23 Mobile Things, Thing 1: Blogging & Registering

So, back at it.  I hope to complete this one.  I spent some time re-acquainting myself with the blog.  I've changed the look and moved things around.  It looks like some of the Things I did before are no longer working.  Oh well, on to newer and better...

What I expect to get out of 23 Mobile Things:
Learn to use things that our patrons are using so I can help if needed.
Learn about various apps that would be useful for work and for me personally.
Learn how to better use my Kindle.
Find out that my Kindle doesn't get a lot of apps and be frustrated.
Try to download them on my ipod touch instead.
Find out that my ipod is too old and can't download any apps.
Decide that I really need to upgrade my mobile devices.

Oops, well we will see how things go.

Thing 20: Libraries and Social Networks

I had to jump ahead because I'm now an administrator for our library's Facebook page. I joined the group "American Library Association Members" because I am. I'm not sure what that means, though. I can't see where it is on my page. I guess it just means I can go to their page and see posts and comment. Facebook sure is popular with our patrons. They use it on our internet computers all the time. It seems to be quite addicting and a great time sucker. I'm sticking with library friends for now, until I can get comfortable with it. The privacy issues concern me, so I hope I have those setting figured out. DPL just joined Facebook a few months ago and we're figuring out how to best use it as we go along. Fortunately there are others on staff that know more about it than I do.

Avatar update

Yahoo Avatars are back! I had to put on a jacket again. The air conditioning is back on full blast. The weather outside is not to warm for July either.

Thing 11: Tagging and Delicious

So, I've already been using labels on these posts -- as a good cataloger should. As a cataloger, however, I find that random tags can be a problem because you don't know which term people are using. I signed up for Delicious a few months ago. Plugging slowly away... I haven't used it since, but I guess once I got used to it it would be helpful. There is so much stuff out there, though, and it's a big time drain once you get sucked in exploring various tags. The Menasha moving tag cloud is fun to look at, but hard to use. It doesn't seem to be related to Delicious, though. I can see using Delicious to keep track of recommended web sites, but I don't see where any of these libraries have a link from their web pages. I can see using this for research. It's easy to find many articles on a topic using the tags, you just have to be careful of the source. BYW, Yahoo Avatars seem to have disappeared from all the blogs. I wonder if it's a Blogger glitch or a Yahoo problem.

Thing 10: Wikis

OK, so it's been two months. It's supposedly Spring now, so my avatar is wearing a nice pastel turtleneck sweater. I've also changed the template for my blog to freshen things up a bit.

I did look a little at wikis. It seems like a good idea for groups of people to share and collaborate. I really like the Common Craft videos they are simple and to the point, and fun too. I think wikis are a bit dangerous if anyone can edit. Wikipedia is great for quick information, but if a kid is doing a report they better back it up with reliable sources. I don't think it should be banned altogether, they should just be aware that it might not be accurate.

Instead of playing around with one of the wikis listed, I decided to add to "laurasreadinglist" a wiki that was started by some colleagues on pbwiki. The list needs some organizing, so I started a new page and copied some titles and put them in order by author. I needed to know what's on the list before I could add my recommended titles. We could use a wiki like this for reader's advisory and share what patrons are asking for and what titles we found to answer their requests. There are lots of possibilities.

Thing 7 revisited: Challenge #3, Twitter

When I found out that the Youth Media Awards would be announced on Twitter, I had to go and sign up. It seems like it would be the quickest way to find out the winners. I downloaded TwitterFox to get regular updates on Mozilla Firefox. I also managed to download my Yahoo avatar to Twitter and add a Twitter update link to this blog. I haven't had much to say yet. As for use in libraries, the award thing is great. I guess posting info on new books or events at the library could be helpful. I could also follow other library or book related sites to see what else is going on. Well, on to Thing 10 . . .

Getting back to it

So, it's been a while. I stopped when the last round of 23 things ended. Now there is "More things on a stick" I guess I'd better finish the first 23. I updated my avatar. Time to go inside and keep warm with a nice hot cup of tea.