Wednesday, January 15, 2014
23 Mobile Things, Number 1
Still plugging away to try and keep up digital skills!
By participating in the new "23 mobile things" I hope to enhance my value to the community of library users who ask for digital help and advice!
The first two sets of "23 Things on a Stick" helped very much with understanding digital "lingo". Completing those exercises helped me better engage with teens as well as assist, with empathy, adults! Pushing the envelope by digging deeper gave me greater confidence.
Thanks MN state multi-types for the opportunity. Woo Hoo!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
More Things on a Stick to Ponder
Friday, July 23, 2010
Animation w/ MIT's Scratch Program
If you want to learn how to do this ;) Visit the SCRATCH web site by clicking on the animation! Want us to teach you? Call the library at 320-857-2550!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
2.0 Progress?
Our little library has had a DIY online presence for
over two years and, by gum, folks are really starting to
(on purpose!) visit our blogspot/facebook to connect to us!
Today we had a compliment from a patron who appreciated
our one-click calendar being up-to-date! This would have
never been possible without the 23 things on a stick exercise,
which propelled us unto the Internet. WOO-HOOO!!
over two years and, by gum, folks are really starting to
(on purpose!) visit our blogspot/facebook to connect to us!
Today we had a compliment from a patron who appreciated
our one-click calendar being up-to-date! This would have
never been possible without the 23 things on a stick exercise,
which propelled us unto the Internet. WOO-HOOO!!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain
Went to a seminar last week given by Erin Walsh, daughter of Dr. David Walsh, who wrote the best selling book, "Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen. The SAMMIE Library cooperative hosted. We are trying to prepare ourselves to better serve teens. Libraries do a great job with little kids, but we have a ways to go with teens.
Was working in a bigger library on Saturday and had a conversation with a 12 year old who was checking out audio books. She said, "I don't have time to read a whole book, that's why I like poetry." It made me think about how much our teen and college grad children text. Texting is a lot like poems. Concise and to the point. I asked the girl if she had ever participated in a poetry slam? "What's that?"
Was working in a bigger library on Saturday and had a conversation with a 12 year old who was checking out audio books. She said, "I don't have time to read a whole book, that's why I like poetry." It made me think about how much our teen and college grad children text. Texting is a lot like poems. Concise and to the point. I asked the girl if she had ever participated in a poetry slam? "What's that?"
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
THING 8, Sharing Creations TWITTER-style?
Ok, so back to my re-run of 23 things...
On the instruction page for Thing 8, I clicked Slide
which jumped me to the BIGWIG Social Software Wiki
where I found a presentation discussing the who, what, and wherefore of TWITTER.
Join twitter, add a presentation?
There are other twittering librarians...
http://twitter.com/yalsa
OK, here goes.
On the instruction page for Thing 8, I clicked Slide
which jumped me to the BIGWIG Social Software Wiki
where I found a presentation discussing the who, what, and wherefore of TWITTER.
Join twitter, add a presentation?
There are other twittering librarians...
http://twitter.com/yalsa
OK, here goes.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thing 7.5 WEB conferencing
Social networking with live web conferencing
or a conference within a virtual world like Second Life
has practical uses. Hmmm..
or a conference within a virtual world like Second Life
has practical uses. Hmmm..
Monday, August 4, 2008
THING 7 Communication Tools
Today a lady called from California
with a reference question: Could we
help her find old images of a school
and church her mother attended 40
years ago? The lady is creating a
"memory quilt".
We will find, scan and e-mail
the images to this Californian who
will, in turn, print them out on cloth
squares for her memory quilt.
How's that for a "mash up"?
After reading the 2005 Smart Library
article about SMS or "text messaging",
it is interesting to note how pervasive
text messaging now is.
The article mentioned that III offers
library software called AirPac,
adapted for small portable and
wireless devices.
I "googled" AirPac and found this
link to the Minneapolis' wireless library catalog:
http://mplwebcat.mplib.org/airpac/jsp/airpacIndex.jsp
It has a very basic and simple interface.
That is very cool. Access the library
from wherever you are, without a computer.
I played a little with the catalog and it looks
like it allows access to electronic library books
and information right from one's wireless device.
with a reference question: Could we
help her find old images of a school
and church her mother attended 40
years ago? The lady is creating a
"memory quilt".
We will find, scan and e-mail
the images to this Californian who
will, in turn, print them out on cloth
squares for her memory quilt.
How's that for a "mash up"?
After reading the 2005 Smart Library
article about SMS or "text messaging",
it is interesting to note how pervasive
text messaging now is.
The article mentioned that III offers
library software called AirPac,
adapted for small portable and
wireless devices.
