Week 10: #23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...

These exercises really educated me to the variety and scope of what is out on the web for anyone to use. It is really like a growing organism! So I learned a lot about what is available. Personally, I may not utilize a lot of the tools and resources I learned about, but being familiar with the terms will help me if a customer throws out terms like rss, or podcasts, etc. I'll know what they are talking about. I learned a lot and overcame my fear of web functions and tools. I came across some cool things that I might not have experienced without the 23 things! Thanks!

Week 9: #22 Downloadable Media

Downloadable media is a great option for people on the go who only have access library services when the library is closed or they are unable to get to the library in person. I can see lots of uses for students who are in need of a book/books for a school assignment. People who are really into music can download their favorite music. What a great service! The HCPL selection is varied and organized in an attractive manner. I really liked HCPL's better than Livrivox and Wowio. Yes people can download some of the same digital materials from other sources, but the library has so many other services to offer!

Week 9: #21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

This exercise led me to discover a really neat podcasting site from NASA that features the latest science news like the asteroid shower peak, drought forecasts, sun x ray jets, Mars doubling in brightness, etc. Very cool podcasting site! This will be fun to visit from time to time. Unfortunately, many of the podcasting sites I explored were not quite as interesting as this one and were filled with junk (stuff people podcast just because they could)!

Week 9: #20 Discover YouTube and other video sharing sites

Exploring YouTube was fun. I found a couple of really neat videos that I enjoyed. One posted from the the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin showing butterflies and other insects that have visited. The one I will try to post is of a mama hummingbird raising her babies. Their nest is on top of wind chimes hanging from the videographers patio!

Week 8: #19 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

I discovered that Zoho web based word processing application works very much the same way word does, so it was easy to use. I even posted a short document I created in Zoho using the publish function in Zoho. Posting to my blog from Zoho was not difficult at all! Completing these ihcpl exercises is giving me more confidence using web based applications.

Week 8: #19 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

Native American Craft
Today we hosted a Native American Indian Craft. The children made Dream Catchers and Indian headbands. Moms got into the act and wanted to make their own Dream Catchers. All projects turned out really well. Kids are so talented! 11/28/2007

Week 8: #18 Social Networking: Making friends in the comfort of your own home

Myspace, Facebook and other social networking sites can work for friends and family who do not see each other often. It allows you to share what is going on in your lives and even allows you to share pictures. So many that do basically the same thing! Some especially, myspace have a lot of advertising and why not it is all free!

Week 7: #17 Blog About Technology

Right now technology is not my friend at home. Our computer caught a bug, so our home system is crashed. We thought we had all the necessary protections in place, but sometimes all you do is not good enough. Utterly frustrating and terribly inconvient! Fortunately, we do back everything up onto disc, so maybe we have not lost too much.

Week 7: #16 So what's in a wiki?

Wiki is a good way to create or contribute to documents by "committee", used properly it can be a good professional tool. Not sure of the practicality of Wiki on a personal level. Again this is an easy internet tool to use which is great.

Week 6: #15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

It is interesting to me to read about 2.0 because I feel that Harris County Public Libraries having been consistently moving into the 2.0 model. HCPL has pioneered the way in many aspects of technology. Many of our services are certainly 2.0 such as wifi, electronic databases, computers and laptops for public use, etc. We are doing great. I don't think that books will ever be entirely replaced by the web. Especially for children, there is too much satisfaction and opportunity for interaction with an actual book in your hands.

Week 6: #14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

This exercise did not thrill me, I guess I don't "get" it. It looks like something that is nice for people who love to blog or spend a lot of time online. Not my cup of tea.

Week 6: #13 Tagging makes the web 2.0 world go round

Tagging is easy and should be a great tool for serious researchers and people who have a lot of information to keep track of. This exercise was fun to explore.

Week 5: #12 The "Library" Elf will remind you!

Library Elf will be very useful because there will be one place to check for library transactions on all library cards in the family. No trying to remember who put what hold on what book, etc. What a time saver!

Week 5: #11 A Thing about Library Thing

Don't have a thing for "Library Thing"!

http://www.librarything.com/addbooks

Week 5: #10 Play around with Image Generators

This exercise was fun. How often do you get paid for playing! While it is nice to know about the existence of Image Generators, I don't think they have a use for me on a personal level, professionally maybe this knowledge will be useful.

http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/

Week 4: #9 Finding Feeds

Using the bloglines search tool was very easy to use. I tried searching in several ways and always received useful results Other tools like feedster and topix were good to know about and very interesting.

Week 4: #8 Make life "really simple" with RSS and a newsreader

This exercise was not as difficult as I had been led to believe. It was easy to register for a blogline account and to add feeds and blogs to my blogline account. Not sure how valuable this will be on a personal level, but to have some knowledge of bloglines may be a good thing professionally.

Week 3: #7 Photo Editing Tools

Painted Church symbol
Originally uploaded by lagardekaren

Used picnik to change colors, size and orientation of this photo of a symbol from a painted church! It was easier than I thought it would be! Hooray!

Week 3: #6 More Flickr Fun

Explored a couple of flickr mashups. Triggermap was fun to navigate and look-see. I really enjoyed the trip planner it has lots of great trip ideas and photos to see. Good fun!

Week 3: #5 Discover Flickr

Flickr was quite a challenge, but with the help of some coworkers I was able to complete this task. It seems it should not be so difficult. Feedback from lots of coworkers indicated that Flickr was by far the most difficult exercise yet. On the positive side, Flickr will be a useful tool on a personal level for sharing photos with family and friends.

Week 2: #4 Online Safety and Sharing

Read all the information regarding internet safety and sharing. Parts of it are a little unnerving, but computers are a very necessary tool in today's world, so it is wise to be educated about internet safety and sharing.

Week 2: #3 Grab Yourself a Blog in 3 Steps

Created a blog and was surprised at how easy it was!

Week 1: #2 Lifelong Learning - Motivate Yourself

Viewed the tutorial and short videos. Videos were very entertaining! Made a contract with myself to learn the 23 things by the end of the year.

Week 1: #1 Discovery has never been so much fun...

Read this introductory information regarding IHCPL learning experiences program and viewed some existing staff blogs. These exercises should be beneficial to all staff. Looking forward to learning new things!

More hummingbirds feeding!

IMG_0449
Originally uploaded by lagardekaren

They are hungry little critters!

Internet safety exercise completed last week of September

Internet safety information read a couple of weeks ago.

Flickr exercise 10/16/2007 Hummer picture

IMG_0448
Originally uploaded by lagardekaren

Flickr exercise was extremely challenging and stressful! Thanks to several coworkers assistance, I was able to post this nice picture of hummingbirds feeding.

Hummingbird experiences

Recently visited parent's who live in California. Mom loves hummingbirds, so we bought several hummingbird attracting plants and planted them in pots lining her patio. Within hours the hummingbirds were feeding on the plants. It was so much fun to watch them zoom from plant to plant. We learned that hummingbirds do perch!

We now have some hummingbird attracting plants in our own yard in Houston. Hummingbirds have discovered them, so we have our own hummingbirds!

Not as many as a friend who lives on a lake near Huntsville! She has dozens of hummingbirds flocking to the feeders in her yard! What great entertainment they are!