Final Summary of PA Online Web 2.0

This course was thoroughly entertaining , enlightening and challenging! Going through the various steps reminded me of those very early days of the internet when I had one dial-in internet computer in the library at school, text only, but I went home every day just bubbling with excitement over the newest thing I discovered as I "practiced" using the internet. Not everything I found in this Web 2.0 course was thrilling, but each step got my creative juices flowing. Some of my discoveries I shared with other teachers, some with my husband, some with our local historical society members, some with friends. Some I tucked away for possible use when the need arose later.

I hated setting up this blog. What's a blog good for anyway? But little by little, as I ruminated on the various steps, I came to see that a blog might be for sharing with others, but a blog is first for me, a place to sort out my thoughts, a place to try out ideas. Yep, this blog was a good idea. And now I'm ready to pass along the idea; just yesterday I recommended to my superintendent that mentor teachers and inductees could use a blog or a wiki to build a rapport, to share plans, to invite thoughts on all aspects of the teaching profession.

LibraryThing, as I've mentioned before, has the greatest value for me. Even before this course I entered most of our Historical Society's library collection into LibraryThing to give the Society's library an online catalog. That activity was worth every hour we put into it! LibraryThing gives us a slick, professional-looking online catalog that our members can search from home, and visitors can search long before they enter our doors. Patrons at the local public libraries doing genealogical or local history research can check the historical society's online catalog from the public library--thus saving research time and steps.

Some of the things I want to take away from this course:
Using a wiki as an electronic handout for our students. When I find good websites for a particular assignment in the library, I type up the URLs, copy them in large print to half-sheets of paper, and leave the half-sheets between the computers in our library. But then students have to retype those URLs, often making mistakes, getting weird results. Good plan, but not great. By using a wiki, I can easily copy and paste the URLs into a library wiki under specific assignment headings, save the wiki, then point the students to the wiki site where they can just copy and paste the chosen URLs into their browsers. Slick! Far less frustrating for students and for me!
A second take away: Using a wiki as a way to gather local history information for our historical society, letting all the locals who are computer-savvy contribute their memories to the wiki. It would probably be good if I did a program on how to contribute to the wiki--either live and in person, or in a podcast on the historical society's website.
Now that summer break is here, I need to take the time to set up these two wikis. The small effort involved could have huge payoffs later on.

As for the course itself, I liked the Web 2.0 course plan. I got a kick out of exploring the sites, I liked the freedom to work on the course whenever I could, I liked journaling in a blog (that's a surprise to me!). My only suggestions for the course are that someone should keep it updated, and that a Web 2.0.1 should be devised wherein we discover newer sites. Now that we've started, we must keep up-to-date. Everyday someone publishes new free software; we must explore what they've provided!

I would very definitely sign on to another discovery program like this one. Thanks bunches for giving me the opportunity to take this course!

Audio ebooks

Well, I've clicked around the various recommended sites for free audio ebooks, and wasn't too impressed. It's not that I don't like audiobooks; my husband and I have dozens at home--on tape. He drives 40 miles one way to work each day. Often he has a student riding with him. But when he doesn't, he can only listen to so much Rush Limbaugh. Even ESPN radio isn't always satisfying. So, over the years, he's gotten used to listening to audio books, and we've taken audio books with us on vacation. A good audio book shortens those long drives across the prairie or through endless corn fields (orange groves, cane fields, tundra....whatever).

But our new cars have CD players, so all of our wonderful books on tape are packed away. And we just haven't purchased the portable equipment yet to download audio ebooks. When I walk, I want to talk to my husband, or listen to the birds. I have used audio books during the summer when I'm home alone washing walls and ironing drapes. Maybe I'll download an ebook to our laptop this summer, and listen to it while I work. Just for the experience. Maybe I'll get an ipod for Christmas.....who knows?

