23 things experience summary but not last post

Really, I will post again but since I am a late finisher and therefore the survey is closed, I have to summarize some of the experiences here to complete the last Thing.
As Julie Andrews might say, these are a few of my favorite things:
Creating a photo display on picturetrail
Facebook
Discovering library-topic blogs
Becoming somewhat fluent in web-speak
Things I did not like:
Creating so many accounts
Doing this without much support (i.e. at home and without troubleshooters for those frustrating glitches)
I think one thing that might improve the program is to rearrange the things. I found most of the later things much easier to do and think that the momentum could build for participants if they didn't get bogged down in all of the photo stuff early on.
I would participate in more programs like this in the future.

How will I keep up?

I can tell I will continue to check in on Facebook. I will also continue to check my blog which has feeds from library sources such as Tame the Web and others and also as links to other RCL librarian blogs. I will make a point to check in on my feeds on bloglines occasionally and I will try to go back to those places I indicated interest in further exploration. I'm pretty sure I've put some of this stuff in my permanent memory bank and there is no question I am way more aware of what is out there in terms of communication tools.

21 and counting

I'm in the homestretch and anticipating a finish as I add badges of honor, etc. The idea of special interest social networking is good, but at this point I am stretched to the max on the number of accounts I would ever possibly continue to check up on. I will keep Gather in mind as it has the book focus I enjoy, but there is no question that too many options diffuse the concentration of ideas, and there is no way I can even use the tools that aggregate and bring the info to me to find the time invested worth the info gleaned.

Badge of honor

Finally to Facebook

And I'm not sure why I waited so long. What a fun way to touch on many overlapping worlds. I'm enjoying some reconnections and especially enjoying the fact that my daughter is now independent enough to want me as a Facebook friend. That being said, I have to admit that looking at Hennepin County's MySpace page, I couldn't get past the feeling that they are trying too hard. I suppose the more jump-off points one has out there the better, but squeezing an institution into a personal profile doesn't work for me. I joined Librarians and Facebook because I thought it would match my participation level best. My daughter will probably be my best prompt in developing my page as she already has suggestions for me in terms of how to share books, etc. As soon as I finish the 23 things, I think I will follow her suggestions.

Podcasts

I listened to several podcasts from the MPR site. I particularly liked The Current Song of the Day. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/tools/podcasts/song_of_the_day.xml I linked Nancy Pearl;s book podcast to my bloglines account. I definitely would like to explore this more with my Ipod.

You tube

I really like the second song on this you tube video of Linda and Richard Thompson. I don't think you can have teenaged children and not be familiar with you tube. I think it has taken over from gathering around the family piano for entertainment (okay there might have been a few things inbetween.

Ebsco

So I was willing to create a webpage in EBSCO, but since I am on the MP public library computers and I didn't bring my jump drive, I'll have no way to save. I get it anyway. I'm quite familiar with all of the EBSCO databases and what access they provide so I'm moving on.

Project calculators

This looks pretty helpful, I found the Assignment Calculator to be more detailed and better for younger students as you would expect based on their focus. I would encourage my high school junior and my college freshman to try this. It is very easy to use and can't hurt as a tool. A link from our website for teenagers would be great.

Games

I wanted to do second life but today I am working from the MP library computers while at inservice and there were too many accounts created from here. I will probably look into this from home when I've worked through the rest of the stuff. I've heard a lot about Second Life and would like to try it. That being said, I took the booby prize and tried Puzzle Pirates. All I can say is I hate games. I do not like them on a board, I do not like them moving for'wd (as in computers). I don't know why I do not like to employ my mind in this way, but it remains a fact. I think I am inherently lazy. I looked at the Teen Second Life presentation and the Ohio University presentation on how Second Life is valuable to an intellectual community. I will definitely look at Second Life more, as the idea of moving beyond the usual practical bounds to open up intellectual pursuits is interesting.

LibraryThing

I'll enjoy coming back to this and enhancing my skeleton collection, creating tags and delving more deeply into the reviews. I was surprised at the numbers associated with my choices. I wouldn't have suspected the popularity for two of the titles. I don't feel as though I can really make an informed comment on the value of this site until I spend more time on it, but it does seem to have a lot of potential as a readers' advisory tool.

