HCCataloger

Thing 24 - Revolution OS

2007-11-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

This documentary is a history of the "open source movement" or free software - how it began and why. It also deals with the origins and development of Linux. The documentary brings up philosophical issues like issues of community building, sharing and creativity. During the '70s and '80s there was a lot of collaboration between people writing software code. Then when Microsoft came along the code became proprietary and this practice wasn't as wide spread. Also featured in the film are interviews with prominent people involved in the movement.

Week 9, Thing 23

2007-11-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed my journey through 23 things. I feel that I now know more about different technologies that I only had heard about but never experienced. I would definitely participate if another discovery program was offered in the future. Some of my favorite exercises were week 3 exploring Flickr and week 5 playing with an online image generator. I found that I took longer to complete the assignments than I thought I would, but that was my choice. I completed some exercises more quickly when I didn't look at each discovery resource and went straight to the discovery exercise.

Week 9, Thing 22

2007-11-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

I looked at the Overdrive site and found a lot of current titles to download. I do like to listen to audio books on long car rides, but otherwise I prefer the paper copy of a book. However, not as many titles can be downloaded to a CD which I would use in my car. Project Gutenberg is useful for finding titles now under public domain. I did not know that it also includes music, some video and sheet music.

Week 9, Thing 21

2007-10-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

I checked out all 3 podcast directories. I was surprised to see that Yahoo podcasts has an announcement that it is shutting down the site as of Oct. 31, 2007. I rather like this podcast directory as it also indexes YouTube. I searched for podcasts about birdwatching and found that Yahoo podcasts listed many more than Podcast.net. I added the show Ray Brown's talking birds as an RSS feed to my Bloglines account.

Week 9, Thing 20

2007-10-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

YouTube is a very popular site, and I can see why. It is a great site for people to share homemade videos on all kinds of topics. I chose the video Marc Cataloging because it shows how much cataloging has changed over the years and that it is still relevant in today's online world. I also found many other library related videos. Some were demonstrations on how to use the library or how to use a particular tool. Another video I liked was about music cataloging, produced by a library grad student to fulfill a course requirement. Posting videos of past events on the library's website might be a good way to encourage participation in future events.

Week 8, Thing 19

2007-10-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

I chose to explore the site Medstory. This site helps you search for health related topics. It's fairly easy to use. First step is to type in a topic. I tried Alzheimer's and it took me to a page with different categories to refine the search. Some of the categories were drugs, procedures, complimentary medicine, nutrition, clinical studies. There was also a tab for research articles if you want more technical information. It's also possible to find professional associations and blogs related to a topic.

This site would be useful for our Health Collection.

Week 8, Thing 18

2007-10-15T13:03:00.001-07:00

Using Zoho Writer

I'm creating this document using Zoho Writer for my 23 Things, Thing 18. So far it seems easy to use and similar to other word processors that I have used. It has the usual fonts, spell check, etc. I like that I can create this document in Zoho Writer and send it directly to my blog.

Week 7, Thing 16, Thing 17

2007-10-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

I find Wikipedia to be a very useful site if I need quick information about a topic or as a starting off point. I looked at several "wiki" sites. I liked the idea of a wiki set up for a convention. It is a way for people to post helpful information for all those attending the meetings. My department could set up a wiki as a place to post any changes or updates to our procedures. Many of us work part-time and are not always able to attend every meeting. It could be a good place to record and document any decisions.

I left a comment on the SI sandbox wiki created by Beth Tribe since there is a problem with the Maryland Libraries sandbox wiki.

Week 6, Thing 15

2007-10-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

Library 2.0 - what does it mean to me? I started to think about my first job in a library and the technological changes and advances since that time. Libraries need to embrace new technologies that may help the customer, not just for the sake of technology. Library 2.0 is bringing about enormous changes in the world of library cataloging. Will my job as a cataloger in a public library even exist in 10 years? Yet there still is a great need for people to organize materials and create finding tools for information that exists - whether it is Web based information or books.

Week 6, Thing 13, Thing 14

2007-10-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

I had a little trouble understanding the point of Del.icio.us at first. After looking it over for awhile I see that it could be useful. I added tags to a number of sites but I'm not sure that I will ever use it. Since tagging does not use a controlled vocabulary, people can use different terms for the same thing. This makes it more difficult to find what you want. Sometimes the tags can be too broad or too narrow.

