Thing 8 - Share your creations

Well, my first thought is that when I was a newly minted librarian in this organization, I was taught to always bring backup transparencies whenever I had to make a presentation. We had PowerPoint slides which I'd send in the network, or have loaded on the hard drive of the department laptop we'd use ( I couldn't believe that transparencies were used, but every conference room had an overhead projector in the corner, as a backup). Recently, the backup of choice has been a memory stick. But to load my set of slides onto the Internet - quite a concept (if I can trust the network connections).

I'd love to set up a database on books I've read, for my personal use. From a professional perspective, it would be nice to have a web-based resource available for comments on books or journals that my library is acquiring (print and/or online). People within our system could comment on titles they've read or ordered? Or, I'm looking for feedback on a resource - maybe I could sent a note or link to my user group that they could share thoughts? A blog, even?? (duh!)

Well, I've settled on a Flikr badge to meet the requirements of this 'thing', but my interest is sparked on how to help my clients communicate on a resource that I monitor. Kind of a no-brainer, but that's why I'm here . . .

www.flickr.com

Thing 7 - Web 2.0 Communication Tools

As I wrote in blog 2, on Thoughts about Library 2.0, it's always interesting to remind ourselves that even simple email is really a internet communication tool (Web 2.0).

EMAIL - I read through the productivity hints for email, and I was surprised to not see one listed that I think is critical - make sure your subject line is descriptive, and updated. When making successive communications about a subject, add a line or word relevant to discussion, such as 'I object to the first agenda item', or 'I can't make the meeting on the 4th'. Gist of message can often be summarized in subject line for your recipient.

INSTANT MESSAGING - It was mandated quite a few years ago that everyone in my information organization get an IM account, and we're expected to log on at the start of every day. I found it helpful early on to add some clients to my list, and then I could tell by the icon when they were logged on, and then call them when needed. This helps with those in a different time zone.

One nice thing about our IM service that it seems to stay logged in even when I remove my laptop from its base and move to a different location. Last week I had to meet a client in a different building, and while I was out I had offered to drop in on a second client in yet another building. While I was still meeting with the first, client #2 used IM to confirm our meeting (and offer to meet me in the location of my first meeting). I don't think I'd ever had a client track me down using IM, but it sure was handy ! My laptop as a portable communication device !

TEXT MESSAGING - I read and watched videos related to TM, but still don't quite see how useful it would be in our corporate world. Fascinating to see that capabilities are being included in library automation or management tools. I think there are some fuzzy grey areas between these technologies, as one can easily program their email to deliver to their mobile phone, so a person can pick up emails easily (maybe this is only true for i-phones? That's my experience).

WEB CONFERENCING - not much to say about this. Like the telephone in an office - critical for doing certain types of business. I've been amazed at the various web conference tools that vendors have used to host their meetings with our staff. Most seem free (or maybe vendor pays something -??). Many are clearly free. But I'm not required to evaluate or choose these tools. Probably change quickly anyway.

TWITTER - seems just crazy! May be a nice way to combine different tools in one place, and I could see this in a public or academic library reference desk. And the unusual situations, like while attending a professional conference, and discussing while sitting in the audience. Might be an interesting transcript to bring back to help explain some components of what was discussed at the conference. This would be a nice productivity enhancer.

Thing 6 - Online Image Generators

Well, I have generated a trading card. It went pretty smoothly. I tried to enlarge the original photo and cut out background, but I didn't succeed. I probably need some sort of photo editing software. I am also a bit uncomfortable using 'browse' on a site such as this - can someone view the contents of my files? I hope not. Not that I'm paranoid . . .

I put a file photo of my cat Dimitri, who passed away just about a year ago. I miss him.

As for the applications of this software, it is quite clear that the 'trading card' concept has been used fabulously by staff at the Carleton library. I saw them when I toured their library in May, and was really impressed. We in corporate libraries use business cards for our 'clients', but these cards are creative and inspired. Memorable. Clear applications in the corporate world!

