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 seems to be a video about everything on here. I once was trying to explain my 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 by very visable during the coronation.
Just for fun, check out my 3-year=old nephew singing the national anthem before a Gophers Volleyball game!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
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!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Thing #16: Assignment Calculator & the Research Project Calculator
Wow! I had never heard of these tools before. Students have it so easy these days! If any students used these, and really followed them, they'd get "A"s everytime. I tried the calculator for a 6 week project and a 2-day project and it handled both. I looked in the teacher's area and noticed how it helped explain how the resources work. I felt like I could be out of a job soon! I liked how it explained how to search the databases and I think that is one thing in particular that could be printed out and left to aid students or other patrons.
I could see myself recommending this to students, especially the many History Day project students. It list many resources, like style manuals, that we own in the library and can help legitimize the resources we carry and have access to.
As far as my own projects, if I need to write a report, this tool has timelines that could help keep me on track and to keep the process moving. The prompts seem to be generic enough to apply to almost any topic.
If I were giving a presentation on geocaching, I could use this to create an outline of the presentation and flesh it out. I could adapt the timeline to my project. Perhaps I could try this for developing the geocaching class for the library!
I could see myself recommending this to students, especially the many History Day project students. It list many resources, like style manuals, that we own in the library and can help legitimize the resources we carry and have access to.
As far as my own projects, if I need to write a report, this tool has timelines that could help keep me on track and to keep the process moving. The prompts seem to be generic enough to apply to almost any topic.
If I were giving a presentation on geocaching, I could use this to create an outline of the presentation and flesh it out. I could adapt the timeline to my project. Perhaps I could try this for developing the geocaching class for the library!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thing #15: Libraries and Games
Well, this Thing can sure be a big time-eater! I tried out Puzzle Pirates, since I think Second Life would be overwhelming. I did peek at SL, but it seemed far too complicated for me to learn in a short period of time. In Puzzle Pirates I created a pirate named Tessargh and she learned to bilge and carpent (since I have 4 carpenters in my family it seeme appropriate) and I earned 81 pieces of eight while working on the ship. I was challenged to rumble by someone on board and I took them on. Since I didn't have much time to learn, I was easily beaten. That was enough for me to jump ship and head back to my bedroll and crate with my rat. :(
I can see how people would want to come to the library and use our faster computers to play these games. Heck, it took over 5 minutes just to load the game at home with my broadband access. I can also see why the kids talk to each other as they play. They need help figuring out what it going on!
As far as geocaching goes, I googled "geocaching RPG" for role-playing games, and stumbled upon a game by Jeep. I tried to register for it and play, but it seems to be defunct now. Here's a screencap from it:
I can see how people would want to come to the library and use our faster computers to play these games. Heck, it took over 5 minutes just to load the game at home with my broadband access. I can also see why the kids talk to each other as they play. They need help figuring out what it going on!
As far as geocaching goes, I googled "geocaching RPG" for role-playing games, and stumbled upon a game by Jeep. I tried to register for it and play, but it seems to be defunct now. Here's a screencap from it:
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thing #14: Library Thing
Okay, I have to admit that this Thing got me interested and I spent lots of extra time on it. I only added 22 books from my library, but I picked a diverse group of books, including a few bestsellers. I was surprised to see that someone had 8 books in common with me with only 22 to choose from! I can see the social and the personal reasons for using Library Thing.
I see the value of Library Thing as a reader's advisory tool. I looked up a few titles I know and saw other titles recommended that I agree, would be similar titles. I even found some titles I didn't know and could use those too! Many of the titles were by the same author, but we refer patrons to books by the same author all the time. I do think looking up titles in Library Thing for RA would be more useful for lesser known titles. I often just google "Who writes like..." and find lists online that work as well or better. Those lists are usually written by librarians.
I could see us starting up a library account for the staff to enter suggested reads. We could all put in our favorites, and get a diverse list of recommendations. We could have other area users "friend" us to get suggestions.
Now, I am really excited on about the geocaching connections I have with this Thing. First, I added a geocaching novel to my list. It is a little known novel. It's a really weird book that my sis-in-law found on Amazon.com. Well, the funny thing is - I'm the only person to enter it on Library Thing! It's that unknown! It's also that bad. Second, and really cool, is that this Thing asked me to check out an account by a middle school teacher. I followed the link and saw the profile, and lo and behold, here was Brook, AKA BookMN! BookMN is a geocacher I have met when caching in Detroit Lakes. I saw her recently at an event at Wm O'Brien SP too. Small world!
tesser's LibraryThing catalog
I see the value of Library Thing as a reader's advisory tool. I looked up a few titles I know and saw other titles recommended that I agree, would be similar titles. I even found some titles I didn't know and could use those too! Many of the titles were by the same author, but we refer patrons to books by the same author all the time. I do think looking up titles in Library Thing for RA would be more useful for lesser known titles. I often just google "Who writes like..." and find lists online that work as well or better. Those lists are usually written by librarians.
I could see us starting up a library account for the staff to enter suggested reads. We could all put in our favorites, and get a diverse list of recommendations. We could have other area users "friend" us to get suggestions.
