Happy Holidays from Twister

Thing 35- Twitter and Jaiku

Now I am feeling my age. I explored Twitter and
Jaiku and found another way people are "socializing." I signed up for a Twitter account, am following Tweets by two other members so far, and posted the link to the right. I don't see myself using this site much--I don't IM anyone, don't even know email messages of friends to register, and don't use my cell phone for text messaging. I can see this as a fun thing for Teens and the college crowd, but don't they just text message each other? Wonder if it would be useful as a quick reminder site for upcoming Library programs and meetings such as the monthly TAB meeting. Hmmm! Let's put our thinking caps on. If this is where everyone is, we need to follow them and grab them to the Library site.

Thing 34-- A Healthy thing!

Having just completed the Health Risk Assessment, I want to re-focus myself on my health and weight issues (again!) before the holidays come and go and it's time to make New Year's resolutions. I consider myself a healthy eater and do the best I can to exercise (walking and yoga are my things) but time on the job cuts into our time for activities. Add getting older to that mix and I've found what worked before no longer works for me. These 2 sites and a few others I've found surfing the web require diligence and setting goals to get results. But I like the way one can personalize all of the intake in a day (food), exercise (output) and get a real analysis of what's going on. After looking at a gazillion diet books in my quest through the years, it always amounts to calories in and calories burned. But I found out today that after breakfast and lunch, I have between 400-600 calories left today. I have not exercised since the wind is blowing and it is spitting flurries outside, and I have eaten too many carbs (healthy ones). These sites are going to help me. It is worth checking: Nutridiary and Fitday
Years ago, I logged everything I ate and kept a diary; I think I need to get back to that.

Thing 33-Expressing myself through online art

One of the lessons I learned from our blogging through the 23 Things was that I miss using my creative side. I love the visual arts and dabbled in art projects many moons ago. This exercise was right up my alley. I could get mesmerized doing this stuff. I tried them all and was disappointed I could not show everyone my creations. I did a fair rendering of a Picasso like portrait with mrpicassohead
I was intrigued and playful with the snowflake exercise (soon we'll be watching the snow fall!) Snowflake Maker
I did the string art--much fun with that-- String Spin

By far I had the most fun with sand art; it reminded me of the Etch a Sketch I used to love combined with lava lamps that so fascinate me. Much fun.
Falling Sand

I especially liked the falling sand exercise; I used different colors and the sand spilled over my sketch. You can tell I really really liked it.

More Thing 32

OK, I'm done and totally frustrated with this. I cannot post my Omnidrive document to my blog. I could not post it from Zoho either. Neither site would recognize my blog. Since it was created and saved, I did post it with my Zoho documents to the right on my blog by making it public. You will have to open it. I thought it was a sentimental story you might enjoy. I also posted the old fashioned picture here. I am ready to move on.

Thing 32 Omnidrive

I have played around with Omnidrive since last week trying to determine whether or not to download it to my computer here at home or to use the web client. I couldn't get either one working properly when I tried it on a work computer and like many other "things" in these exercises, I can get very frustrated trying to get the program to work. I don't want to end my Beyond 23 Things this way. So, I tried again from home and alas, using the web client, I got it to work. It is a great sharing tool. I created a document called Halloween Memories, added a graphic, and tried to post it here. I followed all the directions and it does not recognize my blog. I saved it so I can try to post it from a work computer. This has happened before along the way through the lessons and then magically one day it works. Let's hope I can post it.
http://www.omnidrive.com

In Memory of Turf Champion, George Washington

George Washington was euthanized at the Breeder's Cup Classic track at Monmouth, NJ on October 27, 2007. He was only 4 years old. He was bred in the United States and one of Roy and Gretchen Jackson's horses before he was sold at a young age. He was trained and raced on the turf in England and Europe. Very famous and much loved. He was known as "Gorgeous George" and he was. This is one of the last photographs of him before his tragic breakdown during the last 1/16 mile of the race. RIP, George; run free in equine heaven with Barbaro

Thing 31--Getting organized--Who me?