Ebooks

I am absolutely THRILLED with ebooks! I love netLibrary; what a blessing that we have it as part of Access PA POWER Library. Because of my delight with netLibrary, I've started purchasing ebooks for our school library's collection. I've been pleased with the ebooks from Follett and Salem Press, but I'm most impressed with the Gale Virtual Reference Library. Their federated search engine is awesome (and I rarely find the need to use that word). Furthermore, I've learned that when I purchase these ebooks for our high school library, they can be used throughout our school district--a sort of electronic interlibrary loan. Talk about spreading the wealth!

Just now I've explored some of the "Best Places to Get Free Books" sites. What a treat for a book lover! My niece showed me BookCrossing last year. Cool idea; kind of a hidden treasure search for curious book lovers. I shared WOWIO with my comic book-loving husband. WellToldTales appears to have some interesting stories; I need to go back there.

And then there's the British Library Online Gallery....oooo, rich! Every library has fragile but valuable books, pamphlets and other resources that should be shared with the world. But letting so many sweaty hands turn those crumbling pages over the years is dangerous to aging print. The BL has found a way to let the rest of us handle original print books safely. Once, long ago, I saw a facsimile of the original Alice's Adventures, and I promised myself I'd go back and read it some day. But before I could, the book was lost. (I suspect tossed out by someone who just wanted to clean out the space--I've never forgiven that person!) Today I saw the original of that book in the BL Online Gallery--oh, yes, I must go back and read it!

Podcasts

It's been a while since I added to this blog--Springtime is nuts! Way too much to do! Anyway, I finally got around to checking out podcasting. I actually took a little podcasting course through my school district, which was a nice introduction. But I still didn't get the point of podcasting. Today, however, I lightbulb flicked on. I read Forever Geek's Beginner's Guide to Podcasting and Creating Podcasts, also Jason Van Orden's How to Podcast. Finally, it made sense! Before today I didn't understand the difference between just listening to a file on YouTube and using RSS. Now I see that when I ask for an RSS feed, I expect to get regular or semi-regular broadcasts from the same person or group on a topic similiar to what first attracted me to the initial podcast I heard. This is a place I can return to regularly to get my fix of a favored kind of music, or an intriguing talk personality. So, if I enjoy listening to movie reviews, I can subscribe to a movie reviewing podcast. If I like hearing someone offer instruction on music improvisation, I subscribe to that podcast. Podcasts, then, are briefer, less elaborate versions of the pirate radio web broadcasts that I used to hear about back in the 90's, right? And mostly they're produced by far less radical people, like me.

YouTube

I've played with YouTube and TeacherTube a number of times over the last 2 weeks. I'm just delighted that real people who know "stuff" can record and show others what they know. After I took my first 6 classes in how to play the mountain dulcimer, there was NOBODY within an hour's drive that could show me how to do a hammer-on or how to flat-pick. I was thrilled that I could request books and tapes on interlibrary loan on how to play the dulcimer, and I thought I went to heaven when I discovered a dulcimer listserv. But I still couldn't SEE how to do something.

On both YouTube and TeacherTube I found dulcimer champions, professionals, and just plain folk who demonstrated their own playing styles. By watching them, I saw flaws in my own playing style; I saw techniques I'd only read about; I learned skills faster.

Our students will also find visual/auditory ways to learn skills and concepts by using the Tubes. Many learners can visualize something as it's taught to us, but many learners can't. Many learners have the patience to reconstruct a process in their minds, but many don't. I see the Tubes as being a way of having a personal demonstrating instructor nearby throughout the learning process. And you can slow down the image if you need to catch all the nuances of some skill--slick!

TeacherTube teaches teachers, too. Professional development right at your computer. Not all of the entries are fantastic. But sometimes teachers need to see a bad demo to learn how to do it properly. What a wonderful time for teachers and learners alike!

17. Pennsylvania Curriculum Connection

I tried adding a comment to the Pennsylvania Curriculum Connection--twice! But I didn't have the key (username/password), so I emailed the administrator....twice. No response. I just emailed again; we'll see if I get the key. I noticed that no one has posted to the wiki in six months...could be a problem.