Now, I am really excited on about the geocaching connections I have with this Thing. First, I added a geocaching novel to my list. It is a little known novel. It's a really weird book that my sis-in-law found on Amazon.com. Well, the funny thing is - I'm the only person to enter it on Library Thing! It's that unknown! It's also that bad. Second, and really cool, is that this Thing asked me to check out an account by a middle school teacher. I followed the link and saw the profile, and lo and behold, here was Brook, AKA BookMN! BookMN is a geocacher I have met when caching in Detroit Lakes. I saw her recently at an event at Wm O'Brien SP too. Small world!
tesser's LibraryThing catalog
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thing #13: Online Productivity Tools
I have Google and Yahoo email accounts, so I decided to use one of those to make a personalized home page. I chose iGoogle and changed themes and chose topics and added gadgets. I really liked doing this, and made this new page my home page by editing the "Internet Options." I like having the local details that I didn't have with Comcast as my home page before. This Thing was pretty fun for me.
I have to say I wish I had worked on this Thing earlier, as I could have used a Count Up Gadget while working on my geocaching streak. I was trying to cache for at least 365 days, and I was successful. I stopped my streak on October 19th, 2009, so you can guess how far I got when you read this. You might want to use a gadget to compute that too. :)
I have used google calendar for a non-profit for which I used to volunteer. One thing I did for them was to search out events on the web that would be of interest to my group's audience and link them to our calendar of events. This allowed me to learn how to link to other calendars and how cool it is to be able to list the location, summary, and even link to google maps for directions. No paper pocket calendar can do all that!
As far as to-do lists go, I have trouble even writing down paper ones. When I need a list, I write it down quickly on paper and take it with me, usually in my wallet. Taking the time to log into a website to keep track of tasks is overkill. I think I have this feature on my cellphone. I could try that out. I can see the value of using it in a group setting. You can share a calendar or list with others much more easily online, especially if the team members are in different buildings.
I have to say I wish I had worked on this Thing earlier, as I could have used a Count Up Gadget while working on my geocaching streak. I was trying to cache for at least 365 days, and I was successful. I stopped my streak on October 19th, 2009, so you can guess how far I got when you read this. You might want to use a gadget to compute that too. :)
I have used google calendar for a non-profit for which I used to volunteer. One thing I did for them was to search out events on the web that would be of interest to my group's audience and link them to our calendar of events. This allowed me to learn how to link to other calendars and how cool it is to be able to list the location, summary, and even link to google maps for directions. No paper pocket calendar can do all that!
As far as to-do lists go, I have trouble even writing down paper ones. When I need a list, I write it down quickly on paper and take it with me, usually in my wallet. Taking the time to log into a website to keep track of tasks is overkill. I think I have this feature on my cellphone. I could try that out. I can see the value of using it in a group setting. You can share a calendar or list with others much more easily online, especially if the team members are in different buildings.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Thing #12 Digg, Reddit, and other Social Media
I checked out the homepages and tour/help screens for Digg, Reddit, Newsvine, and Mixx. I did not register with any of them so that I could keep track of my favorite articles, nor my friend's articles. I noticed that the articles on the homepage for Digg, Reddit, and Mixx seemed to be from less well known sites, and the topics were less serious than the top news stories I'm used to seeing on my Comcast homepage or my local news sites. The articles that were most popular were often very bizarre. Newsvine seemed to have articles from sources I recognized more, and what I might call traditional news sources and perhaps had more reliable reporting.
People often talk about bias in the media, and I guess these tools can help the masses decide for themselves what is newsworthy. Someone still needs to write the original content, but those writers could be from anywhere and write about anything.
Honestly, in my worklife, I don't think there is enough time in my day for me to make Digg useful to my patrons. There are things you could do to create a bibliography of sorts, or to even spend time Digging articles that you think could help the internet world at large by, in effect "voting" for them, but I just don't have that kind of time. I could suggest to patrons to try those sites to find the
"best" articles on the topic of their interest.
As for geocaching, well I had a little fun looking up the topic "geocaching" in these sites. One article in particular that was amusing was from the Rachel Maddow Show. She was asking what people thought would be the best changes President Obama could make. One suggestion was to change daylight savings time to make the day lighter later so the poster could go geocaching longer before the sun sets after work! I love it!
People often talk about bias in the media, and I guess these tools can help the masses decide for themselves what is newsworthy. Someone still needs to write the original content, but those writers could be from anywhere and write about anything.
Honestly, in my worklife, I don't think there is enough time in my day for me to make Digg useful to my patrons. There are things you could do to create a bibliography of sorts, or to even spend time Digging articles that you think could help the internet world at large by, in effect "voting" for them, but I just don't have that kind of time. I could suggest to patrons to try those sites to find the
"best" articles on the topic of their interest.
As for geocaching, well I had a little fun looking up the topic "geocaching" in these sites. One article in particular that was amusing was from the Rachel Maddow Show. She was asking what people thought would be the best changes President Obama could make. One suggestion was to change daylight savings time to make the day lighter later so the poster could go geocaching longer before the sun sets after work! I love it!
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