Library2Play--Number 13, AISDCL20 #13

Tagging and Del.icio.us

Okay...first off, I've gotta rant. Maybe it's because I don't feel 100% today (frankly, 60% is asking a lot). I tried to register for Del.icio.us several times earlier this week. My standard username/password combo would've work just fine. However, 3 consecutive letters in my real name are the mimiced in my password (no, my password has nothing to do with my name. It just happened that way.). I tried several different ways around it. Nothing. I now have a combo that is going to be hard to remember because I've never used it before--ugh. Yes, I know I can write it down in a safe place, but that piece of paper would never be found again, it would be so freakin' safe.

Okay, rant over.

Now..tagging. I do this on my blogs. I think I already have a Technorati account, though I'm not sure I did more than register and look around for a little bit. I do, in fact, see the point. I'm just not sure I need to use this (personally), if I'm using something else. Feels like a bit of redundancy, and I'm anti-redundancy (for the sheer sake of being redundant).

I'm open to suggestion though--something more than the "but not everyone uses that other one" reason, please.

Oo...a hack!

Hey, did you guys notice the NavBar is missing from the top of my page here? I learned a new trick!

The question came up after the AISD Classroom Learning 2.0 organizational meeting, specifically about removing that pesky navbar. I have it pulled from one of my personal blogs, purely for stylistic reasons. However, I don't use a Blogger layout on either of those blogs (again, for stylistic reasons. Not one of those templates they offer looks like me. And that would be the point, right? Find one that just says me.)

Anyway, pulling the navbar off of this blog is more about limiting the possibility of hitting inappropriate materials by clicking in my blog. My students do look at this--to see what it is that I'm reading and doing technology-wise.

If you'd like to do the same thing, check out this post at the blog "The Real Blogger Status."

Library2Play--Thing #12, AISDCL20 #12

Rollyo.

I swear, you have to say that "roll-YO" Like, "that's how I roll, yo." (It's okay, you can roll your eyes now.)

Ok..I think this is pretty cool. Honestly--it's pre-fab coding. I just love how much easier it is. I've already added somethings to "my rollyo."

I did create a search roll to help me out. When I blog the books I'm reading, I like to put the publisher's blurb in my post so the summary is available to my dear readers. I can't always find them at one or the other book buying site, and having 4 windows or tabs open at a time is confusing. So..the "Book Blurbs" searchroll. I'm not going to post it here, because it really is just for me to keep from being confused. BUT..I did add a searchbox with some of the other searchrolls I particularly liked to this blog. Have fun!

Library2Play--Thing #11, AISDCL20 #19

LibraryThing

I've got a LibraryThing account under a different name, somewhere. It's one of those sites that I thought was a fabulous idea, and got started with, but then got side-tracked and forgot what I was doing.

Anyway, I think it's a cool idea. It's another way to feed the "if you liked x, then you might like y" concept. I found some groups that share my particular bend--YA books, and love that I can tag things both for myself and for others. Social networking for the reader--I love it!

I can see where this could be used in conjunction with a library's catalog, too--particularly for the "if you like..." bit. I've always thought that was something missing in catalogs--yes I can do a subject search, but who's to say that I'm going to enjoy vampire novels by Anne Rice after I've loved those by Stephenie Meyer? Those to me aren't even in the same league. (I do, by the way, like both those authors, but they most certainly are not together on the reading spectrum.)

Anyone played with GoodReads yet?

Library2Play--Thing #10, AISDCL20 #12

Image Generators

I tried Image Chef, first, but I'm not pleased. While it's easy to use, there's not a lot of stuff to play with (prefab stuff) and everytime I tried to add the image over here in Blogger, it was broken. Oh well.

I did find the Glitterizer. Cheezy (and yes that word has a 'z' in it.). But cute.

What you don't see here is that the text has an animated glitter effect. But, there wasn't any way to get the HTML code to plug in.

I don't know, this one just seems like a fun way to burn some time. Really didn't do much for me today. I can see where it could be fun to make some different signs or cartoons or whatever.

Library2Play--Thing #9, AISDCL20 #8 & #9

Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds


I played with several of the sites provided in this discovery activity.

Of course, the Edublog Awards are a wonderful place to start. I enjoy finding out what others think are particularly good. That doesn't always mean they've got a large following. It just means they're particularly good and people should know about them. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I wonder what they were thinking.

I do like the blog School Libraries on SuperGlu. There's some good stuff there. And it seems to be pieced together the way my brain works. (That would be randomly). It's a little confusing if you don't already know how it's put together--try finding stuff, okay?