I "googled" AirPac and found this
link to the Minneapolis' wireless library catalog:
http://mplwebcat.mplib.org/airpac/jsp/airpacIndex.jsp
It has a very basic and simple interface.
That is very cool. Access the library
from wherever you are, without a computer.
I played a little with the catalog and it looks
like it allows access to electronic library books
and information right from one's wireless device.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
THING 5, More Flickr Fun
photo is c/o Big HUGE Labs and fd's Flickr Toys!
This cake is ready to eat!
Part of our pretend cake decorating contest.
Happy Sesquicentenniel Minnesota!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thing 4, Photosharing, Picasa
Last Friday I took some photos
of the SAMMIE, Plum Creek,
Pioneerland "teen coop"; librarians
who are working on a collaborative,
cooperative project to better serve
our teen patrons.
We met at the Redwood Falls
MN public library. Redwood
has a designated "teen" area
and teen programing in their library.
I uploaded some of the
photos to a Picasa album.
Here's the embedded result:
of the SAMMIE, Plum Creek,
Pioneerland "teen coop"; librarians
who are working on a collaborative,
cooperative project to better serve
our teen patrons.
We met at the Redwood Falls
MN public library. Redwood
has a designated "teen" area
and teen programing in their library.
I uploaded some of the
photos to a Picasa album.
Here's the embedded result:
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Thing 3, RSS Depth-charge
Blogger recently added the option for
"My Blog List" which I have taken
advantage of. I tried a SpringWidget
for a little while on this blog, but it
wasn't as user-friendly as the blog
list option. One of the blogs I have
subscribed to has a "blog roll" too,
but the author has his private. Mine
is public.
One's blog can be the repository for RSS,
bookmarks and links, organized just like
you want, tagged and marked.
T'is a customized desktop and browser and a
librarian's dream-toy? An organizer's play land?
"My Blog List" which I have taken
advantage of. I tried a SpringWidget
for a little while on this blog, but it
wasn't as user-friendly as the blog
list option. One of the blogs I have
subscribed to has a "blog roll" too,
but the author has his private. Mine
is public.
One's blog can be the repository for RSS,
bookmarks and links, organized just like
you want, tagged and marked.
T'is a customized desktop and browser and a
librarian's dream-toy? An organizer's play land?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
THING 2 What is Library 2.0?
Regarding Library 2.0, a link to a Stephen Abram
podcast on the topic was added in the right-hand
column Friday.
On Saturday one of my librarian friends mentioned
that she thought her newly posted blog for the 23
things exercise was already less static than her
library's web page. She was only at Thing 3!
It is fun to hear others tout the benefits of this
exercise.
My boss called several times this week to get
a little help with posting and making her avatar.
She was concerned that she would be "spitting
nails" soon, but I think it went well for her. It
is, of course, time consuming.
In conversation recently it was
mentioned to me that young people's
concepts of privacy might be quite
different than a librarian's.
We have policies in place to protect
the privacy of our patrons that some
who use Web 2.0 all the time might
consider "over-protective". Although
the privacy of our 2.0 users is under
their control (if they read the options
in fine print), we may need to point out
the "how-to".
Once we learn these things, there is no going back.
I wonder what percentage of businesses use
private wikis or MS Live office or Google docs
and such to communicate? Since we can communicate
with multiple people at once, these tools could be more
efficient, as long as folks are good at written communication.
Recently, our teenager said he was kinda sick of
MySpace and Facebook. It will be interesting to see
whether the "been there, done that" attitude shows
up as a phenomenon with other teens. Not sure
how one gauges what is fad and what is here for
the duration.
podcast on the topic was added in the right-hand
column Friday.
On Saturday one of my librarian friends mentioned
that she thought her newly posted blog for the 23
things exercise was already less static than her
library's web page. She was only at Thing 3!
It is fun to hear others tout the benefits of this
exercise.
My boss called several times this week to get
a little help with posting and making her avatar.
She was concerned that she would be "spitting
nails" soon, but I think it went well for her. It
is, of course, time consuming.
In conversation recently it was
mentioned to me that young people's
concepts of privacy might be quite
different than a librarian's.
We have policies in place to protect
the privacy of our patrons that some
who use Web 2.0 all the time might
consider "over-protective". Although
the privacy of our 2.0 users is under
their control (if they read the options
in fine print), we may need to point out
the "how-to".
Once we learn these things, there is no going back.
I wonder what percentage of businesses use
private wikis or MS Live office or Google docs
and such to communicate? Since we can communicate
with multiple people at once, these tools could be more
efficient, as long as folks are good at written communication.
