23 Elephants

Thing 12 – Wiki Land

I’ve been using the Sunshine State Library Leadership wiki for a year or so.  I think that wikis are an excellent tool for collaborative conversations – information sharing, planning etc.  I have often gotten frustrated by e-mail messages that are going to lots of different people in a group –it is confusing.  E-mail just doesn’t seem like the best tool for bringing together a group.  The wiki can centralize communication and maintain record of communications.  I like the ability to get notice whenever someone adds something to a wiki.

One thing I think is critical is to recognize that this is tool just a tool.  It works if the environment or purpose fits the tool.  Or you could say we select the right tool for the right purpose.

Thing 11 Social Media

I looked at Mixx, Digg, Newsvine and it was intriguing to see the top stories, highest interest, highest votes.  There were lots of stories and sites.  As a “sample patron” I lloked at recycled materials & crafts, Eco-arts.  I looked at political stories and health issues too. One slice of life story:  ” Researchers found that increased levels of vitamin D, obtained from exposure to sun or eating oily fish, could help keep our brains in top condition as we age.” 

One interesting item was what looked like a personal blog but when you looked careful it was labeled as an ad.  It was about woman’s story of whitening her teeth and trying 2 trial offers…My cynical side wonders if she was paid for this.  Is this using the power of “word of mouth” marketing?  So for libraries there might be the challenge of helping people with their information literacy –don’t believe everything you read.

Thing 10 – Delicious tagging

Interesting that when I explored delicious the tag I selected resulted in file on Slideshare.  It wasn’t a particularly good slideshare — lots of words and some diagrams with lots of words but few graphics.  Since ACLD is using My Discoveries product which allows tagging this is pertinent.  We are still trying to get e-Branch basics covered but we need to market tagging in My Discoveries more.

I looked at another site — CiteULike is a free service to help academics to share, store, and organise the academic papers they are reading. When you see a paper on the web that interests you, you can click one button and have it added to your personal library.  I wish I had this in grad school!

THING 9 – Presentations

For the library these tools in Thing 9 are important to create high quality presentations –for training or sharing information, on web pages etc.  Slideshare was really interesting. I couldn’t figure out how to edit after loading, so had to reload few times.

Mosaic Maker had lots of effects that could keep presentations lively but could also be over used.  Personally I’d like to use for some crafts projects.

Lazybase – I couldn’t create database but tried existing ones.  They were like excel sheet that could be sorted.  I think ACLD needs to do more with creating databases, perhaps make Access a standard.  We could do accomplishment reports and other things using database.

I was trying to get my slideshare on trust posted to my blog but had trouble accessing slideshare –so I’ll try again later.

THING 8 — back to the list

YIKES – how did I get so far behind!!!! I strayed from my determination to keep up.  But the important thing is that I’m back.  My first challenge was remembering my password –which is written down –AT HOME.  So I had to remember my webmail password to get message from WordPress with new password.

Instant messaging isn’t really for me because I’m a slow typists-keyboarder and I’m wordy.  But I can see how this can make reference services more interactive.  Text messaging is something I’m personally using more and more –especially now that my phone has a mini keyboard.  The web conferencing is something I experimented with about 8 years ago when working at SEFLIN.  I’ve attended plenty of webinars but I look forward to learning more about facilitating web conferences.

Early Bird Hanging on the Wall

One more poster –painting– that hangs in my office.  I like to surround myself with visual cues and reminders.   I found this in a thrift store &  fell in love with the quirky orientation, bright colors & title, “early bird.”  I do NOT interpret the saying “The early bird gets the worm” as competetive.  I think of it as meaning “It is important to plan ahead and get an early start. ”

BTW — I took this photo with my phone camera –bit tilted but not too bad.

Thing 7 – Image Chef

From Image Chef

http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp?tid=Beach

I’m really enjoying the sites where we can manipulate images.

Flickr Color Pickr

Flickr Color Pickr

This was fantastic way to look at colors & images.  I think I found my Flickr niche.

Just for the Fun of It–Feeling Good!

 ·       Research shows that “when people feel good their thinking becomes more creative, integrative, flexible and open to information.”

·       Positive emotions lead to the discovery of novel ideas, pursuit of innovative actions and development of stronger social bonds.

·       People exhibit broadened patterns of thinking and are less likely to become anchored to their initial thoughts or come to premature closure on issues being considered. They look for the benefits even under adversity and pursue problem solving.

THING 6 – mashups are so interesting!

I really like collage as art form (see thing 5 altered books) so this lettering tool / mashup really captured my interest –except the T just wouldn’t show up.