Change Pirate day 10, Post #15

Week 9, Thing 22
#22 Media and Book Downloads (or "You are almost done!")

Discovery Exercise:
1. Choose one of the downloadable materials above, OverDrive, MyLibraryDV or TumbleBooks and try using it. It would be best to choose one you have not used. Try downloading and using the materials.

2. Blog about what you chose and why. Other questions do consider: did it work? Was it easy or was it frustrating to use? Are these good materials to offer at a library? Why or why not? Do you feel comfortable assisting patrons in using this format?

Well, I am attempting Tumblebooks, and so far this free trial registration is a pain in the neck, you feel like you're going in circles with no clear explanation as to how or why you're suppose to be clicking to all these different pages. Then when you finally get through the registration it doesn't give any explanation as to why it's taking you to the page, and there's no log-in link to log in onc eyou have your registration.

So now I sit and wait for the registration to go through.

Update: Logging in with the free trial allows me to listen to the book online, though I can't tell just yet if I can listen to the whole thing just yet. I can however buy the book online, that link takes me to another site that allows me to buy the audiobook, which in my opinion is a personal waste of my time. I would much rather just sit and listen to it online. Now that I listen to it (It does seem like I can listen to the whole thing) I wo uld actually really enjoy this!

As there is only a free 30 day trial, I cannot imagine many of our patrons wanting to use this on our computers. Those that would, I think this could be fantastic for them and I'd love to help assist them setting it up! I think this kind of thing Is fantastic to offer to our patrons, it'd be great if we had listening stations wehre people could listen to books we own, only the headphones would access a computer database instead of a clunky, much-more-breakable station where they had to handle the cd's themselves. A touchscreen of some kind would be wonderful to use with this sort of thing, much like those samples of cds you can listen to when at Wal-mart.

Change Pirate Day 9: Post #14

Thing #21-Podcasts, Smodcasts!
Discovery Exercise:

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.

2. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account. I added this one!

3. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here? How could podcasts be used in the library?

Personally, I loved this one because of my interest in the music industry, but I also feel this would be incredibly useful to those setting up library news, event news and planning... It would especially be really useful on working on follow-up for staff to discuss for the next year's event.

Change Pirate Day 9: Post #13

Thing #20-You too can YouTube

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.

One of my personal favorite things about Youtube is that it's an international site. Since a lot of my favorite music artists are either Japanese or European, listening to their music when a new video comes out is quite tricky! Here is an example of a band that I really love that I can't watch or listen to here in the USA unless I want to spend ridiculous amounts of money on buying their singles and getting them shipped internationally.
X-Japan, a Japanese 80's metal band, reunited after they disbanded in the late 90's to do a song for the movie Saw 4. Called IV, it was the first time their fans had seen them perform together-something no one had expected to see since their guitarist Hide had committed suicide a year or two after the band disbanded. Seeing this video, even though it was made for the movie, provoked a strong reaction from fans as they used original tracks from Hide's solo album that were never produced to create the song. To commemorate his life and his work, the band also has snapshots of Hide's guitar, propped up on the stage with them. It was my distinct pleasure this summer when I was out in L.A. to have the opportunity to meet the driving force of the band, their drummer, Yoshiki. A true honor for anyone who is a fan of the band. (for comparison, Hide was virtually the John Lennon of Japanese rock music, and it's uncertain if his death was suicide or accidental)

2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
I believe I answered this above the video to question one... with library websites? I would LOVE love love to see how-to videos with staff teaching patrons how to do certain things on the library websites, perhaps with voiceover instructions. It would also be amazing for building staff confidence and rapport with our patrons!

Change Pirate Day 9: Post #12

Thing#18-Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

Discovery Exercise:
1. Create a free account for yourself in Zoho Writer or Google Docs
2. Explore the site and create a few test documents.
3. Try out Zoho Writer’s or Google Docs features and create a blog post about your discoveries.
I went ahead with Google Docs so I wouldn't have to create yet another login password. I'm afraid I'm going just a bit batty keeping track of all of these!
So far I absolutely love the simplicty of it, the basic format and layout that's easy to navigate, it's not cluttered, and it doesn't drive me crazy with all of it's gadgets and special ways of doing thigns. I like things simple, basic and clearcut, as practical as I can make them.
This will be wonderful for keeping track of my things from work to home and back to work again-particularly when I'm working on schoolwork and might hit up as many as three or four different locations in one day. THe basic formatting is great to be compatable with all sorts of formats and programs, and I can easily see myself transferring them from lj to gj to yahoo mail to word to publisher and back to google dogs, and then to lj again.
Huzzah for short story writing? Who knows!
Either way, I think this is one of the most useful tools that I've found so far in my own personal life as well as for versatility at work.

