23 things final post

Well, I have to say that I am very happy that I decided to participate in this class. I am also very appreciative to all of the mentors and anyone else behind the scenes that made this possible. There are so many things out there on the web that I had never heard of and so many of them are extremely easy to do. Just don't be afraid, jump in, and have fun. Here are some of the things I learned:

1. Do not be intimidated. Sure, new is scary but if you just go in with an open mind and follow what are pretty much always simply instructions, you can learn to do just about anything.

2. Explore, explore, explore. I had no idea what was out there.
3. You can go to just about any computer and access just about anything you need without saving to a flashdrive. Google docs, delicious, picture storage, cloud computing.
4. Blogging is so much fun. Now if only someone cared about what I had to say :)
5. You can find a blog on just about anything that you are interested in.
6. I loved making the animoto slideshow. I would seriously be tempted to pay so that I could make longer slideshows to sent to family that all live out of state.
7. It really isn't hard to post something to youtube.
8. Wikis are great for editing lists and documents if you have several people involved.
9. Shelfari rocks! I love listing and reviewing books. And it's really nice to see other peoples reviews.
10. There are still several areas that I need to continue studying (google docs, RSS feeds, etc.)
11. It was kind of strange having homework again.
12. I still haven't learned not to procrastinate. I would sometimes do 2 to 3 lessons per week instead of just keeping up.
13. I'm still excited to learn!
14. The younger generation is so far ahead of me it isn't even funny :)
15. How important privacy settings are.
16. There is something out there for everyone. There are tools for businesses, hobbies, organization. From homemakers to college students to CEO's there is something that will make your life easier.
17. I'm scared and excited to see how much things change over time.
18. How much we depend on computers and the internet. It seems like we couldn't survive without them and yet somehow, we did.
19. I miss an actual classroom setting. Weird, I know but I like being able to physically have someone there to answer questions and guide me.
20. I wish I had more time to play on the computer.
21. I really hope there are more classes so I can continue learning and growing.
22. There are hundreds of us out there who are willing to learn and help their fellow librarians learn and grow. AWESOME!
23. I really had no idea how much fun this would be. I thought it would be educational and helpful but I had no idea I would discover so many fun things and fun people. Thanks everyone for your time and effort. You were great!

WIKI

Okay I have to admit I've totally been putting off the lesson for Wikis. It's not that it's very hard but I had no idea what wiki to edit and I just wasn't very comfortable adding content to something that somebody else started. I did a little searching and finally settled on a scrapbooking wiki that on found on Wetpaint.com. The nice thing about this site is that I was simply including a helpful hint. I didn't have to come up with a specific fact or anything difficult. It was simply my opinion. Wetpaint.com is insanely easy to use. I have a facebook account so I could sign on that way. When I found my wiki I just clicked on easy edit and started typing away. Just doesn't get much easier than that. Ok I finally finished part 2 of the Wiki lesson. I had a little trouble navigating but thanks to everyone who posted their questions and rewponses, I was able to figure everything out. YAY!

Shelfari

This may be one of my favorite lessons. I really think that I will continue to use this website long after this class is over. I am really looking forward to reading other readers reviews and recommendations. Thanks 23 things for makine me aware of this website!!! My url is www.shelfari.com/mikkilane.

Slideshow

Ok, I have to admit this lesson was a blast! I have been so intimidated by the last few lessons but when I actually get into them I realize that they aren't difficult and a lot of fun. I never would have known that websites like animoto or screencast-o-matic existed but I am glad I know now. I could really have a lot of fun putting videos together and sending them to family members that live far away. I created my slide show about my kids and here is my link. Enjoy!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Screencasting

Oh my my 23 things is getting quite difficult for me. This weeks screencasting was quite a challenge for me but I have finally accomplished our task to the best of my ability. I was not able to put audio with my video since I didn't have access to a microphone. Once I was able to load screencast-o-matic (my computer was a little slow until I disabled watchguard), it was really quite simple to do. It was nice to be able to pause and start and redo as much as I needed to. I may use this again in the future and I would really like to experiment with audio. My link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6u9kpH_oeQ

VIDEO

Okay here we go. I'm not totally new to video I just don't do it very often. I have used my digital camera and it's very simple. I know that I should probably do it more but it eats up my memory card so fast and I have like a billion pictures. I'm going to try to embed three different videos on here so you can know a little more about the things I am passionate about and adore. The first video is of the Nebraska softball team. I am a HUGE Nebraska Cornhusker fan and an even bigger softball fan. I played softball for 10+ years. When I was a teenager, I ate, breathed, lived for softball. I played on a traveling league and when there wasn't a game, I was practicing (either team or on my own) and when I was actually doing that, I was watching it.


The second video is about scrapbooking and rubber stamping. This is an addiction of mine and a quite expensive one at that.

The last video (and most important) is of my two little girls Aryel and Autumn. I adore them and spoil them as much as I possibly can. In this video they are 7 and 3 years old and listening to lullabies at the Coffey County Library in Burlington, Kansas.

Instant Messaging

I'm already pretty familiar with instant messaging and I really like it. I use it to keep in touch w/family member and friends who live far away. It's a really nice tool because unfortunately our schedule never seem to match up so that we can actually talk on the phone. I tend to use facebook the most. That seems to be the site that everyone goes to and I've been able to get in touch via IM with friends I haven't spoken to in years. In the past I would use hotmail quite a bit and it was very easy as well.

