Thing #6 - Add on

Add caption

Personalize your own photo collage

Well, here at last is a kind of a "mash-up". It criminal the way I had to pay for it. but I got it done.  When you click on Play, you will be transferred to a larger picture of the post card - with music.  When you click on each picture it will become larger and be in color


These are pictures from my trip to Atlanta  in 2009 for the National Book Club Conference.  I met Susan Taylor, former editor of Essence Magazine, Dr. Cornell West author of RACE MATTER and DEMOCRACY MATTERS.  Dr. West currently teaches at Princeton University.  I met 80 year old J. California Cooper, who wrote LIFE IS SHORT BY WIDE.  I also met many people from book clubs around the United States it was a wonderful trip.  I learned a lot.

Thing #23 - My Thoughts on 23 Things

Wow!  What a ride!  I have thoroughly enjoyed doing "23 Things".  I'm sure there were other times in my life when I was just as frustrated, angry, overwhelmed, truly amazed, enraptured, and/or awestruck but I can't remember when.  I've learned so much about programs and tools that I can use in my personal and professional life.  Instead of my old routine of taking it for granted that I don't have time to blog or learn about avatars, I have become a blogger with an avatar and so much more.  This will make a big change in my life.

The most exciting programs I learned about were the creation of avatars, creating my own blog, and learning about and gaining access to thousands of photographs that I can use at will.  In creating my blog I learned how to connect and share information with other blogs and sites.  I've also learned how to "follow" others blogs and I posted comments that a published blog page, ROOTS, actually printed.  Imagine!  But the cherry on the cake came when a total stranger became a follower of my blog.

I have been a member of a couple of book clubs for years.  Creating a blog about book clubs that all my book club buddies and blog followers could access and contribute to is now possible with what I've learned.  For the longest time, I've visited web sites that had little pictures and buttons that were a mystery to me.  Now I know what they are and can add them to my blog to link followers to other sites, instantly.  It will probably take all my will power not to let this blogging business take over my life.  I feel like I could do this for a living now, and I haven't completely learned all the "gadgets" yet. 

Fortunately, I had the time to struggle with the difficult parts of this learning process.  If I had not had the literally hours to study each new "thing", I would never have learned as much as I did.   Prior to "23 Things", I knew only the basics about PCs, the Web, E-mail and data entry.  The "23 Things" process teaches by immersion.  You just get tossed in and have to sink or swim.  In my struggle to swim (figure out how to do this thing or that) hours passed.  Just registering to become a member of all those sites, took up boat-loads of time.  A different password and account had to be developed for each one, not to mention birth dates.  I think this last was the worst of it.  There wasn't sufficient warning in the beginning that all these programs could only be accessed when the participant revealed their birth date, an invasion of privacy to say the lest.

To be sure, if another "23 Things" kind of program came along, I would jump right on it.  The painful parts are worth enduring.  Hopefully in the future "Things" training, a better way will be found for students to access the various sites to learn just the basics without having to register.  At this writing, I have twenty or so accounts that need to be deleted since they were opened with my County (work) e-mail.    As for promoting the program to new students, I would entice them by promising that they will be able to use any gadget ("Click-on") they see on a web screen, after doing the program.  All things considered, however, I'm glad I got the chance to do this.  I learned a lot.  Thanks!

GrandmaDeeDee and Mini-me

Thing #22 - E-books, audiobooks, Guttenberg

Alice in wonderland scene
Originally uploaded by Elysia in Wonderland

After reading the Thing #22 material, I set out to experience e-books, audio books, or downloading books onto my computer on blank CD's.  After struggling for quite some time, I discovered that my computer wasn't equipped to allow me to download onto my PC the program that would allow me to download a book to read.  I needed Administration permission to do that.

PROJECT GUTENBERG to the rescue.  Here was a site that allowed me to download all the books in the world that have an expired copyright.  I can simply search their library, find a good book (Hemingway and the like), then click and the book is right their on my home computer screen for me to read.  You try it.  Just click kon the words Project Guttenberg above.  Well, I did and searched and found Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.  Now I can read it on my computer whenever I want to by clicking on the title of the book above.  You try it.  It's all free, but the Gutenberg people would appreciate a donation if you can manage one.  How wonderful . . . and I found an old Disney picture from the movie on flickr! 

