#23 Summary

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I enjoyed participating in the 23 things and liked learning new things as well as being able to learn more about things that I already knew about. Overall I think my favorite thing was creating the blog and adding things to the blog like blog rolls, widgets, and embedded script from other sites. I liked how the embedded script would reflect any updates that may have been added from the site it originally came from. I liked the Flickr Slide Show! I created one with KDL2.0 tags and as more people kept adding pictures to Flickr with the KDL2.0 tag, my slide show grew and grew! For some reason that was fascinating to me!

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

As I already said, I enjoyed participating in this exercise and it has made me even more motivated to stay on top of technological changes and not be afraid to embrace those changes. For me learning something new is always fun!

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

The blog itself! Now that it is done, it is a compilation of all of the different 23 things. I went a ahead a pretty much created my own accounts in things such as Flickr, Bloglines, Rollyo, LibraryThing, etc. and added those links to my blog, so now everything is nicely filed away in my blog with quick links to each of the different areas.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

For me the program's format was great! I liked that it was self-paced and could be done while I was at work or at home. I'm fortunate because I have been working towards my MLIS for the past couple of years and have had prior exposure to a lot of these things as well as HTML formatting. The prior knowledge of HTML formatting really helped me figure out a lot of things as well as enhance my blogs.

For others who are not as fortunate I think that a couple of work sessions throughout the period would be nice. It would offer a time for people to come ask questions and get help with their blog face to face. Every learner is different and I can see how someone might become frustrated and give up without an opportunity to learn more about things in a regular classroom setting rather than virtually.

And last but not least…


If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again choose to participate?

Absolutely, I loved this and wouldn't think twice about participating in another discover program!

#22 Podcasts

Podcasts are new to me. I've heard about them but never really explored them before now.

I liked searching for podcasts using podcastalley.com alot more than podcast.net. For me it was easier to navigate and find podcasts that I was interested in. I ended up finding a couple of podcasts related to children's books that I added to my bloglines account. They were just one more book and children's books radio. I will try these two podcasts out and hopefully be hooked and want to search and add more to my bloglines account!

#21 Online Video

My family and I have lots of fun with You Tube! It's amazing to us the videos that people post...you can literally find a video about almost anything.

Here is my VERY FAVORITE VIDEO, it puts me in a good mood everytime I watch it!

#20 Special Treat

This was a great video!

As I have typed many papers for my classes at Wayne State, I have often said to myself how wonderful the computer is and how did I ever get through my undergrad classes without one. I can't imagine having to go back to the days of the pencil/eraser, typewriter, old style card catalog, or the Reader's Guide to Periodicals to get major projects/papers done.

I liked how the video showed the progression and evolution of digital text and how basic text has evolved to be a very powerful programming tool that can be used to bring information to so many people in so many ways.

#19 Online Music Sources

I like the idea of being able to create your own "radio station" that plays only the type of music that you like to listen to and not having commercials interrupt after every song! I have Comcast as an internet provider and have created an individualized radio station for myself through them.

I explored Pandora Online. It was fun to input favorite artists and see what other artists/songs would get thrown into the mix. I started out with James Taylor (one of my very favorites) and got other artists that I like almost as much such as Jim Brickman and Carole King!

I have limited knowledge of itunes. My knowledge basically involves buying the itunes cards at the store for my children who use itunes all the time! itunes does seem to be pretty user friendly whenever I've needed to help my kids figure something out, but that's about the extent of my exposure to itunes. Maybe someday when I'm not paying for Wayne State tuition anymore and can afford to by one of the latest and greatest ipods I'll be able to become more familiar with itunes!

Music file sharing makes me nervous (even if it is a legitimate site)...big brother is watching!

#18 Social Networking

I think that when social networking sites are used responsibily they can be fun and useful tools for people of all ages. I think that they are a great way to keep in contact with people as well as keep people updated on what is going on in your own life.

On the other hand, when I run across personal pages that are littered with inappropriate postings, pictures, videos, etc. that's when I get turned off. In a perfect world everyone would keep it clean, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

#17 Wikis

I think that Wikis are very interesting, although you have to be careful not to take everything that you read in a Wiki as absolute fact. Double-checking important facts is always a good idea. I liked the Princeton Booklovers Wiki, the interface didn't look like a typical Wiki...I thought it was less "academic" looking and more visually appealing.

