#12 Roll your own search engine

Rollyo is pretty interesting. I think it is handy to create your own search engine using sites that you use. My sites were sort of all over the place, so I chose to create a roll with various sites that I frequent each day:

http://www.rollyo.com/melflint5108/

I don't have a whole lot of sites that I tend to use daily...but I will continue to try and think of some to add.

This might come in handy when helping students find information for school or patrons find information about something they are researching. For instance, a patron or student might be looking for a certain topic, and you could have a Rollyo that is just news sites and you could search those to find them some information and sources.

#11 A thing about LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing.

It's a lot like another site I found a while back called Shelfari (http://www.shelfari.com/) except this is where you add your books you own and Shelfari is more about what you are currently reading. Though I suppose you could just add what you've read to your LibraryThing as well.

I don't own lots of books but I put a few that I can remember that I have:

http://www.librarything.com/home/melflint5108

Feel free to look me up on Shelfari (see above link), too. My name is Mel5108 (look for a pic of a guy in a tux with a martini...that's Devin), and you can find me under a members search.

I really like these sites because people can share their interests and you can discover new books to read.

#10 Play around with Image Generators

Well I discovered one that I really had fun with (see above):

http://www.coverbrowser.com/bubbler

This generator gives you really goofy, old, comic book coveres and a word bubble that you can write whatever you want into...and yes, some of them lend themselves to be quite silly!

Here's some more I did:

Packer Pride

Just to toot my own horn...

...here is a link to the South High webpage. I have been building the library homepage for a few days now using DotNetNuke (which I taught myself to use) and I think it's pretty nice for a first-timer:

http://www.ops.org/high/south/STUDENTS/Library/tabid/413/Default.aspx

Take a look at our beautiful library. It really is a great place for our kids and the staff to work in. I am proud of our library at South and I am proud of my little webpage, lol.

#9 Finding Feeds

This part of the lesson was pretty easy.

Most every site you go to these days has the RSS feed symbol, so it was pretty easy to find sites I frequent and add them to Bloglines.

Always the journalism major at heart, I added Omaha.com and KETV to my Bloglines. I also have added USA Today and BBC News. I am generally reading news when I am online. There area few blogs I read as well.

I think the easiest way of adding the feeds to Bloglines was to just find sites that were interesting and copy, cut, and paste their URL's into the Bloglines "add a feed" search (or type the URL if I knew it).

I really like Topix.net. I thought searching was easy and the site has a neat and simple in design. I especially liked the fact that they were news stories. I can see myself looking at Topix.net in my free time.

Technorati is very nice as well (Syndic8.com timed out when I tried to load it so I will try it another time). I found it easy to use and I liked how it broke down searches according to your interests (entertainment, sports, news, etc.), which is always helpful.

Again, I really can't see myself using RSS when I am using the Internet for personal reasons, except for Topix.net since I am really into the news. I can see myself setting up a Bloglines for work reasons though.

I didn't really find any of this confusing in any way. The only frustration was not being able to load Syndic8.com 'cause I wanted to see what that was all about.

#8 Make life "really simple" with RSS & a newsreader

Okay...

I'd hate to be a Negative Nellie here...but I don't really like RSS feeds. Does that make me some sort of weird-o? And honestly, I don't know anyone personally who uses them much.

Though that does not mean it isn't valuable to others, though.

I enjoy reading through websites, especially blogs, for information. I like to look at the sites I'm on and explore them. To me, that's the whole joy of blogging and reading them and seeing the entire layout. It's like Christmas morning, bringing up a new web page to read!

But maybe I'm some sort of whack-o girl, lol.

I mostly use LiveJournal for blogging, and they have what is called a Friends Page which basically gives you a short blurb from each "friend" you have (like an RSS but in keeping with your page layout and leaving in the avitars, etc. of the other users) on that page so you can choose which blogs you want to go deeper into and read.

I guess personally I would not find much use for this, basically because I don't read lots of blogs or websites in one day to the point that I would need all of them on one page in this manner. The way Bloglines is set up bothers me...it seems cluttered. I know I know...the links are in alphabetical order. But it just seems like a long slew of links and when you click on them, a whole page full of words.

I miss the graphics, the layout, the links and pics...everything that goes into building a website is missing. It's just words and yes, I love to read and words are great (hence blogging in the first place) but part of what makes using the internet appealing is design elements. I mean, I see that you can see some pictures that go along with the article...I guess I am just not into the whole parsed down look of it all. It's a yawn.

But I PERSONALLY (I'm not talking in a professional sense) only use the internet these days for quick communication and for entertainment, not homework and only for general research like recipes etc.

That said, I do however, think it would be really useful for students and teachers combing the net for information for research. I know when I was in college this would have been very helpful to me (having been a journalism major) in order to keep track of various new sources. I know this could be useful to me with my students who come to the library at South High School.

I can see that it would be useful for librarians (because information from lots of places would be available in one spot which makes for quick searches). I think we will definately be using this at OPL if not now but in the future as another way to get answers to reference questions to the public quickly.

So I guess for at home and for leisure I probably will stick to my old ways (no need for RSS) but in a work or educational environment, I think I would use this tool in the future.

#7 Blog About Technology

This may sound silly, but I think the Internet is an amazing feat of technology.

I remember when I was in 3rd grade, they were telling us about these computers that would hook up through the telephone and allow you to talk to your friends while you were at home. We thought it sounded so cool...and so foreign. And now, it's an every day thing!

I can't believe how much the Internet has done for me personally. It has allowed me to research topics for when I was in college, for my wedding, and anything I need to know about on a daily basis I can look up online...recipes, car repair, calendar, concert dates, news, information about my bank accounts...the applications are endless.