I pride myself on my organizational skills and was glad to see such a service exists that allows a user to import contacts from other sites, coordinate work, and life and beyond. I created a work calendar, a partial social calendar, and added all of my appointments for the next few months. You can even create a countdown to an event. It's not that complicated to do but I lead a simple life (really) and I don't even have/need a Franklin planner. I left my calendars private. Not needing to share this with everyone. Try one for yourself:
http://www.plaxo.com/info

I also looked at ICal; lots of shared calendars there and many categories to search, view, download or subscibe to; I searched some categories with no results but found a "Moon phases" calendar. It's important, here at the Library to know when there is a full moon--it's tomorrow!
http://icalshare.com/about.php

Thing 30 LOLCats, etc

This was a fun thing--another image maker spot, especially if you like cats. I created a silly Halloween cat to post but I haven't got the link back from Cheezburger. I did get a basic one back that I posted of Petey, who iz da boss. He is not doing anything silly in this photo--just posing in all his glory. This must be one of the sites where a lot of people gather amusing pet photos that appear in your unsolicited email from friends and family. I also looked at the many amusing photos here:
http://lolcats.com/

Thing 29--Scrapblog

This is my first attempt at creating a Scrapblog. I plan to do another one featuring some favorite books but I want a theme for them. It is cool to resize photos, add stickers, picture frames, and pages. This was easy to navigate. I plan to do this again for sure. By the way, my cats want to know when they are going to get some attention from me and get featured on this blog. They are jealous of the doggies and horses. Patience, kittyboys; you, too will join in the fun.

Champions of my heart

Thing 28

Actually, I spent a lot of time with this. I created more magazine covers and have not posted them. I do have them saved, however, for possible future use. I created the magazine: Top Cats of the World. I also created a billboard (see below) of Times Square at a future time when Fitzroy becomes top dog at Westminster. Such fun with this.

Fitzroy Wins Westminster

Fitzroy Wins Westminster,
originally uploaded by LuvBarbaro.

So exciting to know the top dog at Westminster. It's Youngstown's very own Fitzroy, the Border Terrorist. He strutted his stuff at the premier dog show. There was never a question among the audience. He won everyone's heart and the judge's too. Congratulations Fitzroy!

Thing 28-One of My Cats is on the Cover of Top Cats of the World

I played around with creating a magazine cover and using different methods to post it. I created a cover using Big Huge Labs as my image generator site. I downloaded the cover to my computer, I uploaded it to both Photobucket and Flickr. When I blogged it from Flickr directly here, I didn't like the size of the post so I resized it and clicking on it takes you to the larger size on the Flickr site. The first cover I did on another subject (a dog alas!) was way too large so I deleted it. But now that I know how to do this, I am going to work on that one again.

On Chesil Beach--Thing 27 Photobucket

Ian McEwan is one of my favorite literary authors and a Booker Prize winner. His book Atonement is due to be released soon as a major motion picture starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. This powerful story stayed with me a long time and led me to his other writings. A must read. His latest book is On Chesil Beach. This novella is set in England in 1962 and deals with college graduates Florence and Edward on their wedding night. The story is set on the cusp of the sexual revolution. These newlyweds are desperately in love but each possesses unrelenting anxiety about the physical act of sex; both are virgins and relics, so to speak, of Victorian times. Their fears and their inability to discuss them openly forms the crux of the story. A brief, poignant and ultimately tragic story. The Library also owns the audio edition. McEwan does an excellent job with the narration and there is an added bonus on the CD--an interview with the author.



I used Photobucket here to create a slideshow of Chesil Beach, a breathtaking vacation spot on the English coast

Thing 26 has been fun

It is time to move on; I can get carried away adding these widgets. Customizing the colors and size has been important to me. This site was easy to use and navigate.

Thing 26 --Widgets

I love movies; my favorites are listed in my profile; of course, once a movie becomes a "classic" on my terms, I will add it to my favorites. I use Rotten Tomatoes frequently as a source for reviews for movies purchased for the Library. It is one of several sources consulted. The next movie I must see is Elizabeth: the Golden Age. I have seen most of the movies on Elizabeth I

The Widgets are Coming

I am going to add several widgets here. I like using them with such quick access.

