Thursday, May 10, 2007
Final Week!
I made it and it's been a blast! I'm always up for learning new things but sometimes just need the motivation and structure a program like this provides. My favorite discovery was RSS feeds. I especially like one that I subscribe to called ShelfTalker from Publishers Weekly. It focuses on children's literature and the author is an excellent writer. I can't think of anything that surprised me at all--except maybe the overwhelming number of people blogging, podcasting, etc. A lot of them aren't very good quality but this was not a surprise. The lessons were easy to follow so I don't think I needed to ask for help. David was quick to respond to a general question I had about RSS feeds. The only thing I would like done differently is an easier way to record our progress (so we don't have to retype our email address, etc., each time) and more podcasts for those like me who love spoken audio. I would love to see KCLS continue with similar training opportunities as new technologies emerge and I definitely would participate in any offered. Thank you for this great, fun learning opportunity!
Is this Week 11?
Missed a week due to jury duty but I'm now catching up. This post covers activities #23, 24 and 25.
I've used YouTube frequently in the past, especially to see performances of artists that I like. I was wondering the other day whatever happened to Steve Perry from Journey and found this video (among others )on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-BOipyWv3Y. What fun! Also, clips from the Beatles' movie Let It Be was a nice discovery.
Podcasts: I've been downloading podcasts for a couple years now. I subscribe to Fresh Air nad This American Life. I found Nancy Pearl's Book Reviews on Yahoo Podcasts and have subscribed through my bloglines account.
Overdrive: I'm very much looking forward to getting my MP3 player so I can finally download some of our ebooks from Overdrive. (I have a Mac and Ipod at home which are not compatible.) Here's a list of the first few I'll check out: Women and Money by Suze Orman, About Alice by Calvin Trillin, and All-Audio French Step 1.
I've used YouTube frequently in the past, especially to see performances of artists that I like. I was wondering the other day whatever happened to Steve Perry from Journey and found this video (among others )on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-BOipyWv3Y. What fun! Also, clips from the Beatles' movie Let It Be was a nice discovery.
Podcasts: I've been downloading podcasts for a couple years now. I subscribe to Fresh Air nad This American Life. I found Nancy Pearl's Book Reviews on Yahoo Podcasts and have subscribed through my bloglines account.
Overdrive: I'm very much looking forward to getting my MP3 player so I can finally download some of our ebooks from Overdrive. (I have a Mac and Ipod at home which are not compatible.) Here's a list of the first few I'll check out: Women and Money by Suze Orman, About Alice by Calvin Trillin, and All-Audio French Step 1.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Week 10
Whew! My head is spinning with so much new info. This post I ran across somewhere (who knows where) describes it very well: .......Rats, I can't find it. Figures! Here's a partial excerpt I found somewhere else:
"Worst of all, this onslaught is keeping us from doing the one thing that makes most of us the happiest... being in flow. Flow requires a depth of thinking and a focus of attention that all that context-switching prevents. Flow requires a challenging use of our knowledge and skills, and that's quite different from mindless tasks we can multitask (eating and watching tv, etc.) Flow means we need a certain amount of time to load our knowledge and skills into our brain RAM. And the more big or small interruptions we have, the less likely we are to ever get there.
And not only are we stopping ourselves from ever getting in flow, we're stopping ourselves from ever getting really good at something. From becoming experts. The brain scientists now tell us that becoming an expert is not a matter of being a prodigy, it's a matter of being able to focus.
We're already seeing a backlash response to info overload, and it seems like a good chunk of Web 2.0 VC investments are going to companies that promise to help us get/stay organized. There's a reason 43 Folders is a Top 100 blog, and it's got to be more than just Merlin Mann's good looks ; )
Lots of people are talking about this, and perhaps nobody more eloquently than Linda Stone:
"To pay continuous partial attention is to pay partial attention -- CONTINUOUSLY. It is motivated by a desire to be a LIVE node on the network. Another way of saying this is that we want to connect and be connected. We want to effectively scan for opportunity and optimize for the best opportunities, activities, and contacts, in any given moment. To be busy, to be connected, is to be alive, to be recognized, and to matter.We pay continuous partial attention in an effort NOT TO MISS ANYTHING. It is an always-on, anywhere, anytime, any place behavior that involves an artificial sense of constant crisis. We are always in high alert when we pay continuous partial attention. This artificial sense of constant crisis is more typical of continuous partial attention than it is of multi-tasking."
