JN's lesson 1 and 2

Oooh--- Mysterious...
DR will be jealous that my random quote title is from a Vonnegut quote:
"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."

I really enjoyed playing around with Picnik, and could have spent all afternoon with the fonts alone. Color Fields is amazing. I hadn't known about the Flickr App Garden, and look forward to exploring it more.

And (playing catch-up BIG TIME here) the following are some blogs I frequent for fun:
Jezebel
Jezebel for Boys
and this
& this never disappoint.
I also love Robert.

and it goes without saying...

late adventuring (unit 1)

Despite liking blogs, I don't use Google Reader or another feed or aggregator. That's mainly because I don't "follow" blogs; I like to check up on them every once in a while, but not devotedly.

For kiddie lit, my fave is Betsy Bird's SLJ spot, which others have mentioned.

The Atlantic's website has some bloggers I enjoy, including Andrew Sullivan, whose Daily Dish is moving to the Daily Beast next month.

Like Danny, I also like some sports sites with bloggers, such as ESPN and Deadspin.

Unit 1 and Unit 2

I think I love my pseudonym: Tropea Castle. Apparently it was an Italian castle destroyed in 1876.

I'm very impressed with Picnik - I found it very intuitive, much easier to use than Paint. I wish I had known about this site while still in school, it would have been very handy. I also love the little phrases they'd use while everything was loading: "buttering bread," "fluffing clouds," etc. Adorable. I'm pretty sure I'll use this site in the future.

I like Flikr, it's useful for keeping up with a lot of photos. I also had fun exploring Montager, although it took a while to load for me.

I'm playing catch up, so I'm also posting my favorite blogs for my Unit 1.

I love, absolutely love Cake Wrecks, a hilarious blog about professional cakes gone horribly awry. It generally makes me laugh until I cry.

I stole this one from Shelley, but now I read it almost everyday: I love A Blog About History. I'm a big history nerd.

Last but not least, I sometimes read Deep Fried Kudzu, a blog chronicling the weird and wacky of my Sunny Homeland.

Better late than never

I apologize for posting this late. I really want this project to inspire all of us, so here's hoping ALL of us will post on time for Unit 2!

I don't put blogs in my RSS feed (although I probably should), but I do login periodically to see what is happening on the following blogs:

Planet Esme

A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy

Bloggy Goodness

Unlike Gennie and Rory, I don't really use Google Reader. I do get a lot of site update pushes via twitter and/or facebook, though, so I know when to go looking for content at my favorites. Secondary blogs, I visit when I remember about them, and just play catch up. Perhaps not efficient, but it works.

Favorite Library World blogs:
Collecting Children's Books: Peter mostly deals with older books, plus trivia and trends, but he does so with a sense of humor and a dash of bitchiness.

American Indians in Children's Literature: Debbie is a polarizing person, and I don't always agree with what she has to say, but I always appreciate her point of view.

Mel's Desk: Melissa has great plans and ideas for the under 2 storytime crowd.

Storytime at Richmond Memorial Library: This one is pretty new to me, but I've been going through their archive and getting some nice storytime ideas.

SLJ and Horn Book blogs, including Fuse #8, Read Roger and Tea Cozy, which appears to be missing today.

Favorite Blogs:
Tom and Lorenzo/Project Rungay: Best Blog Ever? Quite possibly. For fans of Mad Men, Glee, and Project Runway, plus fashion in general, celebrities and costume design. (The Mad Men style posts are amazing.)

A Blog About History: Near daily pictures and updates on new archaeological and historical finds around the world.

Boots in the Oven: My cousin and her husband are pretty big food bloggers down in Austin, and their restaurant reviews are amazing. They are setting off on a 14 month trip around the world next month, and I can't wait to see what they eat.

Already Pretty: Fashion tips and tricks that are useful and positive.

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: Romance novel reviews and commentary.

I like blogs with snappy writing and great pictures, it seems!

Reader Rory

I use Google for SO many things now. For email, for to-do lists (their "task" bar in G-mail is great), for documents (both "Word"-like dox and spreadsheets), and for their RSS-feeder, Reader. So just about every blog I read is through Reader. Otherwise, like Gennie, I'd get overwhelmed and/or waste time checking blogs that might not have been updated.



I didn't use Google/Blogger to create RAWR!, my own personal blog because I preferred Typepad's templates and services.

On my Google Reader--also like Gennie--I've divided my blogs up into categories:

• Friends, like (I wish more of my friends had blogs!)
• Home, like Young House Love and The Pioneer Woman
  
• Library, like EarlyWord and Book Nut
  
• News & Perspectives, like Jezebel and Chicagoist
  
• Popzikkle (these are celebrity gossip and crazy-stuff-on-Internet blogs I read both out of morbid, unrelenting interest and to write my own weekly e-newsletter about that stuff, which you should sign up for!), like Just Jared and dlisted
  
• Sauce (which are blogs which don't fit into any other category and just generally make my life more fun), like Chicago Hearts Trivia and I Think You're Sauceome

And thanks for this task, Shelley, because it made me tidy up my Reader a bit, unsubscribe to a few blogs. I follow the basic rule of "am I semi-excited when I see new posts from this blog?" to decide whether or not they stay. Like anything, if you let your device for organization and access get too cluttered...it just ain't a device for organization and access anymore!

Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs

Hi all!

I try and follow several library blogs on a regular basis. My all-time favorite is the Library Link of the Day. It prevents me from having to scour the web for the latest library news articles. In order to stay on top of the latest tech trends, I usually visit Wired Top Stories or Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports. As far as children’s blogs, I like SLJ’s A Fuse #8 Production and Booklist Online's Bookends. Since I am trying to become familiar with graphic novels, I’ll also scan Graphic Novel Reporter on occasion.

Like Gennie, I have quite a big list of blogs. Mine are not organized in any fashion. In Blogger, can you group your blogs into categories? Several others feeds that I like are: Annoyed Librarian, Critical Mass, GalleyCat, Guys Read, Nancy Pearl, NYT> Children’s Books, Oldhag, Remaining Relevant, Through the Looking Glass, and The Shifted Librarian.

Hope this helps,

Anne

Unit One Ahoy!

Looks like I'm going first. Big thanks to Shelley for putting this together, too.

My Google Reader is probably over-populated and I break it down into Blogs, Friends, Crafty, Food and Library. What I really need in there is a good Children's Reader's Advisory blog; is there such a thing? Here is an example of an adult one I've found very easy to keep up with (and, yes, it is written by my current professor, but I promise I'm not just sucking up. She doesn't know I'm writing this. Sheesh.) I want something that's not just reviews of new titles, but old as well and makes links between titles. And makes coffee.

I'm also a faithful reader of Regretsy, New Dress a Day, Mimi Smartypants, Angry Chicken and Smitten Kitchen, just to name a few. I like a snarky sense of humor and yummy looking food that I might actually make myself. For my own quality of life, I've chosen not to read blogs by those so totally taken with their own greatness, fame and big house that I want to vomit or blogs by people who make me feel crappy about myself/my housekeeping/my parenting just by being so damn zen.

And now you know (and knowing is half the battle!)

Technology Adventure, Unit One

Welcome to our spring project! Every unit, you’ll be posting a new blog entry and commenting on other peoples'. If you need help or have questions, I’m always available, and you can take advantage of your desk partners’ knowledge as well. Some units will have more assignments than others, and some will be easier for you than others. Feel free to challenge yourself past what is listed, and share what you learn!

Unit one: Basics
2/14-2/20

Create blogger/gmail account:
We use Blogger to create posts on our staff blog, http://opplchildrens.blogspot.com/. In order to have access to posting on it, you need to create a google account. If you already have one (via gmail), you are set. If not, or you want a separate work account, set up a gmail address. You will use this for posting as well as later for activities.

Once you have a gmail address, visit blogger.com and log in. From this page, your Blogger Dashboard, you will be able to create a new post, edit posts you already wrote, and see posts from blogs you follow. (We’ll talk about this in a later unit.)

Creating a Google account with blogger does give you the option to create your very own Blogger Blog. If you want to use this blog for your Technology Adventure, that’s fine. Follow the “Create your blog now!” directions.

Get access to our dept blog: Once you have your google account set up, let me know what your e-mail address is so I can add you to our blog authors. When you’ve been added, Keeping it Small at OPPL will appear on the blogger dashboard you see when you log in. If you choose to use your own blog, please still make a post on our blog linking to your entry.

Review blog writing guidelines and HTML hand out: When you’re posting on Blogger (or Drupal when we have our new site), there is a toolbar similar to Word’s that allows you to create links, bold or underline words, etc. However, you can also use HTML codes to tell the website how you want it to look. This can make going back to edit posts much simpler. You can keep the cheat sheet handy for easy copying and reference.
Guidelines and Cheat Sheet

Make a post: Write a post and share your favorite blogs with us – use HTML to create links and let us know why you like it. (Fun or professional or both!) What are good sites we should be reading? We have a few blogs linked from our sidebar if you want to explore some new ones or get some ideas. Do this by next Sunday, February 20.

To create a post, click on the blue “New Post” button on your Blogger Dashboard. Add a link by clicking on the chainlink icon below the title box. Hint: when you’re writing a post, roll your mouse over images in the toolbar to see what it does.

Potential topics to discuss: How do you find blogs? Do you stick with blogs for content, writing style, or both? What makes you ditch a blog? What are you looking forward to trying in our adventure?

Be sure to tag this post (Blogger calls it labeling), giving it keywords that will make it easier to find later. One tag should be unit one. This is useful because clicking on the tag “unit one” will bring up a page showing all the posts with that tag - much easier to go back and find specific information later.