Thing 25-- Newsletters

I worked with LetterPop and gained a real appreciation for our Graphic Arts Dept's ability to produce stunning issues of It's Happening. I played around with my newsletter changing fonts, sizes, and experimenting with text. There are a lot of neat templates to use. I chose one for the fall season. I could see using this on a personal level--creating those holiday letters to family and friends. Here at the Library, we have our experts on staff. I had a difficult time posting the links; there are times when I can't get things to work from a computer at YPL. I had to do this exercise at home.
http://www.letterpop.com/builder.php?newsletter_id=63005

Thing 24

So now I've moved on; it took me a while to catch on to Zamzar and then realized I was creating the file conversions after all. It was that easy. I changed a photo and edited it. I also converted a Word document to a PDF. I think at some point I will add the Zamzar file converter to my links bar; it will be much easier to convert documents to PDF by this simple click.

Re-visiting my posts

I have been retracing my steps and checking my links, postings, etc. It's been a review before I move on. I went back to the productivity tools and realized that if I want to post my document from Zoho I should make it public. The link to my Replacements document is now available

What's next

The fall TV season has started and I'm learning how to tape from my VCR with the new digital cable services I have. Another technical challenge that is much more frustrating than it needs to be. All of the shows I like are on at the same time! And of course there are football games to watch too (Go Bucks!).

This week marks the anniversary of the Longmeadow Horse Rescue's saving horses bound for slaughter. These poor creatures were involved in a tractor trailer accident on the interstate. Many horses died horribly but many were saved and fostered. I have supported Sweetie but I love the hinny, Bazonka Donk who looks very handsome now.

Thing 23-Satisfaction guaranteed

Well, like many of you, I made it and the exciting thing for me is that I am ready to go on to more things in Library 2.1. When I first heard about Library 2.0 last year, I figured it was for the most technically savvy generation of 20 and 30 somethings (or Teens). I am pleasantly surprised that with patience and perserverance I could learn about social networking, new methods of communicating, share some of my interests and knowledge, and have fun doing it. I am among the staff who started working here before computers. Do any of you remember the TWXIL(sp?) machine in General Reference for ILL? I am proud to have created this blog without outside help, through trial and error, a bag of M&M peanuts, and a desire to go on with it. Once Michele Mellor showed me the blog template, I was on my way.

My goal has been to logically and methodically go through the exercises and blog about them. I easily could have gotten carried away with the image generators which seem to be not only popular but also fun to create and post. As you can see, I have them too. I couldn't help myself. However, I wanted to have an understanding that I could build upon with each exercise in order to see where this use of technology would lead me and help in my job here at the Library. I hope I have done that and that others will enjoy reading and clicking on things but learn something too from my blog. I plan to continue to tinker with it in coming weeks and make sure the layout and widgets are where I want them, etc.

One of my favorite things to do has been Library Thing and I will continue to add books I am reading there. I would like to add a few book reviews or comments to my entries. I also want to work on my tags. I like the concept of tags and being able to search by popular terms or similar concepts. I think we could reach more users by adopting this kind of technology in our library catalog. I will definitely use my bloglines account and follow the RSS feeds. I am glad to know about Technorati and Podcasts but will need to play around more with them to see what library applications might occur to me. I blogged about my interests in Wikis and definitely like the ability to create and edit entries that are shared work. What was the hardest? Believe it or not--posting the Bloglines widget to my blog!

