Unit Three Adventures

I'm glad we're doing this, even if I can't seem to remember my login name and password for google reader. If I don't at least try new technologies I'll just get farther and farther behind. I don't see alot of people besides staff contributing to the the teen website. Maybe teens are too self conscious? I wonder how Amazon does it? I used to bookmark alot of websites so I liked Delicious. I'd love to see a library wide calender including both library sponsored and private events listed, so maybe Google docs could accomplish that. I can also see it for things like what supplies to order, what to buy for Storystop etc. I'd like to do a pre Harry Potter event called Bookopoly so here's my list of goofy activities so far!

I'm totally gonna blog about this later

At first, I was reluctant to use Google Reader. I wanted to keep my internet experience fun and casual, and I was afraid that an RSS feed would dilute the joy of random blog discovery. Then I was given responsibility for the graphic novel collection, and I suddenly realized there are 100 million comics blogs. So I made a Reader account and I couldn’t be happier with the results. It makes selecting so easy and efficient for me. That probably won’t be the case for a lot of people in the department (Gennie pointed out that there aren’t a ton of Easy Readers blogs out there), but it sure was a godsend for me. Thanks, tech adventures!

I was a little less impressed with the rest of this unit. While they are probably useful tools, I had trouble finding a reason to use Delicious or Google Alerts/Docs (if you’re curious, I’ve compiled some research findings here). And apparently the comment I left on the teen site was rejected. Probably shouldn’t have cursed so much.

One other thing—I’ve been using Jennifer N.’s facebook wall as my own personal blog—I encourage you to join me.

You are a tool.

I am a fan of Delicious, though it took a while for me really to start using it. Most of my links are recipes, craft projects and gift ideas. If I'm away from home, I tend to just email myself a link and tag it later, which I know is completely ridiculous. I did remember my password, so I can access my stuff remotely (yay!), but I rarely need to. Sharing cool links amongst the department via the blog or email is still fine by me.




I've set up a Google Doc that I'd love for you all to add to! It's a spreadsheet of book characters and where they are from so that I can make a cool map for the SRP windows. Here's the link. But, honestly, I'd be just as happy printing it out and keeping a copy at the desk to add to. Which doesn't mean Google Docs is worthless to me, just this doc.



OPPL Teen I have mixed feelings about. (I still owe y'all a book review.) As a parent, I'd be more interested in having updates from Kids along the lines of "Tickets now available for T.R. Loon, Juggler!" or "Don't forget, ST break for the next two weeks." An email list or Facebook account would be fine for that. I don't think we'd get enough interactive participation to make it worthwhile for something broader.

Wow, I sound like a tech hater, huh? Basically, I'm a fan of all these things, but don't support getting too tech crazy (yet) just for the sake of newness. I can be swayed, though. Especially by cookies.

Dipping my toe in teen territory

I like the look of the teen web site a lot (the colors are great!) and it's very clear what's happening at the library today and next week. It was hard to figure out how to create a new book review at first, probably because the text was a little too small for me old eyes. Once I clicked on a particular review it was a bit confusing about where to go from there. I love how easy this is to contribute original content, and the navigation is fairly straightforward and clear. I'm not a huge fan of the polls (and "chairity" is spelled wrong), but maybe the kids like them?

Adventuring!

I used Google Docs to make a poll/form for you all to fill out: Getting to Know You. The answers automatically get sorted in a Google Spreadsheet file, which can be found here: Responses. It's editable, and I created a new column for you to guess who answered what.

*****
I am a huge fan of delicious.com, and have been for years. (Since it was at del.icio.us, even.) I have over 3500 links organized with several hundred tags, which makes it very easy to find what I'm looking for. I can even look for items with multiple tags (tagged both knitting & blog, for example) to further refine my search. I also use it to easily share links with people - when I'm saving it, I add the tag for:email@address.com and it gets sent with description to that address. Super handy. We can also set it up so that our bookmarks either update in our sidebar or get automatically sent as a new post here.

I think this could be something that could be very useful to us, both for all the fun links we share (like the Guardian one JN posted about) or things like prize ideas for SRP. The key is remembering to use it. Sometimes a habit just needs to get developed, or sometimes, a lack of using it just means that it doesn't fill a need.

Technology can be great, but the key is finding things that make your life simpler, rather creating a complication or adding to your to-do list. Tumblr is my example - it's a neat idea, and several of my friends are devoted users. But it doesn't fill any needs for me and is just yet another place I have to try and remember to check for content from my friends. (Although When Parents Text is usually worth checking.) On the other hand, when I discovered Polyvore, I was instantly hooked and found it very useful and fun, something I was glad to add. Google Reader is somewhere in the middle - it's duplicating some things that I already do, which means I'm less likely to use it, but it is much easier to access on the go with my iTouch. I might keep it up to date with favorite blogs just for that.

