google Reader) account as well, so that when new casts become available you’ll be automatically notified of their existence.

There are many, many podcast directories and search tools out there. Here are some popular ones that don’t, like iTunes or Zune, require a software download:

Discovery Exercises:

  • Take a look at some of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts, book review podcasts, or library news. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your blog reader account.
  • Create a blog post about your discovery process. How can podcasts be used in the library?
  • Share the link to a podcast you have discovered on your blog so all the class participants can listen to your podcast.
If you want more:

Add some kind of audio component to your blog -- Try Voki and record your own voice (many of you have already added a Voki to your blog).

Do you want to learn how to podcast? Explore some of these podcasting applications -- add a short podcast to your blog.

Posted by MyraG at 5:57 AM 1 comments Labels: ,

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Thing #13 Experiment with Google Apps

You are familiar with Web and Image search capabilities of Google; we discussed GoogleDocs in Thing #12 and learned about this handy set of documents for online productivity, collaboration, and portability. These are just the tip of the Google iceberg in providing online resources and tools for the Read/Write web and personal/collaborative productivity. In this exercise, we will explore some of the innovative web-based tools Google is releasing. The program and your own data is stored online, allowing colleagues to access the same documents, collaboratively build resources, and have access to the data 24/7. We'll look at the benefits, and limitations, of using Google Apps.

Discovery Exercises:


Homework Activity:

  • Choose one of the Google Apps that we haven't covered or used in a past "Thing". Explore the features and benefits of the tool you chose and write a blog post about your discoveries. Include a link to your favorite tool, add an image, and add examples of how you can use this new tool. Describe how this tool can be used in the library and in your own personal productivity.

Optional Exercise:

  • Set up an iGoogle page (a customizable home page) and use this tool for managing your newsfeeds, blogs, favorite websites, and favorite gadgets (weather, maps, calculator, and assorted tools, etc.). Write about this productivity and information management tool in your blog.

Posted by MyraG at 10:52 AM 0 comments Labels: ,

Thing #12 Open Source Applications

The availability and use of free, online Open Source software and web-based applications (think word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets) has exploded over the past two years and for good reason! Powerful web-based applications provide users the ability to create and share documents over the Internet without the need of installed desktop applications. Some experts speculate that this emerging trend may mean the death to Microsoft Office and other software-based productivity tools, while others think web-based applications have their place, but not in the office. But no matter which side of the office suite platform you side with, on this both sides seem to agree; web-based apps have their place and Open Source software is here to stay.

One large benefit of web-based applications is that they eliminate the need to worry about different software versions or file types as you email documents or move from PC to Mac to Linux operating systems. Another bonus is that they easily accommodate collaboration by allowing multiple users to edit the same file (with versions) and provide users the ability to easily save and convert documents as multiple file types (including HTML and .pdf).

And, you can even use many of these tools, such as Zoho Writer and Google Docs, to author and publish posts to your blog. It’s this type of integration with other Web 2.0 tools that make web-based apps so appealing.

Discovery Exercise:

  • Create a free account with ZOHO or Google Docs (you already have a Google account for your blog). Create a simple document, try out various fonts and colors, spell check it, and then document your discoveries in your blog. If you are up to the challenge, you might even export your document as a .pdf or web file. You can even publish it directly to your blog.
  • Explore OpenOffice.org (from Sun Microsystems). Although this is an application you download to your computer (thus giving you offline capabilities), it is a free, open source alternative to Microsoft Office Suite. Files can be saved in a format that can be opened by MS Office, giving the user an option for creating documents at home on personal computers, but having the portability benefit of opening the documents at school or the office. How could this product be of value to students?
  • Write a blog post about your discoveries. Discuss some of the features of open source software and web-based applications. Are there things you like better than in Microsoft applications? What things are still lacking in these types of programs? Do you see a use for them in the library? Do you think our staff and students could use these tools? Could this replace users needing to bring disks or USB drives? Are these type of applications something you will use for your own personal productivity?

If you want more:

  • Read about the Open Source Initiative. Blog about your thoughts on this movement.
  • Create a document and invite several collaborators to work on the document with you. Create a Presentation (online version of PowerPoint) slide show in Google Docs or ZOHO.

Posted by MyraG at 10:45 AM 0 comments Labels: ,

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Thing #11 Wikis

So, what's a wiki?

A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well known of these knowledge sharing tools. With the benefits that wikis provide, the use and popularity of these tools is exploding.

Anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content. Tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what has been changed and by whom. Earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed. Users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases, simple syntax structure is used.

As the use of wikis has grown over the last few years, libraries all over the country have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge. Among their applications are subject guide wikis, book review wikis, ALA conference wikis, and even library best practices wikis.

Discovery Resources:

Use these resources to learn more about wikis:

Discovery Exercise:

So what is in a wiki? For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at some wikis and blog about your findings. Here are a few library-related examples to investigate, but feel free to search for others that interest you as well:

Homework Activity:

  • Practice in the Sandbox section of the Media Clerks Manual Wiki. You can try your hand at adding different kinds of content. Don't worry, we can remove anything -- just practice and, as the name implies, play in the sandbox!
  • Add to your assigned section of the Media Clerks Manual Wiki. This wiki will be used to develop a job manual of best practices for Media Clerks of the SVVSD. (This collaborative wiki will be presented as our final project for our PST credit). You will receive your invitation by email before class and we will draw for sections in class.
  • Add to, or edit one of the other sections of the wiki.
  • Remember, you can add links and support documents. Remember to cite your sources if you use outside information.
  • Reflect about your findings about wikis in your blog. What did you find interesting about them? What applications within libraries might work well with a wiki? Is this something you may use personally?
Optional Exercise:

Now that you know what they are, create your own wiki, on any topic, using one of the following tools: (link your wiki to your blog)

Photo Attribution: http://flickr.com/photos/jaaronfarr/1056922912/

Posted by MyraG at 5:53 AM 0 comments Labels: ,

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Thing # 10 -- Working with Photos

This week, we will learn to edit our photos to get them to a size, format, shape, or transition whereby it can be used for blogging, image generating, photosharing, or other online use. You may want or need to resize photos for use in brochures, documents, presentations, and other offline projects. These tools are perfect for editing your photos for every need. The tools we will explore are all online and either have a free version or have no limitations for use.

We have explored Flickr and have found that we can store, edit, catagorize, tag, search, and use photos from many different users. You can apply safety features or search for copyright-friendly images with a Creative Commons license. Read on to find out about more resources for editing your photos online.

Discovery Resources:

Stock.xchng and morgueFile are two sites where you can find a wide variety of stock photos where consent for public use has already been granted.

Here are some more photosharing sites if you want to keep exploring. These are broadly similar to Flickr, but each has its own individual twist and may better meet your needs:

Discovery Activities:

For this hands-on activity, you will need to bring these items to class:

  • your digital camera -- be sure to bring the appropriate USB cords, card readers, or other items needed to upload your photos (make sure they work on the Citrix environment) (or)
  • a CD with your saved photos (or)
  • a flashdrive with your saved photos (or)
  • have your photos pre-loaded onto your Flickr account

Explore these online photo editing sites:

Many of these sites give you the capability to morph, stretch, colorize, add text balloons, and create works of art with your photos.

Work with some of your photos and use one or two in your blog. You can save the edited image on your flashdrive, or upload it to your Flickr account -- then you can use it anytime, from any computer, and use it directly in your blog. Write a blog post for Thing #10 with your thoughts on the availability of online photo editors and how you might be able to use them in the library.

If you want more:

If you want more capabilities, try some of the open-source photo editing software now available. Full-capability photo editing software has been expensive to purchase; open-source choices now bring these capabilites to you at little or no cost -- yet give you full, robust editing capabilities once only found in retail programs. You may need to download software for these applications, but they may be a great option for your use at home. Explore some of the options:

Posted by MyraG at 6:30 AM 0 comments Labels: ,

Thing #9 Technology

Create a blog post about anything technology related. Yes, it can be anything that relates to technology! You just need to share a few thoughts, share some links, and post a photo for us to learn more about your topic. Talk about anything you think is relevant to this class or about using technology in the library. Here's your chance to really participate in the class and share with your colleagues.

Be sure to keep commenting on everyone's blogs. That's what online communities are all about - connecting and communication. CHEER and otherwise encourage your Library Learning 2.0 colleagues!

Remember to post your reflections on each new Thing each week so your classmates can comment, share, and learn.

Posted by MyraG at 6:00 AM 0 comments Labels: ,

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Thing 8 -- Library Thing

Okay, librarians and book lovers, here's your new favorite tool! Do you like cataloging, organizing, exploring, and discussing books? Or do you enjoy finding lost and forgotten gems on the shelf to read? Then LibraryThing may be just the tool for you.

