Saturday, October 24, 2009

Method 12-Reflection and Evaluation

Some of my favorite discoveries were photos and imaging. I enjoyed this method because it seems like the one I would most likely use personally. I could use it for cataloging/ albuming vacations for my children. It is something that my parents could benefit from since they travel around the world.
Chat and Instant messaging is another I enjoyed. It is just a fun way to communicate.
Professionally all these methods are applicable to the community that we serve, many methods will have to be shown how to use them, while the teens, who seem to be technologically asute thrive with this stuff. Mentoring program may be good for this since there is a gap of understanding between these two groups and their reason(s) for being at the library.
The methods that were chosen, I feel were good. They accomplished the goal they were set out to accomplish.
The only suggestion I would have is on some of the methods limit some of the information that has to be read, especially the articles where the terminology is for a person that is technologically inclined.
I personally would participate in a similar program because I am part of the population that is not technologically inclined and the more I practice these methods the better I will become. I am not a person who likes to explore the unknown when it comes to technology,however if it involves adventures into the unknown l;ike cave and volcanoes I am there, go figure.
Overall, I feel the 12 step method was a great review of what I did in the 23 things. I definatley was more at ease doing this training.

Method 11-Podcasting

I watched a a podcast on the subject of Travel. I saw a blurb on Beautiful Places: Everglades.
It talked about all the wildlife you find at the Everglades and how the food chain of animals start with the birds eating the bugs, the crocs eating the birds, etc. It talked about the beauty of the Everglades and how it is one of the few places where the fresh water meets the salt water.

The second podcast site I viewed was with children and family. The cast was called Spare the Rock, Spoil the child. The site iterviews people who do a variety of mediums for kids whether it be music, cooking projects, books, and all and talks with the writers about how they came up with the idea. The particular one I listen to a daughter came up with the lyrics, the mom sang and the dad played the guitar about the things mom does around the house and how mom needs more than two hands to do them.

Do I listen to podcasts personally? At times, I do depending on the subject matter. Professionally, I know alot of our patrons do mainly with episodes of programs they watch eg. Family Guy and The Simpsons. Lately, however it has been more music casts especially Michael Jackson.

Method Number 10- Wiki

I think book reviews would be a great thing to use Wiki for in the library. I like to know what others think about books. It would also help to read the reviews to be able let patrons in on what others think about certain books.
Wiki would also be a great way to organize library events. Similar to what was done in the tutorial about camping. Staff might be given a certain aspect of the event they are supposed to do and you can have an area for what needs to be done and an area for what has been accomplished.
Would I use Wiki's professionally and personally? Probably from time to time.
I did my Wiki on favorite vacation spots and i enjoyed reading about others favorite locations.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Method number 9-- Chat and Instant Messaging

I enjoyed doing instant messaging. It was fun. I did one of my friends from a previous job. The only problem, which is similar to email is that you cannot tell a persons' feelings, so the personal relationship is lacking. I have not talked to this person in years and interpreting her sarcasm or when she was being serious was difficult. If I talked with her more frequently this may not have been an issue but who knows. I would probably use instant messaging personally from time to time when my kids get other with my husband (I do not have text messaging) with setting up who needs to get who or pick up something at the store or things like that. My spouse spends 96 percent of his time on a computer for his job so this would make things a little easier.
As for the library, I think this could be awesome when relating to patrons, especially if their is a patron who is deaf. I see messaging good when doing some of our presentations or program if someone who wanted to attend the presentation/program and maybe did not have transportation. They could get on the internet (of course it would be a podcast or webcam) and the patron could add their comments in relation to what is being presented and open up the disscussion further.
Currently, our library, at least not to my knowledge is offering chat/IM, but I know our library director is trying to incorporate all these things into our library as soon as possible.

Method number 8: Social Networking

I personally do not use myspace and facebook due to privacy reasons, however many of my friends do and are putting on a lot of pictures and personal information about themselves. I am distrustful of technology and if i want to communicate with others I tend to do so personally either over the phone or we meet. I would definitely keep professional information separate from personal. I look at in the same way as dating someone form work. I see that as unprofessional and the work environment and a persons view of you could be altered by this--just not a good idea. I do know that myspace and facebook allow you to get connected with past high school/ college friends
but if I were wanting to do this I would probably find another way of getting in touch with these people.
These social networking sites can also become quite addicting. Some of our patrons are on these sites for hours art a time. Personally, I have other things I enjoy better--outdoors.
Our library is using facebook and myspace to reach out to our patrons, primarily through our library director at this time. She is beginning to get a fan base from when we did the 23 things training this summer. I see the potential for using social networking especially since it provides an alternative to just a web page. It allows our patrons to see upcoming events and services we provide, others evaluations/comments about the library, a way we can reach others through group discussion ex. epilepsy support group or friends of the library patrons who may not be able to attend all meetings can get information about what transpired.
I do not have a facebook or myspace profile set up due to the reasons of privacy so i did not include a link.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Method number#7 Tagging, folksonomies, and social bookmarking in Delicious

I like the applications that Delicious can do. It definitely makes reseach a lot easier because I am able to filter through some of the "junk" on the internet and get down to researching a topic of interest. Reseach is further made easier by using what others have also found to be useful in their research by using the social bookmarking aspect of delicious. Would I personally use Delicious? Probably more if I were in school and had research to do. Currently, I do not do a lot of research or play much on the computer because my day would be spent and I would probably get nothing done. I am a person who likes to accomplish things.
Professionally, I can see the need to use Delicious and its applications because we havwe a large youth population who come in to do research and group projects, many of which wait to an hour before we close to do their homework. Delicious and its applications can provide a shortcut so to speak in getting these youth the information they are looking for.
Libraries can benefit from Delicious and its applications by allowing patrons to quickly looking at a tag and finding a plethera of information on a topic, patrons can access what is most popular if they are interested in what others are reading or they can view everything written on a subject.

Method 6--You too Can YouTube

YouTube - Bleach 240 Raw Part 1

The video that I chose had to do with Bleach. Bleach is seen frequently in the Anime comics,video games and DVD's. What I posted was an epidsode of Bleach Raw.
What I liked about the site was that it gave me more of an understanding about some of the interest my youth patrons enjoy. Bleach has recently become quite popular with my tween age group. We having video game nights at our library and some of the teens are bringing in some of their personal games to play, one of which is Bleach.
The video could easily be adapted too a library setting because we could view it during one of our Anime meeting and then have an open discussion about whether the kids like the episode or not?
Why or Why they did/did not like it? Is it sonmething the youth would like to have as a checkout item? We could talk about characters? Which character is most representative of them? The possiblities are endless.

Method Number 5--Flickr


The image i am including the link for is the lighthouse of Sabine Pass in Louisiana.

The link is:

Personally, I would probably use Flickr when I become more comfortable using it.
I would like to share many photos with family who live across the country butI did not know how to do it. Also family vacations would be fun to share with grandparents. Web cam is good for this as well but being able to provide grandparents with daily photos would give them something to do during the day.
Professionally, I can see the use of Flickr because many of our patrons have already asked about how to go about creating picture images and I personally was unable to show them. I had to ask our computer library tech to do it. Flickr will help me better serve my community in this way if and when asked again.
I briefly looked at the website Picasa and the only thing i like better on this is i like the map layout that it does.