This is the bonus for Learn & Play. Here are 10 random things about me. For anyone that has not figured out who I am by now I am Melissa from the Help Desk. However that will soon be changing I will soon be in Organizational Development. More on that to come in a later post.
10 Random Things
My sister is my best friend thanks to my mom telling us someday your sister will be the only thing you have. She currently lives in Baxter, South Carolina; which is the Charlotte metro area.
My favorite dessert is ice cream. My favorite flavors are Cocoa Zin and other seasonal flavors from Jeni’s. From Handel’s I like Chocolate Cake Batter and Chocolate Handel Pops.
My nephew who is 11 no longer wants to talk to me on the phone instead him and my husband share a bond over Star Wars. I’ve seen the movies but I can’t follow Clone Wars or anything beyond knowing very basics sorry Mike and Dennis.
I currently have long hair however I am on the lookout for a short hairdo. I have not had hair to my shoulder since I started college. I let my hair grow for my wedding and now let it grow longer to be able to donate it for Locks of Love. Currently my hair is 13” from the base of my neck so now time to decide what style.
I’ve lived in Columbus my entire life. I planned on moving at different points of my life but have never seemed to be able to leave. I love Columbus for all of its good and bad points. I love walking around at Easton in Christmastime, walking around campus, the fact you can O-H, etc.
I received my masters from Kent like many of my collages here. I never set foot on the KSU campus to receive my degree so instead of attending graduation I went and got a massage. I still believe I made the right decision.
My mom wanted to call me Holly or Heidi, my Dad said Holly sounded like Christmas and Heidi sounded like a pet. Well, a few years later later when I was 2 and my sister was 6 we got a miniature Schnauzer. Guess what we named her, Heidi. Her full name was Happy Heidi of Holly Hills.
I went to my first outdoor rock festival concert this year at the young age of 32. The tickets were first year anniversary present to my husband and we went to Rock on the Range. It was quite the awakening for me. When we were listening to Boba Flex and closer to the stage than my comfort level I got hit in the head from a flying bottle. So, I got to visit the First Aid booth. I wanted to talk to people that I saw throwing stuff that to see if they understand the consequences of their actions and if it hits someone it really hurts. My husband didn’t let me and reasoned if they had and alcohol or substances in their system they might not be level headed.
I love wearing heels, boots, and cute shoes. However due to injuries lately I have not been able to wear my cute shoes as much or my co-workers will give me a hard time.
I started OSU as a double major, vocal music performance and molecular genetics. I was pre-med and trying to be a well-rounded student. I did my volunteer work over at Grant while I worked for Ann in CFD. I learned, for one, I was much happier working in the library, and two, I couldn’t deal with patients when they were a person. Basically, I could pick a different major or it would change me to be a different person. One that I didn’t know if I would like, so I picked a different major.
If you want more information about me look for me on Twitter and Facebook.
Wow, this is the end really? At first it seemed very far away and now the end is here and I have a few weeks to spare.
I enjoyed this program. I knew about most of the tools and sites in the program but I had not used all to their full potential. I never thought I would like twitter and now I want to get an iPhone so I can Twitter more, okay that not the only reason.
The main thing I enjoyed about this program is the sense of community. Because I am in a support area sometimes there is a disconnected feeling but this has seemed to bring everyone together. It doesn't matter how department or location we can all related to doing Learn & Play together.
The negative side is of course remembering all of these password and username combinations that I have now created. Beyond that I don't have a negative.
I would definitely do this again and I am looking forward to doing Helene's bonus for L&P that she listed in the APLE/SR newsletter.
So keep watching for more post and come follow me on Twitter.
First, I will say that I have used MOLDI in the past and I like it. The only thing I find amusing about it is the acronym we sometimes come-up with funny acronyms. So back to talk about digital media. I am very excited that as of Monday, Nov 10 MOLDI will be compatible with iPod's!!! This is wonderful news.
