This is the first time I have used a social media tool to recommend an article to others. I am a news addict so I signed-up for Newsvine. I found an article from the NY Times titled,"$25 Billion to Promote Electric Cars Is Untouched." I read it, "voted" in an attempt to place it higher on the reading list. Someone else had already "seeded" or recommended it to others on Newsvine. So, I added my comments to his already established trail of comments. Navigating through this site was fairly easy if one takes the time to go through the "Welcome" tour.
I view this particular tool as more of an "at home" tool rather than a work tool. I would like to view this during my spare time instead of at work. I think the tool can possibly be a productivity detractor at work, simply because it takes time to view this information and comment intelligently on the news. I do not have the time at work to utilize this tool effectively. However, when/if I retire it will be a great way to stay in contact with the outside world and write the world's next big blockbuster novel that will appear only online (of course)!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thing 10 Tagging Delicious
Delicious is an amazing organizational tool. I can place everything I need on one site--except for my really private information. I know I can arrange certain sites so they are locked from public view, but, what good is a public site if one fills it up with private, non-viewable stuff?! It is great for storage of research also! Tagging and Delicious comes at a good time! I was going to so many 2.0 sites that I was beginning to wonder how I would keep up with it all. Creating a Delicious site makes it sooo much easier.
The potential of this tool in libraries and for librarians is simple: It keeps us organized! We handle so many jobs: research, digitizing, technology, website creation and maintenance, cataloging, circulation. It would help our patrons and the public at large to have a UNF library site on Delicious with tags for major departments and answers to questions. It is very easy to create and maintain and it can be accessed from anywhere. Here is the link to my delicious site: http://www.delicious.com/Lassie71
The potential of this tool in libraries and for librarians is simple: It keeps us organized! We handle so many jobs: research, digitizing, technology, website creation and maintenance, cataloging, circulation. It would help our patrons and the public at large to have a UNF library site on Delicious with tags for major departments and answers to questions. It is very easy to create and maintain and it can be accessed from anywhere. Here is the link to my delicious site: http://www.delicious.com/Lassie71
Monday, February 16, 2009
Thing 9. Slideshow Picture Trail
Hopefully this will work better than Flickr Badge. I have used Picture Trail to create a montage of different photos from the Bahamas and San Francisco that I have saved for awhile. I can definitely see a use for this tool in my library!! Presentations using Picture Trail can make a boring presentation visually interesting.
Thing 9. Slideshow Trying to Transport Image Onto Blog
As you can see here, my flash badge did not want to go through onto my blog so I finally settled for an html version of my photos. :( Very disappointed that the flash montage would not go through. Will speak to my technical advisor tomorrow. Would I recommend these sharing tools for photos or other creations? Not until I use them more and understand how to properly connect the code to my blog. Flickrbadge is fairly easy to navigate and understand but obviously I am missing something when the code I try to transport fails every time.
www.flickr.com
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Thing 9. Slideshow
I have been attempting to use flickrbadge to create a slideshow of my landscape photos of the San Francisco area. Unfortunately, the code does not seem to transfer to my blog. I will keep trying before I contact technical help tomorrow. I can see a definite use for this tool since I serve on a Library Committee that plans events on a monthly basis. All I have to do is figure out how to download the photos of these events into my flickr account to create the montage.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thing 8. Communication
SSomething I have had some experience with--at last! Although we use Meebo IM/Chat at the UNF Library to communicate with students I have not seen IM used a great deal between co-workers. I can see positive aspects to using IM for quick conversations and answers to questions between co-workers. Meebo has already become very popular with our students. It is used more than our library email now (I know because I have to keep statistics on usage every month). Students like the quick response time. We only offer Meebo from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday and the response has been great. The drawback to any IM service is that someone has to monitor it. Be sure to include back-up personnel on your shifts to cover if someone is out. With email we had a 24 hour window for response. Has IM or email improved productivity? We are still analyzing that at UNF. I know the students like it and anything that helps them with their research needs, email or IM, I think is good. I like monitoring Meebo at UNF. I can help students from my office desk!