LibraryThing

I love LibraryThing!!! LT is absolutely incredible! I discovered it sometime last year (probably someone mentioned it at one of my librarians' meetings), and I sat on it for a few months. Then last summer, as I was working with a college student majoring in Library Science, I decided to give it a try for our local historical society. We now have a working, fully-functional online catalog for the society. Sign up was so easy, set up was so easy, entering titles was so easy, editing our entries is so easy--it's simply a delight to use.

So I 've had so much fun with LT that I decided to share the wealth. At a librarians consortium meeting last Fall my friend and I did an hour-long program on LT, which was very well recieved. Recently I've offered to do a program for another group of librarians. And last month I did a demo at the English Department meeting in my school.

My friend and I started the Historical Society's card catalog years ago. We added 25-30 books to the catalog each year. But it was such a struggle locating programming to create the cards, maintaining a computer with the programming installed, then the old DOS programming would no longer work with our newer equipment. And after all the effort our historical society members still didn't know how to use the card catalog.

But LT is so intuitive. It's like God's gift to little libraries. Thank you, thank you!!

Zoho

Today I tried Zoho, and I'm not impressed. I'm not sure what the problem is, but it appears as though the producers of Zoho haven't kept up with it. The writing aspect of the site appears to be working fine. But when I switched to other applications, like spreadsheet, the page comes up incomplete. And Creater wants me to pay for the plan.

I've used Google Docs with other librarians to create common documents to share with our employers and staffs. That programming didn't take long at all to learn. Making changes together was pretty simple. I'm sure we'll use that service again.

My husband writes a newsletter for his church. The pastor types his articles, prints them out, then hands them to Tom to be re-typed for the newsletter. Maybe we can teach the pastor (a computer newbie) to use one of these online wordprocessors so that each article need only be typed once.

And I think I'll show this (or Google Docs) to my Aide. She types our memorial letters, prints them out, gives them to me to proofread, then goes back to the computer to make the changes. One of these online writer programs could streamline the process, and maybe save a small tree.

Wikis, Lesson 16A

As recommended I took a look at some of the WebTools4u2use. Saw some neat ideas, but my favorite is still one I want to try on my own library's website: Serve as an electronic handout for classes and workshops (no repeating those dreaded long RLs). That idea is just too rich; I know I can make it work. All I need is a little time to put it together--maybe during the Book Fair next week I can work on it. I'm not sure if our SchoolWires programming has a wiki tool; I may have to set up a PBWiki account to make it happen. But at least now I know where I can find free wiki tools.

I'm also thinking of a wiki for our Historical Society webpage--a wiki for writing our local history. Few of our senior Senior Citizens would be able to add to the wiki, but many of us younger Senior Citizens are gaining some fancy computer skills. It won't be long before "we" will be comfortable enough with Web 2.o tools to be able to maintain a wiki on the history of our area. I have to remember to divide it up into categories like Lumbering, Mining, Retail, Religions, Schools, etc. It's one way to give everyone in the community a chance to add to our combined history. What an exciting concept!

Wikis (Lesson #16)

This afternoon I investigated a few wiki sites.  I found Library Success to be a wonderful treasure trove of information for librarians.  I clicked around many of the topics, then found wikis embedded in wikis.  (I actually lost my way a few times and had to go back to the beginning to figure out where I was.)  If I was a new librarian I would probably be checking that particular wiki regularly, like some kind of librarian's bible!  Since I'm closer to retirement, I need encouragement to do some tasks I don't do as often as I should; one post recommended weeding 15 minutes each day just to keep the collection fresh and keep the librarian conscious of the collection's strengths and flaws.  Not a bad idea.....

I also looked at Sample School wiki.  There I found an idea for a class assignment wiki for an AP class that was so good that I immediately emailed the page to the teachers in my school's history and English departments.