I found one audio book and one ebook that I checked out from MOLDI. The ebook I selected is Building a Knowledge-Driven Organization and the audio book is Made to Stick Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
I've used MOLDI in the past and assisted customers in using it. I think the common question that customers have is how to return the digital items early. Which is easier to do with different types of items. Why do customers want to return the digital items early because you are limited to 5 at a time and they want to checkout new items.
If you haven't heard yet there is a machine at Main Library for customers to use with the Overdrive software already loaded on it. I know this information has been shared but the more distribution points for getting information out there the better.
I use podcast normally in my iTunes at home so I haven't tried using it in Bloglines before. First I found some podcast directories with funny names. This is notable to me because if you have a funny name or odd name I'll remember it so I'll remember podcast pickle over some of the over generic sounding directory sites.
From the Pickle site, I found Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing it is added to my Blogline but I've included the link above in case anyone reading this is interested in it. The lesson this feed was the difference between cement and concrete. I picked this feed because I'm a math and science person I know that it not the normal for us library folk but grammar is not my specialty so this feed will be useful to me.
Libraries using Podcast I think using Podcast for libraries is great. I've search one that stopped updating theirs in June. I found a University library that appear to be done once a quarter. I found other libraries both public and academic that started strong and called theirs a weekly update but they don't have a update for over a month. I started this section with names but removed the names because it seemed that was very common. If a library takes this one I think it needs to be current or your customers are not going to care about your feed.
I think that about sums it up doesn't it. Okay, seriously I love YouTube, YahooVideo and GoogleVideo. I use them for trying to find out how to cook something sometimes but normally I use them for music. When I can't remember who sings a song or want to hear something right now I go to YouTube.
Why not to go to YouTube. The things I dislike about YouTube is I normally go to YouTube to look for one thing and plan on spending about 5-10 minutes there. Then about an hour later I'm still on YouTube that is my complaint about YouTube is it is too much fun.
This is from Pink the song Dear Mr. President. You can take the song anyway you want but I think everyone should do their part to help.
I've been using the CML Toolbar on all of my machines home and work for quite some time. I really like it! I've also showed it to many friends and family to teach them about the wonderful toolbar. I've customized by CML Toolbar to include weather and radio stations which I then personalized differently on different machines.
When I went to the CML Toolbox today I found M: MakeZine.com. So far I've read a few interesting articles from this ezine. So far I learned how to turn kid toys into speakers, maybe I could do this if I found a penguin thing.
Then I investigated the cell phone category. Of course there were lots of hacks for phones including iPhones which I want to get. But there was a interesting article about make a $200 computer for blind children this is what we need to use a community brain for improving mankind and using resources for the benefit of all.
SpanishPod is advertised as "Go through 183 free Spanish lessons and read 5050 Spanish conversations. Learn conversational skills and connect with other students." Technically, this is true for 7 days then it is $49 a month, I saw this on the site but will not sign-up for additional paying subscription. They also have a teaser on iTunes, this is mentioned in the audio. However, I will tell you about what I have found.
SpanishPod, it is a very informal approach to learning Spanish. I selected this because I took Spanish in high school and would like to relearn it and brush up on my skills to be able to understand Spanish speakers and converse with them.
The lessons are setup by topic of conversation e.g. how much does it cost, what bus do you need. This is good for an adult learner or traveler needed a few topics quickly. The lessons are then broken down with sections of dialogue, vocabulary, expansion, and exercises. The lessons are just audio no video but this is because they are setup for iPods. I like the layout of this section it has all of the dialogue that the lesson uses. The vocabulary section breaks out the words and the expansion gives the verbs and conjugations them. Finally the exercises lets you practice what you learned.
I like the overall style of this but the first into lesson I heard almost made me not listen to more. Also, even though this was original made for iPod the fact that this is a still image on my screen for 13 minutes is annoying to me. I guess if I was listening to it on my iPod it might work but I need to have the printed material and hear it to learn a language.
I would not subscribe to this because instead I would use our premium resources of Mango Languages available our website (Columbus Metropolitan Library site) with your library card.
