Final Thoughts

Ok, now that I've gone through the program here are some thoughts on it.

I honestly did not expect to learn much more than I already knew about what was presented in the program. And most of the information presented was indeed just a refresher on things that I already knew how to do, although I did learn more about some applications that I may not have discovered by myself. I do have to admit that some of it I may never use again, but I am glad to have had the opportunity to try some of it out. It was fun to be able to learn this stuff and get paid for it. I would gladly participate in any other programs like this again, it was fun.

Microblogging

At first when reading the assignment for this one, I didn't think much of the idea. But now I have to say that it was much more fun than I thought. I can really see using this in the future. It is like a much more interactive and fun version of status updates from facebook and myspace. I think that I could have a lot of fun with this in the future, now that I know it's there.

Cool video

Ok, I have to admit that I've been a fan of youtube.com for some time now. In fact I often listen to music and other videos when able to at my desk. As with podcasting, I can see the use in filming training material that can also be shared with other libraries and businesses. I can also see this in being used as video letters and communications over long distances.

Here is a little something that I found particularly interesting on youtube.

Podcasting

Ok, I can definitely see the merit in podcasting for libraries, etc. This seems a great way for training employees, and if you have a program that really works, why not share it with other businesses.

Last fm

I think that sites like this are really useful, at least for me, when you want to buy something, but you haven't heard anything from the album. I personally do not think that cd's are dead, I still buy a ton of them, however sites like this are useful in many ways. You can listen to music that you may not want to buy the whole album, you can listen at work when you are on your computer, or you can sample some tracks of a cd you may want to buy but haven't heard yet.

Librarything

Ok, I really liked this site. It was really easy to use and navigate in. I will most likely be using this in the future. I have needed something in which to log my list of "books to read" and this will be just perfect. I also like that you can find others who like similar reading material, and the reviews of books are helpful. Really cool site!!

Technorati

I can definitely see the potential for a site like this, like the rss thing I don't think that this is something I would personally use. I'm not really a person who spends any time looking at other people's blogs. I might check out a blog of a friend, but in general I have too much going on in my life for that kind of thing. Technorati is a site that I would most likely frequent if I indeed read and follow a lot of blogs. All in all it's a pretty cool site.

del.icio.us

I think that this is a really cool site. I've been using google bookmarks in a similar way for the last couple of years. I really love that you can access your personal bookmarks from anywhere. This comes in very handy when you want to show a friend something on their computer and you don't want to spend all night looking for just the right website. Now I have another backup for my bookmarks. Way cool!!

More fun with trading cards

Ok, that was too much fun! I really like that trading card application. It seems kinda weird to be doing this for work and getting paid to play.

RSS feed searching

While I understand and to some degree think that RSS feeds are cool, I just don't think that they are for me at this time. I've never been one for subscribing to anything, newspapers, magazines or even online news. I just tend to look things up one at a time or if I happen to be interested at the moment. I thought that the search engines for feeds were nice, but as I said just not for me at this time.

RSS

I can see how this feature can be useful for people. My only problem with something like this is that, personally I already belong to or have so many other logins for email, communities and such, that it's just one more thing to remember to login to. I don't think that this is something that I'll be utilizing in the future, but you never know, and I don't like to say never.

fun stuff

Ok, I tried out the word shooter and had a lot of fun. It reminded me of a game on the website popcap.com called typer shark. Sometimes when I want to do something that honestly does not require a lot of brain power, but I want to play a game of some sort, I will go to popcap and play something there. One of my favorites is Bookworm, in fact I liked it so much that I went and bought it, so that I could play the full version. Popcap is an "evil" little website that can cause you to waste so much time. Although I do have to say that my typing has improved every time that I play typer shark.

http://popcap.com/games/free/bookworm

im's

I've used different IM's in the past and in general have liked them. I think that instant messaging could prove to be very useful for the library. When I use to update the magazine dates in Dynix, I always thought that it would be most helpful to have an IM, in order to communicate more effectively with other staff. It saves time, so that you would not have to pick up the phone, look up an extension # and call someone, or wait around for an email. But that's just my opinion.

On another note, it could be just as useful for librarians in answering time sensitive questions from patrons online.

Personally I'm all for using instant messaging, I think that the pro's outweigh the con's in terms of usefulness.

Wiki's

I have recently(within the last 6 months or so) started using a wiki with a friend. We are starting a study/spiritual group together and I've started using a wiki to keep our information on. We tried using pbwiki but personally I didn't like the usability of it. I then did some looking around and found wetpaint, and personally like this web site. Time will only tell if I will keep using it.

google documents

I really like the googledocs application. I've used it in the past with some friends in a study group, and it was invaluable for group projects when getting together in person was problematic. With this application we could all access the project and get the work done with out having to go to someone else's house.

Social networking

I've actually been a member of myspace for about a 2 years, I've had a couple of different profiles in that time. I deleted my account at one point and then changed my mind and re-signed up. I have also been part of facebook for about 9 months or so. I enjoy wasting time on these sites. I also belong to tribes.net and okcupid.com. I really like okcupid, as it has a ton of tests/quizzes that can be a lot of fun.

Shaelee trading card

I tried out the trading card application and enjoyed it.

I was a little unimpressed with some of the other applications offered, but this one was more fun than I thought it would be.
Now I'm thinking of doing cards for the rest of my family.

Photomanipulation art

A few years back I came across a picture that I just fell in love with. It was a picture done in blue/gray tones about a sad fairy. In working on this assignment for the 2.0 program, I tried to find the same artist on Flikr, but I couldn't find her. I did however find a couple of other artists that are very similar in texture and feeling. The following link is to a picture that, I think is absolutely beautiful.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/larajade/147675926/in/set-72057594136771095/

7 1/2 Habits

I'd have to say that habit 7 1/2 is probably the easiest for me, I rarely have any trouble finding something to fill my "play time" with. I would have to say that habit 3 is the one that I have the most trouble with. Whenever I a challenge comes my way that I am not prepaired for, I tend to go into "stationairy panic" mode, that is until someone reminds me that it's not the end of the world.