Thing 5 - More Flickr Fun

Well, I am finally getting to play. I explored the Flickr mashups.

I really liked the color picker - really relaxing to play with this tool. This tool would be useful if I were trying to do something creative. But scrolling through it was relaxing. If one could make the photos nearly full size, and the other information on the page much smaller, it would be interactively meditative.

The options on the puzzle link were fun, but in order to do anything, I had to give them access to my blog, and then trust them. Maybe I already did some of that trusting in Thing 4, but the trust issues weren't so clearly laid out in warning text. I enjoyed the spell tool, and chose a word that I like. Now I'll see if I have learned anything about uploading . . .



It looks like it may have worked, but there is some html text showing. Hopefully it will disappear when I post. Again, try it and find out . . .

Thing 4.2 Flickr: Sunset fishing

Sunset fishing
Originally uploaded by Kalabird

I guess I have now been successful in adding this photo from Flickr to my blog. It's a beautiful photo taken in Vietnam near Hoi An. Photographer is Kalabird.

I should be learning that Flickr is a really cool tool, which I guess I am, but I'm more amazed by the fact that I have now somehow linked my new Flickr account to this blog. I then posted from within Flickr and then the posting appeared here on my Blogger 23 things blog. These accounts are now all linked together, and I'm leaving a mile-wide trail behind me.

If I ever set up a personal blog, with my own photos, it will be really easy to send my own photos to the blog (I couldn't send photos of my work library, as in my corporate world, I'm not allowed to take photos in my library. So that option is not the right thing to do, but now I see how I could do it. Learning the capabilities by trial and error. . . .

Thing 4 - Explore Flickr

Well, I'm doing my 'explore Flickr' thing today. I have wanted to learn about Flikr since I first heard about it a couple of years ago. And now that I have a digital camera and 2000 (+) photos I took in April - l reallyI am willing to learn about any photo management tool.

So, my introductory exploration of Flickr has been to search for label Vietnam, and download a photo that I found stunning ( this one which I couldn't load is called Sunset fishing, by Kalabird).

Now I'm getting bogged down in how to load a photo, when I CAN download a photo, etc. I was intending to follow the insstructions, but I don't know if I have the right to download. I was planning to credit the author, but this seems more complicated that I had thought. In the midst of this, I received a message that my photo has been downloaded to Flickr. Now I wonder - which photo of mine went there? I'm a bit worried.

I expect I'll get further involved in one of these tools, and (intentionally) load some of my own work, but until then, I'd like to see what this looks like as a posting.

Thing 3 - RSS Feeds

RSS feeds, I've been using for years, already. I am an avid subscriber to NPR (and WPR) podcasts, which I download onto my MP3 player (started with an iPod shuffle, but it put any and all music before my podcasts, so I downgraded to a cheap MP3 player so now I catch up on my favorite radio shows while at the gym, gardening, walking the dog [these must be my hobbies]).

At one point, I even subscribed to some podcasts from some medical journals, thinking that there may be some work-related application. But the casts were dull as mud, and I tired of the project.

As for web pages I check regularly, I do the news, but hardly want to see every update to that page. It would be nice to discover some interesting blogs to check regularly, something to allow me to feel tuned in and connected to those things that are important to me. But that takes time. Right now, I only need to develop the skills to use RSS feeds, and to get links to interesting material onto my blog.

So, what to subscribe to? Oh how I wish I had all day. And that I wanted to include ALL of my interests on my reader. I decided to cut to the most practical and ideally somehow related to some aspect of my profession - I scanned quite a few other 23 things participants’ blogs and looked at the RSS feeds they subscribed to. Or I subscribed to some 23 things participant blogs that I found to be active and interesting. And I subscribed to the one person I know with a blog on the system (of course, her blog is active and interesting).

This will be an ongoing project, as I take these 23 things, and more broadly, the 2.0 skills that I learn into my real life.