I occasionally use Wikipedia when I need some basic background information on particularly unusual topics, but I caution students about using it.  This particular Web 2.0 assignment helped me see the value of wikis in a library setting.  Fortunately, I don't have to "invent" a wiki for favorite books in my library; we have Follett's Destiny which now gives patrons the opportunity to write reviews for books.  But I'm willing to bet that as I let this wiki concept roll around in the juices of my brain I'll decide to add a wiki to my teacher page or my school library webpage.  Anything that gives kids (and staff!) a sense of ownership in their school library is something to give a try.

Web 2.0: The future of libraries

   When I started reading the recommended articles from OCLC, I immediately thought that the future they were discussing is already here.  (The articles were originally written in 2006--practically a generation ago as we tell techno time now!)  The refinements mentioned for the future WorldCat are already available:  The links with Amazon, the proximity indicators for local holding libraries, etc.  My own library uses Follett's Destiny with its social functions like submitting book reviews.  My library's webpage has links to the ebooks I've purchased and the newspaper database to which we subscribe.  I have tutorials on how to use the Power Library databases on my library's webpage, and I've created my own tutorial on the slick features of Destiny.   

   But the articles gave me something to chew on.  One of the authors mentioned the concepts of super librarians, and of collecting librarians with specialized research skills for each type of research a patron would do.  I like that!  Librarians as a kind of research coaches.  Huh.

   The expert who discussed the "icebergs" gave me some concepts to consider.  I especially stopped at the "just in case" collection.  I'm old enough that I still do this, particularly when I'm weeding:  I shouldn't get rid of that history book from the 1950's.  Up to that point the info was valid.  I may need it just in case.....  And so the old book with the dull cover sits on the shelf and makes all the other books on the shelf look less appealing.  Not good for the 21st century student patron.

   I'm glad I'm doing this exercise.  With each topic I'm a little less Librarian 1.0 and a little more Librarian 2.0.   

   

Technorati

   I've looked at Technorati, but didn't immediately get the jist of it.  Then I went back and took the time to view the video done by Technorati on its own webpage improvements.  Ahh, that helped!  I now get the idea that sites like Technorati don't index every word of a blog; their webcrawlers search the blog tags.  So, if I want this blog I'm writing to be seen, I first need to use tags on each message.  Claiming the blog would give it more exposure (I don't think I'm ready for that yet).

   Again, by looking around at what others are blogging about I'm getting more familiar with the "why" of these tools.  I handle our local historical society's webpage; I just may have to begin a blog there to increase readership of the page.  I wonder if that would actually help? 

Delicious

This has been a frustrating day. Due to the bad weather, we had the day off school. Bummer. Since November we've had too many bad weather days. When we finally get a full week of school in it'll be exhausting!
Anyway, I thought I could spend a large chunk of the day working on my Web 2.0 steps. Not so. The internet actually went down because of all the downed power lines. And this evening my husband is downstairs doing the dishes to free me up to work on my Web 2.0. But, again, I'm having trouble staying connected.
I actually did get to take a quick look at Delicious. I've been meaning to set up an account for myself because I feel lost without my bookmarks/favorites when I move from computer to computer.
Now I see that Delicious isn't just for my bookmarks. It's another search engine that helps to locate sites that others find impressive/useful/fun/knowledgable. I can see me using this to locate websites for our students on their many assignment topics. I can see me using Delicious for myself.
Right now I'd just like to play with it some more, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen tonight.....

Rollyo

I've played a bit with some of the Rollyo search engines, particularly the Public Domain eBooks Search. Found some cool stuff. I have an interest in depression-era pulp fiction, like Charlie Chan books, which are very difficult to find these days. Using the Public Domain search, I even found dime novels to read. (I've often wondered what made them so hot, besides the fact that they were cheap reading for the masses.) Later, when I have more time, I'll have to go back and read some of the stories.
Then I tried making my own search engine. That was interesting. I'm not sure I did it right, because I don't think the searches I ran located what I expected, but it was interesting. And I did find some terrific websites that I hadn't seen before. Again, later, when I have more time, I'll have to go back and try creating a specialized search engine again. Surely I can create a search engine for an assignment required by our students. I'm just going to keep this Rollyo concept in the back of my mind until it fits with a group of our young researchers.