Efficiency tools

I created a calendar on Kiko but can't say that it feels any more useful than my outlook calendar (less so because I linked it to my home e-mail and most of my entries are work related. I've customized my Google home page on my home computer already, so I skipped that. I'm not even going to try the listmakers since the very nature of making lists for me is spontaneous and I don't think turning on the computer is going to figure in to my 3:00 am scribbles. I use e-mail to send these scribbled lists to myself later and can't see how a listmaker would improve that system. Not much new here on thing 13. Oh--I will spend some time looking at the PDF converters because I think those could be useful when working with patrons.

Thing 12 definitely a pleasure

I enjoyed browsing these sites that sift and sort news stories. I'm familiar with the concept through the NYT website and also MinnPost, but liked seeing how different these sites can be. I liked the organization of Digg best, but found the content most interesting on Newsvine. I can see myself returning to these sites, but feel that they can be a time sink--putting me online longer than I care to be. I get a paper subscription of the NYT and still prefer the randomness of my own perusal over breakfast in the morning and an after-work snack in the evening.

Value discovered

I'm pretty excited about a posting I found on Tame the Web (see link under blog list). It is called what a list of rules and it is about a code of conduct posted at the Hall County Public Library. Reading the posting and the comments gives me much food for thought.

Thing 11--social media

I searched del.icio.us. for librarians and time and hit the jackpot. Here are a couple of links that I found valuable:
http://librariansmatter.com/blog/2007/09/03/10-ways-to-find-time-for-23-things/
http://www.slideshare.net/sirexkat/finding-time-to-learn-about-emerging-technologies
I'm not doing a lot of research right now, but I can see how such a gathering site as del.icio.us (annoying to type) would be useful--I think I'll try using it if I do more research gathering for the policy project I am working on. Right now I am going to explore some of the blogs that were recommended in the slideshow.

Moving along

I'm going to consider both thing 9 and thing 10 done. I've watched videos on googledocs and on wikis. When we were opening the new library at Maplewood I used a wiki and I have participated on the internal reference wiki as well. I know how they work and how to contribute and read new contributions. I am interested in using googledocs to store the documents I am working on in formulating the code of conduct. I have found keeping track of all of my latest versions to be challenging and can see how this storage and sharing feature would be helpful. I will explore the other document sharing tools as I have time, but think that the basic content of these two things is clear to me.

Politically and technologically active! Thing 8

Hey--I both watched the vp debates and created a slideshow to post! I won't divulge which was the more rewarding experience. I have opinions about both, but will stick to the 23 things. I had a few missteps here, mostly due to haste, but generally this was quite easy and I think this idea of creating and sharing slideshows and presentations is great. It is all fairly intuitive, no matter which service you use. I can see using this if I wanted to jazz up a presentation and it might even help me overcome my aversion to the scrapbooking mentality.
I might need some help overcoming another aversion. Anyone up for diagramming some first response sentences? I think you'd find it quite simple.

Starting to really skim

Finished skimming #7. I'm pretty familiar with all of these communication tools. E-mail, of course is ancient history at this point and I use folders regularly to manage my content. I found the efficiency hints not particularly helpful as they seemed to be basic common sense. IM has its definite advantages, but the longer we have been using it among our staff, the more it has started to seem like yet another stressor at the ref desk--telephone ringing, patrons lining up and multiple IM indicators blinking at you. Actually, that situation doesn't occur that often, but IM can feel like just one more avenue toward a single destination that is subject to overload. Basically, though, I wouldn't go back. It is a very handy tool for the quick check with someone. I've had little experience with webinars. One that I participated in was particularly useless, but it was a commercial source and I think it was poorly presented. I watched the text your librarian video and could see how this would be popular with young people. Again, though--another avenue to one source.
Okay--I have to stop now. Will is waiting to discuss Pride & Prejudice with me.

nothing to do with 23 things

I was taking a break from climbing the ladder by clicking on my coworker's blog links. I made it to Kelly's this way and am so happy I did because I saw her Locks of Love link which reminded me that I had a ponytail of my daughter's sitting around waiting to be sent off. (Amazing what you find cleaning the newly-flown nest of a college freshman.) It is in a padded envelope, addressed and ready to be mailed. My dorky Friday night doing 23 things on a stick is redeemed.

trading card

trading card
Originally uploaded by mlrsbmn

Okay--cruised through things 4, 5, and 6.
With all of the final fussing necessary to create actual cards, posters, puzzles, cubes, etc (i.e. the paper and printers that aren't readily available), I can't see using much of this flexibly in a library setting--but who knows, maybe I'm selling our printers short.

