Week 9 # 23 Summary and Comment

"Paradigms are mental models that constrain our thinking and are often based on assumptions so strong we don't notice them. New paradigms cause disruption and uncertainty, even calamity, and are nearly always received with coolness, hostility, or worse. Vested interests fight against the change, and leaders of the old are often the last to embrace the new.(emphasis mine) Consequently, a paradigm shift typically causes a crisis of leadership." ( Wikinomics, p.274)

That paragraph certainly describes my approach to being wedged between the traditional library world and Library 2.0 before taking 23 Things!

What were my favorite enlightenment exercises? Wikis and the Word Processing (Zoho and Google Docs) because those are valuable and pertinent to me in reference and teaching; YouTube (who'da thunk?) and Podcasts just because I liked them.

What was involved in the entire process? 23 Things filled me in on the definitions of the hottest buzzwords in the Internet community today -- and dragged me with through a brief stampeding of their applications.

Even being familiar with how the buzzwords are applied, however, does not mean I will use all the applications 23 Things taught in my professional capacity as a librarian, except in public teaching. It's good to be proficient in what patrons might want to know.

The reality of retention because of the speed of this class: to be able to demonstrate ANYTHING proficiently after today will depend on my consistently pursuing what I've glimpsed these last nine weeks. The time was short and the information was very rapid-fire. I worked hard to get ahead of schedule during 23 Things so that I could take 2 1/2 weeks of leave in the middle of the course. When I got back to work I couldn't remember a thing I'd done before I'd left! I had not worked with any of the lessons, merely through them. I had to go back and review everything.

What surprised me? Even after feeling like I was panting and playing catch-up through the whole 23 Things experience, my interest and enthusiasm were so sparked that I checked out three books on blogging and MySpace (all brand new titles) because I'm interested in what's going on in the 2.0 world. When I read about episodes like four volunteer computer geeks creating a mashup that allowed thousands of families to track each other after disaster of Hurricane Katrina (when all the government lines of communication were inoperable) I understood that the applications of new technology can be practical and valuable. So my attitude as well as my knowledge base has been broadened.

The course itself? Many of the sites could easily have been offered by themselves for the 9 weeks because there was so much to them. This fact coupled with the multiple assignments within the lessons warrants more than 1.8 CEUs for the finished product. Pare down the number of topics, otherwise 3.0 CEUs would be far more accurate for the amount of work involved as the course is now, especially for those novices that this course is supposed to be geared toward. Two hours a week did not even begin to cover the time involved for everyone in my library except the technocrats who already had the skills and were cruising for easy CEUs.

How did this experience affect my lifelong learning goals? Besides introducing me to Library 2.0 philosophies and technologies, this course reignited my passion for teaching. It also gave me new things to teach. I am involved with five new courses for our patrons this Fall and I plan to incorporate some of the 23 Things into the classes. (Teaching for me has always been about growth through an exchange of information.) I am very happy to have been challenged to expand my repertoire.

What encouraging words would I give to others? My outlook has changed significantly -- for the better -- about 2007 library philosophy and the technology available to our community today. I feel less creaky in my brain. My vocabulary has expanded. I have new skills that I have already begun to put into practice.

Would I take another course like this one? Yes.

Week 9 #22: Audiobooks

The Frederick County Public Library has had OverDrive and NetLibrary for some time now, so I am familiar with both. For practice I checked out from OverDrive Beyond the Band of Brothers by Major Dick Winters and downloaded it onto my computer at home. I listened to the prologue to make sure it "took".

I had to register with NetLibrary at a public computer at the FCPL library since our professional computers inadvertently log us into the local community college catalog, which is ebooks only -- no audio. Once I set up my account I put Erma Bombeck's Just Wait Till You Have Children in my favorites.

Downloading the software needed to support the audiobook sites was very quick and painless on my computers at home. Personally, I would never listen to a book FROM my computer, but if downloading to a personal listening device is as painless as getting the book, then I understand why all our patrons are really pleased about the service. (All of those except our i-Pod users.)

Week Nine Number 21: Podcasts

I looked at the 3 directories, Podcast.net, Podcastalley.com and Yahoo Podcasts.
Podcast.net was the most helpful and from it I incorporated the audiobook:
Against the Tide
the yesteryear cinema:
Matinee Movies
and Arizona State University Library's:
LibraryChannel
into my
RSS Feeder

The Merlin podcast link listing the examples of how libraries are using podcasts ( storytimes, booktalks, relevant library news) was like something from future. The podcasts definitely gear libraries toward the new technology savvy patron.

