Wow. Finally finished. I have to say I had fun using the geocaching theme. It always provided me some focus with my searching, exploring, and prompted discussion in my posts. I have to say that the Things that scared me the most were ones I knew would take a lot of time. I am really glad I didn't succumb to Second Life. I knew it was one I shouldn't get into. I have enough to do. I still don't go on Facebook as much as my friends and family would like me to.
The most challenging part was actually writing the blog and using the tools to add the links and embedded video and such. Not only do I now know at least a little about a lot of Web 2.0 tools, I know ALOT more about blogging. I was working on a geocaching streak of consecutive days during this adventure, and it would have been cool to have been keeping a blog of those geocaching adventures too. I do know a librarian geocacher from HCL who blogs. You know, there really are many geocaching librarians. Maybe more librarians like those who stumble on this blog should start caching!
I do think these Things are very valuable for students and researchers, and I now have enough info to be dangerous as I endeavour to help them through the info maze.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Thing #22: What Did I Learn Today?
Well, I sure have learned lots of new stuff! I have even learned some new tricks with old tools I have been using. I know I'll be keeping up with this blog for awhile, as I need to get going on the new 23 Things very soon. It feels great to finally get through the first 23. I'm adding more RSS feeds now!
Thanks to these first 23 Things, I also have found great ways to keep up with my favorite hobby, Geocaching!
Thanks to these first 23 Things, I also have found great ways to keep up with my favorite hobby, Geocaching!
Thing #21: Other Social Networks
I had not visited any of these sites before today. I had heard of Gather. It seems like beta vs. VHS all over again. Facebook is winning when it comes to attracting adults, though Gather seems to be more Audi or Lexus than Chevrolet.
I see the value of the 23 Things group on Ning, so you can meet your peers and help you through the Things. However, I do think people will gravitate to one network more than not, and perhaps just be in more groups on that one site.
I am on a couple of small message boards that are private, and I socially network with the 250 people or so on those boards. Between those and Facebook, I am over-socially-networked. One of those is a geocaching network, of course. Oh, one more geocaching item of note: I posted a photo of myself with two other geocaching librarians on my Ning account.
I don't have an interest in joing more networks. I am late to the game on Ning, and I see that my peers have not used the site in quite some time.
Visit 23 Things on a Stick
I see the value of the 23 Things group on Ning, so you can meet your peers and help you through the Things. However, I do think people will gravitate to one network more than not, and perhaps just be in more groups on that one site.
I am on a couple of small message boards that are private, and I socially network with the 250 people or so on those boards. Between those and Facebook, I am over-socially-networked. One of those is a geocaching network, of course. Oh, one more geocaching item of note: I posted a photo of myself with two other geocaching librarians on my Ning account.
I don't have an interest in joing more networks. I am late to the game on Ning, and I see that my peers have not used the site in quite some time.
Visit 23 Things on a Stick
Thing #20: Facebook
This is one more Thing that I already had a lot of experience with. I have been a member of Facebook for some time. I am part of a large family and it is one way we can keep in touch easily, know what everyone is up to, and can share photos and video. It seems the younger members of the family are more active with mutliple posts each day. They have lots more Friends too. My mom even joined! Since I joined I have been "friended" by high school folks I haven't talked to in years. I have cousins that I haven't seen for ages contact me too.
As far as Groups go, of course I've joined geocaching groups, and I have many geocaching Friends. The weird thing is that Facebook requires real names, and geocaching.com doesn't, so it's hard to tell who someone is when they send you a friend request. I look to see who we have in common before accepting an invitation.
Here are my geocaching groups:
Minnesota State Parks Geocaching Wildlife Safari
Sports & Recreation - Outdoor Sports
Size:96 member
Cooler Crew Cachers
Sports & Recreation - Recreational Sports
Size:23 members
Garmin Oregon Users
Internet & Technology - Gadgets
Size:168 members
Personally, I have some hesitation to going "all-in" on Facebook, as I think privacy is a big issue. People put so much private info out there, and they, especially teens, friend so many people without really getting to know them all first. You really need to be careful with what you post. I don't think my brother's employer would like some of his posts. Yikes!
As far as Groups go, of course I've joined geocaching groups, and I have many geocaching Friends. The weird thing is that Facebook requires real names, and geocaching.com doesn't, so it's hard to tell who someone is when they send you a friend request. I look to see who we have in common before accepting an invitation.
Here are my geocaching groups:
Minnesota State Parks Geocaching Wildlife Safari
Sports & Recreation - Outdoor Sports
Size:96 member
Cooler Crew Cachers
Sports & Recreation - Recreational Sports
Size:23 members
Garmin Oregon Users
Internet & Technology - Gadgets
Size:168 members
Personally, I have some hesitation to going "all-in" on Facebook, as I think privacy is a big issue. People put so much private info out there, and they, especially teens, friend so many people without really getting to know them all first. You really need to be careful with what you post. I don't think my brother's employer would like some of his posts. Yikes!
