Thing 30 Blog be done!

Overall I have really liked keeping a blog. If I were doing it personally I would really go out on a limb and make some changes to my format, etc. I don't know if there would be something I would spend a lot of time blogging about on my own, but I could probably come up with some ideas.

The most surprising thing about the experience was how easy it was to do most things. Technology and its advances will continue to amaze me.

Would I do this type of training again? In a heartbeat! This experience gave me new hope for lifelong learning. I discovered a lot of neat sites and blogs along the way that will help me personally and with work. I do see the potential for creating a "What's New in Picture Books" blog or something like that.

As far as improvements . . . at first I thought some things were unclear, but most of that turned out to be operator error on my part. I am at an advantage because I had time at home to work on it. I think it may have been a lot for someone without access to a computer outside of work.
Overall it went well and was worth my time.

Thing 29 I Blog therefore I . . .

I really enjoyed the entire Learning 2.0 experience. I was most taken with Flickr just because I do a lot with photography. I did learn a lot about RSS feeds, podcasting, and new technology in general.

I love looking at other staff blogs. In some cases they shed insight on the person and that was very interesting. The creativity of the different sites was great!

Kudos, Cindy for a job well done!!

Thing 28 Rolly Polly Searching

http://rollyo.com/sharlad/digital_photo_magic/

I created a search roll for digital photography. The Rollyo site was interesting and I like the concept but I ran into some issues. Lists I created while signed in would not always be there when I went back. I was not able to get the link added to my blog automatically - or perhaps I just didn't do it correctly!

I do like the idea of creating a search mechanism that lets me utilize certain search engines.

Thing 27 It's a Library Thing

Check out my Library Thing shelf. I am also a member of Shelfari - you can view my shelf on the right side of my blog. Both of these sites offer a great way to keep track of what I have read, as well as tagging the entries.

Thing 26 The Power of the Generator

I visited several of the image generators. I discovered that most of what some of them do I already do with Photoshop and too much time on my hands. I did go to one image generator site and made a sketch of Biskitt.
http://sporkforge.com/imaging/sketch.php

Things 23, 24, 25 Lights, Action, YouTube!

Here is my first attempt with YouTube.
I thought that YouTube was very easy to use.It allows you to enter tags, invite friends, control the privacy of your film as well as any comments you receive. It was a fun exercise.

In addition to making the slideshow that you see below, I created a podcast to accompany it. I did the podcast on my computer at home using GarageBand. It was fairly easy to do once I got the hang of it. I used iMovie to create the slideshow. This allowed me to adjust the timing of the podcast with the slides. It was a very interesting and educational process.

I have spent some time looking for podcasts in a variety of places. I think the greatest selection I found is in iTunes.

Thing 22 Fun Fun Fun the Flickr Way

I could spend all day looking at the many fun things that are available with Flickr and the various mashups. I like the idea of seeing other photos that have been taken in the same place - the mapping feature. This opens doors for travel groups and others to share common interests.

The pocket album from BigHugeLabs is a cute idea. I can see my little great nephew having a lot of fun with that. Also, I found their top digital camera listing to be very helpful.

It's nice the Flickr offers a way to upload many hi-res photos at once. Sometimes I have had trouble uploading photos to other online photo sites. Additionally, Flickr seems to offer a greater variety of fun things to do with photos compared to other sites.

Thing 21 The Flickr Fear Factor

I can certainly understand the fear that surrounds some things that could happen with Flickr in libraries, however, I think if we look hard enough we could find something scary about a lot of things that we have in libraries. When photos are tagged properly and thoughtfully, the power of Flickr becomes tremendous. Flickr can be a great learning tool to show children how important good indexing/tagging can be. I think we all learn a little more about tagging and the need to be careful when we put in search terms and find things that are not at all things that meet our search criteria.

I work a lot with photos and I can see the value of not only having access to several photos at one site, but of also being able to search those photos and find relevant results.

The communities that emerge as a result of Flickr can be as developed as the members choose to make them.

Thing 20 All that flickrs . . .

I love Flickr! Recently I have spent a lot of time at home creating a photo book for the rest of my family members. The book is in memory of my mom who passed away in August. I created the photo book using an iMac, iphoto software, and the Apple printing service. The books I created turned out great. I am really impressed with all the iMac can do. However, when I looked at all of the options available on Flickr my mind started spinning with new photo ideas.
This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.
As part of the exercise I posted a photo taken this summer in Brandon, Iowa - home of the Big Skillet. Now I know that sounds crazy, but it is a small town and this is their claim to fame. I included tags on the photo so that it could be easily found by others searching for the same subject.

The Big Fry,
originally uploaded by sharlakd.

Okay, this is the cornfedgirl with the big skillet. It's small town living at its best!

Thing 19 And the winner is . . .

I thought this was a very useful site. It's always fun to see what sites have won awards. I went to http://www.confabb.com/ where I was able to see all kinds of conference and speaker information. What a great resource!

My other favorite was http://colorblender.com/. This site lets you blend colors - just like in the paint store. After you find a color you like you can use it in graphic designs, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Thing 18 Technorati

Technorati Profile

I joined technorati and claimed my blog and also set up a watchlist. I was impressed because the watchlist I set up gave me some new information about a software product I have been waiting for!

I need to spend some more time with technorati. Everytime I tried to go to a particular blog I got the message that indicated that the technorati monster had escaped?! Obviously I need to have a better understanding of what's going on with this site.

Thing 17 It's de.lici.ous!

I think that using de.lici.ous will be a great way to organize the links that I already have. I didn't realize the potential that exists with de.lici.ous. I am looking forward to making better use of my online time by being more organized. I like the idea that I can tailor bookmarks and links to meet my needs. I do a lot of research on computer software and writing. I can see already that incorporating de.lici.ous into my work will be very beneficial.

Thing 16 We all need our Space!

I didn't join myspace right now but I may in the future.
My nieces all have myspace pages. It's great for them because they live miles from each other and myspace lets them keep in touch and in the know about each of their lives. It's been a fun way to watch their kids grow and change. I was intrigued by the music selections they each chose for their sites. I would not have imagined some of the oldies they would have selected.

Before this lesson I thought myspace is geared more for the younger generation. I see now that that is not the case.

Thing 15 My Space - the new front porch?

I first encountered MySpace when my nieces directed me to their spaces. I thought it was okay, but not necessarily something I would choose to do. As months passed and one of my nieces relocated from Texas to Iowa to help take care of my mother, I saw just how vital her MySpace society is for her. MySpace provides her with a way to update all of her friends and family with what is going on with her world - primarily her six, four and one year-olds. She is able to keep tabs on her friends and family in a way that email doesn't really allow.

At first I would have said that social networking sites are really all about the much younger generation and an infatuation they have with themselves. Then I realized that these sites can play a vital role in the ever changing lives of people everywhere. Social networking sites provide, in a sense, what the front porch gave our parents and grandparents so many years ago - a place to catch up, see, bond and live.