I personally do not use SMS but the Library webmaster recently added a "txt"cell phone icon on our library catalog. When one clicks on the icon it allows a person to automatically load a record onto their cell phone as a text message by typing in their phone number and clicking on their provider. I find that function really neat! I plan to "text" messages on my next cell phone if it comes with a keyboard. I find texting from a phone keypad ridiculously slow and cumbersome. If I receive a text message on my phone I will generally call that person back instead of texting. SMS is great for reference librarians. It would free them from the reference desk to walk around to the students and research reference questions instead of the students coming to the Reference Desk. Alot of libraries have started this already.
I have attended various webinars using Elluminate. This is the synchronous classroom tool UNF is looking at for using around campus and for distance learning. I have also looked at Horizon Wimba and Adobe Acrobat Connect products, and today, OPAL. Web conferencing tools all have the same general features: Screens and whiteboards, two-way communication both written and verbal and emoticons, the capacity for sharing a session or meeting, over distance, between more than two people, and a recording or podcasting feature for archiving and presentation at a later time. With some of these systems, one has to be more technical to handle the system, than with others. I found OPAL pretty easy to use. I listened to "A Conversation With Gary W. Moore, author of the book "Playing With the Enemy," conducted on January 30, 2009. Although the moderator's or facilitator's voice was clear there seemed to be some interference in Mr. Moore's response to the questions. His voice sounded soft and fuzzy. But, it was an interesting interview dealing with the book he wrote about his father. Four things about web-conferencing: 1) Beware of the expense of web conferencing technology--the money you save in travel may be spent in the technology so you end-up with no cost savings; 2) Have technical expertise on hand to fix things before or as they go wrong; 3) Make the webinar interesting--your audience may become distracted and you may never know it. Keep the presentation to no more than one hour; and 4) Practice before going live with a webinar!
I personally do not use SMS but the Library webmaster recently added a "txt"cell phone icon on our library catalog. When one clicks on the icon it allows a person to automatically load a record onto their cell phone as a text message by typing in their phone number and clicking on their provider. I find that function really neat! I plan to "text" messages on my next cell phone if it comes with a keyboard. I find texting from a phone keypad ridiculously slow and cumbersome. If I receive a text message on my phone I will generally call that person back instead of texting. SMS is great for reference librarians. It would free them from the reference desk to walk around to the students and research reference questions instead of the students coming to the Reference Desk. Alot of libraries have started this already.
I have attended various webinars using Elluminate. This is the synchronous classroom tool UNF is looking at for using around campus and for distance learning. I have also looked at Horizon Wimba and Adobe Acrobat Connect products, and today, OPAL. Web conferencing tools all have the same general features: Screens and whiteboards, two-way communication both written and verbal and emoticons, the capacity for sharing a session or meeting, over distance, between more than two people, and a recording or podcasting feature for archiving and presentation at a later time. With some of these systems, one has to be more technical to handle the system, than with others. I found OPAL pretty easy to use. I listened to "A Conversation With Gary W. Moore, author of the book "Playing With the Enemy," conducted on January 30, 2009. Although the moderator's or facilitator's voice was clear there seemed to be some interference in Mr. Moore's response to the questions. His voice sounded soft and fuzzy. But, it was an interesting interview dealing with the book he wrote about his father. Four things about web-conferencing: 1) Beware of the expense of web conferencing technology--the money you save in travel may be spent in the technology so you end-up with no cost savings; 2) Have technical expertise on hand to fix things before or as they go wrong; 3) Make the webinar interesting--your audience may become distracted and you may never know it. Keep the presentation to no more than one hour; and 4) Practice before going live with a webinar!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thing 7. Online Image Generators--tinytags picture
This is my creation from the Generator blog site. I am not sure I
entirely understand this concept. Some images I tried to download
appeared to want your business before they would transfer the
image. As with everything else on the Internet, one must be
careful what one downloads. I have also created some beautiful calendar pages for my own use using my San Francisco pictures. These are stored on my computer desktop. The image you see
to the right, is also posted on my Flickr site for public viewing under the following link:
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