Thing 21--Podcasting, Vidcasting, and Me!

I attended a session on podcasting at our spring tech coordinator's conference presented by our keynote speaker, Miguel Guhlin of San Antonio ISD. Since then I've planned to do a podcast of one of this year's Bluebonnet books, but haven't found (made!) the time. So, once again, the 23 Things is providing the motivation for me to do something that I've wanted to do! Yeah! I hope that I can create podcasts for all 20 books on this year's list, but that might be a slightly lofty goal...maybe a better goal would be to do five books this year. I have used Photostory a few times since learning about it last summer at a workshop and I love it! It gives such a professional look to a presentation and is SO user friendly. I also like the fact that you can make it as simple or complex as you choose: there are many 'bells and whistles' that you can add to your story to make it even more attractive, or you can just stick with pictures and music. Either way it still comes out great! I have the absolute minimal amount of experience with Audacity, but I would love to be able to spend some more time with it. It has lots of capabilites for audio editing that aren't available in PhotoStory so I hope to get more familiar with it. Maybe I should make that another of my goals for this year! Here is my vidcast of a booktalk for 'Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom' by Tim Tingle. This is a fantastic story, and I predict, this year's winner of the Texas Bluebonnet Award!

Thing 20 or YouTube, TeacherTube, We all Tube Together!

When I searched using the term 'library' I found this cute Sesame Street skit with Cookie Monster, who happens to be my favorite SS character. I plan to use it to kick off my kindergarten classes this year!

No Cookies in the Library




I also saw this video on The Faculty Room Blog, which I subscribed to on my Google Reader, and since it is so apropos to our course, I'm adding it here.

Learning to Change--Changing to Learn



Life Cycles is a major topic in science for kindergarten as well as 2nd grade so I searched for videos on that subject. I found this video about the life cycle of a butterfly, which would be a great introduction for kindergartners.

Life Cycle of a Butterfly



I'm very glad to find out about Zamzar because YouTube is blocked in my district so it will be nice to have a way around that barrier. Our district subscribes to United Streaming so we do have access to many great educational videos through that resource. It is great to have access to so many videos online (and brief ones, at that!) because you can often show the students something that will get the point across much quicker than many words might do. Hmmmm....makes me think that I probably shouldn't spend any $$$ on new DVDs to add to the video collection!

Thing 19--Backpack

In looking through the web 2.0 awards, I came across an organizational site known as Backpack. While it is a 'paid' site, it offers some really neat, user-friendly tools for a small group Intranet site. It includes a shared calendar, easy-to-make pages, to-do lists, a newsroom for group communication, reminders, a journal, and many other useful features. The pricing is fairly reasonable--$99/month for up to 40 users, $49/month for up to 15 users, $24/month for up to 6 users--but with so many other tools available that can accomlish the same tasks, I doubt many school districts would choose to spend their limited budgets on a subscription. We did have an Intranet when I first started working in FWISD and it was a great way to keep our library department connected. We have since transitioned to using Outlook and while it is not as user friendly as our previous application (and nowhere near as sexy as Backpack!) it does get the job done. I could see Backpack being very useful in a situation where there was a small group working together remotely. It is a very nice, well-planned site that offers an easy-to-create and use Intranet for small groups. I would much prefer to use a site like this, with its colorful, clean layout, but alas, unlimited budgets are still a far-off dream, at least in my district!

Thing 18

I started to download Open Office, but when the progress box showed that the download was going to take over an hour and I was down to only 11 minutes of battery left, I abandoned that idea. That's one major disadvantage...although I noticed that one could request a cd for installation. I'm making an assumption here, but I'm going to guess that although the product is free, that part of the 'price' would include more requests for donations to support the work. I don't have a problem with paying for a product that I'm going to use...I'd rather just pay the $$$ than be repeatedly hit up for donations for something that is advertised as free. I experimented with Google Docs and I can see lots of potential for its use in my situation. It would be great to share items that have been created by other librarians in my district so that we are not each individually reinventing the wheel each time we need a spreadsheet, parent letter, schedule, etc. There has been some discussion, as well, about using Google Docs to rewrite our policy and procedure manual. I think that would be a great way to work on such a monumental task...many hands make the work light, wisdom of the masses and all that. I doubt that I'll be uploading everything from my files, but it's nice to know that I can do that as needed in order to share with colleagues, etc. I noticed on the items that I did upload that there doesn't seem to be the capability to include clip art and/or pictures, so there would need to be some additional tweaking done after the collaborative work was complete. All in all, I have to say that this is another great tool that I look forward to using and sharing with my colleagues when school resumes next month!

