Week 9 - Twitter

Thing 15
Dumb. So, so dumb. I hate Twitter for the same reason I hate Facebook. I DON'T CARE WHAT EVERYONE I KNOW OR DON'T KNOW IS DOING OR THINKING!!!! OPINIONS ARE LIKE BELLYBUTTONS; everyone has one, but no one cares about yours.

It's like being on an episode of Hoarders only instead of dead cats and human feces, there is just a constant stream of information. I like order. When I want to know about something, I look into it. I don't want to be the collection point for stuff that might be useful, but has to be sorted through.

Library feeds could be useful, but I'm not going to read through everything I'm given just to find out. I want to wait until there is a need and then look.

And it is all well and good to have a link to 15 librarians to follow, but there is no button to follow them and I don't see myself taking the time to look them up individually just because an article by someone I don't know or recognize said I should.

I won't use it in my current library because unsupervised computer usage and cell phones are prohibited. Even if it were a useful tool, I can't get past my hatred long enough to engage.

Week 8 - RSS, Newsreaders

Thing 13 - RSS feeds and newsreaders

I used Digg Reader to subscribe to the blogs of my classmates. Fascinating. I like the concept, but I don't love everything about it. Remember a long time ago when if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to and when if you wanted information you had to look for it?

I do not look at or read probably 3/4 (75%) of the information I am sent. This is just another way to fill up an inbox with information I won't access. It would be a useful tool as a librarian to keep on top of new books, etc. if I had time to filter through it. But it's like picking Legos out of the vacuum bag. At first I do it because the pieces are useful and I don't want any piece to be lost. However, after weeks of filtering them through the hairballs, dust and unidentifiable particles, having to wash them and then find the Lego bucket to house them, I'm over it. It is likely that the Deathstar will never be able to be built because I've tossed that one essential piece, but it saved me time from having to look through everything I don't want to get what I do.

Thing 14 - Finding library blogs and newsfeeds

Blogs I added:
The New York Review of Books - I love New York so it seemed a natural.
New Yorker's Page-Turner - Did I mention that I greatly care for New York?
The Rumpus - Where the Wild Things Are. Anther book blog with various authors.
 Bookslut - What's in a name?


Speaking of what is in a name, I also added Information Literacy Weblog by Sheila Webber. It seems with a last name like Webber, one would be predisposed to use the web as a means of expression. Sort of like how Mark Hacking hacked up his wife or Lorainna Bobbit ... you can look it up, but it's fitting.

Once again, I added the blogs and I'll get updates, but until librarian is my main life-focus, I will probably not delve into much of the information I get.

Week 7 - Social Bookmarking

Thing 10 - For me personally, the biggest use of Diigo (which is what happened when cartoon explorer Diego met up with a dingo in Australia. In the end, all that was left was a Diigo ... tragic, reallly) would be personally as I don't know that my students would be allowed to use it. It's useful enough, however, I think I will ask. I foresee issues with them getting lost on the comments and wandering rather than actually working, but it would be useful for them to be able to annotate and highlight in the document, especially for those students with propensity toward losing things.

As a teacher/librarian/writer, I also like the ability to bookmark pages, highlight information and add annotations. Often I come across pages that I bookmark and use, but then two years later when I repeat the curriculum, I don't remember exactly what I did with it.


Thing 11 - So much easier to complete since it is no longer a "thing".

Thing 12 - My understanding is that this is for ITLS 6030

Week 6 - Play!

Thing 7 - Play with an online image generator
Pretty creative, right?

Thing 8 - LibraryThing (Goodreads)
It's a short read, even if it isn't a Goodread. Speaking of which, did you notice the new widget on the right side of the page? It will take you to my Goodreads account so you can see what I've read and what I'm currently reading.

Prior to this assignment, I didn't really know what a widget was. I had heard the word and I know there are widgets on my phone, but I didn't really understand what it is and how it differed from an external link. I now understand that it is something that updates automatically and doesn't have to be monitored - like the number of visitors who have seen my site or a countdown to a specific date.

As a librarian, I might use it to countdown to a specific upcoming event to keep the students excited about an author visit or the release of a long-awaited book.

Or if my students were regular students who could play around on the internet, I would do a widget just as I have here so that students could see what I'm reading/have read so they could ask me about it.

Thing 9 - Create Your Own Search Engine

This feature I love and I think I would actually use - probably to the point of annoyance. I only included a few sites such as pioneer, pbs, and another blog I have, but I can see the potential as a librarian in a school where students' internet use is highly restricted or where students have a seemingly difficult time finding reputable sources. Plus there are specific links I refer them to all the time and it would be nice if their search results could be confined to those pages.

Week 5 - Skype

To be completely honest, I don't know how I would use Skype in my library other than to have virtual author visits, which was already discussed in the reading. Students wouldn't be able to use it to contact me because they aren't allowed free reign of the internet. Besides, I don't really want to be contacted on my days off and in the evenings to answer reference questions. That might make me a bad librarian, but it makes me a better mom/wife/friend. Long term, that's more important.

The only other use I can think of is is to contact other librarians. With Skype I don't have to just describe troubles I'm having, I can actually show it to another librarian to get advice.

Maybe I could recommend setting up accounts to have parent/teacher conferences with parents who are unable to travel to the school for a face-to-face conference.

The school uses Skype for long-distance communication, but most of that I would not be involved in as a librarian.

Week 4 - Wikis

This week, I learned everything I know about wikis. I did not make the connection between wikipedia and wikis until going through the information for this week.

After completing the assignment, the only real advantage to a wiki is the ability to monitor how much time students spent doing what. The other features, such as the ability to chat and share documents and post items to a calendar, are available and more user friendly through other sources. 

I wouldn't classify myself as a wiki wizard or anything, so maybe I'm not utilizing it to its full potential, but I don't see myself using it in the library environment where I will be working. This is why.

1. Students don't have internet unless they are at school and at that point, they can just talk to each other, which makes the discussion feature null and void.

2. I like the shared documents feature, but google docs will do that. 

3. Calendaring items and events is nice, but google calendars or the program we use internally does that. 

I just don't see myself as a munchkin in the Wonderful World of Wiki.