Week Nine Number 20: Embedding YouTube (NOT!)

The whole Embed into HTML escaped me, even after several tries. I finally got a Mr. Bean at the Library embedded at the bottom of the page. It's time to move on to the "how would I use this in a library setting" part of the question.

The Holocaust video sample came from a patron this week who was very knowledgeable about computers and very heavily loaded down with Holocaust material by the time we were finished searching. The YouTube pieces about her area of study (ranging from 1.5 minutes to 10+ minutes) might prove very intriguing to her in light of her recent research.

The music videos were fun -- snippets of memories purely for pleasure.

The range of possibilities for viewing myriads of subjects seemed to be extensive.

Much of the YouTube phenomenon appears to me to have burgeoned out of the same soil as MySpace and others -- rapid-fire, homemade, self-serving attempts to connect with the world;
some educational, some enduring, some entertaining, some disturbing.

This puts the library as a center-for-the-community page once again as an offering of both the traditional and the new. Books about the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis accompanied by videos online.

Week 9 #20 Boldt Castle - 1,000 Islands

I choose this clip because the castle is close to my summer home. There's nowhere like the St Lawrence Seaway!

There is definitely a grainy and amateurish quality to this -- extreme conrast in both quality and content from my Holocaust selection.

Week 9 #20 Never Again-The Holocaust

I recently had a patron extremely interested in educating herself about the Holocaust so I had recent experience looking for information on this topic.

I did find all sorts of garbage (skinhead types)while I was looking, in addition to powerful videos like this one. I chose this as a sampling.

I am finally conditioned enough by 23 Things to skim through the postings (by strangers) after blogs and videos as opposed to dismissing them out of hand, and I'm glad that I did because I discovered the translation of the song that accompanies the images.

I found this presentation to be poignant and penetrating.

Week Eight Number 19 Googles Doc Test 1 Blog

Google Docs Test 1

After exploring the options on this site, I found that they are far more comparable to Zoho than I first thought. Though the word processing features are not so easy and obvious, they are available.

For example, I ever could find a spellcheck though until I went to the FAQs. There I I discovered spellcheck in many, many languages. Zoho has spellcheck for English only so Google is more advanced on that feature. (Also, I felt a bit dimwitted since the spellcheck option is highlighted in bright yellow on the bottom of the page I was typing on.)

There are several other differences, such as the word count feature listed under File as opposed to its automatically appearing in Zoho, but all in all with perseverance it seems straightforward enough to eventually create a document without having to resort to the HELP section.

Google Docs seems as though with practice it would be very close to the effectiveness and versatility as Zoho, though as a novice I still find Zoho easier to work with. Google Docs remains my second choice to share with patrons until I wrestle with it more. I am very excited about both though. I repeat -- just when I thought that Wikis were my favorite lesson -- the word processing lesson came along!

Week Eight Number 18: Zoho/Google Docs

1. Created an account in Zoho and Google Docs. Read the FAQs in Zoho. Looked at Google Docs. Decided I far preferred Zoho and that I would save Google for part 2 of this section.

2. Easily created a test document (the easily part not often applicable to my experiences with different aspects of 23 Things) and just as easily posted it to my blog -- see entry below. It was simple enough to combine my test document with my blog posting about my Zoho experience.

3. Went back to make sure I could retrieve my document successfully.

4. Turned cartwheels.

Week Eight Number 18: Zoho Test 1 Blog Post

First Zoho Document August 9, 2007

I looked briefly at Google Docs for part 2 of the word processing week and I like this site infinitely better. It's just like the software! All the right features, easily identifiable, and never mind the collaborative part -- patrons can write letters at home even on their limited creaky old computers.

It's interesting that the Zoho spellcheck identifies Zoho as a questionable word - something objective and universal about that. I appreciate the word count and character feature and all the fancy, easily identifiable icons on the toolbars on top. Just when I thought Wikis were my favorite part of 23 Things.

Week Seven Part Seventeen: Sandbox Wiki

1. Created Maryland Libraries Sandbox account.

2. Added my blog to Favorite Blogs page.

3. Created a page called Serenity = Syphoning; a paragraph about vacation. Purely a "play" exercise.

4. Added a posting about the wiki Library 2.0 in 15 Minutes a Day to an established page of "favorite wikis"

Week Seven Part Sixteen: Wikis

I have been using Wikipedia for some time as a good jumping off place to track down "reputable information". I knew that wikis were open and that the information was not necessarily substantiated, that they were subject to biased reporting, and that teachers wouldn't permit them to be used as a source for research. I wasn't aware, until this exercise that wikis could be contained and controlled.

