Thing #23 - Hooray

1. My favorite discovery was learning how much is happening on the internet. One is used to looking up a topic or place but many other things are happening and some of it is very complicated. I liked the productivity tools that are available without loading software. Other products I will also return to and study in detail.

2. The program assisted my lifelong learning goals because one must keep learning new things and being exposed to new areas.

3. I guess the take-aways is how time consuming this process was. On the original paper we were informed that the exercises would only take around 15-20 minutes to complete. Almost every week the exercises took an hour or more. Many weeks watching a tutorial was involved that ran for 12 minutes so how could one possibly complete all the activities in the remaining time. So going into this process I figured as a substitute I could devote 15-20 minutes of my 15 hour schedule to this process. However when the time rose to one hour that is difficult to accomplish. In the end I started completing the tasks at home which is not fair to my family.

4. I really think this should be taught in a classroom where an instructor is available. I know we were supposed to ask others for help however in my substitute position where I move around and a lot of the time I work alone this is not possible. Also at this time of year the libraries are very busy with many activities including the summer reading club and it is difficult to find time to work on the things. It is even more difficult to work on the 23 things and wait on patrons at the same time.

5. I would probably participate and one needs to keep learning.

6. I believe I learned a lot in the 23 Things. One can marvel at the technology but also marvel at the time it takes to maintain that technology. I will return and continue to explore the areas presented. As far as blogging goes I have kept a diary since I was ten and I think I will continue to keep that diary on paper and off the internet. I have no desire to have others read what I write and comment on it.

Thing #22

I did not create a Overdrive or NetLibrary account as I was working from my home computer. From the WCFL main page one can go to Maryland's eLibrary Consortium and explore all the titles without creating an account. In general fiction they have 177 pages including many of the popular authors such as Patterson and Roberts and plenty of others. In nonfiction they have lots of titles including seven pages of travel books. One thing I find kind of silly is that a book can be "checked out" after someone has downloaded and others cannot access it. Obviously the file is still available at the home site but I guess it is copyrighted so it can only be downloaded to one user.

I looked at the Project Gutenberg and they seem to be very limited in their offerings. It seems to be only titles that are in the public domain or authors that want their work to be viewed regardless.

I am not fond of listening to audiobooks or reading books from the computer so I doubt I would download any titles.

Thing #21

I worked on the podcasting from my home computer. Several of the podcasts would not play because my computer did not have the necessary software to support it. I looked at comedy podcasts on Yahoo Podcasts and then search for library on the Podcast.net. I added an RSS feed for the SirsiDynix Institute on my Bloglines account. I believe one could find some very interesting data from these podcasts.

Thing #20

The thing that I disliked about the site is that a lot of inappropriate videos are on the site. Even searching on Burger King can get one in trouble. I would not like the children to be searching on this site. The video I chose is Mr. Bean at the library. My family has always enjoyed the comedy of Mr. Bean. It is at the following url:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sWArmefCFk

Thing #19

I explored the Medstory Beta site and compared it to the Healia Beta site. These were health related tools. They both were rollyos with a lot of features added. I really liked the Medstory site. One could enter a health issue and find out drugs, symptons, research, clinical trials or anything about that issue. The sites useful tools were that you could really narrow down what you wanted to about the matter. Patrons are always coming to the library with health issues. This would be another tool that could help them find out about their problem.

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THING #18

I created the text below in Zoho Writer and used the publish option and posted it to my blog. It was really easy and I was able to send it on the first attempt. I believe the online productivity tools could be a real asset to users.

Zoho Writer seems pretty cool. It seems to have the same layout of other word processors. One seems able to change fonts easily.

It would also save one from constantly purchasing the upgrades to their word processor because the upgrades would always be online.

Thing #17

I added my blog to the Favorite Blogs page. I also used PB Wiki to create a wiki. I will have to return to this later to explore further.