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by mlrsbmn

I really am scraping the bottom of the picture barrel. Can you tell what I have been focusing on at the library lately?
I wanted to upload a spelled out creation but couldn't figure it out so I chose this easier option.
I don't think it will become a motivational poster.

Thing 4--trying to get somewhere

I'm plugging along--my family is out tonight, so I'm trying to move along on this. Flickr was easy--I'll probably do more of this on my own. I'd like to dig deeper. For now, though, I'm going to consider thing 4 done and move forward while I have the time.
I don't want to disgrace myself on inservice day by being the only one who started this in the spring who hasn't moved beyond 5.

Eureka_garden

Eureka_garden
Originally uploaded by mlrsbmn

Spring break 2007--early April in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Seemed like heaven to a MInnesota family. I need to upload more recent photos to this computer. Most are on the home laptop--maybe I'll work off of that next time, although I hate the keyboard.

Long absence

I'm back--graduation is over (I had no idea how all-consuming that is in the midwest--be warned those of you with teens) but life is no less busy as I prod my daughter toward her driver's license, hold my son back from his and search for extra long sheets and other absolutely necessary college dorm room items ("Mom--everyone gets one of those egg carton things for their mattresses--otherwise it is really uncomfortable.") I'm reentering the 23 things world by going backwards to step 3 and adding new feeds to my bloglines. I'm adding the feed from www.saintpaulitics.org to see if this St. Paul Public website is as good a contribution to civic engagement as it seems. I'm sending myself e-mail with all of my various accounts and passwords established through this 23 thing process because every time I try to hook back in I have to dig through the memory bank to figure it all out. I won't label this any particular thing accomplishment, because I haven't moved on, but I will say I feel accomplished anyway just through remembering my passwords.

Monday morning

Hey--I actually went to check my feeds and found an article of enough interest to include a link off my blog (see the link to an article about Encyclopedia of Life). Perhaps I'll adjust my attitude toward this activity a notch toward the more positive side.

Thing 3

I've watched the rss presentation, set up a bloglines account and added several sites to my bloglines reader. A cursory look at what these feeds have to offer confirms my suspicions that I will not be spending too much time monitoring them. I think I'm sounding too curmudgeonly, but truly--I don't see this as a time-saving activity. Maybe I need to choose my feeds more carefully, but I'm not seeing anything of value yet.
You know, I'm always looking at the clock and in a hurry to move through my participation in the 23 things, because I can rarely find time to check in and keep it going. Since the very nature of such an exploration is that the more time spent noodling around, the more value received, I'm feeling frustrated. I am continuing on, though, because I guess I see even minimal participation is providing some value. Sigh. I want to be reading.

No particular thing category

I've found about 20 minutes this a.m. to look around a bit and am looking forward to adding rss feeds. I think I'll just do bloglines for now and watch Sandy and Bill's comparison logs (see Sandy--I am learning various forms of delegating :-)) before spending more time working with google reader as well. I think I'm glad I have competition for the computer at home--if no one kicked me off, this exploration could stretch endlessly. Speaking of which, at almost 10 a.m., I had better get out of my pajamas. After my errands and a work lunch, I'll try to get to thing 3.

Thing 2--thoughts on hair upkeep

Before I spice up my blog with an avatar and pictures, I had better record my responses to the thing 2 inputs. It is clear that Stephen Abrams does not need to spend much time on his hair. This is, however an activity to which I regularly devote time. So I will probably not become a 46-things on a stick guru. Actually, I do get the concept of choosing to devote time to engender excitement over a new learning opportunity. Since the daily business of working in our libraries does not allow for time to do any of this at work, nor does all of our work technology support the activities, that places the burden of participation in this project on home time. Since I already devote a significant portion of home time to work, I have mixed feelings about this because true excited participation does not just take 15 minutes a day, as Abrams claims. Oh--perfect timing--my son just called for a ride home, my daughter will call soon. I'll need to continue this later.

Thing 1--off to a slow start

Okay, so I'm one of the people who didn't read the instructions. My excuse was I was hurrying to register while I was on vacation and I wanted to take shortcuts. I know better now. I think I now have a genuine blog link through the Metronet group so now I can play around with the next steps at home. I need an avatar. After last night's discussion at the reception for Victoria Cox before the Library Board meeting, it was clear that a blog is nothing without an avatar and I am not truly living until I have reached this minimal level of participation. I'm off to explore.