the vineyard in winter

This looks like my hometown in winter!

Back to the blog

Yay, and Hello! After 4 months of non-use, we have been granted some time to further our exploration with scheduled time for computing. I'm heading for librarything to refresh myself.

I had a great time, and found some new books to explore by looking at the booklists of other librarything patrons. Try it, you'll like it!

Evolution of a blog

I've been reflecting on the journey, and feel very satisfied with the 2.0 learning experience. I'm happy to be wrapping it up, but hope I can stay in touch with what we have learned. Favorites: Flickr,of course, Bloglines, Library Thing, Pandora,Scrabulous and the blog all by itself. Reviewing my blog, and seeing the development of it, aided by the 2.0 discovery program, encourages me. I remember feeling alot of frustration in the early activities, but now I feel gratified with my progress, so much so, that I feel that I will blog again. Kudos and thankyou to Fort Vancouver Regional Library for making this happen for all employees interested in accepting the challenge.

playing

I spent some more time revisiting the audio sites, also just wandering around looking at other blogs while I was listening to some great music courtsey of pandora. I also returned to del.icio.us and reviewed social bookmarking with better understanding. Ideally, we need to play a little every week with our new tools in order to refine this 2.0 learning experience. I for one, would like to see our schedules allow for us to continue learning by keeping up with our newly created accounts and exploration. Otherwise, like most things....it's, you know, out the window............

alternative blogging

Regarding this activity, I'm pretty burned out with signing up for this or that. I feel like I've come full circle, and my head is spinning again, or should I say, twittering and tumblring !!! I'm not sure if these would be helpful in libraries or not at this point.......my head is spinning.

podcasting

Useful?...certainly. I found some interesting library related articles regarding all that we have been discovering, and found myself understanding what I was reading because of the 2.0 program. Yay! However, I couldn't figure out how to view them as a podcast. I'm still learning....Yay, again!! I'll get with one of my co-workers to straighten me out on this minor detail.

item #19

I had a good time looking at the audio sites, and will use them to play music. These are great tools for seeking out new music or favorite artists....really useful, and alot of fun. I saved the best for last, though. Mango.languages really hit the spot for me! A new way to learn new languages. GREAT!

Google Docs

Well, I've gotten this far with the Google Docs. It consistantly amazes me that there is so much going on out there with Google! How do they do it? We'll see now, how this posts to my blog.

WOW, it posted!!!

Cool Stuff

Scrabulous YES! I could spend hours at it.

Wordshoot YES, again!

I also created a Facebook account and found it much cleaner and more appealing than Myspace.

This has been a terrific session exploring cool stuff.

extreme skier

Wikis

I think that Wikis are fascinating, but I find them to be a bit overwhelming because I'm not entirely sure how well they work with large groups. It seems that for smaller groups like reading groups, community groups, groups of friends with certain agendas, wikis would be very useful and fun. I found the Wikis In Plain English video entertaining and helpful. I could have used a wiki for organinzing WITH my friends, instead of taking on the big-headache of making all the yearly campout plans (for a large group of friends) myself. The group input and interaction provided by the wiki would have been much more fun for everyone.

Library Thing

I created an account with Library Thing because co-workers had such great things to say about it. Yes, it is a wonderful resource! I'm looking forward to adding more books to my library, and exploring all the nooks and crannies that Library Thing has to offer. I didn't spend much time looking at goodreads. I liked the "easy-on-the-eye look" of Library Thing. I think that Library Thing will be fun to share with patrons who read alot. All in all, a very enjoyable and useful site!

Technorati

I found the tutorial interesting, and helpful. I had alot of fun exploring Technorati, but not enough time in my 1-hour session. For me, it is one of those sites that can consume alot of time, without really accomplishing much.

del.icio.us

I agree with Pezzy, del.icio.us might be delicious if you intend to use it, but definately not yummy. I become exhausted looking at all that stuff. I can see how it can be useful for research once you become familiar with it. I enjoyed the video and the tutorial, and this looks to be a great organizing tool.

social networking

I can see why social networking is popular, and that it has exciting benefits for people, but not all of us want to go there. I'm still a little hesitant to join the lemmings rushing to the waters of the web for friends and contacts.

As for libraries taking part in social networking, I suppose that this is part of the push and why we (as library employees) are taking part in the Discover 2.0 program. I recognize the importance of keeping up with technology, and although I am finding parts of this learning experience frustrating and exhausting, I'm glad to be in a place that allows me to be exposed to the "world out there"... a place that I would probably not go on my own. The world is always changing: adapting, (or taking the plung and learning to swim) I suppose, is the key to survival.

meebo

I did the meebo thing, and thanks to a co-worker and crash solo, I got the widget posted to my blog, then I didn't like the way it looked on my blog because it was the wrong color, so I tried to re-arrange it on the page and I couldn't make it fit in, so I deleted it, and now I have added it back. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to use it!

slogging with blogging

I'm feeling really "blogged" down with my progress. I am also feeling a bit mulish about social networking. I've read about meebo, and myspace, and facelift, oh, I mean facebook....a little humor, please. I guess I'll go through the motions of setting up these accounts and see what happens. I did come to realize that the RSS feeds can be fun, so perhaps this will be also.

RSS continued

After reading and applying info from some of the other blogs, I have had a change of heart regarding RSS. I signed up for some feeds via bloglines and found some that I can relate to and have fun with.

RSS feeds

WHOOOOOOA...........way too much info coming my way on this one. I like to keep my life simple and although the message says this simplifies web-life, I'm not buying it! I subscribed to a few feeds via google reader, but I really doubt if I will spend any time looking at those feeds. Life is too short to live for the screen!!!

Flickr Color Pickr

I loved Flickr Color Pickr! I took a quick peek at some of the other mashups, but kept returning to color picker because colors really affect me, especially the deeper hues of orange and blue

Flickr

I've been spending alot if time looking at Flickr. I finally learned how to post a photo to my blog, but it was frustrating with the help I got from the discover program. I finally asked my co-worker to help me, and it was so easy. This makes me realize that I am very not techno-savvy, and that I learn easy if I can be shown what to do.

great grey owl

I wanted to blog about this photo when I first started my Discover 2.0 program. I was having some technical difficulties as a beginner, and now that I am a little more familiar with blogging, I will edit the post.

I selected this image for my first photo post because I am interested in birding, and feel very fortunate as a novice birder to have encountered this magnificent owl on a forest trail several years ago. As I approached this bird, I was in awe of his stately presence. I was lucky enough to spend quite a lengthy time making eye to eye contact with him. My feeling was that I was the one being viewed.

discovering Discover 2.0

As a novice to social internet tools, I am a bit overwhelmed. Nevertheless, I shall proceed with caution. Regarding 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learning, I think that Habit #6 - Using technology to my advantage is most difficult for me. I tend to be somewhat intimidated, largely by the sheer amount of what is out there in cyberspace, and computer screens are not exactly appealing to me. Easiest for me is Habit #2 - Accepting responsibility for my own learning. I believe strongly in lifelong learning, and discovering Discover 2.0 is certainly a challenge and a eye-opening learning process for me