I am very impressed with the opportunities that Wikis offer for collective sharing of valid information. I am also delighted with the ease of my being able to contribute. I knew theoretically that wikis were many-authored but I didn't know how the process worked before playing with this exercise.

My favorite examined wiki was The Library 2.0 in 15 Minutes a Day. I found it simple (encouraging), thorough and a great resource to guide patrons to, which is always 50% of my goal in this whole 23 Things process.

The Book Lovers Wiki had some useful aspects since there were many varied titles -- always nice because it alerts patrons to what's out there in the reading world, but some of the books reviewed were outdated, i.e., Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and Deception Point. Likewise, the Best Practices Wiki was sporadic between flush with information and sparse; having headings listed didn't mean there was content: "Readers' Advisory/Leading Book Groups", for example, merely had a list of possible titles and not a how-to for leading a book discussion.

Week Six Part Fifteen: Library 2.0 Perspectives

"Librarian 2.0 controls technolust: This librarian does not buy technology for the sake of technology. “Techno-worship” does not exist here. Without a firm foundation in the mission and goals of the institution, new technologies are not implemented for the sake of coolness and status. Technology is put to the test: Does it meet the users need in a new or improved way? Does it create a useful service for putting users together with the information and experience they seek? These are some of the questions this librarian asks when planning for technology. This librarian creates and nurtures a living, breathing technology plan."

Michael Stephens (great last name)

Into the New World of Librarianship

http://http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/3.htm

Library 2.0 and 23 Things are avenues to explore new technology that is available and that may be definitive and applicable to the future. But I agree with Stephens that all things bright, shiny (and especially free) are not necessarily helpful in our patrons' lives. I think it is very important to carefully evaluate rather than end up with a 21st century Edsel where "The aim was right but the target moved" (Wikipedia: Edsel)

Library 2.0 is a way to track what other library systems are implementing, where they are succeeding, where they are not, and what's new and practical that I can use on the reference desk or in class offerings.

Week Six Part Fourteen: Technorati

1)

When I did a keyword search for "Learning 2.0" under Blog Posts I got 25,194 hits. In Tags I got three windows, each with a synopsis of blog content for" Learning 2.0" and then a link to the rest of the 25,194 blogs available. I also got a video section and a photo section. In the Blog Directory I got 488 posts.

2)

I typed in "Harry Potter" in the top favorited blog and got 2219 hits. In top searches I got only a few video responses -- nothing else. In top blogs I got one response submitted 4 minutes previously and two responses submitted 1 minute previously. I was quite surprised at the dearth of information in the second two sections.

3)

Under the home search tab there was a potpourri of information from copyright and public domain to Iphones -- very random.

Under the Popular tab I put in "library 2.0" and searched as a non-registered user. On page three, the fourth listing down, posted three hours previously was MY blog entitled "Week Six Part Thirteen" from our Maryland Libraries 23 Things. I was very surprised at the speed of the posting (since I'm not registered) and the fact that it tracked my blog with just a few keywords.

After Popular I tabbed number three called WTF for Where's The Fire: What's Hot and Why. I got Lindsay Lohan and then a whole list of poorly presented (misspellings in the titles) explicit pornographic blog links. I haven't had a chance to see if this avenue (technorati - WTF -undesirables) would bypass the library's filtering system but it certainly isn't something I will point out to patrons!

Week Six Part Thirteen: Del.icio.us Tags/Account

The two days I tried to access the highly recommended Otter podcast about del.icio.us, the Otter site was down. I used del.icio.us itself to walk me through its offerings. I created an account and then searched under "library 2.0/delicious" and found some excellent bookmarks to wikis and to other shortcut instructions that had step-by-step instructions.

Until I actually logged on and scrolled through the plethora of information, I didn't quite understand: 1) How valid this could be and 2) How valuable this could be.

What I discovered was del.icio.us is very useful for gathering hot topics/relevant websites/frequently needed reference information in just about any area. From my little bit of perusing, it is a great place to go through vast amounts of information and pick and choose what's important/relevant to me and mark it. For some reason I didn't understand the implications or simplicity of this until I got in there and starting exploring. I used "library 2.0" "sun salutations" and "personal library" as tags for the bookmarks I chose.

What del.icio.us requires is spending the time to create what I want and then using it enough to keep it tweaked. I look forward to spending more time with it.

While I am very careful to edit and or eliminate most blogs from my own lists, patrons may be crazy about blogs as well as websites.

