Challenges 2009

I've been learning the ins and outs of Twittering this year--lots of fun! I've also been studying the social networking of Second Life which is quite challenging. I've managed to learn quite a bit through the free classes offered through OPLIN, as well as trial and error.

My Second Life avatar is Bella Muggins--look for me!

DAISY

Bella is sooo excited. She has a new "sister", born on September 18th. Daisy is darker in color, just as cute as a button, and is just what Bella needed. I will add a picture soon.

Greetings from Hilton Head Island, SC

Just had to post a message from my vacation destination -- Hilton head Island, SC. This is just a wonderful place to spend a week--or two. It has even more appeal since my oldest son has chosen to make it his home. We've been spending time on the beach, swimming and sunning, and catching up on our reading.

Challenge # 28: Creating a fake magazine cover!

This exercise was kind of frustrating because not all of the image generator sites were user friendly. I finally found one that worked, but I'm not sure that the quality of the photo is very good--here it is!

challenge #27--PHOTOBUCKET

I tried Photobucket today, and uploaded a few of my own photos. I tried the "Find Stuff" tab, browsing for images, and saving them to "My Album". This is a very user-friendly site that offers even more than Flickr. I'm going to continue playing with this site before I move on (check out the image that I placed as a page element here, titled "Buddies").
Let's see if I can add a different image to this post:

It worked!

Challenge # 26--WIDGETS

This was so much fun! I signed in to a "Your Minis" account, created a file of Widgets, and added it to my blog. Widgets are just handy (fun) little programs that offer quick access from your blog--or from your desktop. I didn't think that I would continue past the first 23 challenges, but I'm addicted...

Challenge # 23--FOLLOW-UP

Twenty-three challenges seemed daunting when I began this project, and in truth, completing most of them proved difficult for me. As I chipped away, gaining a whole new vocabulary, I began to understand that this new technology required a whole new mind-set to appreciate. It was like looking through a window at what library experiences of the future will entail, and reminded me that in a changing 2.0 environment, we all need to stay aware and involved in what is happening. I feel now as though I know just enough to know how little I really do know.

Completing this project was a personal accomplishment (I'm not too old to learn something new), as well as professional. I hope to continue to make use of this new information, to share what I can, and to embrace the philosophy of Librarianship 2.0.

Challenge # 22--E-BOOKS

Finally a challenge that I've had some experience with, having been a fan of YPL's OVERDRIVE AUDIO BOOKS selections for quite some time. I recently purchased a second MP3 player with more space, only to drop it on a hard ceramic tile floor! Needless to say, I'm really trying to complete the 23 challenges. OVERDRIVE allows me to reserve audio material to my library account, check out, and download to my personal computer. The next step is transferring the audio to an MP3 player, and I'm on my way to the beach (or maybe just ironing). It's wonderful to be able to record several titles on a device that is small enough to fit into your pocket.

I have never looked into NetLibrary until now, but creating an account was easy, and allowed access to all of YPLs selections in the e-book digital format. I was surprised to see that NetLibrary offers downloadable e-Audiobooks as well, but these are not presently available through YPL. A broad range of topics seemed to be covered by NetLibrary e-books, but most selections seemed to fall into business, technology, and science, as well as classic fiction. Using the Advanced Search page to locate authors of popular fiction did not produce any results.

As a user of the genealogy database Heritage Quest Online, I have had some previous experience with digital e-books, as this site allows its users to search over 20,000 family & local histories in this format.

Challenge #21--LOCATING PODCASTS

Checked out the 3 podcast directories listed and found them to be fairly easy to use. I found a genealogy series that I was able to add to my Bloglines account without too much trouble, and several others that looked interesting. Still checking this out--more later.
This is later, and I have listened to a number of podcasts found in Podcastalley.com and Yahoo Podcasts. I added several more to my Bloglines account that deal with genealogy, and a good one on cooking--now that I'm getting the hang of this, I'm going to look for some that are library-related.
I found a great podcast to add to bloglines that reviews audio books (my favorite pass-time) titled AUDIOPOLIS.

Challenge # 20--DISCOVERING YouTube!

This sounds like it's going to be fun, so here goes. I'll post a blog after I've explored a little.

O-K, so this site just isn't my cup of tea..I spent lots of time searching for video clips, but most of them were very fuzzy and distant. Not that great. Also, I'm having a tough time with posting a video to my blog...

I've finally done it, but it wasn't easy, and I chose the one I did only because I was looking for something colorful. I added the same video as a page element which gives the blog a better appearance. I suppose that this site could be useful as a way to share ideas among libraries, but overall this isn't one of my favorites.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7126658740991992289