Thing#19-Discovering web 2.0 tools

Discovery Exercise:
1. Select any site/tool from the lists on Web 2.0 Awards or Recipes for Success. Explore the site you selected.
2. Create a post about your discovery. What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any applications for its use in a library setting?
I looked through Recipes for Success and to my delight, there was Meebo and AOL Instant Messanger! These two are long time favorites of mine for distance communication or discussionw ith someone when I can't leave my desk at work. If I need to check in with a supervisor or doublecheck what time I'm scheduled to run up to someone's offie, I can always just drop a quick note and ask!
I would lvoe to be able to use it to successfully collaborate with other people at other branches who are on the same project as me, setting up times to discuss issues online and exchange ideas!

Change Pirate Day 8: Post #11

Wiki's, in my opinion, are one of the coolest things ever on the internet!!
#16 So What’s in a Wiki?
1. For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at some library wikis and blog about your finding.
I took a look at the Wiki for the 2009 Midwinter ALA conference, and I Loved the idea!
2. Create a blog post about your findings. What did you find interesting? What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?
I really think that for event organization, the event-specific Wiki is absolutely fantastic for all those involved. It hink that would be an excellent format for even a library website, perhaps? Something that the librarians in the systemc ould change and edit, and the public search and view. I'd love to be a part of a project like that!

#17 Playing around with PBWiki
1. Access the PLCMC Learning 2.0 wiki and create a login account for yourself.
Done that! Once again, my only complaint about this 23 things is the ridiculous amount of new logins I have.

2. Add your blog to the Favorite Blogs page. That's how we'll know that you've been there.
I now exist on PBWikI!

3. Create a post in your blog about the experience.
I had some problems with the editing page, but I do like how it's almost an exact replica of posting in blogger with rich text! That makes it a very easy, interchangeable interface to use.
Personally, I was not fond of how they have their login ID set up. They're not so special they get to change terminology and expect people to NOT sit there going "....wha?"

Change Pirate Day 7: Post #10

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0 ...

"But it no longer makes sense to collect information products as if they were hard to get. They aren’t. In fact, it may no longer make sense to “collect” in the traditional sense at all. In my library, we’ve seen a 55 percent drop in circulation rates over the past twelve years, making it harder and harder to justify the continued buildup of a large “just in case” print collection." -from Here.

I would love to encourage, somehow, that libraries act as an organism rather than a cold, angry place of research.
Think of how libraries are interpreted as in the media, in movies, books and comics... then ask yourself how you want it to be.
For me personally a library was a place of discovery, adventure, and comfort. Didn't have friends? The bookshelves were always there to engage me. Moved to a new town/city/country? The dewey decimal system always made sense regardless of the language spoken by those who worked there. Bored at looking out over the dull, lifeless plains of snow over a 100 miles from the nearest walmart? In the library I could explore another planet, another life, another perspective.
The challenge is to get that sense of adventure, wonder and excitement off the shelves and into people's minds, so that they look at this place as more than just a building with shelves and library staff that sit behind their desks waiting to yell at the slightest sound.
In this changing society and technological age, staff needs to be trained in helping people to understand not only how to point and click properly with a mouse, but how to explain in laymans terms what it is to point and click...or how to explain the layout of a website in order to navigate it.... like comparing the internet to a city, as a coworker pointed out to me. A city with lots of houses with different kinds of information in each one of them....

Change Pirate Day 6: Post #9

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati


Discovery Exercise:
1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing various keyword searches in the different search areas. Do you get different results depending on where you search?
I really like how this enables me to cover a broader variety of possibilities for what I'm looking for.

2. Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?
Not particularly? At least not specifically, but I would love to compare what the top fifteen searches are for other countries and compare them to America. It's always interesting to see what each country is interested, concerned about, or has as a priority for their searches.

Change Pirate Day 6: Post #8

#13 Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarking in Delicious
Discovery Exercise:
1. View one of the Discovery Resources listed above to get a good overview of the features in Delicious.
2. Take a look around Delicious using the PLCMCL2 account that was created for the original 23 Things exercise by Helene Blowers. Note: In this account you will find lots of resources that have been highlighted or used throughout the course of the Learning 2.0 program.
This was very helpful! I really appreciated being able to go through this lsit of links and have examples and suggestions and explanations listed as I read through.
3. Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorize this reference?
I did look through these bookmarks, it was yes, very nifty, but I'm not sure how much I really cared for it personally. Sometimes they're helpful, sometimes they're just clutter.
4. Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool. Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?


