Week 9, Thing 23: The End...

It may be the end of the 23 Things program for this summer, but learning never ends. I can't believe how fast this went by. I thought this project sounded like fun and I'm really glad I did it. I got a lot out of each different "thing" and as I look back on my posts, I can see how many new things I was able to try that I might not have ever known about without this program. Just today, I learned something new. I was finally able to figure out (with some help!) how to post a video clip onto my blog. The library environment is a place that promotes learning and new technology and I'm glad that I'm a part of it. Sometimes all this new stuff can be a bit scary, but it's good to learn about even if you never use it again. I think my favorite "things" came in week 3 (photos and images) and week 5 (play week). There was a lot of fun and interesting stuff to do in those weeks. I would definitely like to try a discovery program like this again and I would suggest that it be done in the summer again because there is more free time to be able to sit and do something like this. I had a lot of fun, learned a lot of things, and I'm glad that I was able to finish it in the 9 weeks given. Happy learning everyone!

Beckham meets Bush

I was finally able to post the actual YouTube clip onto my blog from Thing 20! Thank you, Peggy, for all your help. :)It worked!

Week 9, Thing 22: Downloadable Audiobooks

This exercise was probably the least interesting to me out of all of them so far. I think audiobooks tend to be on two different ends of the spectrum: there are people who can't live without them and then there are people who can't stand them. I don't really think there is middle ground with audiobooks. I, for one, am definitely not a big fan. I have listened to a few different audiobooks over the years and for some reason, it makes reading more of a chore for me. I have a really hard time remembering what I heard ("read") as opposed to when I sit down and read the book myself. The only instance where it worked well for me was using an audiotape to listen to Shakespeare's "Othello" for a literature class, and even then I read along in the book as I was listening. Okay, enough about me and audiobooks. :) I went to CCPL's website to see if I could find one of the free subscription audiobook services. Sure enough, it was right there on the front page. CCPL uses Overdrive eBooks. Once I logged in, I browsed around a bit, looking at the classic literature and nonfiction sections as well as some of the movie titles. I also tried searching for some subjects and authors, but for some reason it didn't pull up any results. Overall, I think this is a nice tool for people to use, but I probably won't be one of them!

Week 9, Thing 21: Podcasts

I've never really used podcasts before, so this was interesting for me. Before I explored some of the directories (because I really didn't know what I wanted to look for), I went to the website of the radio station where my dad works, WRBS, because I knew there were archived podcasts from some of the morning shows. So, I listened to some of those to kind of understand how podcasts work and get the feel for them. I looked at all the directories, but the only one I really liked and found the most useful was Podcast Alley. There were a couple reasons. One, I found a link right away to the top 50 podcasts that were listened to the most. Two, I was able to look at podcasts by genre and that allowed me to more easily pick out one that I thought would be interesting to listen to. I clicked on the Sports and Recreation section and found one within the top 50 called "Cup Car Update." As you might guess, it's about NASCAR. :) I listened to it, liked it, and added it to my Bloglines account. I will definitely be coming back to Podcast Alley to find more because I like how it's set up and I find it really easy to use.

Week 9, Thing 20: YouTube

Finally, a tool that I've used before! YouTube is a lot of fun; unfortunately, you can waste a lot of time on there browsing videos. It's amazing how quickly it has exploded in popularity. People use it for so many different things. I personally like it for watching music videos and other stuff from my favorite bands. The video clip I chose for this post is Beckham meets Bush. That would be David Beckham meeting Reggie Bush of the Saints, not President Bush. There was a little blurb about it in the most recent Sports Illustrated, so I decided to check it out. I chose this video because 1) I'm nuts about sports and 2) Reggie is just so darn cute! Plus, this was probably the least-hyped Beckham thing of the whole week and I love it when two athletes who are stars in their respective sports are able to meet each other. It's neat how the whole place is empty except for them and a camera crew. I was very inept at attempting to post the video in my blog (couldn't quite figure that out), so just click on the link to watch it. There is also a 6 minute version that is fun to watch, especially the part where Becks has to help Reggie tie his cleats!

Week 8, Thing 19: Web 2.0 Awards sites

I selected travel as my category and clicked on a site called Real Travel. According to the Web 2.0 awards list, you can "Read users’ advice about their travel experiences and use RealTravel’s Free Trip Planner to map out your ideal vacation. You can also create blogs to share your trips with others." It sounded interesting and when I explored it, I found out what a great tool it was. This site is a fantastic way to find out about different travel destinations from real people who have been there and want to share their experiences. Searching by country and/or city is fun because you can then search for very specific things, such as things to do on a cruise to that place or where the best restaurants are in that city. There are also great travel photos to look at and blogs to read, as well as a section to find deals and compare prices. There are so many great resources just in this one site. It's great for any traveler!

Week 8, Thing 18: Online productivity tools

I was aware that Microsoft Office was not the "be all and end all" for creating spreadsheets, documents, and other such things. However, I didn't realize how simple it was to do all these things online with help from Google, Zoho, and other services. I tried out Google Docs for this exercise and I was very impressed. The layout when creating a document is similar to Word, but the toolbar is much less cluttered and easier to use. I just made one simple test document, but I was able to find everything I needed very quickly. It's also very easy to rename. I really like how this program allows you to save a file in many different formats depending on your needs. I can see this being useful as a backup of sorts and I think it's a great tool.