Ning

What kind of a word is "ning"?!? Enquiring minds want to know!
I joined a ning today, the Teacher-Librarian Ning. I also took a little time to browse around the site, and read a few articles posted there. I like the idea that experts are not the only ones who now contribute to my arsenal of tools to use in my job; other professionals much like me now have a way of sharing all that valuable information we've accumulated over our many years as professionals.
Now I have to remember to check in regularly to this ning. Oh, no, not another daily task!!

Web 2.0 Award Winners

For the last couple days I've been looking at some of the Web 2.0's best sites. Can't say I agree in all cases, but I have found some wonderful sites, and shared sites with my friends. Today I looked at BBC iPlayer, and was very disappointed that I could not play the videos. So, I tried the BBC web radio, but the shows I wanted to hear weren't broadcasting, and I couldn't open any of the archived broadcasts, either.
But then I went back to YouTube. I looked for videos on dulcimer players, and was rewarded with delightful videos of intermediate and expert level players showing how they create their musical magic. Such a treat! And a terrific learning experience.
I also explored some of the genealogy sites. I plan to share these sites with our genealogists at our city historical museum. I was pleased to see that My Heritage allows a free download of Family Tree Maker, the software used by our genealogists. Now our amateurs can begin to build their own family trees on some very sophistocated software.

Online Image Generator

So, today I played with online image generators. Most were easy to use, with lots of options. But I didn't feel terribly creative today, so I couldn't come up with anything witty for word balloons. This road sign maker did exactly what I wanted--a straightforward message, easily done, attractive presentation.
We all use road signs every day to point us in the direction we wish to go (or maybe the direction we should go.) I could see me using this road sign maker for other messages in the future.

RSS

   So, I finally got around to finding some RSS feeds to add to my Bloglines account.  I'm starting to see the reason for subscribing.  I get it now that many times I'd stop at a favorite site, but couldn't find anything new at it.  By setting up a Blogline account, I can check one place to see if anything new has been posted at my favorite sites.

   I play mountain dulcimer, so my favorite selected site is Dulcimer Players News.  I subscribe to the magazine, and eagerly await each new issue.  But seeing video of dulcimer players in action is a real hoot.  Finding a dulcimer teacher in a rural area is nearly impossible; we have to attend workshops at festivals to learn anything new.  I thought I'd hit the promised land 10 years ago when I discovered a dulcimer listserv.  But now I can see people playing their instruments, demonstrating techniques--Oh, WOW!

Made a custom CD cover today

Well, that was kind of cool, and didn't take as long as I thought it would.  I used my Flickr account to create a CD cover for our 2008 vacation photos.  It looks rather good!  Next time I'll use better paper to get a more impressive image, but this will do for now.  On to the next task.....

Flickr

OK, I just spent an hour-and-a-half being frustrated, but I seem to have accomplished the posting of my first photo on Flickr.  All these tools are wonderful, and actually very easy to use.  My problem is that I use a PC with a mouse at school, and a MAC with a tracpad at home.  So, not only am I learning new online software, I'm doing it on two different platforms--no easy trick for this gray-haired lady!

I'm sure I could become addicted to Flickr if I had the time.  That's always the problem--finding the time to explore all the features of something new.  And I can see some cool applications for it at work and at home, and also in my work at the local historical society.  So, I'm glad I spent the time on this below-zero day.     

This is new to me....

Good Morning!

   This blogging is something very new to me.  However, setting it up was certainly easy.  But about publishing my thoughts world-wide--oh, that's something to consider!