Recently, our teenager said he was kinda sick of
MySpace and Facebook. It will be interesting to see
whether the "been there, done that" attitude shows
up as a phenomenon with other teens. Not sure
how one gauges what is fad and what is here for
the duration.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Thing 1, Refresh, UPDATED, again
Since a new session of 23 things is starting
and I have volunteered to be a coach... I think
it would be a good time to revisit the things from
1 to 23. Perhaps do ALL of the challenge exercises
listed at the end of each "thing".
I wonder what it takes to have a more
sophisticated avatar? Maybe a little animation?
Librarian Jan P has a great one from Meez.
I made this banner when I first started 23 things
and finally figured out how to add it to the blog.
It got sorta fuzzy, but it is a wave on
the beach of "23 things on a stick".
I am wishing I could animate the heading.
This lady has some instructions for doing just that.
Today I added Feed Burner for statistics.
Now, I notice that all the time I spent getting
the orange RSS on the side was re-inventing
the wheel. That symbol would have been
added automatically had I used Feed Burner
in the first session of 23 things.
and I have volunteered to be a coach... I think
it would be a good time to revisit the things from
1 to 23. Perhaps do ALL of the challenge exercises
listed at the end of each "thing".
I wonder what it takes to have a more
sophisticated avatar? Maybe a little animation?
Librarian Jan P has a great one from Meez.
I made this banner when I first started 23 things
and finally figured out how to add it to the blog.
It got sorta fuzzy, but it is a wave on
the beach of "23 things on a stick".
I am wishing I could animate the heading.
This lady has some instructions for doing just that.
Today I added Feed Burner for statistics.
Now, I notice that all the time I spent getting
the orange RSS on the side was re-inventing
the wheel. That symbol would have been
added automatically had I used Feed Burner
in the first session of 23 things.
Small Discoveries
1) If you open an archived entry on
Blogger/Blogspot and click on the title, it
will send you to the person's most recent entry.
2) Through trial and error I have experimented
with font color by replacing existing parts
of code with other color codes.
Want bright purple font in your template? Click on the
"edit html" tabs in your blog template and look for
stuff that indicates color and replace it with
other code from this link.
Blogger/Blogspot and click on the title, it
will send you to the person's most recent entry.
2) Through trial and error I have experimented
with font color by replacing existing parts
of code with other color codes.
Want bright purple font in your template? Click on the
"edit html" tabs in your blog template and look for
stuff that indicates color and replace it with
other code from this link.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Encouragement
I went on my first 5K run this past
weekend! (evidenced in 17th picture down.)
Actually, my best friend, her daughter and I
walked and jogged, finishing without too much pain!
At the chili dinner following our run,
my best friend, her daughter, two college
students and our host talked a little bit
about Facebook, which led to a small discussion
about 23 Things on a Stick and librarians!
In this party of people, I was the only one
who thought we ought to celebrate or toot
our horns about our 5k run by posting
to FACEBOOK!
Perhaps I have been brainwashed by my
23 Things on a Stick experience?
NAW, my advice to you is if YOU are
interested in learning WEB 2.0 skills:
JUST DO IT!
weekend! (evidenced in 17th picture down.)
Actually, my best friend, her daughter and I
walked and jogged, finishing without too much pain!
At the chili dinner following our run,
my best friend, her daughter, two college
students and our host talked a little bit
about Facebook, which led to a small discussion
about 23 Things on a Stick and librarians!
In this party of people, I was the only one
who thought we ought to celebrate or toot
our horns about our 5k run by posting
to FACEBOOK!
Perhaps I have been brainwashed by my
23 Things on a Stick experience?
NAW, my advice to you is if YOU are
interested in learning WEB 2.0 skills:
JUST DO IT!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
It has been 10 days since the last post.
In that time I have investigated the possible
addition of a "teen night" to our library events.
I also toured the Rochester MN public library.
WooEEE. They even have an automatic book sorter
connected to the book drop-off.
When visiting a social networking area for library
2.0 stuff at NING I found this little video "mash-up"
that reinforces our commitment to keep learning
how Web 2.0 and other up and coming information
devices can be integrated into library services!
The text for this video was originally written
back in November 2006 by Laura Cohen in her
blog,"Library 2.0: An Academic's Perspective".
Another video "mash-up" of the text was done
by the Pickering Public Library in Ontario.
In that time I have investigated the possible
addition of a "teen night" to our library events.
I also toured the Rochester MN public library.
WooEEE. They even have an automatic book sorter
connected to the book drop-off.
When visiting a social networking area for library
2.0 stuff at NING I found this little video "mash-up"
that reinforces our commitment to keep learning
how Web 2.0 and other up and coming information
devices can be integrated into library services!
The text for this video was originally written
back in November 2006 by Laura Cohen in her
blog,"Library 2.0: An Academic's Perspective".
Another video "mash-up" of the text was done
by the Pickering Public Library in Ontario.
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