The Learning 2.0 Experience

This was the final week of Learning 2.0!

Truth be told, at times it was a very “trying” experience…a couple of the exercises were difficult, others were just plain tedious, (and having several crucial sites blocked by Websense didn’t help the situation). However, not all of my experiences were negative. I gained valuable insight about various online resources, such as wikis, photo sharing sites, RSS feeds, podcasts, image generators, and social cataloging web applications (LibraryThing). This program has also given me ample opportunity to improve my blogging skills. Finally, I revised my views about certain websites I thought were completely unsavory and useless (that means you: My Space & You Tube), and most importantly, I learned not to be afraid of new technology.
Would I choose to participate in another discovery program if offered…most definitely!

The Learning 2.0 experience

This was a week of reflection about my Learning 2.0 experience. It’s hard to believe that I’m nearing the end of the program. There were times when I thought I’d never see the finish line. I really enjoyed visiting the blogs of some of the other participants. It was nice to see that I wasn’t the only one who occasionally struggled with some of the exercises. As instructed, I posted comments on the blogs of several co-workers. Personally speaking, I think out of all the Discovery Exercises, I enjoyed doing Thing 26 (the image generators) and Thing 27 (LibraryThing) the most.

http://www.GlitterMaker.com/ - Glitter Graphics - MySpace Layouts - Make Money Online

Rollyo

This week I had an opportunity to explore the website Rollyo. Rollyo is a tool that allows registered users to create their own customized search engines, thus making it possible for them to narrow search results to the sites they know and trust. These personalized search engines are called Searchrolls. To create a roll, users choose up to 20 websites, pick a category, and then tag the search. A searchroll can be designated either public or private, and users can share searches with others directly. They can also explore, save, and personalize searchrolls created by other users. While the Discovery Exercise gave us the option to establish an account and then create a searchroll on any topic, I chose to just explore the site. While I must admit, it was interesting to see some of the different rolls; overall, I was not that impressed. Although Rollyo might be helpful to some, I ‘m not sure I would feel a need to use it (I guess when all is said and done…I’m just a Google girl at heart).

LibraryThing

This week I had an opportunity to explore the website LibraryThing. It is an online tool that allows the user to catalog his or her own personal books. While you can pay for a subscription, ($10 for a yearly account or $25 for a lifetime account) the service does offer a free account, which allows you to catalog up to 200 books. In addition to cataloging your collection, you can also add tags, rate your titles or write book reviews. LibraryThing is also a social network…allowing you to connect to other users with similar reading tastes through group forums. After creating an account, I added a few books to my library. Below is the link to my LibraryThing catalog:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=sammirenee&shelf=list

Generators

This week I had an opportunity to explore online image & text generators. I started by going to the website Generator Blog. Once again, several sites were blocked by Websense and couldn’t be viewed. However, I did get a chance to experiment with various generators. Some of my favorites include:

The Chocolate Bar Generator (where you can design your own customized candy bar)
The Hair Mixer (allows you to “try on” various celebrity hairdos, or see how one celebrity looks with another star’s ‘do).
The Warholizer (lets you turn any image into an Andy Warhol-like print)
The Graffiti Generator (gives you a chance to creatively deface your own cyber wall)
The Jennifer Aniston Consolation Letter Generator (self explanatory…and funny)
The Sick Call Excuse Generator (gives you hilarious excuses to use for playing hooky…I might have to jot a few of these down for later use)!
Finally, I added the image above from the Bart Simpson Chalk Board Generator, (hopefully, it will not become a self-fulfilling prophecy)!

Library Podcasts

This week I had an opportunity to continue exploring the wonderful world of podcasts. More specifically, I “attempted” to examine some of the many library related podcasts out there. I say “attempted”, because several of the sites, (Lansing Public Library, Lindenhurst Memorial Library, Thomas Ford Memorial Library, Oklahoma Department of Libraries and Wadsworth Public Library) had broken links. And once again, other sites, (Arizona State University Library, Denver Library, Mohawk College Library, Cheshire Public Library, Orange County Library and the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County) were all blocked by Websense. I did, however, manage to listen to a podcast interview by two librarians from Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University. I also listened to a teen poetry slam podcast from Kankakee Public Library. I then explored a few more sites to get a feel for how Libraries use this particular type of technology. Some libraries have podcasts of various library sponsored programs and events. The Sunnyvale Public Library system, for example, has podcasts of a series of business lectures on their website. The Pierce County Library system includes book reviews for interested customers on their Podcast Blog. Some Systems, such as the Boulder Public Library & the Manchester Public Library encourage their teen groups to post webcasts on their sites. And of course, many libraries offer storytimes for their younger patrons (a prime example of this can be found on our very own VBPL webpage).

In the spirit of this week’s topic, I added the following video (it is a trailer for the animated version of the children’s book, The Librarian from the Black Lagoon, by Mike Thaler).

Podcasts

This week’s exercise focused on locating podcasts. We were instructed to review a couple of the suggested podcast directory tools (Yahoo Podcasts, Podcast.net & Podcastalley.com). Of those three, only Yahoo could be accessed via staff computers. Both Podcastalley.com & Podcast.net were both blocked by Websense. We were told we could access them using the public computers; however, I opted not to. Instead, I listened to a delightful book review I found while exploring Yahoo Podcasts. The critique was of the Walter Lord book, about the sinking of the Titanic called, A Night to Remember, and the reviewer was a young man, (possibly 9 or 10 years of age) named Ken.
Next, after a brief Google search, I went to Audiopolis, a website that reviews audiobooks, and listened to a podcast of the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. The reviewer was Leslie Fine, and the podcast included an excerpt read by the actress Sissy Spacek. I then added an RSS feed to Audiopolis to my Google Reader account.