Reflections

I have had a lot of fun with the Discover 2.0 Program. I learned more things and had so much fun doing it. It's hard to nail down a favorite because I liked it all but if I have to I liked the Audio/Video portion, I also liked learning more about the Social Networks. Before Discover 2.0 I never would have dreamed that I would set up a myspace account much less use it. It's been a blast. I use it to keep in contact with family members.
Some area's I found a bit confusing in the instructions mainly because I was not familiar with it and/or not that computer savvy. It was nice to have your co-workers to discuss these things with.
Overall this has been a wonderful experience and I have enjoyed it immensely, it would be great if sometime down the road we could have a refresher course to keep everything current.

Inkheart Trailer

Here is the Trailer for the movie Inkheart which will be coming out soon. I really enjoyed reading the book and I hope the movie will be good.

Alternative Blogging

Well I read all about Twitter and even opened up an account but I just don't like it. I would rather pick up the phone to talk to someone. I found Twitter to be very slow that is when I was able to get into it because the times I tried it was down most of it. Sometimes I feel with all the Emails and blogging we are getting so impersonal in our lives and not talking face to face anymore.

I also created a Tumblr account. It was okay but I probably would never use it. I did lurk around a bit but it did not interest me.

Audio/Video

I had fun looking around at all the video sharing websites and I agree it can be addictive. I picked out a video on Genealogy because that is where my interest is. I found so many videos discussing genealogy that I will have to go back to these websites at a different time and look at my leisure when I am at home. I will definitely add them to my del.icio.us account. I like the idea of adding videos to websites and I think having some on the library website would make it more interesting.

Podcasting

I tried all 3 Podcast directories. Podcast.net would not load I kept getting a server not found message. Podcastalley.com was okay but they wanted me to download some software in order to listen. I did like yahoo Podcasts because I did not have to download anything.
I checked several library sites and most of the ones I found were the reading of childrens books.
I did like www.wku.edu/library/podcast/index.html and also www.loc.gov/podcasts/ I also found some interesting ones for personal interests that I have.
I found podcasts a good idea but unless you have an ipod or mp3 player that you can download to I think it is somwhat inconvient because then you are tied to your computer.

Item 19 Music and Other Audio

I had fun with this although I did feel a little guilty doing this at work. I tried last.fm, Pandora and Imeem. I liked last.fm best I felt it was easy to move around in, Pandora I thought was just too busy and confusing.
I also check out Internet Archives which I really liked. I think I need to get myself an MP3 player now because I did see several audio books that I would like to download. I also like the idea that they had some very old books that were digitalized some that would be great for history or genealogy purposes.
I looked at Mango Languages also which I think I would like to use to brush up on my Spanish.
I could see were libraries could use alot of these sites especially for reference. And no I don't think CD's are dead yet.

Item 18: Google Docs

Okay I watched the common Craft Video "Google Docs in Plain English", I thought that it was very informative I also took the "Quick Tour" to find out more. I made a little presentation which was fun doing I tried to put it on my blog as a page element but my presentation was too wide so it wouldn't fit, I looked but could not find how to make it fit so here is my link http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dgfbd6j8_6hp2phqfb

I hope you enjoy. Overall I did have fun with the google Docs but some areas I found were confusing.

Cool Stuff

I had fun with the cool stuff. I thought that the blog readability test was okay. I did not care for the sketchcast. I really like scrabulous and word shoot. On scrabulous I played the computer and lost, so then I played by myself it really made you think which is hard to do at the end of the day. Word Shoot you had to be fast. I did look at the Yahoo answers but I did not try it. All in all I had great time with the cool stuff.

Wikis Wikis

What I learned about Wikis is that they let multiple users add, remove and edit content and you don't need to understand HTML. My concern would be the accuracy of some of the wikis, can you really trust the content as being true. Over all I like the idea of them I like the example they gave in video about the friends going on a hiking/camping trip, I think it would be great to use if your planning a family reunion and you have people all over the country that you need input from. I liked Wikipedia I know my daughter uses this one alot. I have never used a Wiki before but now that I am more familiar with them I will be checking them out and maybe find one that I can put information on myself.

