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.

Thing 9: Online Collaboration Tools

Well, it has been awhile since I actually did this Thing. It's been kinda crazy lately. I recall having some trouble being able to edit, but the idea is good. I have shared a booklist using Zoho Writer with some of my colleagues and I think that it will work well and we can each add titles and edit as needed to make the final document.

Thing 8 again

I created and posted a Flickr badge, too. That's kinda fun. I used everything tagged with "23 things"

Thing 8: Share your creations

So apparently I can import this to my blog. I tried to do a Zoho show, but I really didn't have anything to create a slide show about. All of these tools seem useful, but I'm not sure what I would use them for right now. This Zoho writer seems like a good idea so you don't need a word processor on your computer and can easily share online. Ok, now let's see if I can post this thing.

Well, here it is! That worked pretty well. I just wrote this post on Zoho writer.

Thing 7: Web 2.0 Communication Tools

Of course we have used email in the library for years. Can't remember how we lived without it. I tried out IM with some coworkers. It's a quick, easy way to communicate, but you have to be sure that the other person is online and logged in. I don't do texting, it takes too long to find the right keys on my phone. I did try it for the ALA awards in January. I would rather have gotten an email with all the awards listed instead of a bunch of separate text messages. I can't imagine trying to use it for library reference. I guess I'll leave that for the young. I haven't really done web conferencing either. I can see that it could be useful and save travel time, but even getting time during a busy day to participate can be difficult. I listened to part of a couple of archived programs on OPAL to get a feel for it. Lots of stuff out there.