I love using Google Docs. I think this is a great benefit for customers. I think part of the reason I like using Google Doc's is it is one more way I can avoid using MS Office. Although it is not a web tool, I'll still mention it here I use Open Office at home for my Mac, see the avoid MS trend. Okay, we do have the dual-boot option to enable some games for the husband but back to Google talk. I mean talk about Google but I use GoogleTalk too and find it very useful at work.
I think Google Docs ability to convert into PDF's is great. Why do you want to convert into PDF's? If you have a word processing type document and you send it someone they can make many changes. However, by turning it into a PDF then sending it you have the original intact and changes will be prevented. Anything that you don't want changed by someone you might want to consider this.
In a budget conscious economy I think Google Doc's is a great tool. I will admit there are features of Office 2007 that I do like such as like Smart Art that I didn't find in Google Doc's but maybe all in good time.
I just added my blog to the CML wiki. I also added my favorite restaurant and web tool. I found some good suggestions for other restaurants on the CML wiki site. Maybe I will need to visit this for lunch suggetions.
I've used PBwiki, Mediawiki, and dokuwiki for different types of wikis. I find think all three similar to use but different based on the formatting differences.
The main difference I find between the ones I've used has been the structure of the wiki. This was not the wiki engine setup but the setup of the wiki administration in how it was designed. This has made a world of difference in what wikis I prefer and how I can find information in each of the wiki.
Of course the good part of a wiki is there is a search function and I can always use it if I can not follow the structure that was logical to someone else.
What is in a wiki? What are differences in wikis? First I think wikis are a great communicate tool. I think there needs to be a fair amount of planning before diving into a wiki to get the full potential out of it especially for the front page.
To me the planning begins with determining what your wiki needs are going to be. Are you doing to have just text? Hopefully, not for a wiki for a non-staff audiences but this might work for other audiences. Are you going to want to upload documents, and if yes what kind? The answers to these questions and many more will help determine what wiki engine you will want to use.
There are converters of course for going from one wiki engine to another but there might be rework involved if this is not selected correctly the first time.
Wiki's are already being used at CML quietly in different areas. I think wiki's are best for when a group needs a collaborative tool that allows access for a group of people. There are other options for this too so a wiki might not also be the best choice it depends on the group's needs. I think everyone should experiment with a wiki to get use to the markup language although most have a nice editor that makes it easy for you.
I read all five articles that were suggested for this exercise; * Away from Icebergs * Into a new world of librarianship * To more powerful ways to cooperate * To better bibliographic services * To a temporary place in time.
I found all five interesting and each gives perspectives for the future about making CML better and improving services we offer. For example if we look at the Away from the Icebergs article in the past and somewhat in the present state we are doing some of the not to do examples. So it is interesting to think about printing on demand, could it work? Where is that technology currently in development?
User education, I've seen recent post that I know we have started to do more with customer education and I know our OD department is doing a lot with staff (user) education so I think this is on the right track. The part that needs to be included here is people taking into account the user being responsible for their involvement. I think the numbers we have for staff involvement in Learn & Play is outstanding but if I would like more staff to be involved especially staff that need to learn these skills.
Into a new world of librarianship, gave me perspective that we still need to do the planning that is important but if we are stuck in a planning cycle are plans can be outdated before they are implemented. I especially appreciate that this article pointed out that technology should not be used for a coolness factor only. I would take this a step farther and say that what you are doing or what problem you are solving should be addressed before what tool you are going to use. The problem with this statement is sometimes a disconnect with the understanding of what the tools will do and what is being requested for the tools to do.
The video on delicious was very informative on the different features on delicious. The main issue I have always had with delicious is I am not the world's best speller, I am a math and science person so I was happy to see the post on Learn & Play that they no longer require the periods because as silly as that sounds it has kept me from using it in the past. I know I could have used buttons but still I like to be able to get to things that I can spell.