Item 12: Fun with Image Generators

This is my name in Chinese Robin 罗宾 - prononciation (PinYin) : luō bīn. I found this on the generator blog. It was alot of fun going thru the various generators and playing around. I really liked the one that does a puzzle out of a picture but I could not get that to load onto my blog so I decided to go with my name in chinese. I also liked the Trading card generator.

LibraryThing

I just love LibraryThing I have entered some of my books but I have a lot more to do I even joined two groups so far. It is fairly easy to understand. I think I will be using LibraryThing alot. I think I will set up an account under Goodreads also only so that I can see how I like it.http://www.librarything.com/profile/mysterysheread here is my link to my profile.

Technorati

I really am not very impressed with Technorati it doesn't really interest me that much. I did watch the video which was okay but took a along time to load. I tried the keyword search but I did not notice a really big difference the stories, they might not have all been in the same order but the same ones seemed to be on each search. I didn't really have any fun with technorati.

del.icio.us

I did have fun with this I can see where this could be a wonderful tool. A place were I can go to online that would show all my bookmarks in one spot as of right now they are all on my home computer. I would definitely think about setting up an account with del.icio.us. I can see where this could also be used as a great research tool there are so many websites out there that to be able to find all the ones that you would want could be hard yet with this you can check out to see what others might have bookmarked and these could benefit you.

Social Networking

I signed up for both MySpace and Facebook. I originally was only going to do Facebook but than I found out I have family members with MySpace accounts so I signed up for that as well. I am hoping that the MySpace account will help me keep up with my family and friends. It sure has been a learning experience. I found out I need to put spam controls on MySpace because I was getting alot of messages from people wanting to be added as my friend - people I don't even know. Some appeared to be advertisements or people were selling things.

Item 10: Social Networks

In this computer generated age I believe that Social Networking is a great way for friends and family to keep intouch and to let everyone know what's going on in their lives. However, I am not so sure about what the effects would be for libraries taking a part in social networking sites I mean it is true people spend alot of time on the myspace site especially teens but whether they would want to or try to connect with the library in that way is another story it would be interesting to find out. I know that yaab has a myspace account I wonder how much interaction they get to that site. I should find out.

Meebo

Okay it took me awhile to get the hang of it but I think I am catching on. Instant Messaging is a great way to be able to communicate with more than one person at a time. If you were to ask my teenage daughter she would say it was the only way to communicate. She loves to IM. I still find some areas a bit confusing, sometimes I don't think they give enough detailed information for a newbie. I really like the fact that when you log into meebo you can receive IM's from mulitple sources (AIM, yahoo messaging etc.). I believe that this would work great in the reference area of the library but I would think that you would have to have someone be available at all times to monitor because people when they IM want instant replys.

Item 8: More RSS

I am really enjoying playing around with RSS Feeds I have been adding alot more feeds but I also have been deleting some that I don't like. I still like going to my favorite sites first and adding , but if I was looking for something more general I liked using Google Blog Search. I did try Feedster but could never bring up a page. I found Syndic8.com somewhat confusing.
I could see where RSS feeds would really be helpful in the library and I think that some patrons would be interested in getting information via RSS if it were available. I think most people like to know what is the most current news anywhere at any given time.

Item 7 RSS & Newsreaders

I really liked the RSS Feed. I am a news junkie so to be able to have the most recent headlines come to me in one place is great. Although I can see where this could become addicting there are so many great places a person could subscribe to.

Item 6: Photos of Images - More flickr

I liked the Trading Card Maker the best. It was alot of fun to do. I enjoyed finding the pictures and making different captions to go with them.. Maybe I will make my own deck.

A person is able to get very creative with this.

I look at this picture and it reminds me of Hummingbirds. I love watching them in the summer time when they go from flower to flower getting the nectar. It was fun looking at all the pictures but I did struggle a bit trying to upload one to my blog. The first picture I had would not take so I had to find another one. But I think I like this one better anyway it makes me think of summer.

7 1/2 Habiats continued

Okay the hardest one for me would be 6 Use Technology to your advantage I do find all this new technology rather intimidating. I have a hard enough time figuring out my cell phone let alone the MP3 players, the Ipods, Nintendo DS. I do however feel fairly comfortable with my computer at times. So with Discovery 2.0 I am looking forward to learning all kinds of new things. Let the adventure begin.

7!/2 Habits

Okay the easiest habit for me is to play. I would rather play then clean house. Doesn't everyone like to play?