Week 9, Thing 23 The Final Chapter, but to be continued as a Lifelong Learner....

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I discovered, first of all, that I can surf the web and not become intimidated by it and start to feel comfortable looking around at the immense amount of information there. I enjoyed the site seomoz.org and playing games such as "Guess-the-Google". LibraryThing and cataloging some of my favorite books was fun, Maryland Sandbox Wiki was enjoyable to read other people's favorite foods, vacation spots, etc. and creating an avatar was challenging.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Even though I didn't grow up with computers, nor had them in my classroom in my younger days, I feel that this program has opened my eyes to the extensive amount of information and sites that are available on the Internet. I don't hesitate to get on the web and try to navigate, and if I need assistance, I seek someone to help me.

3. Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I guess I didn't realize the vast amount of sites on the internet. It's HUGE and I was just always looking at just a small fraction of it.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program's format or concept?
I really didn't care for setting up all the different accounts and putting in passwords, etc. Also, many of the exercises took some time and it was difficult to undertake the "Things" during work hours. Patrons, telephones, everyday duties at the Branch took top priority. It was not easy to complete at times.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again choose to participate?
Yes, I would participate to acquire new knowledge and to try to keep informed on what is happening on the technology front.

6. How would you describe your learning experience in a few words or a few sentences, so we can share our successes and promote this program?

We all can be life-long learners and the great explorers of the technology frontier!

Week 9, Thing 22 Downloadable Audiobooks

Went to the site Gutenburg.org and found the audiobook of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. I am currently reading the paperback book. I then read through the site NetLibrary. This company launched the ebook category and they are growing! However, I would much rather get an actual book from the library or bookstore than sit for hours listening or reading a book on the computer. Maybe when I'm older and my sight or hearing is going would I consider using these sites.

Week 9, Thing 21 Podcasts

Yesterday and today, I went to the Podcast.net site and finally settled on a podcast found on YahooPodcasts called Children's Book Podcast and Children's book directory dedicated to sharing children's books. The host Sabrina Weissler introduces a new children's book each episode. Then I added this podcast to my Bloglines account.

My Avatar

This is me working diligently, but taking a short break to pose in front of the stacks.

Week 9, Thing 20 YouTube

Went to the YouTube site and downloaded the Sneaks' Summer Reading Club 2007 video. I then put in different tags and looked at the list of videos that matched them. It was interesting to see how many people use this site; however, this was not of interest to me. I remember a story on the Today Show of how these young people were going around to fast food restaurants, ordering drinks, and then taping themselves throwing the drinks at the employees when they were picked up at the window. This kind of behavior taped and put on YouTube is unacceptable and encourages bad behavior. Don't people have better things to do?

Week 8, Thing 19

Took a look at the site seomoz.org. The award category I chose was "Games". From there I chose "Guess-the-Google". This was actually a fun thing to do. They gave you 20 seconds to guess in a keyword what the common theme was of a group of pictures. You have to think very quickly looking at the group of images. After playing it for a while, you get better at guessing what the keyword should be. When the game is over, they list the scores of the best players.

Week 8, Thing 18

On to the next adventure.....looked at the Zoho Services site. They listed eight Zoho services that can be used to conduct your business online. I won't use this site because I have become comfortably accustomed to using Word processors and this site seems to be a little too complicated for me. I don't use spreadsheets on a regular basis, I never use instant messaging, chats, or web conferencing.

Week 7, Things 16 and 17

This week I experienced the Wiki. In my opinion, the Wiki is not a reliable and trustworthy source of information because anyone can add, edit or delete content of a subject being looked up. If I want true and reliable information, I would go to an encyclopedia website, and so you won't find me using Wikis. I don't trust them.
I looked at the Book Lovers Wiki where you can choose a category of a book and then read reviews from others. And you know what you can do to their reviews? You can add, edit, or delete their review. So why bother with Wikis?
Then I looked at Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. A great website for Librarians!
A "one-stop shop for Librarians."

I looked at the Maryland Sandbox Wiki and listed categories of various topics and I picked "Favorite Foods". I added an entry to the favorite foods listings. It was interesting reading about others favorite foods, favorite vacation spots, pets, etc.....

