Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thing 23
"Video of collaborating musicians was neat, shows some of the possibilities out there. Can interactive story time be far behind? :) It does feel like a tsunami at times but the goal is to learn to surf the wave. Like any tool, this could be a great thing for education, enjoyment and discovery. Concerns of privacy and security linger? We'll see..."
That was my "Thing 1" contribution so long ago. The challenges definitely felt tsunami-ish! I now feel like I can ride the wave. The anxiety of trying new things is gone and I do feel braver about the next thing. I'm even teaching my hubby some of the things now! I've learned these tools can help expand our little worlds and the possibilities are intriguing. I can now look forward to interacting with my grandkids a little more when they talk about these things. I may find new expressions of creativity with my artistic talents. This was well worth the effort!
That was my "Thing 1" contribution so long ago. The challenges definitely felt tsunami-ish! I now feel like I can ride the wave. The anxiety of trying new things is gone and I do feel braver about the next thing. I'm even teaching my hubby some of the things now! I've learned these tools can help expand our little worlds and the possibilities are intriguing. I can now look forward to interacting with my grandkids a little more when they talk about these things. I may find new expressions of creativity with my artistic talents. This was well worth the effort!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Thing 21 and 22
The sites I chose to help "newbies" to the internet are: 1. Google.com, because it's an all inclusive site for searching images, videos, maps, news, shopping, email, even books/reviews, etc. that is easy to use and is free. It's also a great start to branch out into other internet sectors, like 2. doc.google.com for those needing to write or edit a document for school, business, work, or personal writing. For those searching a good music site for either listening to music while on the computer or for searching out "hear-a-like" music 3. Pandora.com.; for those needing a site to download playlists for the ever growing population of ipods and mp3 players, 4. iTunes. For those who are looking to create their own site for sharing and receiving informaiton in a fun and interesting way, 5. blogspot.com And finally, I threw in sites for those needing deal with the world of digital photos, 6. Flickr.com for sharing and finding photos, and 7. Picnik.com for an easy way for photo editing.
The survey was taken! Just one more "thing" to do!
The survey was taken! Just one more "thing" to do!
Thing 21
Okay....... into the library comes one of my " moms" who is new to the internet! Since she was smart enough to have taken advantage of LPL's computer classes, I'd start her out with a user-friendly information site like Google, where she can explore many topics without getting too frustrated. Good parenting sites for moms would include the two magazines we subscribe to: parenting.com, parents.com and a new one I found on the top 50, babble.com. which cover all aspects of parenting. (I use these sites myself for program enhancement and craft ideas). Of course, YouTube and GodTube has to be included for a fun break and to learn how to add things to the mix. Downloading music on the wish list? Try grooveshark, save money and make some tunes for the kids... and yourself! Then when this person says she needs some exercise but is intimidated by the gym, I'll tell her about Fit by Fun, where they can exercise in the comfort of their own home with a personal "trainer". And you have to join Facebook and Flickr to keep up with the relatives in California and New York. Financial woes? Go to clarkhoward.com for the best advice on everything from Roth IRAs to college funding for those kids. Take it slow, newbie, and be brave!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Picnik photo editing
This is my new band's first album cover! (This was all a "random"activity that was generated by someone on FB...pretty pointless, but rather cool how the randomness seems to make sense!)
This was how it was initially done:
My Band. 1 - Go to Wikipedia and hit random. The first random Wikipedia
article you get is the name of your band. 2 - Go to quotationspage.com
and hit random. The last four or five words (or however many make sense)
of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.... 3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” Third picture, no matter what it is, will be4 - Use Photoshop or similar (picnik.com is a free online photo editor) to put it all together. 5 - Post it with this text in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in...
Thing 19 and 20
I checked out Movieclips from the 2010 list; from the 2004 list, Froogle.com. With Movieclips, one can view snippets from the extensive collection of movies stored. A key word, actor or title can be used to find movies. What's playing now, movies to come and trailers are also available. Very useful for movie lovers! I found Froogle.com a good site for the best deals online. I'll use this site again.
I was on FB today and came across a "random" activity that suggested using Picnik for photo editing. It was pretty entertaining to use and made up my own album cover with a random band name. It felt like doing a 23 things activity!! I'll try and post it on the blog. I also checked out google books and thought that could be another reference site to suggest for our patrons looking for trending topics and book reviews.
I created my igoogle page and found it very easy to do. It seemed to save automatically since I have a google account; so, I guess I'll keep it and might possibly find my self using it again.
I was on FB today and came across a "random" activity that suggested using Picnik for photo editing. It was pretty entertaining to use and made up my own album cover with a random band name. It felt like doing a 23 things activity!! I'll try and post it on the blog. I also checked out google books and thought that could be another reference site to suggest for our patrons looking for trending topics and book reviews.
I created my igoogle page and found it very easy to do. It seemed to save automatically since I have a google account; so, I guess I'll keep it and might possibly find my self using it again.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Thing 17 and 18
I browsed around the suggested networking sites and found then to be similar to the sites we've been exploring for keeping in touch with the latest news and trends, for sharing thoughts and opinions on topics of interest to different groups of people, for connecting with family and friends and for meeting new people. I am not on any other networking sites, and don't see joining one any time soon.
As for the kids networking, after seeing the need for "personal info" like credit cards and SS #'s, relying on other people to monitor what "might" be inappropriate, and reading peoples' comments that rather criticized the safety nets which tend to make the sites less "fun", the quote that initially popped into my head was, "Don't do it!" (from the Big Country). I truly sympathize with parents out there, though, for it's a tricky field to play...knowing that this technology is becoming the norm for entertainment and social interaction and that there is a lot out there that can't be trusted and is harmful to the understanding of how to rightfully treat and interact with each other. As with anything, there are pros and cons and adults need to do there homework in researching the safety issues to protect the innocence of our growing children, teaching moderation and responsibility with the growing technology.
Linkedin sounds good for keeping up with business trends and looking up company/employee profiles for job opportunities. The idea of doing so in a "trusted" environment by the way contacts are made sounds beneficial, too, but maybe more so in theory than in actual practice, for it seems that the more parties that are involved the broader range of risk, especially being international. It might be a source to recommend researching for those coming to the library looking for ways of finding out about companies or looking for job opportunities.
The same goes for the library networking site. It's easy to use and full of idea sharing info and training for library staff to tap into.
As for the kids networking, after seeing the need for "personal info" like credit cards and SS #'s, relying on other people to monitor what "might" be inappropriate, and reading peoples' comments that rather criticized the safety nets which tend to make the sites less "fun", the quote that initially popped into my head was, "Don't do it!" (from the Big Country). I truly sympathize with parents out there, though, for it's a tricky field to play...knowing that this technology is becoming the norm for entertainment and social interaction and that there is a lot out there that can't be trusted and is harmful to the understanding of how to rightfully treat and interact with each other. As with anything, there are pros and cons and adults need to do there homework in researching the safety issues to protect the innocence of our growing children, teaching moderation and responsibility with the growing technology.
Linkedin sounds good for keeping up with business trends and looking up company/employee profiles for job opportunities. The idea of doing so in a "trusted" environment by the way contacts are made sounds beneficial, too, but maybe more so in theory than in actual practice, for it seems that the more parties that are involved the broader range of risk, especially being international. It might be a source to recommend researching for those coming to the library looking for ways of finding out about companies or looking for job opportunities.
The same goes for the library networking site. It's easy to use and full of idea sharing info and training for library staff to tap into.
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