Saturday, December 15, 2007

24th Thing

Revolution OS
Since I watched this movie before Christmas, I am trying to remember what I saw...

Well, I must say I learned a lot about people who spend lots of time locked away with computers for decades at a time. However, I won't spend any more time on that.

After watching this movie, I feel that I have a much better understanding of how long it takes to come up with computer software that we take for granted every day. Also, I was made aware of the different opinions on whether software should be available for everyone to use, or whether it should be made available for purchase only. I'm sure its a topic that will be discussed for many more years to come. It should be interesting to see how things may change 20 years from now, or how software will evolve, or maybe there won't be something called "software". Who knows?

Monday, November 5, 2007

The End is Near

...only for completing 23 Things, luckily.
Okay, I finally made it-I'm done!!I have really enjoyed learning most of the Things, especially the fun ones, like Meez, YouTube, and Flickr. I can't say I'll be using all of the things I learned every day, but it is great to know they're out there. I need to keep up on things also, so I'll know what my kids are doing on the computer when they get a little older. :) The Things I learned have already helped me understand a little bit better what a lot of people use our computers for-they're not just for the catalog anymore. It's always good to keep up with the young people, it helps keep you young yourself. Who knows what libraries will be like in 20 years, but I hope I'm still learning new technology then.

I'm Almost Done!

Since I have dial-up at home, I have not tried downloading audiobooks yet. I have helped a few customers who have tried to do it from OverDrive or NetLibrary, and I understand the process, but waiting hours and hours for something to download at home has not been one of my favorite things to do. So, I think the idea of it is great, but only if you have the fastest connection. It's something I'll keep in mind for when we do eventually get a faster internet connection.

Podcasting

Sounds like some kind of alien thing...
I liked Yahoo Podcasts the best; it seemed easier to find what I was looking for. I was able to find one of the author Elizabeth Berg, reading the first chapter of one of her novels, and also an interview with Khaled Hosseini, on writing A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

You Tube

This site is so much fun, I can see how you can get sucked into watching a lot of videos. I wonder how much this affects work productivity? Here's one of my favorites below...

The Muppet Show - Mahna Mahna (better copy)

The Muppets-do you love them as much as I do?

Web 2.0 Awards

I looked at a bunch of different sites on this list, but the last one I looked at was Etsy. Being a long-time crafter, I was interested right away in the pictures, categories of searching, and ease of sorting your results. This particular web site is great for people who make all kinds of items and want to sell them on the internet. It's also great for other crafters who are looking for ideas, colors, patterns, etc. As far as how it could be applied in a library setting, I'm not sure yet... I think pictures draw people in, so more pictures are always good. I know we now have pictures of book jackets in Aquabrowser, which really helps when a student, for example, needs a certain edition of a book and they only know what the cover looks like. If I just were to look in Horizon, I would have no way to find the correct book. I used a picture just the other day to find a certain classic title that a student needed, because that was the one they were reading in school.