Anyway, I looked at Google Docs and Zoho. Liked the Google product better, again because of the simplicity of the interface. I Google Labs I tried Voice to search for pizza places in Issaquah. Who knew there are 8! I also tried Google Transit and it worked well, too. I went to the Web 2.0 Awards site and tried the sites under Personal Organization. HipCal was okay but I didn't see any ways to manipulate how your calendar would print out, which I'd like. I also took a look at Etsy and Judy's Book.
"Worst of all, this onslaught is keeping us from doing the one thing that makes most of us the happiest... being in flow. Flow requires a depth of thinking and a focus of attention that all that context-switching prevents. Flow requires a challenging use of our knowledge and skills, and that's quite different from mindless tasks we can multitask (eating and watching tv, etc.) Flow means we need a certain amount of time to load our knowledge and skills into our brain RAM. And the more big or small interruptions we have, the less likely we are to ever get there.
And not only are we stopping ourselves from ever getting in flow, we're stopping ourselves from ever getting really good at something. From becoming experts. The brain scientists now tell us that becoming an expert is not a matter of being a prodigy, it's a matter of being able to focus.
We're already seeing a backlash response to info overload, and it seems like a good chunk of Web 2.0 VC investments are going to companies that promise to help us get/stay organized. There's a reason 43 Folders is a Top 100 blog, and it's got to be more than just Merlin Mann's good looks ; )
Lots of people are talking about this, and perhaps nobody more eloquently than Linda Stone:
"To pay continuous partial attention is to pay partial attention -- CONTINUOUSLY. It is motivated by a desire to be a LIVE node on the network. Another way of saying this is that we want to connect and be connected. We want to effectively scan for opportunity and optimize for the best opportunities, activities, and contacts, in any given moment. To be busy, to be connected, is to be alive, to be recognized, and to matter.We pay continuous partial attention in an effort NOT TO MISS ANYTHING. It is an always-on, anywhere, anytime, any place behavior that involves an artificial sense of constant crisis. We are always in high alert when we pay continuous partial attention. This artificial sense of constant crisis is more typical of continuous partial attention than it is of multi-tasking."
Anyway, I looked at Google Docs and Zoho. Liked the Google product better, again because of the simplicity of the interface. I Google Labs I tried Voice to search for pizza places in Issaquah. Who knew there are 8! I also tried Google Transit and it worked well, too. I went to the Web 2.0 Awards site and tried the sites under Personal Organization. HipCal was okay but I didn't see any ways to manipulate how your calendar would print out, which I'd like. I also took a look at Etsy and Judy's Book.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Creating Your Own Search Engine
Here's my engine on a few of my favorite crochet sites. I really like Google Search the best: clean, uncluttered page, lists the sites you're searching, no sponsors and you can deselect advertisers. This seems like it has similar functions to Delicious.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Generator-Themed Sites
I checked out all the sites listed as examples and found an irrestible one for a cat-lover like me on the Generator Blog. It's called Random Kitten Generator. So cute!
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Week 7 - Wikis
I looked at all the wiki examples and really liked the Library Success: a Best Practices Wiki. Found some great resources for my area--collection development--and added a few feeds to my RSS as a result. I could see a wiki being useful in departments where the staff may be jointly working on a project such as group editing and contributing to a policies and procedures manual, for example. Making revisions online would greatly reduce paper draft copies and confusion over which is most recent revision.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Social Networks: LibraryThing
Well, now there are two things that I'm hooked on: the first was Bloglines and the RSS feeds and the second is LibraryThing. I love the simplicity and clarity of the interface--it's so easy to use, without a lot of gimmicks. It's fun to see how many others have books in common with me and I'm looking forward to good reading recommendations. I'm also going to use it to share reading recommendations with family and friends. Here's a link to my LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php
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