Week 10, Thing #24 Summarize Your Thoughts

For me, this was a super learning experience. Having created the site itself (first started off in Blogger and then discovered that WordPress does static pages like no tomorrow and switch over at about the 4th Thing), and then actually doing the program as a ‘civilian’ was kind of strange. This has been quite a Web and Web 2.0 year for us in Systems and for all staff who participate with Website posting, Eventkeeper posting, and the 25 Things program. Lots of new stuff this year to learn and discover. An exciting and challenging 2.0 year.

Week 10, Thing #23 Netlibrary

I have used Netlibrary quite a bit over the years. If the books on a particular subject are out, I will checkout an e-book. The library has a great collection of e-books. I am not keen on e-audiobooks. I don’t know what it is but when I listen to audiobooks, or e-audiobooks I tend to fall asleep. It’s weird, but that’s me. My husband loves audiobooks and listens to them all the time when he’s driving for work. I am thinking of getting him an MP3 player for Christmas and then I can download e-books for him. He’s down with technology.

Week 10, Thing #22 Podcasts

I have been listening to podcasts for a while now. I download them through my iTunes account. SirsiDynix has a lot of their SirsiDynixInstitute seminars available for free through iTunes. Very easy to access and download.
I would like to have more time to listen to everything of interest that is available via podcast but alas, I don’t.

Week 10, Thing #21 YouTube!

YouTube!  This is the ‘bestest’ thing of the bunch – a great learning resource and a lot of fun too!  If I had a $1.00 for everytime I referred to a YouTube tutorial when I was setting up the 25 Things site, I would be vacationing in London England right now.  I can’t stress enough how useful YouTube is for learning about new technologies, learning how to use Office products, Photoshop, Flickr, pretty much anything you can think of is there.

Another great thing about YouTube is that there are a ton of Robert Plant videos there too. Love him! This is a great video (before Alison).

YouTube rocks! Just like Rusty.

Week 9, Thing #20, Fun with Wikis

Well, I played in the sandbox.  It was fun to add a few things to the pages listed.  I added a photo of 3 of our pets, a couple of favourite restaurants and the Rock on Rusty blog.  It was easy to share this information in the WPL Fun with 2.0 wiki.   PBwiki is one of the easier wiki sites to set up from scratch.
I would have to say I am a big fan of wikis.

Week 9, Thing #19, Learn about wikis

The Common Craft video about wikis is just super.  It clearly illustrates how useful wikis are to organize yourself and groups of people.   Wikipedia is a wiki that I often use to grab techy information for reports and things, movie plots (to see if the movie has a happy ending or not), or quick project information or math help when I’m helping Joe with his homework. 
The wiki that Dean set up for Reference is a super library resourse and I would say my first kick at adding to a wiki (OLA conference workshop summaries).  It was super-easy and look at all the good stuff that’s stored there.  One stop shopping as they say. 
There are a lot of uses for wikis in a library environoment.  Something to really look at in 2010.

Week 7, Thing #17 Perspectives on Web 2.0 & Library 2.0

I read through all the perspectives.  My reaction was ‘Wow!’  … “what a great profession to be in!”  These are exciting times in the library world, change is constant.   Our little library boat has rowed out into the Web 2.0 environment.  We have a presence on Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia and Twitter.   The new website allows for virtual conversations with the public via comments.  We are reaching out to our patrons where they are!  This is the wave of the future and our little boat is right on course.

Week 7, Thing #16 Technorati

Technorati’s site went through a massive change late this summer.  I can’t say as I am a huge fan of what it’s turned into.  I find that there is just too much tacky advertising now.   Beyond the advertising,  I think the blog directories that are contained here are very useful and that there is a lot of information about the blog world right here in one spot.   I don’t think I will become a member of Technorati, but may be back to the site in the future to see what’s new and popular in the blogsophere.

Week 7, Thing #15 Tagging and Delicious

I think Delicious is an awesome tool.  It takes a bit of work to build up your bookmarks and add the associated tags, but as time passes, you will end up with a very useful resource that won’t disappear if your computer hard drive decides to go south.  I set up a Delicious account and added the tag bookmark in Explorer.  I am going to export my bookmarks to Delicious and really get organized.  This is a ”Thing” that I am going to use for work and my personal life.

I do like  folksonomies, even though you don’t have all the “controlled” terms that catalogers spend their days maintaining.   Folksonomies are by the people, for the people.  They are terms that are easily understood, and easily searchable.   As we get more and more into web 2.0 and beyond, the taxonomy world will likely see a shift in this direction.

Week 6, Thing #14 Image Generators

Ok, this has got to be the most fun Thing of all the 25 Things!  So much fun packed into one Thing.  I could have spent hours here going through each image generator.

The heart was created using the Word Hearts program by Neoformix.

Rusty Dobbin in lights was created in Your Name In Lights.

One last one …. I could do this forever …

This image was created using Warning Sign.  So much fun, so little time.  There are many, many uses for images generated online.  The possibilities are only limted by our imaginations.