"One site that she didn't mention that I like a whole lot is All Consuming, which lets you list, tag, and share items you are consuming (books, CDs, movies, etc.)." from here. I really think this would be fantastic for a library system like OPL with their staff and their patrons. I'd love to see what my fellow librarians in the system are reading or focusing,t he things they're learning! I also would love to see what the majority of our patrons are looking at. Statistics, numbers, charts and graphs are always fascinating for working out the demographics of who (and where these people are) is using the library. It would really help with planning programs for the next year! (I realize this is probably already done in some fashion, but it would be nice to have this available to lower staff in the system.

I'm not so sure I'm that fond of Delicious and how it organizes things, but I'm going to have to spend more time there. the cross-tagging and user-assigned tags are nifty, but... doesn't seem all that culturally and socially relevent for me personally and the things I keep track of online. I love the way the search tool is set up, but...I don't like the way the individual things are listed so haphazardly.

More thoughts to come.

Change Pirate Day 5: Post #7

Thing #10: Play around with an online image generator


Discovery Exercise:
1. Play around with some image generators and find one that you like: Wordle is a lot of fun!

2. Post the result of your discovery process in your blog. Note: Be sure to include a link to the image generator itself, so other participants can discover it too.
This is being a bit of a hassle, but, I think I've got it now. Ugh. Here's a bit of a problem of being provided the precise code for something when you're using a rich text formatter for your blog.




Thing #11: Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books
Discovery Exercise:
1. Take a look around LibraryThing and create an account.
2. Add a least 5 books to your library.
3. Blog about your findings and be sure to link to your LibraryThing catalog.

Okay, I'm starting to get pretty sick of having to create all these new accounts just to follow these instructions. I'mg oing to have so many accounts with so many things I rarely use by the time we're done! I can definitely see the use of this, though. Very, very nifty and I might actually keep up with this in my spare time...(-snort- spare time) Fortunately, it's very simple to use and basic to keep up with, a classy, basic layout that's easy to navigate.

My Catalog!


Thing #12: Roll your own search tool with Rollyo
1. Explore Rollyo and create an account for yourself.
2. Create a search roll for any subject you like.
3. Create a post in your blog about your experience and link to your search roll. Can you see a potential use for tools like this?
My search roll is added to the side of my page!
I love how simple this is to set up and add to wherever I need it. Still, I'm very familiar with google searching and yahoo searching so it's not too much of a convenience, since I like the variety and freedom that being able to do it myself allows instead of trusting or leaving it in the hands of narrowed search engine.

Bunnycomic1.jpg hosted at ImageShack.us

Visit rlee3002's (my) ImageShack profile

Quickpost these images to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Change Pirate Day 4: Post #6

Thing #8: Learn about RSS feeds and setup your own RSS reader account.
1. Okay, I confess...I'm a complete n00b with RSS feeds, I really am. These were really good resources to learn about them, but I'm still going to have to do it myself before I completely understand how this works.

2. I really like the way this can streamline the things you enjoy. At this point I genuinely don't go through many blogs, mostly webcomics and news as I often feel like getting so many peoples opinions is overwhelming...like too many ads at tv getting me to look at their product their way instead of finding facts and formulating my opinion. Not like webcomics don't do this more subtly, but the key word is 'subtly' in this. If you're going to brainwash me, you don't want to give me a headache right out to begin with. The whole frog in a pot of boiling water sort of analogy.

PS: It seems a little silly I can't set my blog on there to automatically import my Change Pirate blog from here. Maybe I just haven't figured it out yet. I'll keep looking. Sheesh, Facebook can do it.

Thing#9: Locate a few useful library related blogs and other news feeds.

1.. Here's what I've got for a list of feeds:
Bloglines News
Bunny
Buttercup Festival
Change Pirate
Nebraska Library Commission Blog
O! What a Geek : Library Learning
Unshelved
The Weather Channel: National Weather Outlook
xkcd.com
The Bunny System

2. Running a search for feeds was fairly effective, though the occaisional more obscure feed I hd to actually run a search for to bring up the url, dig through it to find their RSS feed, and then use the "Add" and paste the rss feed link into there to get it to work. Not terribly inefficient, so I don't mind using it at all. I mostlys tuck with the sites I'm currently using to keep track of them, especially since I check them on a relatively regular basis now...

Change Pirate Day 3: Post #5

Thing #7 Blog abouttechnology that intrigues you this week.

I remember when my parents were traveling around America to raise support for going back overseas for their mission work, and my dad would always joke to audiences about how he believed computers were made for Bible Translation.