I've never really like searching for feeds in Bloglines. Honestly, it feels like the old versions of search engines, and honey, I'm all about the new stuff.

Still, though, my favorite way to find interesting blogs and feeds is to "shop" others. I liken it to when I'd visit my grandmother's house and go "shopping" in her pantry for a snack. We might have some of the same things at my house, but there's was always something different and WAAAAY cooler at hers.

That's how I found this blog today.

Students 2.0

I love this. What a great insite into what kids are thinking--without having too worry too much that you don't want to know that particular thought!!!

Library2Play--Thing #8

RSS Feeds, and Feedreaders

I have to tell you, I love RSS feeds. Just the advent of them means I don't have to troll through my bookmark list for new things..and get increasingly disappointed to find that my favorite bloggers post about as often as I do on my personal blogs. (I'm averaging 3 posts every couple of months, all at once. Very bad.) I'm not a very patient person (could be that undiagnosed ADD), so I don't like to go looking for something and come up with nothing--like new posts and news. So, RSS feeds and newsreaders are a miraculous thing for me.

I use my feeds constantly, for school and home. Okay, so the school one is relatively new, but I do enjoy it, a great deal. Everything I'm looking for on one page? It's great, saves me time. At home, I keep up with my friends blogs..makes it easy for me to point someone to a blog, and see when my friends have posted updates.

Libraries could do a lot with this. Providing a feed for users of your library's blog would be a good PR tool--let patrons know of new developments and events in your library, even if they aren't faithful visitors to your blog/site. I keep the Amazon blog in my personal feeds so I can see what's up with new books or whatever that I might be interested in, so it becomes something of a collection development tool. Fun stuff!

Library2Play--Thing #7, AISDCL20 #18

Google Tools and Apps

I love Google. I hate to say it..really, there's a part of me that cringes at the thought of admitting it to you, but I do love Google.

It's because I prefer my students not "google" their research. I'm a librarian, though, and I know how, well...academically dangerous googling can be. So, I push the databases that my campus subscribes to and has available. I tell them that I don't want them to go to Google the first day they're in the library researching for their projects, if it can be avoided. (Because I do realize that sometimes it can't be.) And, then, I teach them how to Google (or use Yahoo, or Dogpile, or MSN Live Search, or whatever.)

But I do suggest GoogleTools to my students. I use Google Notebook for myself at home. Honestly, that was how I started my own "jacked-up" version of an RSS feed. Then I learned about Blogrolling and then Internet Explorer came with a bookmark section just for feeds! WHEEEE! There's too many good things around!

What I really like about the Notebook though is that You can get a screen shot, and can make notes as to why you bothered to clip that info. With my bookmarks, and sometimes the RSS feeds, I go back and wonder what I was thinking when I decided to save that page. I did create a couple of new notebooks, under the guise of the "Mean Old Library Teacher." One is for things I run across while participating in Library2Play. The other is for things I collect to use while serving on the Facilities Committee for the new high school we'll be building. Both will be linked in my sidebar under "Place to go."

I opted to look at Google Scholar for the second part of this discovery activity. Of all the Google apps and tools, this is the only one I felt I had much use for that I hadn't played with yet. I like it pretty well, but feel like I might get more immediate useable information through my databases. Or that I can't print what I've pulled up. It was nice to pull up a book abstract and have it provide places to purchase the title--since not everything can be purchased on Amazon. (ssssshhhh...don't let them hear me say that!) So, while there's pros to using Google Scholar, there are cons. I think I'll stick with my databases for scholarly research.

Library2Play--Thing#6, AISDCL20 #6

Flickr Mashups (and other mashups)

Alrighty, I played all over fd's Flickr Toys over at BigHuge Labs. All kinds of cool things there. No one thing jumped out and really, really caught me. I did have some ideas for several of the applications available, though....

The Motivator...I'm seeing things like the ALA "Read" posters. Our PALs could do posters with some of our local stars for younger students. Or we could just design our own motivational posters, with images from around our school and community.

Movie Poster GREAT idea for marketing for the theater departments productions. Or club activities. I was in charge of the prom a few years ago and our theme was "vintage Hollywood." This would've been perfect!

The Magazine Covers and Trading Cards would be great products for projects--a magazine devoted to "The Pardoner's Tale" from Canterbury Tales. Trading cards for our health classes' self-help organization research projects. This could be a lot of fun. Even trading cards for our school organizations and athletic teams.

The Palette Generator for use in art classes and our web design/production class. Even some of our other vocational classes, like the apparel class.