Thing #19: Podcasts
Here's another Thing that I have experience with. I have a geocaching friend named SirZman who does a weekly podcast called Twin Cities Geocaching Podcast. His special guest-host is his young daughter Super R. SirZman is married to Lady Z, who just happened to be a former library staffer at Washington County Library! Small world, huh? I have been subscribing to his podcast ever since Thing #3! I have also listened to podcasts of radio shows. I once called in to a radio station. I could later hear my call/conversation on the radio station's website through their podcast library.
I did search podcast.com for more geocaching podcasts and found 29 listed! My friend's podcast was not one of them. Have a listen:
Twin Cities Geocaching Podcast
Gcast is no longer free to post via phone, so I did not try that tool. I don't see myself getting into podcasting myself.
I did search podcast.com for more geocaching podcasts and found 29 listed! My friend's podcast was not one of them. Have a listen:
Twin Cities Geocaching Podcast
Gcast is no longer free to post via phone, so I did not try that tool. I don't see myself getting into podcasting myself.
Thing #18: Youtube
This Thing I already know alot about. I have had an account for years, and have shared video with friends and family before. I know this site can be a huge time-eater, since there seems to be a video about everything on here. I once was trying to explain how my Pampered Chef apple peeler/corer worked to someone. I found it on Youtube! They could see for themselves.
For this Thing, I searched geocaching topics. There are tons! I even got to see Dave Ulmer discuss the hiding of the FIRST EVER geocache in April 2000. I also saw a geocaching event video that I am in! Watch if you want, and I'm in the background but very visable during parts of the coronation.
Just for fun, check out my 3-year-old nephew singing the national anthem before a Gophers Volleyball game!
For this Thing, I searched geocaching topics. There are tons! I even got to see Dave Ulmer discuss the hiding of the FIRST EVER geocache in April 2000. I also saw a geocaching event video that I am in! Watch if you want, and I'm in the background but very visable during parts of the coronation.
Just for fun, check out my 3-year-old nephew singing the national anthem before a Gophers Volleyball game!
Thing #17: ELM Productivity Tools
Here's another Thing that I really didn't know much about before working on my Things. The feature I had used was to set up a search alert to watch for new articles on Dog Parks for a task force I was on. That made the first part of this Thing easy. To keep with the theme of this blog, I set up an RSS feed for articles on geocaching, of course. I suddenly was linked to 43 newer articles. Awesome!
I then logged into Ebsco and tried out the Page Composer. I tried some of the page formatting features and I saved it to my PC. I have to admit that I didn't get very far with this. I downloaded a very simple web page. I can see this being fun and helpful for students though.
Next I went to ProQuest Newsstand. Again, I searched for geocaching topics instead of those suggested. I used the refine feature, which was a great idea, since I started with over 1000 hits. I ended up getting it down to 71, and marking 5 and creating a page with those. I clicked on the "download" button, but couldn't tell if that worked at all. I then used the "email" feature and was able to email all the links to myself quite easily, and I think that is a really good feature. I love the email feature on all of these databases, and often recommend it to patrons so they can easily keep track articles they found helpful. Knowing more about how to send a bunch at one time is even more helpful!
Last, I went to NetLibrary, very grateful that I remembered my user name and password I had created at work, since I an doing this from home. I was able to get in and search the ebooks. Unfortunatley, I had no luck with the term "geocaching." I switched to the broader term "treasure hunting" and found some books. I looked in the Idiot's Guide to Sunken Treasures, and made some notes. I had never noticed that feature before. That's pretty cool!
If I was doing some serious research and needed to keep track of some great resources I found in ELM databases, these tools would be very helpful!
I then logged into Ebsco and tried out the Page Composer. I tried some of the page formatting features and I saved it to my PC. I have to admit that I didn't get very far with this. I downloaded a very simple web page. I can see this being fun and helpful for students though.
Next I went to ProQuest Newsstand. Again, I searched for geocaching topics instead of those suggested. I used the refine feature, which was a great idea, since I started with over 1000 hits. I ended up getting it down to 71, and marking 5 and creating a page with those. I clicked on the "download" button, but couldn't tell if that worked at all. I then used the "email" feature and was able to email all the links to myself quite easily, and I think that is a really good feature. I love the email feature on all of these databases, and often recommend it to patrons so they can easily keep track articles they found helpful. Knowing more about how to send a bunch at one time is even more helpful!
Last, I went to NetLibrary, very grateful that I remembered my user name and password I had created at work, since I an doing this from home. I was able to get in and search the ebooks. Unfortunatley, I had no luck with the term "geocaching." I switched to the broader term "treasure hunting" and found some books. I looked in the Idiot's Guide to Sunken Treasures, and made some notes. I had never noticed that feature before. That's pretty cool!
If I was doing some serious research and needed to keep track of some great resources I found in ELM databases, these tools would be very helpful!
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