Before they had computers, my parents had to do Everything by hand. Keeping track of phonetics, keeping track of the words they'd learned handwritten phonetically and what they meant...since my parents knew that the language had never beenw ritten down, they had to make up an alphabet as they went, writing the language by phonetics and then making sure it was consistant each time...and if there was an incosistancy, make sure it wasn't just a different tense of the same word. All by hand. Then there was actually writing the bible translatioin down by hand. Each book of the bible...I think it was the book of either Mark or John that my dad rewrote over 7 times by hand because there were no computers to hit "copy-paste" with.

It seems like such a silly thing to be grateful for computers like this, but...I don't know. I'm pretty happy for them myself.

Change Pirate Day 2: Post #4

I'm having trouble getting ahold of which Creative mp3 player exactly is going to be given away (sites are a beast to wander through and actually find things with, it's like they expect you to magically stumble across everything), but here's what I'd love to get from Best Buy.




SanDisk Sansa Clip MP3 player















Here's some of the basic specs for the link-skittish:
Warranty Terms - Parts: 1 year limited
Warranty Terms - Labor: 1 year limited
Product Height: 2.2"
Product Width: 1.4"
Product Weight: 0.9 oz.
Product Depth: 0.7"
Storage Type: Flash memory
Built-In Storage Capacity: 2GB (actual formatted capacity less)
Included Removable Memory: None
Removable Memory Type: None
Digital Audio Format Upgradable: Upgradable firmware enables support for future audio formats
Computer Compatibility: PC
Voice Recorder: Yes
Music Service Compatibility: Best Buy Digital Music Store
Digital Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, WMA secure, Audible audio
Battery Quantity: 1
Battery Life: Up to 15 hours
Connection Transfer Rate: USB 2.0
Tuner Type: Digital FM
Station Presets: 40
Headphone Type: Earphones
Included Accessories: Clip, earphones, USB 2.0 cable, quick-start guide, user guide and installation CD-ROM
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows XP (SP 2) or Vista; Windows Media Player 10 or 11; CD-ROM drive; available USB 2.0 port
Bluetooth-Enabled: No



If you're like me and
1) Loathe and despise iTunes. I've tried this program and I am not fond of how it organizes my music. I like Windows Media Player entirely too much-the simple media properties editing, titles, the freedom it gives you to leave everything in your own format...iTunes digs in it's heels at anything that is basic mp3 format and usually tries to convert everything into it's own special format that is useless to anyone who isn't using iTunes unless you burn everything to a cd first. (It's a setting you can change,b ut the fact that it tries is highly offensive to me)
2) Don't need to use an mp3 player as your entire music storage backup. I have two laptops and a desktop and trust me, I make good use of making sure all my music is backed up safely. 2GB of space (less when formatted) is fine by me for a few days of what I'm currently listening to or getting to know.
3) Don't want to have to install other software that has to act as a bridge between the mp3 player and syncing up the music. I don't want to l earn to use another new player or risk it messing up my playlists, or recopying songs to it's own locations so I have duplicates clogging up my computer under different names or different organization.
4) Want to have a songlist that you can look at. The Creative Lab Zen Stone doesn't have a display screen to list the song titles so you have to pretyt much guess and check to figure out which song you're listening to. Since I listen to so much foreign music, learning songtitles and bands simply by their lyrics is much more difficult-I need the band name and song title to help me keep track.
5) Cost. All this for $59.99, which doesn't seem too bad to me when I thinka bout it. With a $40 gift card, that's another $20+shipping if bought online. Not bad to get an mp3 player like this for $20.

Granted, all of this is subjective to change when I get the chance to fully compare the mp3 players.

Change Pirate: Day 1 (Post 3)

Thing #5: Explore Flickr and learn how to get the most out of this popular image hosting site

I'm only going to say this once, so as to avoid repeating the obvious and the unpleasant.


I don't like Flickr. I don't like Photobucket. I don't like Buzznet. Yes, I've tried each and every one of them. My image poison of choice has always been Imageshack for when I want to share a picture. Sure, there's a few ads. Sure, you can't really browse other users work. Of course I can see their uses, but to this day my personal preferences will always dig it's heels in as consumers right to dislike the layouts and the necessities of those layouts. Imageshack works for me, it allows me to thumbnail, link, send, copy, paste, save, and otherwise work how I want with my images without a hundred different things trying to change format, make s uggestions, or share what I have with other people when all I want is a simple upload and a list of links that are already formatted into the html I need to share the image as I please.

Still, if I need to use them, necessity dictates most things and I'm willing to deal with them for image searches. The 3rd party mashups are useful when you're looking for other images, but I personally wouldn't use something that requires that much work for my own blog unless absolutely necessary.