Week 7, Thing 17: Editing a wiki

It wasn't hard at all to add my blog to the list on Maryland Libraries Sandbox. I decided to edit the Favorite Vacation Spot page and wrote about the Outer Banks. Here is the link. I'm used to adding and editing things on my two blog pages, but it was kind of weird to be able to edit a whole page that had other peoples writing on it. Overall, my experience with using wikis was pretty good.

Week 7, Thing 16: Wikis

As I went through the discovery resources for this exercise and looked at some of the wikis that are used for library purposes, the most interesting thing to me was that the very thing that makes wikis so appealing and easy to use can also be harmful and cause problems. The fact that (unless it is restricted) anyone can edit and remove content from articles would have me wary about the credibility of a source like this. In my experience at Carroll Community College, teachers are hesitant to allow articles from sites like Wikipedia as a research source. However, I do like the idea of using wikis in collaborative group efforts. To have one place where people can post and edit progress on a project and share ideas is great, especially when those people may be spread apart geographically. Like all things technology related, wikis have a good side and a bad side.

Week 6, Thing 15: The future of libraries

I couldn't help but read all 5 perspectives on Library 2.0 from the OCLC. It was very interesting and provacative reading. Technology is definitely advancing quickly and libraries must keep up in order to stay relevant. Reading these articles reminded me of the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson. Change is hard and many people like to stay right where they are. I know, because I am one of those people! However, you must change ("move with the cheese") in order to keep up with the times. I liked reading all the different ideas people had for Library 2.0 even though some of them seemed really far out there to me. It will be very interesting to see what libraries look like just 10 years from now.

Week 6, Thing 14: Discover Technorati

I had already explored Technorati quite a bit and blogged about it in Thing 9 because I found it to be one of the best search tools for finding blogs. When I used it to do the keyword search for "Learning 2.0" a lot of the results that came back weren't relevant. However, I did find some blogs from other 2.0 users in different states that I wouldn't have found otherwise. I enjoyed looking at the Popular page on Technorati's site. The top searches weren't as interesting to me as the list of blogs that people had favorited. Not surprisingly, that list was similar to the top blogs list. I clicked on one blog called Engadget. It's a blog about all kinds of new technology. Some of the top tags that Technorati used to define Engadget included home entertainment, breaking news, microsoft, cellphones, and portable audio. I enjoyed looking through the various posts and found two very interesting ones that caught my attention: One is about Gateway's new laptops and another talks about lightning and iPods. This is why I like Technorati. It helps you find topic-specific blogs that would be hard to track down otherwise. Tags definitely help!

Week 6, Thing 13: Tagging and Discover Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us was a very interesting website. I explored it a little bit and tried typing in different keywork tags to see what came up. I liked the fact that you can find articles and websites that other people have found helpful and have gone through the trouble of posting it for everyone else to find. I think Del.icio.us would be very helpful as a research tool and I'm definitely going to keep it in mind when I need to look things up for future school projects. I wouldn't need to wade through all the search results that Google comes up with when this tool allows me to use keyword tags to find things exactly related to what I'm looking for.

Week 5, Thing 12: Rollyo

Once again, Rollyo is another thing I've never heard of. Hmm... and I thought I was computer-savvy, too. :) It was a little difficult for me at first because I wasn't sure what kind of search engine to create. But, since I love NASCAR, I thought I would just make one that would search all the main sites I go to for NASCAR news. I called it "Going In Circles." Here is the link:

http://rollyo.com/nascargirl24_48/going_in_circles/

My main search engine is Google. It's the one I use all the time because it's convenient and it has good results. However, a personalized search engine by Rollyo is very useful because you can search for a specific subject and get more concentrated results. Not sure how often I'll use it, but it's neat to have.

Week 5, Thing 11: LibraryThing

I absolutely loved LibraryThing! I never knew there was such a website. Believe me, I will be cataloging books long after this 23 Things project is over. For some reason, it is very entertaining to share what you love with other people and find out that they like similar things. My catalog is very small right now, but I think that it will take me no time at all to fill it up! This is definitely one of the most fun "things" I have done so far. Please feel free to take a peek inside my library (more additions will be coming soon!):

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/NASCARgirl24_48

Week 5, Thing 10: Online image generators

I certainly had a lot of fun playing around with all the image generators! My favorite was FD Toys by Flickr. There were so many different tools and toys to use and of course, I couldn't choose just one. I made three different things: a stamp, a billboard, and a movie poster. I think they look really neat and I had a good time putting them together. Here they are for you to see.

Week 4, Thing 9: Explore MERLIN/Other search tools

I tried out all the search tools provided for this week's thing. The one I liked the best and found simplest to use was Technorati. I liked it because it was specifically for finding blogs. I don't have a problem finding news feeds and other things like that, but sometimes I find it really difficult to find new blogs on topics that interest me. Technorati makes it easy and generally provides good results. I don't think I would use a lot of these search tools on a regular basis, simply because I don't need them. Sometimes it can just be a little too much information! However, I am glad I found Technorati and I think it will be helpful (and fun!) to me in the future.