Technorati

I did a keyword search in Blog posts on "Learning 2.0" and got 4,228 results. The same search in tags pulled in 677 hits and 679 hits in the Blog directory. Keyword searches always retrieve more hits many of them irrelevant.

It looks like many of the Top Favorited blogs have to do with technology, many of the top searches are on celebrity names and the top blogs are technology related or about politics. An interesting thing is that "Learning 2.0" is listed as one of the top searches at the moment.

Week 5, Thing 12

2007-09-27T12:02:00.001-07:00

I created a "My travel search" Rollyo. I think this will be helpful in planning a vacation because I usually end up going back and forth between different web sites looking for hotel reviews and ratings. I like that you can place the RollBar in your browser to create a bookmark.

Week 5, Thing 11

2007-09-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

I had heard about LibraryThing but had never looked at the website. As a cataloger, I found this site to be an interesting way to maintain a catalog of my own personal library. Many times friends ask me for a recommendation of a good book to read but the titles don't always come to mind. This way I can keep an account of all the books I enjoyed reading.

Week 5, Thing 10

2007-09-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

I spent quite a lot of time with Meez. During my first attempt I was able to create an avatar but for some reason was unable to place it in my blog. I never did figure out the problem. I saved the character and decided to leave it for another day. I went back to it today and this time I had no problem putting it in the blog. When I saw it in the blog I decided to change the title. Now I have 2 characters with different titles and I can't seem to figure out how to delete one of these from the blog. Anyone know how? I also played around with Yahoo avatars and tried the Generator blog.

hccataloger

2007-09-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

Week 4, RSS & Newsreaders, Thing 9

2007-09-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

I subscribed to Merlin and used each of the search tools. I found they each retrieved more than I wanted to look at. I think I need to develop better search strategies to retrieve exactly what I want.

Week 4, RSS & Newsreaders, Thing 8

2007-09-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last year I took the training session on RSS feeds so I remembered a little about it. I liked using the Bloglines newsreader as a place to gather all the newsfeeds that I want to read. My son follows a number of blogs and I decided to subscribe to one about our neighborhood written by a student at the U of MD.

Week 3 Thing 5,6,7 : Photos & Images

2007-09-12T10:56:00.001-07:00

P1010058.JPG,
originally uploaded by dvdrk625.

I realized when I was looking around Flickr that my son has pictures on this site from his study abroad year in England. This is a picture of a swan in Norwich. He has some other pictures posted at Yahoo which will be disappearing soon. Because he no longer remembers his password, he can't transfer them to Flickr-- a good reminder to me to make note of all my passwords.

I enjoyed exploring the mashups and third party tools. One that intrigued me is the Trip Planner. What a great way to organize information about a vacation along with photos. I feel a little overwhelmed by all the possibilities of things you can add to your trip planner -- maps, hotels, itinerary, etc. I also created a movie poster which was fun to do. I wanted to try out Mappr but unfortunately something seems to be wrong with it at the moment. I'll have to remember to try it out another time. One problem with trying out all these new things is that I tend to get caught up with it and time flies by.

I've been thinking a lot about technological advances in the medical field. The library will soon be getting an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator). This amazing device can save so many lives and the more public places that have them, the better. The difference between life and death is just a matter of minutes when someone experiences sudden cardiac arrest.

Week 2, Thing 3 & 4 Blogging

2007-09-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

It wasn't too hard to set up the blog but it took me awhile to choose the name and decide on a template. I wonder why the posted time for the blog is several hours earlier than the actual posted time.

Week 1, Thing 1: About this program

2007-09-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

Some of the things I'll be learning about through this program sound interesting. Maybe it will help me bridge the technology divide that I sense between myself and my kids.

Week 1, Thing 2: Pointers from lifelong learners

2007-09-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

I sometimes have a problem with the 3rd habit: View problems as challenges. Many times I look on them more as obstacles to my learning which in turn can lead me to give up and go on to something else.

One of the easier habits for me is creating my own learning toolbox. I enjoy searching for information online or finding just the right book.