My account link: http://del.icio.us/rexstout

Week Five Part Twelve: The Curse of Rollyo

This is my Rollyo.

I had no difficulty in getting my blogroll registration, choosing a few yoga sun salutation websites, then editing my profile for public use. I had my habitual banging my head against the wall (I am no Matt Farrell*) when I tried to link to my blog. After yet another friend walked me through this I think I have it.

*Justin Long's computer-geek- young- pup character in the new Bruce Willis Live Free or Die Hard movie.
www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/04/arts/thrillers.php

Week Five Part Eleven: LibraryThing

My personal library listing is on my blog and I found it the easiest exercise yet. However, Rollyo more than made up for the reprieve!

Week Five Part Ten: Creating an avatar

Creating the avatar was straightforward enough (after a few missteps), but getting it attached to my blog was crazy-making. A colleague in 23 Things finally just SHOWED me how to do it. I have since passed that knowledge on to others so I didn't feel like I was the only one baffled. It didn't occur to me to go to settings and template, I kept trying to copy and paste into the HTML of the template itself.

Week Five Part Ten: Image Generator

Paradigm Poster
Originally uploaded by rexstout

This came from fd's Flickr Toys.

It's interesting to me because when I tried this during "flickr" week I was unsuccessful. I feel empowered at last!

It was much easier to follow directions this time, but I don't know why. I think that for any lessons and maneuvers on 23 Things (as in for most of my learning) to sink in for me, I need to do them repeatedly; I am very much a tactile learner. This section happened to be a duplicate, so I managed it in my second pass.

Week Four Part Nine MERLIN / Other RSS Feeders

Merlin.lib.md.us (MERLIN) is a great site! It is definitely the place to cruise during random minutes to keep updated about Maryland libraries in today's world. Very nice to have everything under one roof! I subscribed to it on my bloglines account after I read another poster's description.

As for the other sites, I think that syndic8.com would be useful for avid bloggers -- or blog followers, especially as it is a community site. topix.net seemed a little choppy for me -- too surface maybe (do I mean shallow?) -- snippets of information.

All in all, I liked Bloglines.com best. I used the "200 most used RSS feeds " to get started. I then used Time Magazines "50 Best RSS Feeds" from Bloglines' front page.

As I said earlier, not being a big fan of blogs, I so far have limited my searches to newsfeeds with news. Chugging pell mell through the hands-on learning of all the new "Things" tools, while I can feel my attitude about technology changing emmensely, I haven't had time to digest exactly how I will end up evolving blog-wise.

It's been my experience that patrons age 30 and under are amost often computer connected enough to be blogging away with perfect ease already, probably with RSS firmly on board, while over-30's (way over?) are still in the process of making up their minds about the community, collaboration and computers connected merely to individual viewpoints and opinions.

Either way, the RSS feeder is worth demonstrating in patron classes.

Week 4 Part Eight: Bloglines/Blogrolls/RSS

As the title to this blog implies, I found it to be extremely intensive in both content and labor. If one is an older hand in the RSS feeder world (I am older now than I was a week ago), it must seem very simple. Hmmm.

How do I think this might affect library patrons? I think that as patrons advance through our library's computer classes, this might be a really inviting offering for them -- especially if they enjoy blogs.

A. I would like to see the classes structured to library patrons who are learning to use a computer in the format of tutorials, like those in Part Four of 23 Things, accompanied by sitting down with them and guiding them one-on-one, step-by-step through the process of the world of RSS, bloglines, and choosing and creating their feeds . Because the process can be long, frustrating and a pain in the brain if one gets lost along the way, I think for beginners it is better to have a live body helping.

This is my own prejudice since I opted to work through this section solo partly because it seemed so straightforward (which, to someone more tech savvy than I it may be) and partly because when I looked through other FCPL bloggers's posts, no one (except James) was on week four yet. I limped and cursed and struggled.

B. For library patrons whose computer knowledge is more in the adept range the tutorials like those that 23 Things offer would be great guides, accompanied by library staff to help with any questions.

What did I accomplish in this week?

1. I now have a bloglines account with 20 feeds (and two folders). That is sufficient to let me explore and play with how RSS feeders work...later. My feeds are all news-based; I am not a fan of blogs in general, including mine. It took me all of the seven days of week four to barely meet the minimum requirements of getting the framework in place. Entries such as the NY Times bestseller list, the Unshelved cartoon, and the vegetarian recipes are all intuitively obvious in use. I have yet to figure out the advantages of having a list of seemingly (to me) unconnected headlines in my newspages. So my play has been limited. Probably time is an answer to all my puzzlements -- I just don't have anymore right now.