Week 4, Thing 8: RSS Feeds

RSS - it is really simple! I had never used RSS before this exercise. I had heard of it before and seen the little orange symbol on various websites that I visit regularly, but I didn't even know what it stood for. The first two parts of this exercise weren't that hard. I used the first discovery resource listed - "RSS in plain English" - in order to learn more about it. Once I watched the very simple video explanation, I decided to move right along and try it myself. I think if I had looked at all the resources, I would have just confused myself! Anyway, I created my own Bloglines account next and the Bloglines tutorial was a big help with that. You really can't get lost if you follow that along. I added 10 newsfeeds, just like the post says, and I added some of the ones it recommended. I did all that yesterday, so it was really neat to go online today to my Bloglines account and see what items were newly added in my newsreader. I like the fact that it puts all of my most used or visited information all in one place and it's really great to use if you don't have a lot of time to browse around. However, I still like visiting different websites and I don't think I would ever use RSS feeds solely. You never know though! Finally, here is my public Bloglines account: http://www.bloglines.com/public/purplebirdsnest . Happy browsing!

Week 3, Thing 7: Technology - Touch Screens

I found this article on Baltimore Sun's website: Touch Screen Phones Poised For Growth. I would encourage anyone to read it if they have time. Apple's iPhone is coming out soon and if you've seen the ads for it on TV, you know it's pretty cool. It'll be a phone that does everything, from making calls to playing music. However, what I found the most interesting was its touch screen. "Touch" is probably the wrong word because with this new technology, the pressure of a finger or stylus pen isn't even necessary. These screens will react with accuracy to brushes and flicks of a finger. It's hard to explain fully if someone hasn't read the article, so that's why I posted a link to it! :) When I think of touch screens, the first thing that comes to my mind are the interactive ones at the Baltimore Aquarium. They are fun to play around with, but they are the kind that require a push or hard tap of the finger on the screen to go where you want. This technology improvement is amazing to me and I can easily see it being used in many different places and ways in the future.

Week 3, Thing 6: Flickr Mashups & Third Party Sites

It's amazing to me how many web apps there are related to Flickr. This is the first time I've seen a lot of this stuff. I checked out almost all the different links listed in this "thing's" blog post. There are so many different mashups just on the Flickr services page alone! The one thing that intrigued me most was the Flickr Postcard Browser in the Third Party Flickr Apps List. I loved typing in keywords and seeing the 25 postcard images that would appear. It's a neat way to find interesting photos, but without too many results. I enjoyed playing around with that.

Week 3, Thing 5: Explore Flickr

Flickr is so much fun! There are so many cool photos to look at. I could waste a lot of time just looking at other people's pictures! I have actually used Flickr before to look at concert pictures posted by my favorite band, Kutless. I've never tried to post photos before, but maybe I will after looking at everyone else's. I had a really hard time just choosing one interesting picture. There were so many neat ones just in one category alone. I think I've found my favorite though, at least for today. :)
This is a picture of the Jockey's Ridge sand dunes in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. After looking through many different tags and categories, I decided to type in "outer banks" and see what came up. There were so many lovely pictures that people had posted. I chose this one though because whenever we go to the Outer Banks, my favorite part of the trip is almost always our week-ending visit to Jockey's Ridge. It's so cool to see how the dunes change every year. I also like this picture because it reminds me of the poem "Footprints." OBX is my favorite place in the world and this picture brought back memories of our trip there earlier this summer.

Week 2, Thing 4: Register Blog & Track Progress

I didn't have any trouble registering my blog. It hasn't shown up on the Carroll Participants page yet, but I'm sure it will soon! I also downloaded the 23 Things Tracking Log and have begun filling it in. When I first read this week's "thing," I thought it sounded a little hard to do, but after re-reading it and looking over the log, I saw that it was actually very simple. Now that the "getting started" part is finished, I can't wait to do the rest of the things!

Week 2, Thing 3: Blogging

Obviously, I've set up my new blog and have started posting entries. I didn't have any trouble with this at all because I run another blog using Windows Live Spaces and I've been doing that for over 2 years. This format is actually much simpler than my other one. It's nice to be able to use this and track your progress!

Week 1, Thing 2: Lifelong Learning

I enjoyed going through the 7 and a half Habits tutorial. It helped me better understand how people learn through different types of learning situations. I think the easiest habit for me right now is accepting responsibility for my own learning. Because I was homeschooled, this comes easy for me. I've always been able to work independently and now that I am in community college, this past experience has helped me to take responsibility for completing my work and assignments on time and being diligent in my learning. The hardest habit for me would probably be view problems as challenges. When a problem arises, it tends to throw me for a loop and I become easily frustrated. I have a hard time moving past that roadblock, which is what the problem looks like in my mind. It is difficult to see it as a challenge that I can learn through.

Week 1, Thing 1: About the Program

My name is Mallory and I'm a page at North Carroll Branch. I'm excited about the 23 things program and I'm looking forward to learning new things throughout the summer!