test document

I am on Zoho creating a test document. This is really kind of neat when you think about it.I like the idea that you could be anywhere and access your work. There are some quirky things about it though--I keep having to hightlight new text when changing the font. It seems to want to stay in Verdana. Oh, I see, hmmmm. OK, I typed a line in Verdana, highlighted it and changed it to Comic Sans. But when I continued it changed back to Verdana. So I highlighted it once again and changed it, and then it automatically went back so then I just selected Comic Sans and now it is staying that way.

Week 7-thing 17

That was really neat and groovy seeing all the ideas. The ones that interest me most are the image generators and flickr fd, that allow you to make the posters and different cards. I just think things like that are so much fun, and if I think they're fun than a school age person will think it's fun (in my mind any way). I will definately use the sand box for ideas and think it is just great how others share what they are doing or planning on doing. At the school I used to work at the Teacher Librarian has the CDs for making the "read posters" and got the teachers to take pictures with a book and the posters were then put on the wall. I think the kids really enjoyed seeing the teachers with their books. I don't know if I will have the money to buy the program but in the mean time I can use the ALA mini poster generator and make mini posters for free to include on our school web page--it will be a "Look who's Reading" section. I would also like to have a separate page for the students. What I think would be really cool is to make a montage after so many kids have participated and then buying the poster to put in the library.

Week7-Wikis

I have just spent several days looking over the different Wikis. What I found most interesting about them is how much can be done with a Wiki, and how even in a specific area like "Library" there are so many different areas that can be covered, but not necessarily all on one Wiki. I also learned that Wiki Wiki in Hawaiian is a word used to mean something fast. The Wikis I liked most were the ones that were kept current, so I was a little disappointed with Book Lovers Wiki because it was a sort of one time thing, which doesn't seem like what a Wiki should be. I really liked the Teacherlibrarianwiki (and there were others that I really liked too) because it had information on it that I found very useful. I liked how the topics were organized and I even found a slide show on "fair use" that was what I was looking for on the internet but couldn't find. I think the one point that came up in all the sites about wikis was how they can be used to collaborate with teachers--they can be used for presentations, projects, book clubs and on and on (I have it all written down). I think I would like to one day create a Wiki at our school site. I also liked the idea of conference wikis--by any chance, and I should know this, was there a CSLA wiki put together that covered the different sessions? It would be great to look over some of the sessions (topics, handouts) that I wanted to go to but couldn't.

Week6-thing 15

My thoughts on the articles: They all seemed to have the common theme of moving away from a traditional library (what ever that may be), and incorporating technology so that users can go where no other humans have gone before. My son actually tried to do this once when he threw his little body at the TV. It was sort of weird watching how he bounced off. He went one way in slow motion and the Enterprise went the other way at warp speed. I think I like the idea of making things as user friendly as possible so that the information is more easily attainable. But on the flip side I also think that more attention needs to be given to the teaching of research skills. If the information is not easily found, how do you go about finding it--what search terms do you need to use? Where do you look? What do you do when you get 1,000 hits? I still see the Librarian as the Teacher. There is so much out there, sometimes I think too much and it becomes a major sensory overload and you have to pick out those things that will be most beneficial to the users. I don't see libraries as just warehouses for books, I do think that we need to be in the forefront when it comes to technology. I think the article I liked most and could relate to was "Into a New World of Librarianship." Library 2.0 is a reality and I think a Force, and I see my role as the one who will search out those tools that will facilitate learning and implement them into the library. And now I will leave you with a great line from "Star Trek: TNG:

• Q: "It's an unknown – isn't that enough?"

Picard: "If you'd earned that uniform you're wearing, you'd know it's the unknown that brings us out here!"

Week6-Technorati

I just watched "Dark Knight" with my kids the other night and saw a little bit of myself in the character two-face. I love technology but I absolutely love books and love to read, and sometimes I want to throw the computer right out the window. There are so many things one can do with sources like Technorati and Delicious--the networking, the connections, the sharing of ideas--but then I think "Gosh, I can just call my old boss who happens to be one of the techiest librarians I know and just ask her." That would save me a lot of time, plus I get to hear what's going on with her and all the others I used to know.--hmmmm.
Anyway, getting back to Technorati, I thought it was pretty easy to navigate. I put in the search for "School Library Learning 2.0" and I think there were around 27 blogs, but nothing when I clicked on posts, but I'm not really sure what the difference is and then the two-face comes out and....
I did notice that Web2.0 was one of the 100 most popular (and was also listed in the directory under the catagory technology) and checked out some of those blogs.
So, it all goes back to having the time to really explore these blogs. But, lately I don't so when I'm really looking for an answer to a specific question I know who to call.

Week6-Delicious

I spent quite a bit of time looking over delicious and bookmarked some of the sites I liked. Again, this is one of those places where you could spend an inordinate amount of time looking at, exploring, figuring out and organizing all of the bookmarks you have saved over time. I didn't really have to do this last thing though since I had lost all of my bookmarks when my computer got sick. Too bad I didn't know about this site a couple of weeks ago. I can see how this site could be really useful especially since others have already bookmarked and saved topics that are of interest to you.The tags make if easy to find the topics I am interested in, but it is still a bit overwhelming and I could spend days (which I don't have) looking at the places others have bookmarked. My plan is to go back to this over the summer when I do have the time, but for now I have too much to do and I think it's starting to give me a stomach ache.

Week5-Rollyo

I've decided that I'm going to have to let this one go and if I have time I will go back to it and try to figure it out. I was always told that if you get stuck on a problem move. Maybe it's just me, but I just couldn't get a hold on this one. I created a search roll on a subject I liked but then I wasn't clear on what to do with it. I thought maybe I could click on the sites to automatically go there from the drop down box, but it just listed them. If there is any one out there who has the time and patience to explain it all to me I will gladly listen. Even though this picture has nothing to do with my Rollyo experience (just a friendly game of Scrabble) this is sort of how I felt.