Oh..and then...combine Mappr with Google LitTrips. Honestly, I love Google LitTrips--getting to "travel" to all the places in a story or novel, making it come alive. But you could do the same thing, on a smaller scale with Mappr. OR, combine it with the trading cards application or postcards application and create a "notebook" (or "set") for your studies.

The possibilities are bound only by what we're willing to try. I've got to email that Health teacher about his project now.

Library2Play--Thing #5, AISDCL20 #5

Flickr.

I've always used Photobucket for my pictures and things. Honestly, it's what I've used for my personal blogs, both for photos I post and for the design elements I use. (My personal blogs are far more interesting to look at, if only because I've played with them more.) It's user-friendly and compatible with everything I do. And, if I wanted to, I could order a calendar with my photos on it.

But, Flickr, I like. It's easier to use. Tagging takes less time. Uploading takes less time. This could certainly be more beneficial for my work stuff AND for my family stuff. (I just need to convince my boyfriend that Flickr really, really would be easier to use than setting up a MySpace for his family. Ugh.)

I like the group stuff too, everyone can share photos, or not share, or only share with certain groups. Seems SO much easier than what we do now ("here, let me email you these 50 photos 3 at a time"). It's also a neat way to get into social networking. More free-flowing and unstructured than MySpace or Ning.

My Flickr

Library2Play--Thing #3--Setting up shop, AISDCL20 #3

Here we go...

I got my avatar created and installed in my sidebar there, which is part of the requirement for Thing #3. (Dr. Seuss flits through my head. You know "Thing 1" and "Thing 2.")

I've kind of cheated. Or just started with a jump on things. I already had this blog set up. And I've been blogging in one way or another for 3 years now. So, getting going on this project was an easy one.

I am looking forward to the next Things. Can't wait to get going on on them.

Lifelong Learning (Library2Play #2, AISDCL20 #2)

You know, being an educator and all, you'd think lifelong learning would be a "gimme." And, I guess for many, if not most, coming into the world of education these days, it really is. I have to admit though, that a lot of the learning I choose to do now isn't really work-related. I spend a lot of time in Bible study, or learning how to do new crafts (can anyone show me how to knit? The video isn't working for me). I get on these tangents and have to learn all I can about whatever (I'm such a nerd).

Looking over the 7-1/2 habits for lifelong learners, I feel like I do several of those pretty well, regardless of what it is I'm learning or why I'm learning it.

The one habit I think is easiest for me is creating my own learning toolbox. From a young age (I sound so wise there, don't I?), I have always done a fabulous job with this. I love "getting ready" to learn. Buying school supplies every year gave me almost a big a thrill as actually starting school. Some years (some classes), it was a bigger thrill than actually starting school. Now that I'm not starting school or classes in quite the same way, I still love it. At home, I have rubber storage boxes with pens and notecards, so that when something catches my eye I can keep up with the research/learning I'm doing about it. I have sketch books with magazine articles cut-out and glued into them with things that have sparked my imagination. My desk is set up with all the things I know best meet my learning style/needs--the right lighting, a certain chair, pens in a variety of colors, and chocolate hidden in a box for emergencies. My laptop is on and connected 24/7, so that I can access any one of a thousand links I have (my bookmarks aren't just organized, they're alphabetized and annotated).

After talking to a friend, I think the hardest one for me is "beginning with the end in mind"--with a caveat. I don't have a hard time setting goals. Generally, I know what my end is when I'm learning, even when I'm reading about frogs because the frog on a commercial was really cute. (In that case, the goal is to learn more about frogs, just for my own edification. And because people should know about frogs.) Actually, my problem is more that I'm ADD, and while I can remember that I had a.....

I guess learning for me is now more about the process and enjoying it (PLAY!) than it was back in the day when someone else set the goals and parameters (like, say, a certain Information Retrieval teacher that I had). There are times that I have to force myself to be more structured, but being in charge of my own learning, and my own library, means that I can flit back and forth. The learning is accomplished, just maybe not in a strict fashion. But that's the point of accepting responsibility for your own learning and being confident that you are an effective learner, right? That the learning happens at all.

Library2Play

So, the wonderful people over at Spring Branch ISD have set up a 23 Things for 2.0 applications in the library and the librarians who (should) use them. I've decided to take part. While I am already pretty 2.0-capable, I figure it can't hurt to learn more, and from a different perspective.

If nothing else, it should encourage me to post here more often. My poor students are probably pretty bored with the lack of "stuff" here. I promise, it will get better--right after you pay all your fines, dear students. *grin*