Thing 22- Net Library and Digital Library Reserve

This was probably the easiest "thing" for me since selecting electronic content is one of the tasks I work with regularly here at YPL. Net Library has over 2,000 titles available to us but the titles are more reference in nature. To be honest, I am more excited about our new Gale Virtual Reference Library than Net Library. One of our primary vendors, Recorded Books, uses the Net Library platform but costs for downloadable audio from them (based on our population served) is very prohibitive. The exciting thing about electronic formats is that it is constantly evolving. Once Overdrive (our provider of digital content) added downloadable audio and many publishers started to come on board, the selection has grown. Since many of you are reading our blogs and are not aware of the eBooks service featured on the frontpage our library homepage, please check it out. Our catalogers add titles regularly to our library catalog. Since we order online from Overdrive and titles are added once we hit the "submit" button, the eBook site is updated the day the order is placed. Did you know that we have simultaneously released audio titles that are hardcover bestsellers? Nora Roberts, High Noon, is one such title. James Patterson's books are constantly being replaced in hardcover and paperback. Check our electronic holdings. We have Patterson in all formats. It is important to know about the library's digital content and to use it in reader's advisory service. Many titles on our purchase alerts are available without holds in electronic format. It is interesting that the selection of romance titles is comprehensive. There is better selection in nonfiction than in the past. One thing to remember as you explore this exercise is to know that not all authors want to relinquish digital rights to their books. Classics and books in the public domain are more readily available. Overdrive has started to provide music and video content this past year. At this point, I am still looking at the content of their selections since in music it is mainly classical and in films it is not the feature films that are so popular with our DVD users. But as with the books, the content will grow. Movie studios need to get on board. What is so great about this? We own the content forever and it is hosted on Overdrive servers in Cleveland; the "books" are never missing or stolen; no one has to re-shelve them; we don't run out of room to shelve them; patrons and staff can reserve the titles. It is my hope that those who complete their 23 Things will use their MP3 players to download electronic content and tell their friends about this wonderful service.

More on Podcasts

I can see where Podcasts would be useful to our Library patrons to promote Library events, to describe a procedure like creating one's library account or instructions for Search Ohio, or even promoting books through reviews patrons can listen to. Since there are different learning styles, those individuals who learn best by listening could benefit from this kind of service.

Thing 21-Podcasts

I have to say that I was expecting to find a lot of interesting podcasts using these directories and/or going to my favorite sites and looking at the podcast logos. I looked at Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts. Using Yahoo I played around and searched some topics; I learned that I can add podcasts through my Yahoo account but I followed the instructions to add to my Bloglines account-- http://www.bloglines.com/public/sleuth . When I went to one of my favorite sites--NPR I located no less than 504 podcasts there! I added some music podcasts and of course, Nancy Pearl's book reviews. Two big interests of mine--music and books.

YouTube--Thing 20

I have had an account with YouTube for about a year now and went to the site to see what the buzz was all about; I realized that some of those silly videos family and friends sent to my home email originated on YouTube and got a life of their own. There is talent out there and there are are lousy videos too. Like the other social networking sites, YouTube allows anyone to show their creativity. The tagging and searching features tie in to what we've been learning. I continued to follow YouTube after Barbaro's passing because mourning fans created some lovely tributes to him. The Hennegan brothers also posted some of their footage of First Saturday in May on YouTube before the screening at film festivals this past Spring.

Thing 19--Discovering Web 2.0 tools

OK, it's raining this evening, there are no TV shows I care to see except The Closer, my ironing is done, and that gives me time to work on Thing 19. I looked at several of the Web 2.0 Awards nominees and played around with several. This exercise gave me the opportunity to play around on sites I knew existed but I had not looked at before. One of these was Google stuff like the maps. I plugged in addresses of out of town family and WOW, maps popped up quickly and they were correct too. Then I recognized some of the sites we had an exercise for (Technorati was one of those). I played around a site about widgets. Love those widgets. Since Hurricane Dean is ready to hit Mexico as a category 5, I created a Weather Channel widget. I am going to go back to that site again someday. I finally settled on Peertrainer. It was in the group with the health/medicine nominees. This is a site for weight loss and fitness support. It is free; it includes daily logs for meals and exercise, calorie charts, blogs of others with the same goals as one's own, success stories (good motivation), and good solid, information. I think this site would be helpful for those staff members at YPL who are participating in the health risk assessments.

More Thing 18

I examined Google Docs and found a lot of useful information; the spreadsheet looked easy to use and FREE; the calendars were appealing--think scheduling for agencies, meeting room calendars, social calendars (lots of interaction with invitations). Since Fall is a busy time for me I created a calendar to show what's going on for me outside of work (birthdays, football games, concerts, holiday planning, and appointments).

Thing 18-Productivity Tools

I just started with Zoho Writer and created a document. The site was very easy to use and I had no trouble saving the document. I may try to email it to several staff members if I cannot post it to this blog. Despite following all of the directions, Zoho would not recognize my blog username and ID. I did create the HTML and post the Zoho link but I won't be satisfied until I play with this some more. I also want to look at some other productivity tools.

