Thing 23: The End?

My favorite items from the experience are Jing and Flickr Toys.  I think Jing will be very handy when doing online reference and Flickr Toys are just fun.  I really enjoyed this experience and wish that I could've done more with the different Things.  That is a problem for all of us...wanting to explore and learn new things but not having the time to.  I did visit other participants' blogs.  I noticed that everyone is at different points in this process showing that we all have the huge obstacle of time.  Giving me the goal of the peer conference did help to keep me focused....although you will notice that there are big gaps in time between my things and then I will have completed several at a time. 

Thanks Tara for providing this forum for us.  Please include me in future projects :)

Thing 18: Audiobooks

Ok...I know this one is out of order but I cannot download the Overdrive books while I am on campus...and neither can students.  This is one negative.  I was able to download this at home but it took many steps.  I think we might lose some students during all these steps.  You have to download the software, then upgrade my windows media, and then download each part of the book.  All time consuming.  I like the idea of Overdrive and like that you can download them to mobile devices but they could limit the steps it takes.  I have not tried any other audiobook vendor but would be willing to. 

Thing 22: Podcasts

I am new to podcasts.  I would like to explore ITunesU a little more, especially now that I have an Ipod Touch.  An excellent birthday present!  I do have a faculty member here that uses them for her classes.  She really likes the NPR podcasts so I decided to look through NPR for a podcast.  It is pretty easy to navigate and find podcasts on their shows or on a topic. I found a new show called Culturetopia and they are only on their 10th episode.  The episode I listened to is called Pop Culture Happy Hour  and it is about people reminiscing about their first pop culture experiences....what posters they had on their walls, their first celebrity crushes, and even what was the first adult book they read.  Ah...the memories :)

 

Thing 21: Mashups

I played around with some of the different mashup suggestions.  I don't have a twitter account so there a few that I wouldn't use.  I did like the Spell with Flickr.  It reminds me of these pictures that you can have made where they take pictures of different architecture that looks like letters to spell your name.  It comes in black and white or sepia tones. Here is my name from Spell with Flickr:


                                                   
           

Thing 20: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

I have seen the potential use for this tool.  One of our librarians created a delicious list for our databases.  We had a problem with our local system and could not connect to our databases through our consortium.  She was able to set up a delicious list and students were able to connect to the databases this way.  It was a nice backup.  It came in very handy :)

http://www.delicious.com/NOVALibrary

Thing 19: Multimedia

I have been looking at Youtube videos for a long time.  I use it to see new videos since they are no longer on MTV.  I have also used it to find new music.  Links to Youtube videos are often sent in emails and one of my favorites was the Dancing Machine.  Hilarious!  I decided to look for a library related video.  I remembered a funny video that was sent to me a couple of years ago during National Library Week but couldn't remember the name.  I was actually able to find it.  Here it is:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEOg8-EzQpQ

I think it might help with promoting the library.  We could create videos/slideshows of events in the library.  I am interested another site that was mentioned, Animoto.  Now if only I had time to play with it...... 

Thing 17: Social Cataloging

I have had a Goodreads account for a while now but have not done much with it.  I think this past year has been so busy, I haven't had time to read.  I think it can be a great resource.  It's like an asynchronous book club.  Instead of trying to meet at specific times, you can still chat with others about a book but do it mainly on your own time.  Hopefully, this will be something I can get back into in the next few months.  I only have 2 books on my list (like I said, I started but didn't do much with it).  Here is the link...please add me if you are a member of goodreads.  Suggestions are always welcomed :)

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1912806