Rory brought up some good questions that we need to consider as we move forward with our website redesigns. Do we need to be as interactive as the teen site is now, put that much effort into things? What needs do our patrons have, and how can we fill them? That's what Anne is going to be working on when she comes back. I'm also interested in seeing the results of Jen M's patron polls, to see what they look for at our website. The more we think and plan now, the easier it will be when we redesign.

First off-- I have to say that I am amazed at how much work Shelley has put into this tutorial. Wow. (thanks!)
I did enjoy poking around on the teen site--I left a comment and a review and tried not to sound too much like a middle-aged stalker/poser.
I think that delicious.com will be helpful in terms of having a consolidated bookmark list for the department as a whole-- like many of these tools, however, I just have to actively remind myself to actually use them!
I'm sure I just need practice, but Google docs seemed clunky in terms of producing/editing a document. Not many fonts-- much harder to deal with than Publisher. (But I hesitate to criticize because anything I find difficult I'm sure is because I am a total newbie at this!)
Oh, and:
Shameless baby photos

Usernames and Passwords Galore

I like the design of OPPL Teens. I am sure teens will be drawn to it for that reason alone. I’d be interested to know how many hits they are getting. I also liked the interactive features, such as the online poll. Everything seems to be well organized and updated often.

I can see how any of these new technologies would be helpful for sharing information (planning events, presentations, committee work, etc.), especially if distance is involved. I think it is important to keep in mind that other people can erase your work and that you need to adjust your privacy settings to make sure your work isn’t on the open Web.

I manage most of my bookmarks in my web browser and I have a folder for my blogs. I migrated my blogs into Google Reader and organized them by category, so they are easier to find. I’m following several people but most of them do not actually use Google Reader just Gmail. I liked that Delicious has cloud tagging and that I can see how many bookmarks I have in each category. I'd like to give Bookmarklets a try and see if I can keep it up over time. Similar to Rory’s viewpoint, I spend so much time organizing information in my work email, school/ personal email, Google Calendar, and on social networking websites, like LinkedIn, GoodReads, etc. that it is nice not to be bogged down by too much technology. I feel like I have a millions different usernames and passwords that it is hard to keep track of them all.

Continuing the Adventure

Alright--this felt like a lot but no any one part was very hard. Thanks for continuing to challenge, engage and help us, Shelley!

* * * * *

As I mentioned in my comment on Shelley's post, I'm a completely devoted fan of Google and have been finding it more and more useful in more and more parts of my life. (I know our new Assistant Director would LOVE for us all to have corporate Google accounts, too, so that might be in the future for OPPL.)

I'd never used Google Alerts, though, so I added a couple: "lions" and "Peter Sarsgaard" (my favorite animal and my favorite celebrity crush). I'm not sure I really set the settings as well as I could though, because I've already gotten alerts to lots of websites which don't really even mention him. I think I'd better just set it to "news."

* * * * *

The Google Doc I'm sharing--IS LIVING WITH THE YUPPIES WORTH IT?--is something I put together a couple weeks ago after visiting the new apartment tower just above Trader Joe's. The vote's still out on whether my boyfriend and I will take the yup plunge, but I thought you might get a kick out of the pros/cons we're considering.



* * * * *
I've never used delicious.com, though I was familiar with it. I think my resistance comes from the same place as the part of me that decided to quit Twitter: sometimes I have to put in a locks and dams, mentally, to prevent myself from spending too much time (or, at least, too much FREE time) on the internetz. I also have other venues for sharing cool stuff: my blog, my e-newsletter about pop culture (remember! You should sign up for that by letting me know that...you know, you want to sign up for it!), and, of course, Facebook.

Anyway, it was still good to putz around delicious and it really was easy to add bookmarklets to my Firefox toolbar on my work computer. I added three for all of you to enjoy.

* * * * *
Sure, there are lots of stuff in this unit which we could use as a department or library (or already do use)...but I'm always worried about participation and burnout levels. For someone who uses a fair amount of technology and digital media to organize and inspire my own life, I find myself more and more resistant about including in my working life, or in libraries in general. Resistant--not quite reluctant :).

