Sites for Students - way hard

I really struggled with this one, because i wanted to see Zoho and no matter how I entered things it would not let me in, because the little "can you read this number" thingy always came out wrong. I tried everything. Num lock on, num lock off, mixed case, using jsut the numbers across the top of the keyboard. Then I gave up for a week, came back and Voilá, it worked! And look I have just succeeded in using a Special Character under the button with the Omega symbol.

I think this is so great for not just students. We often get folks who don't have a ton of computer skills coming into the library to type up their resume. They can use our stand-alone computer, but with this they can also just use zoho.

And here is the really really cool thing - I wrote this post (although I have had to edit it a bit) by creating an account with zoho and then posting to my blog FROM THERE!! I am amazed 1) that they offer that and 2) that it worked. So OK, the title printed within my blog, but I was able to go to my blog and edit that. I love this!

So zoho is my fav. Isn't this fun using old slang for a lesson on students?

Sara

Twitter

I don't think I would much use this entity. For one thing I don't really care what everyone else is doing at every moment. I would prefer for them to edit and contact me with the important stuff.
I looked at Hannah's Twitter posting since I know her from working at BI, and I thought that she posted things of interest - mainly to people in her personal life for her practice Twitter. Then I looked at Dulcigal and was very impressed that this one had actually started Twittering back in September. That's a long term commitment!
I think there is some usefulness for this tool. I was trained in the good old days of reference books, and questions often took longer to finish, so we had a standard procedure of up-dating people as they came on shift. Sometimes things were passed on verbally, other things were put onto clip boards. Still others were in Pending files. I think a group of staff working a branch reference desk could Twitter to get the word across to peole off desk. For one thing, they could Twitter "Hey John Doe left their county mental health card in the copier. I put it in the wire basket." Or a brand new policy change could be Twittered out to all staff in a branch. A communications tool used for work. Could be good

Wiki Deux

Well, editing the KRL Wiki was surprisingly easy. I am still going to try to add a department since I wanted to post my edit to all branches.
I like the idea that I could go on and on about my own personal hobbyhorse, genealogy, and I could put it out there for people to see. This is a freeing moment. It helps quite a bit with the anonymous feeling one sometimes gets in an organization where other people create the things that go out. Not that I want to have the responsibility to be the one to send all the things out to the public, just the ability to put my two cents in when I'm so moved.
And then there was the feeling when I noticed that I was not on the list of degreed librarians. Just as fast as I started to feel left out, I realized we were all making up this list, so I just pulled up my socks and got going. I entered myself and would have entered some of the other missing names, but I didn't know their schools.

So yay - freedom. And Yay - not each person will always know all the information. And Yay - for the power of the group.

Wikis

I have been a long term user of Wikipedia, albeit with some trepidation, since the anyone can edit feature is troublesome. I wonder about authority and accountability. That said there are some great features in wikis. I love that anyone can edit them when you are a group trying to get something done. I'm on a non-profit board and I can see how this would really help us avoid getting lost in the email threads. Right now we have trouble seeing what is really going on.

I enjoyed doing things in the Sandbox also. I was dubious about my ability to bring in some special effects, and was pleased when I not only up-loaded a picture of mine of koi but also figured out a way to change it from huge to bite-sized.

Our library uses for this are also interesting. I likes Stevens county's books lists and could see us adding lists of the various Northwest history books held in different branches. I also think patrons would like to be able to see things in a neat one page format that are difficult to search in Sirsi: e.g. the newspapers that we own on microfilm and where they live.

facebook now I really feel old

I've been on Facebook for a while. I signed up for the fun of it and gmail immediately told me there were lots of people in my contacts list who were on facebook - all the young actors I know from theatre. So I immediately got a bunch of friends. But the down side is I've been cruising around there profiles and have a couple of times felt like a voyeur. I think my standard of what gets shared publicly is a tad more conservative than theirs.

Still it's fun when someone writes on my wall.

I must be a totally visual person

Well, I like YouTube almost as much as Flickr. I could see how I could while away days on this site. After doing the library suggested searches I put in Border Terrier and watched about 10 of them. There is the usual range of talent and time to produce, but most of them were interesting to watch. Made me wish I owned a video camera.

My dear friend Lou would have loved this!

I think the idea of cataloguing my own books is, to quote a friend from the same era as the intro music to this lesson, not a happening thing. I have spent the last 5 years donating my art books and so on, and I now only keep those very very special books, or reference books. I am simplifying!

But my dear friend Lou, who died last July would have loved this site. He had a ton of books - I do believe that is a literally true statement - and he used to keep multiples so he could give them away. I think he might have liked putting them in Dewey number order or arguing with the tags others assigned to his favorites.

But he's gone now, so I will just keep this idea in mind for that next academically oriented person I encounter in life.