Hello?

Number 23.....the end.............

2008-07-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

..........or is it? After all of these new and wonderful websites to look at, now
i need to go back through them! The first thing i have to say is Thank You
to Sarah for being patient while i crawled through this experiment, and also
to the rest of Staff Development for giving this project to the FRL employees
to learn from! Goodreads seemed to be one of the easiest sites, and most useful,
to grasp. Youtube is a household name now, and i can't wait to sit to look more into
Podcasts as well is the flickr mash-ups. It took me a while to get rolling on this project,
but thinking back on the "7 1/2 habits of successful lifelong learning" portion, i know
that i can do this at my own speed and time, and i can learn on my own! Thanks again,
Sarah!

Netlibrary

2008-07-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

I love this idea! I'm not one for audiobooks, but working
here, i know how popular they are with patrons who listen
to books on tape/cd while driving to work, to the nearest
city, or on 12 hour car rides. But, as i said, i do love this way
of exploring knowledge. I tried to search for a very rare Jack
London book to no avail, but after typing a subject such as French
in, then i got somewhere. For me, the best thing to download
audiobooks for is for something like this - foriegn language. What
better way to learn? It would seem helpful to have guidebooks as
well, for setting up things such as....computers! Just popped into
my head that my computer has a recording studio built in that
is going to take me months to figure out. So, i did a search on
Netlibrary and found some e-books on the software i'll be using.
No audiobooks, but i have no trouble reading........................:)

Podcasts

2008-07-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-4ecec647817007071958c177a557f762}

Ok, i don't know if that will work (i guess i'll find out!). I really don't listen to
much radio at all - neither commercial or web radio. However, i love the fact
that you can go to sites like the ones listed on this exercise, or npr, or kcrw
and listen to archived radio shows. I'd love to start checking out the old
time serials as well. My eyes are always so tired when i get home at night
that i barely look at a book much less a computer. Time is always the enemy
it seems............

Youtube!

2008-07-24T15:23:00.001-07:00

Oh, how i love this site! Music videos that MTV never played, old tv commercials, sketches from SCTV, television specials and episodes..........i could go on. Ok, i will. It is a very useful site for anyone who is trying to break into showbiz. Good in the aspect of exposing one's art, music, movies to the general public - thumbing their nose up at major corporations, labels, executives.
Again, putting art in the hands of those who created it in the first place! Anyways, i chose to post this video.............actually, i can't seem to get it working. Well, off to the land of Thing 21 now.....:)

Pandora

2008-07-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

I found out about this site just a week ago from a patron who was passing through town. He was wearing a Beatles t-shirt which caught my attention, so we started chatting while he was on the computer. He showed me this streaming radio station called Pandora. Very cool, but i've never listened to streaming radio at all. Anyways, this was listed 2nd under the best rated internet radio sites................coincidence? I don't believe in them for the most part. Someday when i have nothing to do and actually have internet access at home, i'll check this out more often. It amazes me to find semi-obscure bands from 30 years ago on a site like Pandora - and like other sites, it will recommend similar bands to you. Cool!

Thing 18

2008-07-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Well, of course any way that a document, spreadsheet, etc that can be shared
by many users is a good thing, especially within a working environment. In these times of laptops, people who work from home, people who work while on "vacation"..............generally for anyone who depends on a computer and shared information at work, it is a necessity to build a document that can be accessed by anyone at anytime. I did a simple "note to self" document to remind myself of something i need to get started on at home (don't know if it'll ever happen, but it's in my google docs!). Since i associate the word "spreadsheet" with Big Business, i really don't know how the public would benefit from sharing them. With pretty much everything on this list of 23 things, it is a positive thing!

Wiki (again)

2008-07-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

Well, when i first looked into adding something onto the FRL wiki
site, i was a bit overwhelmed. I was afraid of blowing it up - or just
making some horrible mistake. I think reading too much about the
html codes and language scared me a bit. Then, my lovely co-worker
Amy pointed out that i had done half of it already. Once i started to breathe
again, it was easy! I'm interested in learning some code language, but
that will take some time! I'm just relieved i didn't blow anything up.

Wiki

2008-07-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

It seems like everyone has mixed feelings about
this concept. Of course, it depends on which kind
of wiki you are on, or into. A certain librarian (Sarah!)
discourages the staff here from using wikipedia for
any research for a patron. Obviously you would not
want to give unchecked information to someone from
a website that lets anyone log in and change information.
I never knew that Hendersonville, NC had such a history!
I'll have to spend more time down there for further research.;)

I think it would be great to have an FRL site that has...........
wait! That's number 17! See the things you learn by doing
this sort of exercise?! I do wonder what that's all about.

In general i think the more people who get involved with
community-based sites, the better. Be it forums, blog pages,
wikis.........i've met some fantastic people and life-long friends
( My sister and her husband met on one) via the internet. With
different input from all kinds of people it helps put the "people"
in control of what information/opinions they get, as opposed to
a major corporation dictating everything to them. That sounds
a bit political, doesn't it! I'd better check out number 17.

Library 2.0

2008-07-11T10:03:00.001-07:00

Well, that was quite a read! I understand the basic concept behind it (i think), but
with different library systems using different functions, as well as different viewpoints and opinions being passed around it seems like it's in a growing stage
right now. Of course modern technology is changing everything in the world, so if
libraries are here to give as much information as possible to as many people as possible, then technology is a must! I haven't seen a card catalog in 30 years. True,
some patrons at ac-ccl are not computer savvy enough to use our online catalog, which means anyone at the circulation desk will be doing searching for them. That is
what is going to make the challenge of Library 2.0........a challenge! I see it as someone being "afraid" of change versus a patron who craves new search possibilities
as the challenge. Whenever i can, i point patrons to NC LIVE! or web links such as ABE books so they can find what they want - and most of those patrons walk away very happy and excited to have more search options at their control. Of course the human aspect of libraries will always be there, to help people along in their search for what the are looking for.