THING #21 - TRENDS, IPODS AND AVATARS

First Female Avatar
Originally uploaded by Goshua Lament

A while ago I set out to create a podcast. Podcasts are like short films or videos on a chosen topic that you can subscribe to and receive on a regular basis on your PC. I think it was intended for IPods initially and then someone found a way to get PC's to receive them. Well, every link that 23 Things offered to get acquainted with the medium failed - no longer available - "Error" messages.

After much frustration, I gave up and went to list of 43 Things at the bottom to find something to substitute for podcasts. I chose MY SPACE - how trendy is that - joined up and learned that there might be a way to create an avatar (cartoon version of yourself to represent you online) if I joined TWITTER. So, I did, and then couldn't get a connection for the Avatar maker to work. "Coming to FACE BOOK in August” is all it said.
So I went back and began setting up MY SPACE page and information, and since I'd joined TWITTER too, (trendy, trendy) I began to update my TWITTER PAGE, as well. While there I clicked on my favorite TV News shows to get Tweets from (I selected my "follows" like the Grace Maddow show, etc., etc.).

Before giving myself a much needed rest, it occurred to me that I might be able to find an online program that created avatars if I tried Google, so I did. I found avatar sites that allowed me to dress or role model in a fantasy world but not sites to help me create my avatar for other uses. Anyway, if you want to know what an avatar looks like, please see "First Female Avatar" above from Flickr.

My Space and Twitter are the new Internet craze where people share ideas and meet people. To protect their identity, somewhat, many people use an avatar picture (created to look like your self) in place of a real photo of themselves. I'll keep trying on the avatar thing.

Thing #20 - The You Tube Experience

YOUTUBE is a site where you can watch videos other people posted or post your own videos for other people to see.  With an account you can save a share your favorite YOUTUBE videos with friends who do the same.  An example of a YOUTUBE video is The Giant Spider in the Kitchen video.  Click on the title and watch.  It's hilarious!

Since anyone who accesses the World Wide Web (www) can post and watch videos, YOUTUBE has gained world wide attention and brought people together across oceans, continents and cultures to see, hear and, perchance, to understand each other better.  This last is quite an achievement.  The Noble Prize organization is planning to award YOUTUBE  the prestigious Peace Prize for its accomplishment.  Small wonder when you watch a YOUTUBE video like this one:  Watch it and feel all right.



I definitely subscribed YOUTUBE to my GOOGLE READER account.  There is always something going on there.  What a relief to be able to go to one place and just "click" to see what's new on YOUTUBE.

By the way, I learned for Annette Klause the way to embed a YouTube movie into my blog.  I go to UTube, find the movie and look (on the right?) for the "embed" symbol.  Click on that and copy the html code that appears (it's already highlighted).  Then go to the "edit" version of the blog date you want the movie embedded in - to the exact spot - then click on "edit HTML" which should be above the blog edit square (over the quote symbol).  Find the place in the html that pops up, insert the html taken from the UTube page and save.  Hit publish post and the movie is embedded in the blog - as you  can see above.

Thing #19 - LULU - WOW!

Library
Originally uploaded by ognipensierovo

Of all the web sites about books, I think LULU.COM has got to be the mother ship of all book web sites. Think about anything in the world that you can do that involves a book and you can do it on LULU.

This site recommends books to read, sells books, publishes books, provides ghost writers, binds books, designs book covers, helps you create picture books and calendars, novels and tomes.

Even if you write a book and want someone to critique it, LULU can do that too, not to mention market it and publish it for as little as $599.00. Don't take my word for it. See for yourself http://www.lulu.com/  and feast your eyes.  I found it on http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short , a site that collects the highest rated web sites for people who have little time to just cruse the web looking for what's out there.  I also discovered BookMooch, a site that allows you to trade books, and StumbleUpon, a site that goes out and hunts up sites that you might like to see, but nothing rivals LULU.

