Thing 10

The idea of setting up a wiki for meetings and student collaboration is awesome. The common craft video says it all. It does take a lot of emails to get things organized. The wiki is a great solution to the constant email trail. I recently attended a TIES workshop on the social web. The PB wiki I set up was an introduction at best. After working with this task, I will go back and invest more time into it. I like the book review idea. In my experience, students are anxious to read a book if someone in the class has really enjoyed it. On the 23 Things On A Stick wiki, I wrote about the idea of using the MN Twins opener to engage my students in reading some baseball themed books. It worked. Our Dan Gutman books and Finding Buck McHenry are off the shelves. Heat by Mike Lupica is being passed around. Word of mouth is great, but I can imagine what my students would do if they had the opportunity to work with a wiki.

Thing 9

I didn't get the invite to edit the ZOHO or Google Doc today, so I will cruise on to Thing 10 and revisit this task...

Sent another email. No invite yet. Hopefully on Monday.

Here are my thoughts on ZOHO and Google Doc... As a media specialist I am glad that students will now be able to have access to word processing, spreadsheet or presentation applications that they won't have to worry about whether or not the document format will be compatible with the versions of software we have on the computers. The fact that more than one person can edit the project is advantageous when students are working with two different platforms at home. I thought ZOHO had more options to offer in each application, but both will be beneficial. Great resources to share with students and staff!

Thing 8

I created a natural disasters introduction for my fifth graders on ZOHO. Ran into problems trying to publish it in this blog. Here is the web address... http://show.zoho.com/public/mvick08/Natural%20Disasters

I like the fact that this is an option to saving on flash drives and trying to transfer files from home. The website users need to be 13 and above, so this would work more for high school media centers and above. What an easy way to do group work and share files. I also like the Google version. I had heard about Google docs at a TIES workshop that I went to recently. There are so many great resources that are available to us! I know I have said this in past blogs, but I am really excited about these 23 Things!

Thing 7

• Describe how your library uses email: Our media center uses an email system to communicate with staff and outside sources. Our elementary students do not have individual accounts on our system. Has it improved productivity? It has definitely improved productivity. Rather than having to find someone during the busy day, it is much easier to send an email. We have the ability to send full staff emails. We do the scheduling for our computer labs through the calendar function. We also have the ability to connect with our email system from home which makes it easier to do planning from home. It is true that you need to restrict the amount of time spent working with email. It is easy to get overloaded. One of the things that I have taught my own children is that if you are planning to send something in text, realize that it can be printed, forwarded and saved. If you have a difficult issue to address, it is much better to speak to someone in person.
  
• Share your thoughts on online reference using some of the other Web 2.0 communication tools: I think the idea of online reference is great. Text messaging and IM aren't things that our media center is ready for yet, but I can see how high school, colleges, and public libraries would find it very beneficial. Using the method of communication that your patrons find the most useful is a key to opening doors.
  
• Are you an active user of text messaging, IM, or other communication tools? I use text messaging the most. It's an easy way to get a message sent to friends and family. We used IM with a past software system at school. I set up an MSN account today and will see how it goes. : )
  
• Which OPAL or MINITEX Web conference (Webinar) did you attend? How was it? What do you think of this communication tool? I wasn't able to attend a conference, but did check out some archived conferences on MINITEX Web that focused on the Gale K12 resources. I had some issues with audio when I tried to access the webinars. I opted to look for printable resources instead. There were some PDF handouts on Library 2.0 that will be great references. As to my thoughts on web conferencing, I think it is a great idea. I participated in an online conference through the U of M earlier this year. It's a great resource, especially when travel time can be eliminated. It's another resource that reaches those who live in the outstate areas.
  