Thing 17 pbwiki.com

I did my "peanut butter" wiki and it's linked over to the right. It was fairly simple to navigate and the video instructions were easy to follow. I also added the wiki to the favorite blogs site of Library 2.0. I am ready to move on. Hmmm- and it might be time to look at some more image generators. Everyone seems to be having fun with those.

More thoughts on Wikis

I have been reading some other blogs for our Library 2.0 and see there are concerns that editing is a big part of Wikis. Some of you don't want any tampering of your Wiki entry. On my Wiki page referred to in a previous post, it's interesting that no one has edited it in the way one thinks. However, whenever I have been "stuck" with an editing problem or post, one of the other users have gone to my Wiki and fixed it for me because I noted I was having a problem. I can look at their entries and see how they have entered information. It is different from blogging in that individuals can comment on your blog but not add content. I will definitely keep up with this as we go beyond the 23 Things.

On another note, I am finding that I have to look back as I move forward in these exercises because it takes practice and review to keep building (and not forgetting!) what we are learning here.

Thing 16--Wikis

I am familiar with Wikis and have a Wiki page on another site not relating to libraries but supporting some of my outside interests. I created that Wiki last spring and it has been useful for me in understanding this exercise and the applications of Wikis in the Library setting. The users of Wikis (i.e. contributors) are very knowledgeable in their field; it is important when creating a profile to have some qualifications/knowledge about the content since it is important to link your Wiki page to other sites, organizations, people with similar concerns. It's another way to interconnect with the world outside your own. I particularly found the Wiki Library Success: a best practices Wiki very informative and it has potential for me in my job here at the Library. Before I sign on and create a profile, however, I need time to read the entire Wiki, look at the links more extensively, and see what others are contributing. This is a great site:
http://www.libsuccess.org

Library Thing 13, 14, 15

I set up an account with del.icio.us and linked to only several things at this point. I will add things as I go along with these exercises. I discovered that one of my interests--vintage fabrics-- linked to a lot of others who like the same thing. The connectiveness of all this is amazing to me. I put a link on my blog. I can see how this can become addicting especially if you are like me: I want to learn and discover new things all the time. I would like to link to more library related stuff but right now am just having fun learning the technology. I don't want this to be just a literary blog.

Technorati-- Wow! When I looked at this site several weeks ago I was "OK, will I ever need/use this site"? As I explored in this site, I decided to set up an account. I found a friend's blog that I've read for several years now, added him to my favorites. I did a search of Library 2.0. As of today there were over 25,500 posts about Library 2.0 and 544 blogs about it. I read some of the entries and found a blogger who is doing the 23 things. Added her to my favorites and will need to check out her blog--she has a cat mashup that I would like to see. She is not one of us. It looks like a lot of libraries are doing Library 2.0. I'm glad we didn't wait. Thanks Louisa, Mr. Sears, MP, et al for getting us going. I didn't claim my blog (too timid, I guess) and feel a little unsure--it's like a Big Brother thing. This site knows what we search, are interested in; not sure if I want to be on someone's watchlist at this point. But apparently thousands of bloggers do.

Reading about Library 2.0-- I found a good article about publicity and marketing using Library 2.0 tools--using You Tube and MySpace for programming and promotional tools, podcasts to advertise programs or do book reviews, and much more. And then there is this tagging thing; ever since our Aquabrowser demo, I can see more and more how frustrated patrons must be using our subject headings.

This has been a long post but then I've covered three things and am ready to move on.

Thing 12 Rollyo

I played around with Rollyo, created an account, created a search roll, and placed a search box on the right hand side of my blog. This has been fun and addicting to say the least. I named my search roll Lifelong Learning and included some other categories like Health and my own blog title in the drop down menu. I try to learn about new subjects all of the time so I use internet websites frequently to read news stories, check on my favorite horses and dogs who are competing, get new recipes, try to learn a healthier lifestyle to name a few. What I find so interesting about some of these exercises is that Library 2.0 is showing us new ways to gather information that is useful to us.