Thing #18 - Zoho Web based "Word"

This is my second day working with Zoho. And it's the second time I spent a log of time trying to get what I wrote transferred to my blog. I'm sure there a way to get it done, but I haven't been able to achieve it. This business of clearing out without naming my documents is starting to get on my nerves. I suppose I'm not saving them.

The value of this site is that it allows me to create a document and do personal composing without using the County's "word" or my "word" on my home PC or sending documents back and forth in e-mails to finish working on them. Where ever I am, I can just log on to Zoho and my document is there, ready for me to work on it.

For now I guess I can cut and past this in my blog.  The ZOHO Word address is
https://writer.zoho.com/

From Talkies to Video as Art

Sound technicians setting up the turn-table and amplifiers for the first "talkies" in Australia, 1927-1928
Originally uploaded by State Library of New South Wales collection

What we call movies today were once (1927) referred to as "Talkies", silent films that had sound. What's commonly known is that Talkies put a lot of silent film stars out of business, because their talking voices were weak or out of line with thier appearence, e.g., a big man talking in a hight pitched voice.

These days, over 75 years later, "talkies" are called films or "videos". Films require a bulkie peice of engineering that sits on ones shoulder, but videos can be created on hand held devices, such as cell phones, and uploaded on the WEB at sites like YouTube.

The Guggenheim Musem in New York has taken the video one step further. They have a contest for people who create "artistic" videos. The best of artistic videos they receive will be feature in . . . the Guggenheim Museum. But what 's really amazingh about this project is the "artsy" video that the museum put out to entice people to send in a video. Click on the little cluster of grey and black squares to the right. It's the Delicious web site symbol and it will take you to the site where my favorite web pages and videos are stored.  Once there, click on the title YOU TUBE PLAY, and enjoy one of the most creative videos I've ever seen.  Or you can just save the visit to my page on Delicious for another time and click here, http://www.youtube.com/playbiennial to see the video.

Thing #17 - WIKI Accomplished!!! Hooray!!!

Schoolboy cheer squad at Colleges swimming at Drummoyne, 1935/ Sam Hood
Originally uploaded by State Library of New South Wales collection

Hip, hip . . . hooray!!! Hip, hip, . . hooray!!! Hip, hip, . . hooray!!!

Congratulations to Cataloging and Processing for successfully collaborating on a WIKI page!. If you have an account on PBWorks, go to my workspace https://diannebetsey.pbworks.com/.  Log in and then click on Frank Sun's Holiday Party on the lists at the left side of the page. Behold our collaboration!  Click here for a video lesson on how to WIKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY


Our Maryland Libraries Sandbox would have been fun if I could get the links to work, but they did not. PBWorks did the trick. Mission accomplished. GOOD SHOW!!!

Marylandlibrariessandbox - DEAD

Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico (LOC)
Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

This picture shows how I felt inside after after all the promise of Thing #16, led me to hours of trying to access the Maryland Libraries Sandbox, Thing #17. Of all the 23 Things, Thing #16, which introduced me to the wonderful world of WIKI, seemed the most fun. So, I couldn't wait for Thing #17 which would allow me to access and "play" in the Maryland Libraries Sandbox . . . Not. The connection is broken, or the program was taken down, or there are technical difficulties to end all technical difficulties.

Whatever the problem, MARYLAND LIBRARIES SANDBOX IS DEAD.     Click on this, Marylandlibrariessandbox.pbworks.com and  get a sign in window that won't let you sign in, won't let you open an account, and when it does, it won't allow you to access Maryland Libraries Sandbox. Click on it and you get a sign in window. Try to sign in and you're e-mail is not recognized. Click on the "start a new account" and get an account in PBWorks. Your account in PBWorks, however, will not allow you to access Marylandlibrareissandbox, because it's dead!!! The good news is that I now have a WIKI page in PBWorks! I'll play with it.

Wiki - Quick - Thing #16

Kalalau Lookout - Kauai, Hawaii
Originally uploaded by Kaldoon

WIKI is a Hawaiian word that means, "quick". How clever of someone to use this word to name a "collaborative website". A collaborative website allows anyone to enter the site and write, edit, change or update the information on the site. The program that allows this is referred to an an "authoring tool". One of the most famous collaborative websites is Wikipedia. Click on the link to learn more about it.  It's an online encyclopedia that allows people (registered people?) to write information and/or change the information there in.