Woooooooo! Google Books!

2008-07-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

This is the first thing i saw when i paid my first
visit to Google Books.......Wrestling! Not my thing,
but it seems to be popular around these hills.
Having said that, i will be back on this site
some more - when time allows me thiat is. I knew of the site
obviously through Google, but the long-term looking
at a computer screen gets a bit tiresome on my eyes.
Onto the next number..........

Delicious

2008-07-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

I think this site will be more helpful when i'm at home
and finally get my home computer set up (a year is a
long time!). With just a tiny bit searching around, it's
a great site - sort of a very enhanced Google. I noticed
that using the tags brought up more information as opposed
to a general search. I've never even heard a podcast before!
I must get everything at home hooked up, including the internet
so i can dig deeper (like the rest of the 23 things!).
I feel more and more behind the times as the days go by......
But, working through these 23 things has been quite fun
and informative!

Goodreads

2008-07-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

Signed up last week, and have 14 friends!
Very neat site, but i'm more of a
nonfiction reader, and most of my friends
seem to be into the fiction genre. Nice
networking site - especially when i see
my fellow FRL employees maybe twice a year!
Oh well, nice to have "friends" anyways....:)

Out of touch with the modern world........

2008-07-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

I realised i didn't have to blog about Digg until after i did, but i'll
leave it up regardless.........

Well, i chose the MP3 player. I know i'm very behind in the
world of technology - my car plays cd's, i have no stereo
at home, nor a tv. I've never touched an IPod, which is fine
with me - but perhaps the MP3 player will help pique my interest?
Time for a change i guess! I think it's just lack of time and $$
that have been holding me back. Or, that ancient cd player in
my car............;). Does anyone listen to complete albums
anymore?? Kids today.........

20 Ways to Attack Shyness

2008-07-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

HOW TO: Build Your own Homemade Flame Thrower.

Dangerous Things You Can Still Do While Driving.

So, i found these "news" stories on Digg. Well,the
'Shyness' article is good, because that's me by
nature. The other two news items........well,
it sounds like someone has too much time on
their hands. But, if the world isn't violent
enough, i say go for it! I'll admit that
"some" of the news is worthwhile, but the fact
that any Joe can make up things and post them
online is...........well, not for me. Maybe
I'M too old, but i wish i had that kind of
time to have fun! What's next on the list?

Online photo generator

2008-06-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Now, THIS is a cool idea! Sadly, i have very few photos
of myself, and this one being SO PRETENTIOUS, i had to
put it in a museum. Again, anyone who knows me knows how
much i love myself...........;). More studying this site
when i have more time and ideas, as well as photos that
aren't 20 years old!

Flickr and Mashups

2008-06-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, I set an account up on Flickr, but have only one photo up.
Guess i need to learn how to use my digital camera, huh? I'm
still playing around with the Mashups thing, which is interesting
so far, but seems like quite a toy to play with. Flickr seems like
a cool site - any photo you want and it's probably on there!
Time to start snapping away!

7 and 1/2 things

2008-06-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so i guess i'm a bit late on this one - will i ever finish everything?

So, after watching/reading the tutorial about learning, it slowly sank

into me that you learn just by being alive. I've always known

that; of course, but unfortunately my past experiences in terms

of "learning" have always been school related, and school and i never

saw eye-to-eye. For some reason, the rigidity of classroom learning

made me very uncomfortable, so much so that i dropped out. This

is not a slight on teachers; of course i've had good and bad ones, but

the ones that showed me how to care are the ones i always think

about. Philosophical, eh?

I've learned by trial and error and listening to myself, whether it was

teaching myself music, learning about computers - which leads us to........

Resources. The internet (apart from books, that is!) has made such

a tremendous impact on the world, even more so than t.v. - making

learning not only easier in terms of finding information easier, but

also providing a different avenue to walk down in the quest for

knowledge. No sitting in classrooms feeling uncomfortable and too

shy to ask questions - the answers are right there, always have been,

and always will be. News, history, weather, whatever the subject is, is

there. All it takes is your imagination to bring learning into your life.

I think it's a wonderful thing to know that knowledge is always around

you from the time you wake up in the morning until you fall asleep.

RSS Feeds

2008-05-01T12:46:00.001-07:00

Well, i'm still playing around with my Google Reader account, and so far have only 2 items.
First off, The Onion has been one of my favorite sites for 10 years now. Geniuses, they are!
As Noam Chomsky once said "If you're not cynical, you're not paying attention". That's the
message i get from the Onion folk. Number two is Quotes of the Day, which lists 10 quotes
from people of all time periods and all subjects. Again, very interesting how one sentence can
make you think; even if it's for 15 seconds or the whole day.
I shall be adding more!
Ok, more added. I've added the New Musical Express homepage, a very popular
British weekly magazine that has daily music news updates. The other, for now, is
CNN. But, i have to defend myself by claiming to be neither left-wing, right-wing,
center-forward or goalkeeper. There's my political stance...........;)

How it helps? Well, i had no idea that i could recieve simple headlines right there on my
list of "favorites", so that's nice to have all of that information in one spot - a time saver!
How it helps me at the library? I'm not getting any reference questions asking me about semi-obscure British musicians, but you never know. I just find it nice to have everything in one place.

- Rand

Where to begin?

2008-04-24T13:50:00.001-07:00

First off, thanks to my lovely co-worker Danni for coming up with
my name. I chose it just for her.

Well, never "blogged" before so if this is a bit short, as it will be,
pardon the lack of words...........;)

Guess i'll see what happens..............