#23...Evaluation
How to express what I learned in a few words?? I am so glad I took on this challenge... I learned so much that I did not know. First was setting up a blog. I had a great time adding and playing around with my blog. I always knew what a blog was, but how to set one up?? I would like to set up a blog for our library, and maybe even a family blog. Rss feeds are great, now when I run across a website that I want to keep updated on, I can set up a feed!!! I love to play around with photos, so Flickr, Picture Trail, Photobucket, and Image Chef was one of my favorite "Things". There is so much you can do!! Now I know what a Wiki is, I hope to set up some some suggestion box wiki's and book club wiki's. The online games are great, but I do not spend much time with games, but can make suggestions to patrons that are looking for good online game sites. I do use ELM with our students for research, just need to let them know how valuable this site is for research etc. Social networks we see at lot of use at libraries. I am getting more "Friends" on my facebook page. Kinda fun to know what my nieces and nephews are doing on a daily basis!! I can see more individual learning on Webinars. With budgets on the downfall, Webinars may be the way for training, without leaving home, (or our workplace).To sum it all up, I will keep up my blog, and hopefully learn new "things".Thank you for offering this "online learning". I hope everyone takes advantage of whatever is offered.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008
#22...Staying Current
After all I have learned doing these "23 Things" I will definitely update my blog, and keep on learning. The only way to stay current on all these sites and be able to pass it on to our patrons is to constantly use these "Things". I hope to check my blog daily, make changes and updates etc. I hope to dig deeper into some of these "Things" as I am sure there are many things I missed. It was a "great challenge" to take on.
Thank you.

#21...Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks
I took a look at Gather, but did not register..this sounds like a site for the "older generation" the over-thirty crowd. I read "Can Gather.com Get Book Lovers Online? I probably would not use it as there are so many book sites available now, such as shelfari, & good reads.
I am a member of Webjunction. Great site for librarians, sure wish I had more time to spend on this site and participate in the Webinars.
#2. 23 Things on a Stick Ning... I joined the group, left some comments, added the Ning badge to my blog and uploaded my summer reading bulletin board. Great site to communicate other librarians, for advice and to leave ideas!! Will try to check this site on a weekly basis.

#20....Libraries & Social Networks
Facebook & My Space
It is very important to understand how these social networks work as we have a number of "young" users that are using them. First I took a look at "MySpace". I can see that this is the most social network. Then I took a look at "Facebook". After doing some further research I found this site to be a little more secure. So, I did register as a facebook user. I even have my first friend!! I happened to talk to my niece this past weekend, and said that I registered in Facebook. When I logged on, this morning, she had already asked me to be a friend!! I also joined the "Libraries and Librarians" group and "23 Things on a Stick" group. I left a message on "the wall".
Don't know how much I will use this, but nice to see how they work.

#19....Podcasts
I looked at a variety of Podcasts sites. I took a look at podcast.net, yahoo podcasts, & podcast.com. These are easy to use. My favorite was NPR.com. This site had so much information. I updated myself on the Beijing olympics. You can browse a variety of topics with podcasts, and there are over 300 public radio stations you can listen to. I suggest taking a look at this site. I will not further my podcast info at this time. Hopefully in the future I can put it to use. Now that I know a little more about this "Thing".

#18...Podcasts & Videos
YouTube....This is another fun site. This is what all the kids log onto when they come to use the computers at the library. It was fun to look at some of the videos. Pretty easy to embed a video into your blog. Someday i may take on the challenge of Jumpcut and upload photos to make a video. My daughters friend does this with her daughter (1 year old) and sends them out to friends via e-mail. Fun to see!! I was going to register on YouTube, but could not come up with a (username) that was available. Shows that there must be (thousands) of users!! When I have more time I will pursue it.
The video I chose for my blog "Having Fun Isn't Hard when you have a Library Card", thought it was cute because I do work a lot with pre-school children.

#17...ELM Productivity Tools
I really like the ELM databases. I have showed students and parents this database when they are doing research for papers for school. They are amazed as to what is available. My favorite are the Proquest Newsstand, Info Trac Junior, Info Trac Student and the full text magazine articles. I did attend an ELM workshop that was held in our system in the fall of 2006. I tried to create the "Childrens Health" feed by changing the URL, but could not get it to work?? I think I followed the new information, but to no avail. I do like the ELM databases and will encourage patrons to use it. We do have the ELM handouts at each computer station, but still need to one-on-one show them how it works.