Of the collaborative websites offered, I explored BOOK LOVERS WIKI and ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki.
BOOK LOVERS WIKI was by far the most interesting. The site is run by the Princeton Public Library, in Princeton, New Jersey by a library patron, I think. Anyway, the site is not officially a part of the Princeton Public Library program. It was a Wiki experiment that essentially allowed anyone participating in the library's summer reading program to post reviews and rating about the books they were reading or listening to. The site organized the reviews by book genre and star-ratings. There was information about how to write a review and about all the awards being offered for those who posted a review. I was fascinated.  Click on Book Lovers Wiki to visit the site.

This idea could work for my library (Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries, Maryland). There are several book club in the MCPL branches. If all the clubs could be connected via a WIKI, the members could write their own reviews, and post tips resulting from their group's practices and events. The site could ultimately be used as a Readers Advisory for all their library patrons and help them decide which book group to join.

The ALA 2006 NEW ORLEANS WIKI site was put up by the American Library Association to help members navigate New Orleans during their 2006 convention. Included was tips on WIKI, the conference agenda, links to New Orleans web site and public transportation sites. My library system could use a wiki like that for our Staff Day event, which generally pulls staff members from all over the county to a specific (sometimes unknown) place. Staff members could post their thoughts and experiences about the event.  Click on ALA 2006 New Orleans WIKI to check out the site.

Thing #15 - Post Card to the Future

After reviewing the articles on libraries in the future; 1) "Away From Icebergs", and 2) "To a Temporary Place in Time," I found myself agreeing with some of the information and disagreeing with the rest.

If the the future is in a place that has a post office and I can write to it, I would send a post card saying, "Arriving soon.  Please do wait up.  I've got so much to "show and tell."  With love, Impatience"

The first article, referring to "icebergs" in the way of libraries reaching the future, was very well done.  Of course it would not be cost effective to continue to build libraries big enough to hold books on everything.  I never thought of that, but it makes good sense.  We simply can't keep producing books and new subject headings and expect libraries to remain the same size.  And of course it's a good idea to be working to create computers that help patrons find what they want without a librarian's help, which would eventually lead to "gadgets" that would go to the library's gadget and retrieve needed information.  We can see the beginnings of all that today.  Ipods, GPS (global positioning systems), and laptops listing favorites with links to sites where one can download a book or magazine article and gadgets to other sites and so on and so on, and so on.  This business of having to go to the library whenever you need some information can be tiring.  Still, this article seems limited in scope.

The second article, "To a Temporary Place in Time" looked at libraries in the broader view and makes it clear that the actual library "place" should be and will be with us for the foreseeable future.  The article asks us to look beyond the current trends to examine the non-technological functions of the library, e.g., a repository of community history, central location for community gatherings, a place to promote community ideals, and a place to promote learning.

While it's obvious that we all love and adore the new technology that seems to be morphing every 15 days into something new, we will continue to need the social advantages provided by the physical structure of a library building.  Sure, it could be argued that churches and recreation centers could supply some of the same functions, such as a place for community gatherings or as a community repository for documents, the multi-media opportunities that a library affords enhances learning and social interactions in a way that is essential for people to thrive.  I maintain that we will arrive in the future laden with our "magic gadgets," which will all be adapted to plug into this or that gadget at our friendly neighborhood library.

Thing # 14 - Technorati madness

Portrait of an articulated skeleton on a bentwood chair


Originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection

                This picture comes very close to what I looked like after what seemed like hours to get to the bottom of Technorati.  It is basically a site that searches for blogs.  It has a way that you can search by topic or tag.   This is not a user friendly site.  It takes too much time to learn o.

Trying to do the 23 Things exercise, I pasted Learning 2.0 into the
Technorati - blog  and got Ambitious eLeaP - Learning Management System .  When I plugged into Tech - Directory - No hits - Doesn't exist