Week 11, the countdown to summer vacation begins!

This week's topic, "Online Collaboration and Productivity", promised to be very exciting, because I thought it would deal with how best to use all of the tools we've been introduced to, in an organized and methodical manner...but yeah, that was a little too much to expect, and I realize that each of us has to figure that process out on our own--how much time to spend blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, pod-casting, wikiing, Flickring, tagging and bookmarking.....mama mia, that's a lotta networking!!
When I logged on to Google Docs I realized that I already use this service, because I found my daughter's grad school application that she had sent me earlier in the spring, to proof-read and possibly edit it for her--amazing! I'm using networking skills that I didn't even know I had!
I'm hoping when our training is completed that I can go back and try to gain some expertise in many of the activities that I've learned--instead of spending hours on end on Facebook, Yahoo messenger, Twitter, etc!
It seems that this latest tool would be useful for many of our computer users here at the library, especially students, teachers, and groups of people who all have the same interests, in sending documents back and forth to each other for study and editing. Very helpful!

Tags/Social bookmarks/where does it all end????

Sorry, I just can't get interested in this stuff, it's too overwhelmingly "busy"(too much detail, etc)....I wish I had learned all of this earlier in life, or at least a year ago, but right now I can't sort it all out--I know the computer generation is able to keep up, but it's really difficult for left-handed Geminis, who grew up in the Vietnam era....in the North.....OK, I can't come up with any more excuses!.....seriously, I think it's a great format for the library community, the organization and order of tagging, etc. are so helpful....a cataloger's dream, I bet!!
(signed)Circulation Paraprofessional (tag as "library groupie"!)

Social Networking:Is it just parties and quizzes 24/7?

I'm already a member of Facebook, Twitter, Mylife.com(formerly Reunion.com), and Left-handers United in Awkwardness(nah, that doesn't exist--at least not this week-- but maybe I should organize that one!) Social networking is cool, I really love finding old school pals, friends from the military years, and keeping track of my kids, one of whom is on the left coast...we chat much more online than we do by phone, and pictures come up immediately on Facebook--I got to see all 342 of a friend's wedding pics without having to wait for Kodak!
Of course, there's a lot of stuff on them that I could live without, too--once the local news channels started clogging up Twitter it got pretty messy, so there's always too much of a good thing, you just have to either read it and move on or just ignore it and move on.
I think LinkedIn sounds great for business networking, but how bizarre is it that there's a site called Vampirefreaks?????

We're all winners in the online game of life!!!!

Having said that, I really didn't enjoy a lot of the games described and offered in Week 8--the few I do play are mostly word games like TextTwist and Bookworm, and a couple of the puzzle ones like Alchemy or Bejeweled, but anything much more complicated makes me feel like a complete idiot....I did find the 50 states map(click and drag each state to its correct location on a blank map of the US)pretty much fun, although I only scored 84....won't tell you which ones I completely misplaced!--I can see what a great learning tool that would be for kids--but some of the other games just seemed silly and not that education-oriented.
I wish the game websites could show a little restraint and offer only 10 or 20 games, instead of 150!...I wish there were only a few websites, instead of 150!...just like I wish there were fewer sites for everything the internet offers, instead of 150,000....but that's just me....

(signed)Sally Sims

WIKI is KIWI spelled inside out.....

Yes, WIKI is cool, I can see more uses for it than some other web activities we've been introduced to, and I hope that HCPL( CHPL spelled inside out) will open up our own wiki to the public...
I personally will plan to set up one with my family for a reunion at Holden Beach, NC next fall, so that we'll have all the supplies we need(sun block, insect repellent, board games, beer), none of which we had enough of last year!!

Photo Sharing....I'm ready for my close-up...

What I don't know about photo-sharing would fill many many albums, and after this week's assignment I see even more that confuses me.... I feel this way after every lesson, as if I've learned just enough to be really really bewildered!....I think these sessions are good in that we can choose to get more involved in these activities, later, after the initial overview...but it's almost too much information for me, and I'm sure our library community feels the same way, depending on their age, education and the amount of time available to learn.....but compiling pictures is a wonderful activity that everyone can relate to, so I'm hoping to get more instruction in this area--it's so easy,
just point and click!

To podcast or not to podcast......

Nothing in this week's activity really grabbed me, even my tech savvy daughter said it probably wasn't something I needed to know(she's my drill instructor, training-wise!)...having said that, I did appreciate the NPR and other links, very helpful and informative...The Nashville Public Library one was especially impressive, any chance of HCPL moving up to something like that before I retire??!

Are people who twitter called twits????

I must confess I do like to tweet with my kids, one who lives in L.A. and the other in Petersburg, soon to be in Harrisonburg....it's a fast way to keep up with them and make sure they're OK if they don't have time to call or write...just seeing their mini messages assures me that they're fine....I also follow a psychic that my niece has introduced me to, but he says really goofy stuff, like, "having orange juice for breakfast and enjoying the beautiful day"...I want him to talk about how many of the dead he's tweeted, but so far no messages from beyond the grave....sigh...
I'm not sure how helpful Twitter is for the library, don't know if people would respond to messages from the circulation department:"I have nothing to do right now because nobody's returning their overdue books..."

The RSS connection...or not!

I THINK I'm hooked into the feed reader or reader feed, or whatev....the terminology continues to boggle my mind, or in this case bloggle my mind??? I like having all of this info at my fingertips, but there's more than enough about some subjects, and it's hard to filter it all down to what I really want to read more of...I fear that I and some of my generation(the children of the 60's, and you know who you are!) are still trapped in a past life that had only 3 TV channels, a reliance on AM radio for late-breaking news, and letters and phone calls instead of email and Twitter, for keeping up with friends and family and our very small world...I will try to open up my mind to RSS, and I think the library system can help patrons like me who are still looking for information in the all the old familiar places(like the RTD hard copy, TV Guide, and Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature....well, maybe not that far back in time!)
Peace out!!

Who was that guy???

Do you remember Scott somebody, the county's first computer trainer, I guess he was the IT dept before anybody knew what those letters meant!...he rode a motorcycle and talked really really fast and knew everything there was to know about computers back in the 90's....and he was left-handed? Where is he now?

Feb 19th, only three more days till my day off!

OK, here I am! I can't wait to hear what I'm going to say!.......I'll write more later, just wanted to get my feet wet first...or maybe my computer...oh, wait, that could be dangerous!