Thing #9 Technology

Oh...where to begin. I really have several "favorites" -- I will hold off on a couple until we cover them in our class.

I think the one thing that I am most thankful for, technology-wise, is wireless capabilities. To not be tethered to my desk, house, or even city -- to have connectivity in my back yard, hotels, in the park, in the airport, or at a conference is priceless...the benefits go on and on. All you need is an access point. The benefit is not only in Internet access with my laptop, but all kinds of Bluetooth capabilites -- my cellphone, headset phone, Zune, etc.

Also high on my list is Open Source software...but, that is a new "Thing" altogether!

Thing #8 Library Thing

This has been a fun and useful site. I do use it a lot, in the library, for researching books for reviews, suggestions, and tags. And, as we are looking at Library Thing as a "social networking" tool, I probably use Amazon.com more than anything. It has developed into a wonderful networking site. I actively participate in the review and comments sections for all the books. One of my favorite reads, A Thousand Splendid Suns, had an incredible comments thread going, last summer, on the book and political/social issues in Afghanistan. One gentleman, from Afghanistan, was quite articulate, knowledgeable, and sharing in describing certain sections of the book and what it was like to LIVE through those events. People from several countries, and opinions, were discussing the book and related issues. Wow, how can you beat that kind of review?

We didn't really have time, in class, to explore the world of reading-related, read/write web sites such as Amazon. User-generated content is a key element of Amazon -- user discussion threads, comments, guest reviewers, and the ability for users to upload video reviews.

I may use Library Thing more, personally, when I have more time to devote to reading and actively cataloging my personal library. It is not something I will use exclusively though. Nothing beats spending some contemplative, exploratory time perusing the shelves in a great bookstore. Huh, time is an issue for that one, too. ...and money. It seems, that no matter what my budgetary constraints are going into a bookstore (physical or virtual), they are always obliterated when I leave with shiny, new literary treasures.

Thing #7 Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us has been one of my favorite "cool tools" for a long time. I save so many websites, blog posts, and information sources for use in...well, everywhere. My procedure for transporting my "Favorites", from my browser, was to upload/download the file to my flashdrive and carry it back and forth to work, when I travel, and to use on multiple computers at home. Not a bad method, but time consuming.

Thank goodness we are moving to the age of less hard drive capacity dependence, and towards storage on the web. Of course, I've been around long enough to NEVER depend on a hard drive, disk, network server, or web-based server to store my precious and/or important data. I always back everything up, regardless of the promises of data storage integrity.

Del.icio.us has been a godsend. Learning to tag and catergorize has been the key to management of my links. But, links do "die" and/or change, as well. I do want to have active, useful links. I have found a great post, Absolutely del.icio.us Tools Collection, with lists of official and 3rd party del.icio.us tools for everything: archiving, backing up, cleaning and verifying links, and tools for using del.icio.us on blogs, websites, and other collaborative platforms.

As far as uses in the library...well, there are so many. The first, and most obvious, use is to build a resource of curriculum subject links for students to use in research. Time is probably the only issue -- time to search for useful links to populate a useful database (to make it valuable enough to discourage "googling") and time to update/maintain. Another use -- teach kids to use it to store their resources for projects, papers, and research. What a great "file cabinet" for all their links -- and, it is something that is portable (school, home, public library, etc.) for them as well.

Thing #6 Image Generators

Oh, come on...you have to like these. There are just too many fun things to create and do with all the image generators. They are fun for play, but there's a lot of productive uses for many of them too. So, let's "socially network" -- sign my guestbook!

Thing #5 Flickr

The more I investigate Flickr, the more I like it. I have hundreds of photos stored on another online photo site, but Flickr has many more features. It will be a monumental job to transfer and upload all my photos (days and days), and probably years to tag everything, but it is now on my "to do" list. A few at a time...a few at a time.

I think that the organizational features of Flickr will be great. I use photos for many, many projects -- personal and at work. I can keep great blogging photos in a "file", personal photos to share, to scrapbook, to archive, to "keep all for myself".

The possibilities are limitless. I also love the feature to be able to send my camera-phone photos directly to Flickr. That's a handy tool. All kinds of possibilities come to mind for the library.

Use in the library? I do see this as a good alternative to kids Googling everything. I can filter the results as for safety (Advanced Search settings) and owner permissions (Creative Commons). I will probably set up a link on a search page on the website to see what kind of use it will get. Always an uphill battle with the easy Google search...

Now, I need to get all my 8mm film and videos digitized for safe keeping and make them easily viewable.

So much to do...so little time.

Thing #4 Technorati

Technorati always seems to be an enigma when you first start with it. I don't use it very often. I prefer to use Google Blogsearch if I am looking for something in particular. And, as I populate my Bloglines account, I seem to find blogs of interest and value by linking to the blogrolls of my favorite bloggers. That is where you will find the gems and trusted blogs.

The use of good keywords, just as in any search for information, is the ticket to finding good results. Tagging your blog posts, your saved pictures, your saved links, and your main blog all are important if you want to be found and/or organize your information assets for efficient and easy use. We'll learn more about tagging as we get into using some of the information gathering and saving tools. Technorati is a good tool to practice your tag search abilities and to explore the blogosphere.

With, literally, millions of blogs out there, evaluation is one of the most important skills we can develop and teach (for any type of information). Technorati serves this purpose in that you can determine what kind of "respect level" the blogger has earned from other bloggers and peers. For serious bloggers, Technorati has been able to provide key data regarding the popularity of your blog, the authority of your blog, and useful statistics. Many blogging providers now provide these features as part of their blogging service.

All in all, I still use Technorati from time to time to investigate statistics and find some of the biggest and most viewed blogs. The "What's percolating in blogs now" feature is always a good way to find out the big news items being posted.

Thing #3 RSS

If I didn't shout loud enough, in class, on how much I love my Bloglines...I'll do it here. I've used Bloglines for quite some time. I've opened a Google Reader account and will need to explore that one to see if it may serve my needs better. ...when I have time.

I find aggregators, such as Bloglines or GoogleReader, indispensable in delivering the blogs I like to read. I like to know if there is a new post, or comments, on my favorite blogs...without having to visit each one individually (only to find out that there are no new posts) -- THAT is a time saver. There is nothing like keeping a finger to the pulse of what is happening in the areas I find interesting and important. I don't HAVE to read every blog, everyday. I can skim the posts and read it should I desire. Or, I can skip right over it to find something that is more important to me at any given time.

I use a web-based page to aggregate all the newsfeeds I like to read. I can subscribe to the sections of favorite news services I like: sports teams, election news, world headlines, Colorado news and events, investment news, technology news, weather, travel, commentary and editorials, etc.

If I wanted to search all those articles in the different newspapers and magazines... I'd be spending MUCH more time sifting, skimming, and ferreting out the news I want. I see using aggregators as an incredible time saver. I don't have time to go through all the articles, ads, and filler in newspapers and magazines.

Yea, RSS! My next favorite tool is del.icio.us...but we'll cover that next week...