Thing 17--Rollyo Rocks!

I wasn't sure at first how I might be able to use Rollyo, but after giving it some thought I remembered that I'm always searching for coloring/activity sheets on various sites to supplement my storytimes and RIF distributions. Rollyo is a fantastic tool for searching multiple sites! Now instead of visiting 10 or 15 different places to find what I need, I can just search once. I can't wait to share this tool with the teachers on my campus. There are several who do try to have their students complete 'research projects', but I continue to battle the 'just Google it' mentality. I won't get all the way up on my soapbox, but suffice it to say that most elementary school students are not able to search effectively using Google! Rollyo will really help in that respect. I am very excited about sharing this new (to me) resource with my faculty in a few weeks!

Thing 16

Wikis...I had a small amount of experience with wikis prior to participating in the 23 things this summer. After attending a training session where I was introduced to pbwiki last summer, I created the AMES Library Lines wiki. My idea was to get students involved in recommending books to others, gathering comments on the current Bluebonnet nominees, seeking suggestions on books to be purchased and making everyone aware of upcoming events. I was really proud of my work and introduced the pages to each of my fifth grade classes at the beginning of the school year, but as you can see, there was no participation. I probably should have put more effort into getting the kids started with it, provided more opportunity for them to participate while in the library, and generally just pushed it a little more than I did. I think I would like to update my Bluebonnet page for this year and introduce more classes to the site. I would really like to get some students involved in creating content with me, but I'm just not sure what the best way to go about it is. FYI...I work in a Title I school with approximately 600 students from PK through 5th grade. We have computers in classrooms, six student stations in the library, but no lab. The majority of our students do not have regular access to a computer outside of school. Any ideas????

Thing 15

I found Dr. Wendy Schultz's comments on Library 2.0 to be very enlightening. The fact that she projected beyond the 2.0 revolution to consider what will follow was extremely insightful. I think that history has shown that her observations are valid...there is a cyclical aspect to our existence. What comes around goes around, as is commonly said. While libraries are currently evolving to best utilize the various new technologies in order to provide additional services to users, there is still a great demand (and will continue to be!) for libraries to remain a place where people can relax, enjoy a good book in a quiet environment, and participate in programs geared to their interests, whether it be a children's storytime or a quilting group. No doubt there will continue to be change and new opportunities for service, but I think Dr. Schultz very aptly points out that these new paradigms will not replace the former versions, but simply absorb them. My view of web 2.0 in the library...an evolution of services, an embracing of new technologies, an opportunity for greater user participation in the creation, sharing, and use of information, while still maintaining what has always been attractive and appreciated about the library...the people, the books, the calming environment, the connection with others who share your interests...and it's all FREE to anyone who enters!

Thing 14

Okay, I understand Technorati a little better after this exercise. I'm still not completely comfortable with it, but I do feel like I could use it effectively at this point. I thought it was interesting that out of the top 5 blogs listed by fans vs authority, there were three that appeared on both lists. I didn't expect to see such a high correlation between the two. I was also surprised to find that many of the top 15 searches related to topics unfamiliar to me. I noticed that when I clicked on the tag, 'phil bradley' I got hits for every blog that included each term separately, rather than the complete item. That should be corrected, I think. All in all, I think Technorati is a tool that I would like to introduce to my campus in hopes that it might encourage some of our teachers to get involved in the blogosphere. Personally, I may use it to find other blogs that pertain to my interest to replace some of the ones that I currently have on my Google Reader that may not be as useful as I first thought. Regarding tagging...I love the way that these little guys work! It's so great to be able to sort and find items according to the keywords that make sense to me. Of course, it becomes a little like assigning subject headings when it comes to finding information based on the tags of others. What made sense to them may not make sense to me and vice versa. I like the 'recommended tags' feature found on many of the sites we've explored, as that provides some order to the organization. I guess it's the librarian in me, but I feel like there should be some semblance of authority for all of these keywords, although I appreciate the freedom to use whichever tags I choose.