Thing #6:
Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there.
Create a blog post about one that intrigues you.

Okay, I'll admit, the librarian trading card is really, really cool.
Look at mine! (Yes, I know that's not listed on Flickr, we've been over this. Hello imageshack, click to enlarge!)

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

I think this is something really cool that more libraries ought to adopt, I really like the layout and the creativity... but maybe that's the appeal to the nerd-dom in me, as the trading card displays... >_>

Change Pirate-Day 1 Test Post #2

Lifelong Learning: My meaning
Usual meaning to my understanding:

Thing #1: Read this blog & Find out about the program...
Well, that really was about as clear as mud, at first. Perhaps that's what I get while trying to unscramble my brains from working front lines at our information desk and listen at the same time!
Ten minutes pass...
Okay, reading the FAQ section made far more sense than the blog itself did! I can't decide if I'm pleased that I'm not being walked through this by an instructor (Compliment to my own intelligence?) or mildly disgruntled that this isn't left up to me. Granted, I'm aware I can't expect an entire program to be catered to my generation of computer knowledge, as I am already familiar with quite a few things on this list. Still... My personal preference would be to have this list in a list format, something like the following:
Thing #1: Discover the PLCMC Learning 2.0 program, list a few facts you didn't know before, and then blog about how you found this information and how difficult or simple it was. If you wish, provide the links you used to procure this information.
Thing #2: Blog about their tutorial and it's personal impact on you, how you already use it. Get creative!



Thing #2: Blog about Lifelong Learning.

Here's the summary I took away from that little tutorial!
1. Determine goals and timeframe: Know what you're getting yourself into!

2. Accept Responsibility: no one's going to do it for you. how-to wikis, wikipedia, books, take hold of your resources! With America's education at it's rock bottom, it's about time we in the 21st century stop depending on people to tell us what we need to know and find out for ourselves.

3. View problems as challenges: Actually, I prefer to find these things for myself for my own entertainment. Personally, learning has always been a pleasure, something that makes me feel better about myself because I'm increasing my own database of resources and knowledge to empower myself through difficult decisions. Learning is a priviledge, not a given right on this planet. I fully intend to enjoy it as such.

4. Have confidence in your own competence: Seriously. Know your limits..and your abilities. Even if your limits are closer or further than you believe, know them, push them, learn to stretch them wherever you can...but don't overstrain them.

5.Create a learning toolbox-a list of resources: Books, sites, classes, friends with a lot of skills or special knowledge, familiarize yourself with your local library.
When I first moved back to the US, I made myself a list of resources-both for a new college student, and for someone adjusting to the US. THough I am no longer a noob to college and I've had 3 years to adjust to America...these resources (I'll list them another time) have come in very handy for me yet today!

6. Use technology to your advantage: Wikipedia, online dictionaries and thesaurus. Know your boundaries, know how to search, know how to use computers. If you don't, see #1 & #2, just to begin with.

7. Pass information along: Like I said back in #3, learning is a priviledge, not a given right. Here in America it is understood to be a right, but in many countries this isn't the truth. We need to remember that America is merely restricted to these government-approved borders...the internet is international, and information is slowly trickling in, learning is gradually increasing in even some of the more remote places of the world through the internet. How can we as global citizens, believing that learning is a given right, dare withhold what we know from those less fortunate to have the resources that we do?

1/2: Play!: Information is there for you, there for use, enjoyment, 'broaden life experiences'... enrich life and perhaps increase your ease of passage through an already-difficult world. Here here! See #3 for my thoughts relating to this!

Change Pirate-Day 1

Let's face it, I've been blogging since...oh let's see, my first livejournal account in...2001? Seven years later, here I am at 21 finally writing my first blog about...a library, constant change, and my own grain in the sandcastle of the librarian world as it's changing rapidly in this modern day and age...
And I still have the same awful purple prose, it looks like, given my first journals at age fourteen, hovering over a computer in Wolf Point, Montana and looking furtively over my shoulder so my older sister didn't mock my angst.

However, on to the genuine matter at hand. I confess, I'm really in this for the gift card to Best Buy but now that I've actually got this little text box up, I can't resist the chance to ramble my own thoughts, ideas, and opinion on everything, as it seems we in the 21st century are wont to do in hopes that someone's going to pay attention to us.

Well, Test Post #1 should probably not get any longer, so I'll sign this off here and run around the site to explore options some more. This actually looks much more simple than lj or ij (Livejournal or Insanejournal), but it's going to have to be impressive to beat gj (RIP, Greatestjournal).