Developed for booklovers, this online tool not only allows you to easily create an online catalog of your own books, but it also connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes. Add a book to your catalog by just entering the title (or use the ISBN, LLC, or Author).

There are lots of ways to use LibraryThing. You can view your books on a virtual shelf, add a widget (see sidebar for sample) to display titles that are in your catalog, or install a LT Search box on your blog. So why not join the ranks and create your own library online. With over 353,743* registered members (BTW: LibraryThing also has group forum for librarians), over 23,548,895 cataloged books*, over 30,548,961 tags*, and 3,612,180 ratings*, you're bound to discover something new. A bibliophile's dream!
* As of the date of this post.

When you sign up for the free account, you can catalog up to 200 of your books, find other people who share your bookshelf, get suggested reads based on your bookshelf, and even go to the Unsuggester. This will give you books that you probably won't like based on your bookshelf.

Discovery Resources:

Discovery Activities:

  • Explore LibraryThing and create a personal account.

  • Add several of your books to your library.

  • Blog about your findings; how can you use Library thing personally? ...in the library?

  • Be sure to to link to your LibraryThing catalog!

  • If you are up for the challenge, add a Library Thing chiclet (see the icon at the beginning of this post) or add the widget to your sidebar.

If you want more (very cool book-related tools):

  • Shelfari - Shelfari is a social networking site for book lovers. Using Shelfari, you can create a personal shelf of your books, see what your friends are reading, get and give recommendations for what to read next, create book lists, and even share your opinion on a book with friends or the Shelfari community.

  • Anobii - is a social networking site targeted to worldwide booklovers. The idea behind aNobii is simple: create an online platform for avid-readers to share reviews, recommendations, and most important of all, find other similar-taste booklovers.

  • Gurulib - GuruLib is a free web service to organize your home library. Catalog your books, DVDs, music CDs, games and software online using a book shelf metaphor.

  • Bookswellread - is designed for all readers in mind -- readers of all types of books, of all ages, interests and backgrounds. It's a place for you to keep an online book journal, learn about books and connect with a community of readers.
If you explored any of these social-networking book sites, tell us about it in your blog.

Posted by MyraG at 6:37 AM 1 comments Labels: ,

Thing 7 -- Tagging & Social Bookmarking

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts). Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data anyway they want.

In the past few weeks, we’ve already explored a few sites – Flicker and Technorati to name two --that allow users to take advantage of tagging. This week, as we explore tagging, we will also take a look at a popular social bookmarking site called Del.icio.us (typed in as http://del.icio.us/).

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorize your bookmarks. Many users find that the real power of Del.icio.us is in the social networking aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. You can think of it as sharing another users filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network. For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.

Discovery Resources:

Watch this video Information R/evolution from Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Kansas State University and the students participating in his Digital Ethnography group. "This video explores the changes in the way we find, store, create, critique, and share information. This video was created as a conversation starter, and works especially well when brainstorming with people about the near future and the skills needed in order to harness, evaluate, and create information effectively."

Watch the Common Craft Video Social Bookmarking in Plain English:


Take a look around Del.icio.us using the MediaClerks account that was created for the Media Clerks Forum and this class.

Note: In this account you will find lots of resources that have been highlighted or used throughout the course of the Learning 2.0 program.

Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorize this reference?

Discovery Activities:

  • Create a Del.icio.us account for yourself and discover how this useful bookmarking tool can replace your traditional browser bookmark list. Add some booksmarks and try tagging them for easy indexing -- add an explanation to your entry so you will know what the site is about. Explore some of the tools available for Del.icio.us -- try adding a network badge to your blog.
  • Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool. What kind of potential do you think this tool has? How could you use this in your own personal productivity? Could this be used in the library?
  • Remember to keep commenting on your classmates blogs, pick up ideas, and share ideas.

If you want more:

Check out thise other social bookmarking sites:

  • StumbleUpon.com - Lets you “channel surf” the Internet and review sites; it learns what you like and recommends more of the same.
  • Ma.gnolia.com - Discuss all the saved bookmarks in groups, see what the Featured Linker is all about, join discussions in the Hot Group.
  • Furl.net - Not only can you do the standard bookmarking and sharing, you can save archived versions of a webpage and even export all your saved pages to a ZIP file.
  • Digg.com - Synonymous with social bookmarking: you Digg a story, others Digg it, the more popular it gets the better chance it has of hitting the first page.

Posted by MyraG at 5:34 AM 0 comments Labels: ,

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