#16.....Minnesota Library 2.0
Assignment Calculator & Research Project Calculator..Very useful tools! I would like to suggest to the classes that visit the library for research on Science projects and Living History reports, to use these tools as they have a timeline to finish each step in their reports. If we make the kids aware of these tools in grade school and junior high, just think how they will help them in high school and beyond. It sure would have been a good tool for my daughter when she was writing her thesis for college.

#15....Online Games
I signed into Puzzle Pirates and played Bilge Pumping, I learned to Carpent and learned to sail. These can be addicting!! My favorite is Bilge Pumping!! I checked with some of the kids that come in on a daily basis to use the computers for games and the older kids go into..www.onemorelevel.com and the younger children like to go into ..www.abc.arcade.com. I also watched the "second life" video tour. This is something I may consider at home. These projects can take lots of time if you let yourself play around. But need to move on, my countdown clock is ticking down!!

#14..Online Productivity Tools..Look at Library Thing
I signed into "Library Thing" . Looks like a great way to share reviews and titles with everyone. I like shelfari.com ... I added a bookshelf with recently read books and a shelf with books I would like to read. I will keep this updated as it is very easy to edit it. I definitely will use shelfari, as I plan on setting up a blog for the library.

#13...Online Productivity Tools
Wow.. I could spend hours on this " Thing", but I guess I had better move on. Could not get the countdown to work on my blog, but did search the web and found one that was easy to add to my blog.
It is at: http:countdownclock.org
I do have my homepage set up with igoogle. Fun to add a variety of "gadgets" that show up on the homepage. Saves searching daily for some of that info. I do have a "msn calendar" with my hotmail account. But need to use it more, to send out reminders etc. to family members. Makes it nice to remember birthdays. I looked at backpack, this is totally to much for me...will never use it. I also registered in "Stikkit" I think this is something that would be helpful once I figure out how to use it. This all takes time, but sure is lots of "fun stuff" I will look into further.

Just added my Shelfari bookshelf. This is so... neat.

#12...Do You Digg?
I took a look at Digg, Reddit, Newsvine and Mixx. I really liked the Newsvine site. I added a link to my blog. It has the top news, local news, sports etc. It is easy to navigate and very easy to read. I went into the New York Times and since I am a big Vikings fan, and "not" a Green Bay fan I read & shared the "Vikings accused of Favre contract". All the Vikings need is another scandal...but I am dedicated and will watch them anyway!!
I did register in Newsvine and now I have the capability to write & edit articles. What I thought was very interesting is that I am able to watch & discuss issues with other viewers. The latest discussion on NBC Nightly News was on U.S politics & the unfolding presidential election...questions can also be posted in advance.
Interesting!!!

#11...Social Media...Tagging on Del.icio.us
Tagging is a good way to organize your bookmarks and a very good reference tool. I did go back into my photostream on Flickr and added tags to my pictures. Also added a few tags to my blog posts. I tried to register in del.icio.us from my staff computer, but did not succeed. Will try again at home on my personal computer and play around with it again. I have quite a few sites bookmarked so will tag these and be more organized??

Wednesday July 16...Added post on "Social Networking"
I was tuned into "Good Morning America" this morning and they had a segment on "Social Networking". It was focused on a child that was playing games on Facebook. The child downloaded a computer game and for extra points was asked to fill out a credit application. Well as a child, who would think that this would cause problems?? Well, they filled in their social security # and received an application in the mail for a car loan !!
Please stress to your children to be careful what messages they put in any social network, such as myspace, facebook, youtube etc. Problems are showing up when kids leave a message that say they are going on vacation, (people are breaking into the family home) while they are gone, kids are leaving messages about where they work, what time they get off etc. Be aware of fraud alerts, put up a red flag when asked for SS#'s.
Be aware that facebook is private, but the games are not. I really worry about the children ( unsupervised kids, especially the young teen) who use the computers at the Library and are in these social networking sites.
The parents are responsible, but they are not around to supervise them!! What's a (mother) to do??

#10...Wikis
This was interesting.. I did not know what a Wiki was. That's how challenged I am with the "23 Things".
I discovered that Wiki's are easy to use, anyone can make changes, free to set up, great for meetings, & posting agendas. Don't know yet how I will use a Wiki, but may set one for a book club and encourage community members to add to it. I looked at the 23 Things on a Stick Wiki and added a entry. Was fun to read the comments.