#16 Technorati & Blog Tagging

I found Technorati to be somewhat confusing and hard to navigate. I searched the terms books and libraries and although there were a lot of hits...it seemed like it would have taken a lot of time to sift through the results. I did a Library 2.0 search and liked the results that I found there. If I were interested in finding a blog about something pretty specific, then I can see how it could prove to be useful, but when the subject is pretty broad...too many results for me!

#15 Tagging

I was familiar with del.icio.us before this exercise and already had an account set up. I think this is a great way to keep your bookmarks organized and available from any computer. I like the fact that you can look at some of your tags and find out what other people have bookmarked with the same tag headings.

Here's the tag roll for my del.icio.us account.

#14 Best of Web 2.0

I decided to explore the world of widgets...and even added one to my blog...the weather widget!

The two main sites that I did my exploring on were yourminis and SpringWidgets.

I found that yourminis was simpler to use than SpringWidgets in that it was easier to navigate, find widgets to download and then actually be able to download them to my blog.

#13 Online Productivity

This post was created courtesy of zoho writer. I was already familiar with Google Docs as I had used that during one of my classes at Wayne State to collaborate on a group project with a couple of other people from different parts of the state. I thought it was nice because all previous versions were saved in one place and you (or anyone else who had user priviledges) could also access the document. I think that it is great tool for collaborative work projects.


I see now that Google Docs is adding a Power Point type application to their basket of goodies...I didn't see a presentation type application anywhere on the zoho site.

#12 Customized Search Engines

I liked creating the search roll and could see how beneficial it could be to have frequently searched sites all in one place. I also liked the idea of being able to group certain sites together and giving them a title....for example "adult reader's advisory," "young adult reader's advisory," etc.

I also liked that you could search other search rolls already made and add them to your search roll choices.

Select Search Engine...kdlinfoTop NewsReferenceHealthSearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

#11 LibraryThing

I was already a member of LibraryThing and really enjoyed being able to use this service. Through other people's blogs and a recommendation from a friend, I have started to explore goodreads and have enjoyed the social networking functionality of that site (facebook/my space for book lovers) as well as the ability to add "personal bookshelves" categorized as you would like them!

I was recently searching through Google Books and noticed they have added a feature called In My Library which allows you to add titles to your own personal library which is then associated with your Google account (Gmail, Google Docs, etc.). There didn't appear to a social networking feature (not yet anyway) but it did provide another means of keeping track of your personal library or books which you have read.

Here's some random books from my library on LibraryThing:

#10 Web 2.0 and Libraries

There were two ideas that stood out for me when reading the various Web 2.0 and Libraries links.

The first one was the idea of "user education" from Rick Anderson's comments. In his post he talks about the need to focus our efforts on eliminating the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need. Library's need to define themselves as user friendly and empower patrons with the knowledge that will help them with their information needs. Basic computer classes, as well as more advanced classes dealing with Web 2.0 functionalities, need to be available to patrons.

I've already touched on the second idea that struck me and that is the idea that library interfaces need to be more user friendly. John Riemer's comments present ideas to improve bibliographic services. Bibliographic services need to be more patron friendly and function more as an Amazon or Google search, where metadata and relevancy rankings are fully utilized.

#9 Blogger Feeds

In trying out the different options for finding RSS feeds, the one which was the easiest for me to use was the search tool connected to my Bloglines account. I liked the simplicity of being in one place and not having to go back and forth between different sites looking for feeds.

Topix.net, syndic8.com, and technorati were frustrating to me and the search results were hard for me to decipher.

I then experimented with websites that I visit on a regular basis, looking for news feed icons, and the light bulb went on and I finally realized...so that's what those are for! I used the icons when searching some of my favorite sites to to add them to my Bloglines account.

#8 RSS Feeds

Through one of my classes at Wayne State I had already gone through the process of setting up a Bloglines account and below is a list of my Bloglines subscriptions in a format better known as a Blogroll



This is the link to my Bloglines account...


I've found it hard to take time to go to my Bloglines account and keep up to date on the feeds. I have put together a nice group of feeds that I know would help me stay current with library/book trends but it seems like I can never find enough time to read through recent postings.

In going through this exercise and taking the time to update myself on my Bloglines account and postings, I've realized that I'm missing valuable information that I could use on a daily basis at work. I'm going to make more of an effort to stay current with information collected on my Bloglines.