This is a photo taken at the Boardwalk in Ocean City outside the Kite Loft. I love this kite with the "people" hanging on to the line. It looks like fun!

Week 6, Thing 15

Followed up on the "Next Space": The OCLC Newsletter. Read an article called "Away from Icebergs". The librarian discussed "icebergs" that he sees as threatening the progress of libraries: a) the "just in case" collection, b) reliance on user education and c) the "come to us" model of library service. This site was beneficial to librarians.
Another article I scanned was "To a temporary place in time".

Week 6, Thing 14

Looked at the site Technorati and typed in the search for "Learning 2.0". My result was 3,474 hits about the Learning 2.0. I then looked around at the site a bit and read what the top blogs were--a harvest of goodies for all those tech geeks! I found the site fairly simple for someone like me who rarely goes to a site like that, but it was not something I would go to on a regular basis.

Week 6, Thing 13

Went to the Del.icio.us account PLCMCL2. I chose a blog called Youth Tech.wordpress.com. The blog discussed parents' understanding and concerns regarding MySpace. The discussion was about a workshop that was held to help parents learn about the site and some safety precautions they could follow to keep their children safe from weirdos. I found the discussion interesting and timely because of all the concern parents have about the site.

Week 5, Things 10, 11, and 12

I went to the Generator Blog and picked the Horoscope Generator. The horoscopes were humorous and changed each time you clicked it. I enjoyed reading the funny predictions.
Went to Library Thing and listed five favorite books and saw how many people thought the same way I did.
Rollyo was not interesting to me and I probably won't go there again because I don't use search engines that often and when I do, I go to Google. But it was interesting to see something different. Also the roll made me hungry and I got a snack!

Week 4 Things 8 and 9

RSS was interesting and I enjoyed picking subjects that interested me. I went through the site and read some of the articles. The site was busy-looking and sometimes I had to ask for clarification on how to surf through it.
MERLIN looked very educational and when I have questions about a certain topic, I will seek this site out again.

My Pictures from Flickr

Week 3, Thing 7 Tech Thingy

Went to MSN site, found a tech gadget and here it is: "Nokia N800 is designed to stay online so you can enjoy the benefits of the Internet, whether you're at home or on the go. Browse your favorite sites. Stay in touch with the people you love with Internet calling. Chat with your friends. Check your email. Relax with your favorite songs and videos." This is something I won't buy because I like the simple life.

Week 3, Thing 6 Third Party and Mashups

Looked at Mappr, put in some routes around Maryland. And looked at the pictures.

Week 3, Thing 5 Flickr

Flickr was difficult and I did not enjoy trying to get through the site. Without help from a very knowledgeable young person, I would have said "forget it". However, with help, I searched through Google's image search to find pictures I liked. First, I downloaded them to my desktop and then uploaded them to Flickr. I uploaded three pictures. I appreciated experiencing the site; however, I will never go back there again. Sorry! Not something I enjoyed doing--too much stress! Very confusing with the layout of the page, too many menus, NOT putting any personal information.

Week 2, Things 3 and 4

I took quite a bit of time trying to come up with a name for my blog and sat down with the dictionary and found a name! Since I hadn't blogged before and don't use MySpace or any other type of electronic journals, I asked a younger member of the staff to assist me. And I typed my first post. I then filled out the online registration form to be sent to the liaison for BCPL.

Week 1, Things 1 and 2

Read the blog about the 23 Things program and anticipate broadening my horizons with regard to all the sites and information available on the web. Seeing all the different exercises listed and all the websites seems like a daunting task that lies ahead, but I'll take them one at a time with some assistance when needed.
Read the tutorial about the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners. A lot of the habits you can acquire just from living and learning as you go along through your life--Habit #2 accepting responsibility for your own learning is crucial to your success in life as you can only advance yourself of your own accord--nobody can do it for you!
It's is sometime hard not to view problems as problems and not challenges. But if you stick with something and do it, you will gain confidence in yourself. I'm not really into all the technology that someone younger than myself might be; however, I'm open to looking, learning, keeping an open mind and trying.

Weeks 1 and 2

I look forward to learning all 23 Things (with a little help along the way) and setting up my blog. I find this to be a great learning experience and an interesting way to try out some new things on the technology front.