I don't think there are many concerns with Instant Messaging. Like anything else you should make sure that you know that person you are talking to. Don't just accept every person that requests you as a friend. If you don't recognize the address don't say yes. My only other issue is that sometimes I really need to get work done and I get sucked into a conversation. I like to keep the internet up a running because I do use it so much but I don't always have time to chat :)

In general, IM does not affect my work one way or another. The number of workers is small enough and we are usually in pretty close proximity to one another that we really don't need it. However, it really does come in handy when you have a patron that will not leave you alone. A coworker can send you an IM to see if you need rescued and really helps the situation.

Cloud computing

I found this lesson to be very interesting but also very complicated for me. I do very little w/documents etc. so my need for googledocs is very minimal. I saw that somebody uses it for scrapbooking which I find very interesting. I think I will see how that works for me. I also intend on using the calendar to keep track of birthdays and all of the events that go on in my nieces and nephews lives.

Twitter dee and twitter dum

Okay I just finished the twitter lesson and I do think I may end up liking twitter. I don't know how much I will actually post on there but I am interested in seeing what celebrities and organizations are posting. I've already seen some pretty interesting and funny posts. It really is pretty easy to find and follow. The only slight hassle is not knowing the person username. You then have to do a general search using a fairly large category such as entertainment, health, etc. I am following several people already. I'm following the American Heart Association, Dr. Oz and Beth Pugh. The first 2 I am following because health is important to me particularly heart health. I am following Beth cuz she's my awesome co-worker and always have something humorous to say. I haven't read enough to know if the post will be helpful but I'm relatively sure they will be overall.

I don't know if I find microblogging overly helpful. I suppose it is great for those people who want to get straight to the point. I think it is a good tool for keeping in touch and posting upcoming events, etc.

Delicious

Okay, here I go another week behind and dangerously close to being 2 weeks behind with this class. I think every week is getting harder and harder. I finally set up my delicious account and I'm still debating on whether or not I will keep it. I think it would be a fantastic resource for someone who uses the internet quite frequently and also for someone who needs to access things quickly from computers other than their personal computer. I myself do not use the internet much outside of work. And even at work I use it mainly to search authors etc. We'll just have to see if it becomes useful to me or not.

As for the ease of use, I give it a 3 out of 5 stars. Creating the account is simply and bookmarking and tagging is also fairly simple. However, I did not find it easy to create the bundle. Yes, it was easy after I watched the video but had I not had the video available I don't know if I would have figured it out. Computer savvy I am not.

RSS Feeds

Okay, I keep falling about a week behind on my 23 things Kansas. I just finished the RSS feed lesson and I'm not sure that I still completely understand how this works. I think it will still require some "playing" on my part. I decided to use Google Reader simply because I already have a google account and I thought that it would be the easiest and fastest way to go. The last thing I need to do is create another count with another password to remember. And since I'm using blogger everything seems to be tied into one nice spot except my flickr. I've put several different sights on as RSS feeds. I have a scrapbooking blog, soaps.com, people, CBS, NBC, FoxNews and Survivor. I have my news feeds and I also have my guilty pleasure feeds along with a little bit of my favorite hobby. There never seems to be enough time in the day but I really hope to spend more time learning about this aspect of the internet. I'm sure it will save me time. Instead of typing in each address I can just open google reader and click on what I'm interested in at the time.

CCL - Burlington 2/8/2010

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Originally uploaded by mikki4neb

Hello all. It's taken me some time to get this lesson completed. I think so far this has been the most challeging. I absolutely love this lesson though. It is forcing me to learn how to get my pictures in a safe and fun place. Less fear of losing them when the computer inevitibly crashes. I can't wait to really figure out piknik and adding fun touches to my photos. I have so many to upload. I'm also looking forward to having some prints made and seeing how that works for me. I'm a big scrapbooker so this should be fantastic. I chose to blog this photo because I think it shows not only the beauty of a fresh snow but also how beautiful our library is.

Week 3 Online Meetings

Well, this weeks lesson was kind of a slow go for me. It's not that I don't find it interesting, it's just finding the time to sit down and listen to the archived webinar. I decided to listen to one that was recommended in our lesson. It was the 25 Technologies to Watch by Stephen Abram. The webinar itself was full of great information. Some of the technology he discussed, I was pretty familiar with. There are other items, however, that I plan on researching and learning more about. I'm sure there are some things that would be very beneficial to know.

I think on-line meeting are an excellent way for people to communicate and educate. It is hard for people to travel sometimes and it is expensive if you have to go very far. This makes it convenient and accessible to just about everyone as long as you have access to a computer and a headset/speakers. I really think that this type of meeting will continue to grow in the next 10 years. It gives you the ability to participate in a conference anywhere in the United States and possibly the world.

WEEK 2 ONLINE COMMUNITIES

I've been using facebook for about a year now and I really love it. I've been able to reconnect with so many of my friends from high school and college. It's also a really great way to keep up with family and co-workers. I also use Facebook for motivation. My cousin Heather is a coach with WOWY and constantly updates on her workouts and progress. When I'm feeling lazy she can convince me to get myself moving. we live about 4 hours apart so this is a great tool.

Our library is on facebook and I think it works really well. We use it to notify patrons of new items we've just received and also to let them know what activities we are having. I think since so many people use facebook this is a great way to communicate without having to send out individual e-mails.

1st BLOG ever!!

Yay! I'm so excited to finally be blogging! I know I still have a long way to go but that is why I decided to sign up for 23 things Kansas. Anyway...My name is Michelle "Mikki" Lane and I work at Coffey County Library the Burlington Branch. I'm a part-time library assistant and a FULL TIME mom. I have been with the library for a year on January 20th and I'm loving it! I really need to get up to speed on all of the different things that is available on computers and the internet. I am excited to be participating in 23 things Kansas and I am looking forward to each and every lesson. I know that it will not only be fun for me but also very beneficial to our patron.