#9....Collaboration Tools
After experimenting with Google Docs, I definitely will use it more often. Libraries that cooperate with programming etc. making up flyers can sure get lots of use out of the program. I like where they can edit it and send it back. I work a lot with excel in a program set up for household expenses, budgets etc. so will try the spreadsheets. Didn't spend too much time on this "thing". But got an overview of what is available.

#8...Share your Creations
I played around with Thumbstacks.com, I did not find that program to my liking. It is primary for presentations. I then went into picturetrail.com. That is where I created my "Spring Beauty" slide show. This was so fun to create, but really was confused on how to load to my blog. Kept playing around until..all at once it was there!!! This is what my backyard looks like in the spring.. My husband loves to take these pictures.
I also did some experimenting with photobucket, which I would like to spend some more time on also. FUN, FUN!!!

#7... Instant Messaging
2a. I haven't really used much IM. My daughter was home and set up Yahoo messaging, I did not realize that she did this on my home computer, and the next time I was on line, a little man popped up at said .... signed in. Well it happened to be my nephew so I started chatting with him. I don't forsee me using IM on a daily basis. As far as using it in the Library, I don't see the staff using it, but we do see a lot of patrons (especially teens) using it. It may be popular, but just not for me. In the future maybe?? Who knows!!

#7 ...Web 2.0 Communication Tools
1. E-mail... As everyone else, I have a number of e-mail accounts. I have hotmail - for family, as I have all the addresses in my address book, so if you are not in my address book, sorry you cannot send me mail. Eliminates all the SPAM !! I also have my library e-mail, g-mail for my blog, yahoo for Flickr, and iglide.net as that is where I am getting my home internet service. So.. to remember all these passwords can be challenging. But where would we be without e-mail?? I remember when my daughter was in college, I would
e-mail her every Tuesday. So she expected the message, just like going to the mailbox and expecting a letter every Tuesday. Great way to keep in touch.

#6...Online Image Generator
I could definitely have loads of fun with this program. I love being creative with pictures. I might have to go back to my daughters wedding pictures and see what I can create with them. I did not know that these programs existed and were free!! I can see where this program will be helpful at the Library in flyers, brochures and just getting out information in a creative way. My first step is to purchase a digital camera for Library use. And then have some fun!!

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by sntschulte

#5...More Fun with Flickr
This is pretty cool. I could spend lot's of time with this. I do not actually have a roadside sign with our summer reading theme, but wouldn't that be great advertising? We do have lots of kids signed up for "Whats Cookin' at the Library! Sure is a fun theme this year. You need to check out the book " Gross -Out Cakes..The Kitty Litter Cake and Other Classics". Great book to go along with the "Cookin' theme.

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by sntschulte

Summer Reading Bulletin Board !

#4 ...Photosharing with Flickr
I often wondered how my friends shared their pictures in such a cool manner.. after playing around with Flickr, I sent our vacation pictures to my family. Sure is a fun way to send them via e-mail. I am excited to play around with Flickr and be more creative!!

#3 Keeping Up
Learning about RSS.. I spent some time on this "thing". When I worked on this I explored lots of different angles. I found that Google reader was the easiest to understand. This can be a useful tool, but searching for sites that have an RSS feed takes some time. In the future I will spend more time on looking for sites that offer RSS so I can receive regularly updated information. I did find a site called "Canning your Tube" that I wanted to share with you. So.. onto # 4.

#2...What is Web 2.0
That sure was a lot of reading...I'm not real sure how much info I got out of it. I realize technology is changing quickly, and we do need to keep up and be open to new ideas in serving our patrons. Technology sure has changed since I was a teenager. We depended on landline phones, typewriters, and the trusty postal system. Now everyone from children to adult have access to computers, cellphones, iPods & wireless internet ... which is available in libraries, airports, cafes, hotels etc. I do feel that life would slow down a little without all the technology. I will take the challenge & I am excited to learn the 2.0 tools included in "23 Things on a Stick"!! We as librarians need to address the opportunities offered to us to better our libraries and serve the public.
Thanks for offering this opportunity and the challenges we will face.

23 Things on a Stick

#1 Getting Started
This is a new venture for me. I am creating my first blog and will experience the new technology of Library 2.0.
I am going to try to get through "23 things on a Stick". Summer is probably a bad time to get started on this, with summer reading etc. When you are a 1 person librarian it is kinda hard to find time to work on these projects. But we will give it a try and will keep you updated. Wish me LUCK!
Amazing, after a few trys I put this cute little person on my blog!! Don't know when I will ever use Avatar again, but now I know what it is if anyone ever brings it up.