For example, I really dig (though I don't really "digg") the new teen website especially now that, for the purpose of this Technology Adventure, I've poked around it a bit more. But--and I hope I don't step on any toes here--I'm not convinced that a mid-size library's website needs to be this interactive. As far as I can tell, all of the content generation has been from staff so far.

I understand that you've got to build up interest and build up a backlog of stuff, but...that's a lot of staff time for something I doubt many patrons are looking for/at. Lots and lots of people are already feeling like they spend too much time online--even teens. And the time they do spend is already at social media sites (whether it be a behemoth like Facebook or a more niche, interest-based site like GoodReads) so what can we do to really attract them to spend much time at ours? And is it worth the effort? I suspect that the small number of kids who get involved will already be really library-centric, so it's probably not a promotion tool....

But, whatever. I wrote a review and submitted a review of a YA nonfiction title I read and loved this weekend.

* * * * *
Finally, I need to say this.

Technology Adventure, Unit Three

Unit three: Websites
3/7 - 3/20

OPPL Teen: This is the prototype for what our entire website will be like this time next year (hopefully). The backbone of this is interaction – polls, blog posts, book reviews, etc. Read through some of the recent blog posts and leave a comment. Read through some of the book reviews and leave one of your own. (Feel free to leave out your age and school.) If you want to see what the back end looks like, how to create a post, etc, ask Shelley for a demo.

Delicious: This is a site where you can save bookmarks and access it from any computer. We can use this to have a shared archive of useful or fun links. Like Flickr and Blogger, you can tag these for easy organization. I’ve gotten us started with a few links, but this is something we can all use.

Go to delicious.com and choose to sign in with a yahoo ID (the link is below the boxes for logging in.) Check your e-mail for the user name and password.

Go to Bookmarklets and follow the bookmarklet button directions for whichever browser you are using. (Note: for Internet Explorer, use Manual method instead of Easy.) Once you have this bookmarklet in your toolbar, all you need to do is click on this button when you are on a website you want to save, then up will pop a window where you tag it and give a description of what we will find there (in Notes). Save that, and delicious will automatically update to include it. Tags can’t include spaces. If you choose to make it private, only we will see it when we are logged in. Add a few tagged sites to share. Blogs you forgot to include in unit one, fun cracked.com article, whatever.

Of course, it’s hard to add a bookmarklet to the reference desk computers, since it resets every day. But you can go to delicious.com, log in, and click “save a new bookmark” in the top right blue box. Takes longer, same result.

If more than one person bookmarks a site, the numbers appear in a blue box. You can click the box to see who else liked it, what they tagged it, and follow their tags to find similar cool things.

RSS feed/Google Reader: Many of you already discovered that RSS feed readers make blog reading easier, because it sends all the posts from most blogs you like into one place for you to read. There are different choices that do the same thing, so pick your favorite. Ideas are Google Reader, Bloglines, or FeedDemon. It’s understandable to be concerned with giving Google so much control over your online life, but they do have a good service here and it’s also integrated with your Blogger account – you can read it at Google or Blogger.

If you don't already have a feed reader set up, create an account and add some blogs. For Google Reader, you click on Add Subscription on the far left. You can search by keyword for blogs to get some ideas, or browse Google’s bundles of topic suggestions. If you want to add a specific blog, you can go to its website and click on the orange box in the URL field. Choose to add it to your RSS feed and follow the prompts. You can add blogs and websites that update regularly with content, such as news sites or even our delicious account.

Google Docs: Google also has word processing programs online. These include spreadsheets, slideshow presentations, forms, etc, which can be private, open for all to see or shared with specific people. Choose a format and create...something. Share it with everyone in the department by going to Share on the top right side, and choosing sharing settings. You can open it to the public, to anyone you give the link to, or specific people, as well as choose if others can edit it. Check out what everyone has done and edit where allowed. (If you’re both viewing the document as they edit, you’ll see it change letter by letter. It can be fun.)

Bonus:
Google Alert: Ever wonder how Debby finds all the news articles that mention us? Chances are she uses an alert program. If you use Google Alerts to get notified of every time a website mentions Oak Park Public Library (or Doctor Who or Newbery Medal, etc), you can also have the notifications sent to your Google Reader.

Tumblr.: Kind of a blog, kind of a social media thing. It has the ease of sharing content that Twitter has, with added support for pictures and sounds. People were very very sad when it went down for a few days earlier this winter. As one person put it (and dozens of others reblogged): The difference between Facebook and Tumblr. Explore!

Write a post talking about your experiences. What do you think of OPPL Teens? Think Delicious will be useful? How could we use Google Docs, or even Tumblr., as a dept?