I have used other social bookmarking sites Furl and JetEye. The interesting thing I will point out about JetEye is it is a visual bookmarking site. You can add pictures and group things with the pictures. I like this feature because sometimes I don't remember which link took me to which site and the visual representation quickly shows which site you would want. The downside to JetEye is not as many people use it as delicious so you will not get as much sharing.
I had my Twitter account created before and had a few follower but didn't have any tweets. So now I've have been using my twitter account tonight. I like twitter and the concept of it the problem of it is like anything else remembering to use it. I've tried to add a widget into Facebook but that is not working right not so I'll do that later and that should help me keep my tweets updated.
I'm not sure how often most people update their tweets so I'll need to decide how often I want to update it. If you would like to checkout my Twitter page you can by clicking here.
I like LibraryThing but I think I will mainly use LibraryThing to keep track of what I have checked out from the library and was unable to get to and need to return. I might also use it for adding reviews and the other sharing aspects. My main thing is I need to add the titles when I have the item in hand or I can't remember the title and will be my own reference librarian to search and find the the title. So far, I've added titles that I have read and need to read but haven't added details so you won't be able to tell the difference.
I also added the LibraryThing widget to my blog. Here is the link to my LibraryThing catalog.
The Amazon Kindle is definitely something that is technology related and interests me. If you are not familiar with the Kindle it is a ebook reader. The Kindle is improved over earlier models that I have used. I like the wireless features that it has that enables it to download new books and feeds without needing a connection. I have heard that it is going to be redesigned and the slider bar that I currently like is going to be removed and replaced with a wheel similar to blackberries and iPods.
At this point I do not think I will add this to a list for Christmas for me but maybe once the new model is out it will be worth reconsidering at least.
This was another fun exercise. I played with the Montager, photo mosaic, tool. Since this is an OSU bye week I did lots of OSU searches. This was very fun. I did one with OSU, of course this could have been other schools so I changed it to Ohio State. Then I did Brutus and got a very cute dog but it wasn't what I wanted so I did Brutus Buckeye. Also if you click a picture in the mosaic it will change it use that it base the picture on. I didn't see a way to save these results but it is still very fun.
Image generators are very fun and I could spend a lot of time with this activity. I play around with photos normally just with the tools provided in the photo sites so this is fun. My only complaint, which really is not a complaint, is that I will be spending much more time with this.
I did a few different ones that I found the one that I'm going to upload is from the Movie Clapper Board generator. This one I did as a tribute for my husband and nephew who both like a certain movie, by viewing the picture you will be able to figure this out. The part that is not clear is who has what nicknames, let me just say it is not what you think.
Can you have too many feeds in your RSS reader? Well, I guess you could have more than you can keep up with but I think more variety is better. At home I learn interesting facts from my husband who subscribes to MetalSludge, normally he needs to tell me what band his is talking about but it keeps him up on events.
In this exercise I had already completed the first part using the search function of Bloglines in the last exercise. I find Bloglines search to be useful and easy to use. I think the other three listed will depend on what you are looking for. Tonight, I did the same searches using all three and with the results I had I liked Technorati the best. Overall, I normally look for the RSS symbol when I'm on sites and find new feeds that way.
I'm playing catch-up with Learn & Play. I've been following along with the activities, or at least knew what the activity was, during the past weeks but have neglected to do my blogging. So you will be seeing many post in the next few days.
RSS Feeds
I find RSS feeds very useful and have used bloglines in the past but not recently because I use the RSS reader that is built into gmail. However, in doing this activity I found a few new RSS feeds that I like and will add into my gmail reader as well. I found a great recipe for Baked Salmon with Tropical Rice, on the AllRecipies feed. This is not the most technology related thing I know but it definitely helps plan what is for dinner and makes more efficient use of my time.
I use added the Learn & Play feed and viewed the most recent video on it where you will see LibraryJoy and OD Maria2.0. If you haven't seen this yet you must checkout this feed and view it because I couldn't stop laughing. This was great another example of the Learn & Play team keeping it simple and fun.
If you would like to see my blogline you can checkout my current picks which I will be adding more to at Missy's Bloglines.
