Are we there yet?

Thank you to the Learning 2.0 team for your hard work in putting this together. A week ago I wouldn't have dreamt I could catch up, but I've enjoyed learning some new things as a result of this program and will have fun continuing to explore some of the more appealing tools.

Week 15 - Games and Virtual Worlds

Thank goodness for 2 choices this week. The "virtual worlds" component of this week's exercise would make my head implode if I had to experiment with it. We had to mess around in Second Life when I was in a "libraries and distance education" course at library school. I found it boring and pointless and for better or worse, still do (no offense intended to those who enjoy it.)

So I leaned toward the other games and experimented with Zuma, Bejewelled and Sudoku. I was pretty bad at Bejewelled and more less sat back while my daughter did it (as my able assistant). I did Zuma, though, and that was kind of fun once I figured it out, though I still can't fathom making a special point of going to this website and playing the game just for the fun of it. Maybe if I was waiting for someone and had time on my hands, then I might be inclined to play a video game (just as a time waster while waiting for something better to happen). Sudoku is a game we play as a board game and I also keep a sudoku book handy in the car for more "waiting moments." I'm a product of the 80s and I distinctly recall as a high school student hovering around at the arcade waiting for friends (mainly boys) to be done with the daily dose so as to get on with other things. I had hoped it was just a passing fad....

How to use games in libraries? Personally, I don't really know, beyond perhaps drawing kids to educational games on that part of our website. Opening up the computers to gamers is sufficient, to my mind. I don't really see the point in dragging libraries into Second Life, as though somehow they'll be more relevant to people there than they would be or are in the real world. I actually think we have a big enough problem making people aware of libraries as it is, in the here and now, without dedicating time and resources in putting libraries into fantasy games.

It's too bad this is the last exercise because as I write all this, I feel very, very old and crotchety...

Podcasts continued

OK, I managed to post a playlist from LastFM by following the instructions in Blogger Help. Woo hoo!

Week 14 - Google Docs

Have been messing around in Google Docs. This is something totally new to me. Will need to do some further exploration. I'm a bit hazey on the "share" feature. Here is the document I developed and saved.

Week 13 - Blogs & podcasts

I am presently downloading a great program from CBC Radio One's program IDEAS. I love listening to these in the car and am gratified that the CBC is finally putting increasing amounts of material online for downloading. I only wish I could find more comedy, but hopefully those days are coming.

I'm not actually sure how to link directly to the podcast as opposed to the webpage on which it resides. In the case of the CBC, many different podcasts are listed here. I'm downloading The Dog Ate My Homework. I've checked on Help how to embed a podcast onto the site (and I have listened to embedded podcasts on other people's blogs in the past), but I think I'll experiment with this from one of the computers at work, as the connection time is faster than here at home.

I enjoyed Darcy's video on YouTube, but also the one with the young guy dancing at the Locke Library. Again, I'm on high speed lite at home, so You Tube starts and stops in spurts. Better at work!

More E-audio

Had to update the security on Windows Media for my Overdrive account. Decided to download There are No Shortcuts instead of the Meditation for Beginners, but it was taking forever and I have about another 3 parts yet to download.

I have copied onto a CD in the past and it seems to me that I could play the CD even after the check-in time. I'll have to see about this again.

One of the drawbacks of e-audio is the mindshift from regular audio that is required. I feel resentful that I can't listen to it whenever I want, but only in the limited time period. I don't think of it as a book, but rather as a CD.

But a fabulous addition to our collection, especially for us commuters!

Week 12 - E-Books & E-audio Books

First of all, I didn't know you could download books through Netlibrary. Their selection is limited, but still, the process is easier than with the Overdrive books. I am presently 40% through a download of 101 Dalmatians and I will likely download some of the other kids books for use in the car.

I have used the Overdrive books many times and have the software set up in my computer already. The selection continues to improve.

Once I'm through with the Dalmatians, I will try to reactivate a book that I've downloaded in the past, Meditation for Beginners. (I'm going to need it if I manage to get through all these Learning 2.0 tutorials.)

I don't have a sense that one source of e-audio books is easier to to search than the other. Netlibrary has fewer choices. I like the fact that netlibrary tells you up front how many titles are available in each genre.

Update tomorrow if I succeed with both downloads (or not).

Week 11 - Databases at HPL (alerts & RSS)

The task for this week will definitely make a difference in my life as I am an avid user and promoter of the databases. Just last week I was asked by my physiotherapist if there isn't a way for her to be kept on top of new studies appearing related to exercise and its usefulness in cancer prevention and rehabilitation.

I'm wondering if the fact that so few patrons of public libraries actually know about and use the databases in the first place is a barrier to sharing with them these cool tools. After all, if a person is just learning how to use the databases, you don't want to overwhelm them. Still, it might be worthwhile adding some of the text from the Week 11 blog post to the cheat sheet I give patrons that helps them to navigate the databases. (If anyone is interested in my cheat sheet, just ask. I always print one out when I show a patron the databases and I customize it to their needs.)

Thank you for this. Today I will go home feeling smarter than when I arrived - :)

Library Facebook - Week 9

Have updated my Facebook account (the library one). Have a regular Facebook account that I hold onto "just in case," as once in a while an old friend looks me up. Most of the novelty was gone after the first 3 weeks, though. The limitation of Facebook, I think, is your inability to turn on multiple filters if you are not interested in the updates they send you. I have my settings maxed out to NOT receive info I'm not interested in, and I still get way more than I know what to do with.

Library Thing

Library Thing sure beats the heck out of emailing my self the names of books I've read. However, as with all of these tools, they're only useful if you use them and although I've had an account with Library Thing for a couple of years, I only have 9 books listed there. As my generalized dementia gets worse, I would do well to add more books from time to time.

Week 8

del.icio.us

Can see all kinds of potential in this tool for the cook in me...

Week 7 - Photo upload

"That's not my job."

Adopt A Who

Decided to "Adopt a Who" in honour of the Horton Hears a Who movie. Pretty lame. My kids are big into Webkinz, which strikes me as a better example of commercial entities taking advantage of interactivity on the web to market their wares. I'm surprised Disney would deliver something so limited in appeal. What would the good Doctor think?

Readability of this blog

Have checked the readability of both this blog and the Canucks Run Amok blog. Turns out this one is supposedly at genius level, while Canucks is good for junior highschoolers. I wonder what the trigger words are...

Chuggin on through Week 5.

Wikis

Just had a look at Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. See lots of potential there, if more people took time to contribute. Checked out adult programming and a fair chunk of the examples were from one little library in the States. Interesting ideas, but still limited in terms of breadth. I can see the value of a wiki as part of groupwork in a class or possibly as a platform for group projects either at work or at school. I like the leveling aspect and democratic nature of wikis, but they seem to be in a kind of no man's land in terms of official legitimacy. Still, if you're trying to find out about some obscure topic that formerly wouldn't be accessible from a distance (say, about a town mayor), it's very handy to be able to plug into this information.

RSS feeds

I surely am the slowest person in this whole program...and this particular computer I'm on must be the slowest in the library (or Hamilton) (or Ontario). OK, so I've subscribed to 2 library related RSS feeds in Google reader: CBC's Words at Large and Library Marketing: Thinking Outside the Book. I found the process fairly easy, but already feel I receive more information than I can stay on top of, so unless I find some blog that I cannot live without, I doubt I'll check into Reader very often to see what's up. Though you never know. I should have added an RSS feed to the Canucks blog, but it's a bit late for that now. Next year!

Better late than never

Finally have had a chance to get involved in Learning 2.0. Look forward to getting caught up.