Thing 13

I had heard about Del.icio.us, but didn't know all the ins and outs of its use. Now I can appreciate its popularity! I've often found sites that I want to use again, but can't locate the bookmark when I need it, or I've forgotten to bookmark the site, etc. Del.icio.us solves these problems! I can see lots of potential for the use of Del.icio.us on my campus. People are always asking me where I have found the materials that I use during storytimes, lessons, or RIF distributions. Being able to share all of these sites online so that anyone on campus can access my bookmarks from any computer is an amazing and powerful way to collaborate. Even better, if the librarians in my district registered and set up Del.icio.us accounts, it would provide quick access for all of us to the collected wisdom of the group regarding useful sites. I will definitely work on getting my bookmarks imported and organized on Del.icio.us. M-M-M-M-M good!

Thing 12

I loved Thing 12! I was glad to get the opportunity (i.e., being required to do something that I felt I didn't have time to do) to read some of the other participants' blogs and see that many of us are experiencing the same things. I think the two most important points about comments are: 1) comments encourage the author and let him/her know that he/she is being heard (it's somewhat depressing to see '0 comments' day after day) and 2) make your comment meaningful (I abhor those 'blanket praise' type of statements like 'Good point.' or 'I totally agree.' because they are SO meaningless.). I chose to make my extra-curricular comments on two of the blogs that I added to my Google Reader: Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk blog and the Rocks in My Dryer blog. Both of these writers inject a sense of humor into their posts that resonates with me as an educator and a mother of two preschoolers. I enjoy reading about about the situations that other educators and mothers encounter, especially when the writing is as well done as these two blogs are written.

Thing 11

Library Thing was definitely interesting. I don't know how useful it will be, but I really like the idea of connecting people through their choice of reading material. However, I have to say that I still prefer actually going to the bookstore...wandering around my favorite sections....reading the covers or first chapters...and just soaking up the atmosphere created by surrounding yourself with thousands of actual books! Yes, I search for titles online. Yes, I use online services to create my lists for purchase orders at school. Yes, I've even read some portions of books online at Amazon. But when I have time (and it doesn't happen too often), I would still rather browse through the bookstore than visit any website to select my reading material. It is great, though, to have a chance to talk to others about the books that you've read, are currently reading, or want to read. I probably won't be a frequent visitor, but I'll definitely visit again. I think it would be a great way to find out more about books that are controversial before purchasing them for my library, as well as learning about new books, author appearances, and authors in my favorite genres with whom I might not be familiar.

Thing 10

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender


I created the image above using the Poetry Blender feature on Image Chef. I also created the magazine cover below on the Big Huge Labs site. I can see how you could spend LOTS of time on these sites! Out of all the sites that were linked from the blog, I found that Big Huge Labs was the easiest for me to use. Some of the other sites were not as user-friendly. It took me numerous tries, for instance, to get the image from ImageChef to post here. I followed the directions for copying and pasting the html code numerous times, but I never could get it to work. I'm sure that there is something that I missed, but I don't know what it is. I finally just used the direct post option instead.




I probably won't have the need to use these sites often either professionally or personally, but it's great to know that these tools are available when I do need them. I would probably use them most when I needed to add something unique to a presentation or for humorous library signage. I don't know that I would use any of them with students, but I'm open to ideas! I'm sure the students would be highly motivated to create their own images, though, and I would love to try something like having them create their own magazine cover in honor of a famous person.




A site that I've been introduced to recently is Glogster, which allows the user to create posters combining images, video, and music. I am working on a Glog for my school library home page, which I hope to have completed by the beginning of school. Be kind...it's a work in progress!

Thing 9

I've spent several days looking at some of the blog search tools and although I found the Google search to be the easiest to use, I prefer finding blogs through the recommendations of others. Not necessarily word-of-mouth, but more a word-of-blog-ticker method. Almost every library-related blog that I visited had Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk blog in their list, so I subscribed to it as well. I think that it says something (hopefully something good!) when a blog has as large an audience as Doug Johnson's does. I did find an amusing blog about mothering preschoolers using Technorati, but I found that tool somewhat difficult to navigate....it was not clearly evident to me how to go about getting to the actual blog so that I could subscribe. I thought it was interesting that on Suprglu the vast majority of the posts came from Doug Johnson's blog. Maybe I just caught it at an unusual time. The most entertaining feed that I found was one called 'Love the Liberry' that recounts some of the amusing interactions that occur between public librarians and their patrons. Maybe I should start something like that for school librarians....