I went ages without it, not even having a computer of my own 'til about 8 years ago, but now I can't imagine what it would be like to NOT have it.

I'd lose track of friends and family that have moved away and I would have never made some of he friends I now have without the Internet. Email has allowed me to carry out a dialogue that I didn't have before. I truly enjoy written communication sometimes (instead of using that evil telephone all the time).

Our work at the library has been improved by the use of the Internet. Information is available to us at the click of a button, and we can use both the Internet and books as sources of information TOGETHER when doing research.

Thank goodness for the Internet, I say! Who knew that the mythical computers for communication from my childhood would become such an important tool in my daily life.

#6 More Flickr Fun Part B...Library Trading Card!

This is where I will post my library trading card (once I get a chance to make it)! Stay tuned.

#6 More Flickr Fun...Take 2...Color Pikr!

Leaf, originally uploaded by A is for Angie.

This is a cool little tool to play with. My second favorite color is green, so I chose the brightest setting of green and found this really bright, beautiful, leaf.

# 6 More Flickr Fun--Montager

This tool is pretty interesting! I pulled it up (and actually didn't type anything into the search) and someone had already had the word "face" in the search window. It pulled up a very uh, revealing pic of a woman without a top on with her arms crossed in front of her, lol.

I switched the search to "kitten" and got a really cool picture of a cat. Much more my speed, lol. Montager, however, did not work with the picture. I tried various pictures but they either didn't load the entire mosaic, or the mosaic was very very dark so you could not tell what the whole picture was.

I asked our computer page, Stacy Bair, for help and she could not see why it was doing what it was. We tested to see if it depended on when the original pic was posted in Flickr, but that didn't seem to make a difference.

After trying about 5 different pictures multiple times, I gave up. I think I will try a different Flickr mashup and see if I have better results with it!

#5 Flickr

Rocky Mt. National Park, Estes Park, CO, originally uploaded by melflint5108.

Here is my first uploaded pic on Flickr!

I have never used Flickr before and I am really impressed. Other programs that I've used like Photobucket are not as complex as this one.

For instance, the fact that I can blog the pic directly with no fuss is great! I like the way Flickr is set up and laid out. The screens are clear and clean...everything is easy to use and the directions are easy to follow.

Very cool!

Well, this is a picture from our honeymoon. Devin and I were married May 10th and we went away for a short honeymoon in Estes Park, Colorado. The first day there it was warm and sunny. Then it got rainy and the rain turned to snow overnight.

We really wanted to go to the National Park, so we went despite the snow and it was beautiful.

Cool!

Now that this week's Flickr assingments have opened up, I wish I was at home so I could use more pictures off of my pc, lol! Alas, I am at work clerking.

But I did find a spare moment to sign up for Flickr. I am looking forward to trying this out because I have never used any other photo-host program besides Photobucket.

I just discovered that I can click on the pictures I posted here in the blog and they will get super-mega-huge! I like that since some of them were a bit small and hard to see who was in them.

Library Workers Past and Present Pic Spam!

I've worked at OPL now 10 years, and over those years I've had the pleasure of knowing some really great people (0ne of which ended up my husband, lol)!

Here are just some of the pictures I have from over the years. A lot of them are Willa Cather employees 'cause that's my home.

Spot the OPL workers, both past and present! Have fun!

(You can click on the pic to mega-enlarge it for better viewing.)

Phlegm Is My Overlord!

I have the plague. I think it's the OPS plague, which is something I seem to get every year when school starts and I go back to the full time job at the school library.

This version of the plague comes with phlegm blockages to my nasal cavities, my brain, and possibly my larynx. I cannot hear, breathe, swallow, or taste anything. Everything tastes like paste...not that I would know what that tastes like since I was not one of the paste-eaters from kindergarten.

I feel weak and kittenish as well as a bit dopey (and no, I'm not heavily drugged).

I missed my school job and my OPL job at WC tonight. It's pretty hard working a 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. day and I knew I just couldn't do either today with the whole lack of air to my brain because of phlegm thing.

Off to go take Sudafed and watch mindless television! Huzzah!

Week 1. Learning 2.0 & Lifelong Learning

(Out of order but still relevant!)

7 1/2 Habits Tutorial:

I find that the easiest of the habits listed for me is #7 1/2 which is "play." I have always been fairly easy going and I find work as well as learning can be more fun if you well, have some fun, lol! So this is by far the easiest thing for me to do.

I would like to continue to use my good sense of humor and willingness to make learning fun to my advantage each day.

The hardest lifelong learning habit for me is the teaching or mentoring habit. I get nervous when I am showing someone something new, and sometimes I lack the confidence in myself to show people new things. I feel like I might be telling them the wrong thing or that I sound silly when I'm showing them something.

I would like to work on this and develop this habit. I would like to be less frightened of teaching others and feel more confident in my own abilities.

#3 Get blogging in 3 steps...what lifelong learning means to me

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. ~Eartha Kitt

We learn every day...so why not encourage it in every aspect of our daily lives?

Part of lifelong learning involves being open to take a class and learn something new at any age!

I am hoping to learn new things about the web and what it has to offer me as well as library patrons.

I have been using the internet for years as a social networking tool, and in order to keep in touch with friends and family who live in other states and countries.

Through Library Learning 2.0, I would like to learn about other programs besides the ones I have learned to use over the years.

I look forward to exploring other blog hosting sites, as well as photo-sharing sites as well!

So far, I am finding blogger to be very easy to use! Inserting the pic above was far easier (and quicker) in blogger than it is in LiveJournal.

Cheers,

Mel

Testing...One, Two, Three...

Right then.

Here I am posting my first blog post for O! What a Geek: Library Learning 2.0 (How did they know I was such a geek, lol?)!

Let's see what this baby looks like once it's posted, shall we?