2. I have a public link with my blogline at http://bloglines.com/public/rexstout.

3. I have an RSS button on my blogspot account (note address bar above) -- my only "play" attempt so far.

4. I added the FCPL particpants to my RSS feeder.

5. I added my blog to my feeder.

Wikinomics Week Three Part Seven

I picked up a copy of Wickinomics last week to see if I could glean anything helpful about what I was learning during the 23 Things Course and I stumbled on a very interesting section about the world for today's young people.

The book said that the world that the baby boomers grew up with --riding bikes in the neighborhood until dark with packs of friends, for example -- obviously does not work in society today. Though 10-15 years ago kids transferred their social lives to malls, today kids are banned from loitering or meeting in groups unsupervised. Many teens (and young adults living at home) have to share their living space with parents and guardians without an avenue that allows them to connect with each other on their level with any sense of freedom or age appropriate interaction. There is no sense of privacy, something vital at that age group (maybe all age groups?)

Thus, according to the book, something like MySpace is the ideal connector for 2007. It allows social experimentation, peer recognition, self expression and a chance to learn what works and what doesn't work in relationships for people who have constrained physical interactions.

While I don't know that I would have labeled what I have seen on MySpace accounts in such glowing sociological and psychological terms, I found that I have changed my attitude about their purpose and results in a community setting, such as the public library.

Week Three Number Six Mashups

Actually, this was more like smashups for me. I understood the concepts and caromed around the sites but I remain bewildered. I activated fd's Flickr toys and attempted a magazine cover but managed to bump my pictures off -- again! I know where to find things if I want a nifty gift for my nephews but otherwise I am moving on to number 7, my technical article for this week.

Week Three Number 5 Continued

Hassan1
Originally uploaded by rexstout

I found my own pictures. Here's one of them. I will attempt to get it on the big map next...

Week Three Number Five Beautiful Mongrel

Beautiful mongrel
Originally uploaded by csavules

At long last!

After uploading photos from my digital camera, tagging them, attempting (without success) to attach them to a map, joining a group and then spending an inordinate amount of time with other flickr offerings that flopped I finally just went with the find-someone-else's-work-and-use-it-scheme.

This is the result of my Week Three part 5 "PLAYING!"

Week Two Part Two Registering Blog

While this step was even easier than creating the blog (very simple indeed), I found it to be very frustrating.

Trying to take into account where I have time crunches in my schedule, I wanted to work ahead in weeks two and three. And unless I am an idiot (which may very well be the case) there was no way for my library system to register our participants until the Monday of week two, when the liaison set up the link, so I was stuck. I tracked down other library systems that were active but not ours.

Week Two Part One Creating a Blog / Posting to Blog

Creating the blog was extremely painless --and very straightforward. Follow 3 simple directions and I now own a blog.

Posting was another thing entirely. Writing "off the top of my head" for an unknown audience was very uncomfortable and I spent too much care (and time) choosing my words. Knowledge of my topic was not the issue -- presentation was.

Week One Part One

Samples of fellow bloggers / Participants

Outine of course with weekly titles and links provided

Suggestion of Tips page

All course creators very enthusiastic

Week One Part Two 7 1/2 Habits

Teaching/Mentoring is the easiest and strongest habit for me. I was a university lecturer for almost 20 years in stateside and European schools. After receiving my MLS 30 years ago, the bottom dropped out library funding and one couldn't find a job anywhere near a reference desk. I ended up with a second master's out of necessity and ended up teaching. That was a journey of amazing and exponential growth for me because of what the students brought to the classes. I discovered that no matter how much prep I had done, I always came away with new resources and skills given to me by my students. My last 8 years have been in a public library in reference -- the best of both worlds. Mini-teaching, no homework to grade. I am involved in mentoring in the library system and public teaching for patrons.

Describing my writing instrument for the majority of my years of teaching will clearly demonstrate why technology is my weakest area in the 7 and 1/2 habits. I wrote with a field typewriter that my father brought home from Viet Nam and bequeathed to me for my college career. It was tiny, extremely lightweight and designed to be carried in a field pack during war. It had minuscule keys that took the strength of an Olympian athlete to strike. The use of 2 carbons was effective, 3 carbons was pushing it. Never mind that I had to retype my syllabi AND all my handouts for every class for every semester. Social scientists say that the formative years of learning influence the attitudes of the learner throughout life. I am ready to stop thinking using ancient, painstaking pathways and "embrace the technology boom".