Thing 6

These tasks on imaging were linked together well. I had originally thought it was all one task and then had to break my post apart and divide it into tasks 5 and 6. There are so many great sites to use with graphics! I can't wait to share the ideas with my colleagues and students. Image Chef and trading cards were fun to use. Using the Image Chef was my favorite. The variety of templates and frames that could be used were awesome. The site was user friendly and I was able to copy and paste the code right into my blog. The Image Chef also had the option of exporting into a variety of blogs. The Big Huge Labs site was also interesting. I could see students really enjoying the trading cards. I liked all of the options that could be used with the background and icons. The trading cards could be used to create projects on many topics...natural disaster, animal, state, country, or history projects - without having to use students photos. This task was cool!

Thing 5

I enjoyed using the mashups. Spell with flickr was a neat way of generating an image. It was easy to change the letters and copy/paste the code into the blog. The one problem I had was trying to change the size of the image on my blog. I went with a simpler image that would fit on one line instead. I couldn't figure out from the code if there was a way to change the size. I guess I could try adding the image into the actual posting, but I couldn't find a way to save the image on the Spell with Flickr site. Hmmm....

Thing 4

Interesting task! Flickr was a great website. It's hard to find images that can be used as royalty free. The tags worked well, but it was hard to locate images of local spots. When I did a basic search of Minnesota there were thousands. I could see where a lot of time could be spent searching on this site. I did some searches on the Library of Congress images. We are currently working on a WW II research project. Great images of WWII and Wisconsin. The idea that the Clemons and Alcuin Libraries at SJU and CSB could show if books were checked out from the notes on the image was a neat option. I found a cool image of books in the creative commons portion of Flickr, but was unable to link it into this blog by adding an image in the post. I've gone through the process a couple of times, but the image doesn't show up on this blog.

Here is the link... http://www.flickr.com/photos/violetmonde/200852603/.

The idea of photo sharing is great. I'm not sure that I would want to have a lot of my photos public, but I could see sharing them with friends and family rather than sending files via email. Off to Thing 5...

Thing 3 - RSS Feeds

Score! I used Google Reader and am now able to check on my blogging colleagues and receive news updates. Hits and misses of this task included adding all of the news blogs. Quite a collection - that I didn't really want or need. It's a good thing the help menu and setting option work well. I was able to narrow it down to the local MN news headlines. I wasn't able to set up the local newspapers in our area, but will continue to try to fine tune my list. Other subscriptions that I added were people from the 23 Things on A Stick CMLE list. I used Doug Johnson's blog as a choice for a media blog. He also has an article that describes the impact of blogs and lists some recommendations for school library media and educational technology blogs.

RSS will be a timesaver for me. Instead of traveling to many sites, I will be able to have updates at one location. Looking forward to adding to this list as I find more blogs with teaching resources.

Thing 2 - My thoughts

Until watching the video and reading the articles for this task, I hadn't realized that there were such strong views on Library 2.0.  I agree with some of the things that John Blyberg wrote.  I don't think libraries could continue to exist in the traditional sense, if changes aren't made to keep up with the technology that is being used by our patrons. Don't get me wrong, I don't wish traditional libraries to be replaced by virtual libraries.  The availability of print resources is vital to our patrons.  As an elementary media specialist, I firmly believe that children need to be read to and have books to read.  The library provides resources for enjoyment, reading development and inquiry.  The excitement of going to the library and receiving quality literature should never be replaced.  The library is also a vital resource for those patrons who are unable to afford technology in their homes.

I was drawn to Rick Anderson's article by the intriguing title.  The iceberg analogy was interesting.  The three issues: the "just in case" collection, reliance on user education and the "come to us" model of library service are issues that all media centers and libraries are dealing with today.  How much money should be spent on print versus technology resources?  How are centers staffed?  What are the needs of our patrons? Is access user-friendly both physically and virtually?  I agree that we don't need to get rid of the core principles and values to meet the changing needs of our patrons, but we do need to keep up with the technological advancements available to us. 

 

Where am I in my knowledge and use of Web 2.0 tools?  Many of the things that are listed will be new experiences for me.  I feel like that little boat that Rick Anderson described.  I continue to learn so that I can change the direction of the way things are done in our media center to best meet the needs of our patrons.