My library of recent favorites for Thing 11

I am always reading a mixture of things: good mysteries, stories with historical characters, nonfiction. I also listen to Books on CD that are separate from what I am reading. I read several books at a time; it depends upon my mood what book I pick up each evening. I enjoyed this exercise because it relates to one of my favorite activities--reading. Hope others enjoy these books.

Working with bloglines

I now understand how these site feeds work and am still trying to learn how to manage them from within my blog; I still cannot get the bloglines button to paste in my blog. That is perhaps in another discovery lesson; I subscribed to a feed from TV guide that is maintained by my cousin Matt. He blogs about some of my favorite shows. Not that I have much time for TV viewing--but I do have some favorites. I am done with Thing 8 & Thing 9. I've looked at Feedster and Technorati. These are the feeds I subscribed to:
www.bloglines.com/public/sleuth

Bloglines

I have been looking at RSS feeds and created a Bloglines account; I now have to decide if I want to (let's say can) import the ones I added into my blog for public viewing so others know I completed this exercise. I'll need to refine this exercise as I go along plus check on my feeds too.

AquaBrowser

It has been a busy week as usual at YPL. I was lucky enough to attend a demonstration of the AquaBrowser Library with some fellow staff members. It is a searching and finding technology that works with the library's OPAC. It's intuitive and helps patrons and staff search the Library's catalog and beyond in a new way. Toledo Public and approximately 300 libraries world wide have this technology. It certainly fits in with the Library 2.0. I sure hope we can add this technology some day. See for yourself. www.TLCdelivers.com. Way cool.

I've completed Thing 7.

Love these horses

mosaic5149827,
originally uploaded by LuvBarbaro.

Here are a few of the horses I love--clockwise--Rags to Riches, Nicanor, Nicanor with his winter coat, and Barbaro with Dr. Richardson. Nicanor is Barbaro's baby brother for those who don't know of him. I used a Flickr tool from Big Huge Labs to create this mosaic as Thing 6.

Flickr

I've been having fun with Flickr (thing 5) and am ready to move on to the more complicated(???) 6& 7; we'll see; I purchased a copy of Harry Potter; what to do first, read the book, enjoy summer outdoors, or play with this blog?

Barbaro's legacy

barbaro_framed_jpeg,
originally uploaded by LuvBarbaro.

Fans of Barbaro continue his legacy by trying to save all horses from inhumane treatment, ending horse slaughter in the United States (S311) and contributing to research to find a cure for laminitis.

Barbaro without his bridle

barbaro4,
originally uploaded by LuvBarbaro.

This is a beautiful photo of Barbaro showing his keen intelligence

Barbaro at finish line

barbaro at finish line,
originally uploaded by rsg26.

This is how I love to remember Barbaro--flying through the air and winning the Kentucky Derby at 6 1/2 lengths. I have the poster of this famous photograph.

Whoooo!

ready for his closeup,
originally uploaded by artolog.

Owls are one of my favorite birds and I have been lucky enough to see many during my walks through Poland Woods.

Slow going--approaching Thing 5

A lot has been going on here at the Library to keep me busy. I want to continue on but I can see that I will be doing a lot of editing through trial and error which will take more time than what I've alloted myself or anticipated; need to learn how to adjust the layout of this blog. I've been working on another web project and learned how to use Photobucket; it's very easy. I've used it here. I am now through Step 4. On to Thing 5 and Flickr which, I think, will be similar to Photobucket.

Getting started-- Library Things 1-4

This initial blog post concerns the launching of our journey into the world of Library 2.0. I've read through the guidelines, looked at some of the blogs and watched the online tutorial of 7 1/2 habits. . . What I can relate to is accepting responsibility for my own learning. I've not had any formal computer training and everything I've learned on the computer has been by trial and error. I'll ask for help if I need it but I will try to work it out before I ask. I also view this entire exercise as a challenge. I hope I can have fun and "play"--that will be the hardest because I want to give this project my best effort.

This is definitely fun so far if not a little uncreative at first; look forward to catching on to this and learning how to post photos. When I see how everyone interconnects online, I'm amazed. Obviously, I've created a template and registered my blog.