Week 9: Thing 22: Downloadable Audiobooks

At the present time, my laptop is not functioning and I don't have an Iphone so I didn't actually download any audiobooks for this "thing". I did, however, explore the site Project Gutenberg just to see what types of books were available for download. I was pleased to see that many classics are available. This should prove helpful for students who are assigned to read these materials. Even though audio downloads are all the rage, I still prefer to pick up a book and read it the old fashioned way. I do enjoy listening to MCPL's playaway collection when I go out for a walk, however.

Week 9: Thing 21: Podcasts

The assignment for this "thing" was to look at one or two of the recommended podcast directories and to select a podcast(s), of interest, and add the feed to my Bloglines account. I was unable to access 2 of the 3 directories. Both Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts were no longer available. I, did, use the podcast directory "Podcastalley.com" to select 2 podcasts that I subscribed to for my Bloglines account. The first is called the Aloha Podcast Network and the second was the podcast for the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. In addition, I did a topic search for "libraries" and came up with about 34 hits of podcasts related to this subject.

Week 9: Thing 20: YouTube

I was able to place this YouTube video, inside my blog, using the copy and paste code for the Embeddable Player. Unbelieveable what you can train a little guinea pig to do!! I've searched YouTube, before, several times. Much of the content isn't of much interest to me, although if you've missed anything that's happened anywhere in the world, it's probably on YouTube, so I guess it's a valuable tool!!

Week 8: Thing 19: Explore

The assignment for this "thing" is to explore any of the site(s) from the web 2.0 awards list. I investigated 2 sites. The first site that I looked at relates to my love of travel. The site is known as Kayak. I found this site to be a very easy one to use. Price comparisons are made from all of the major travel companies. You can also filter your selections, by price, using a sliding scale. The hotel rating section is very informative. Detailed ratings are given for the various properties, based on traveler feedback. Photos of all of the properties provide a good idea of what each hotel has to offer.

I also looked at a site called Upcoming. This site is a guide to events and things to do. Searches are done by location. This is a great tool because you can choose locations, worldwide. I can see myself using it, frequently, while on vacation. Once a location has been chosen, you can narrow your search by date (there is a handy calendar widget) and by category. Once you've made your selection, you can purchase tickets and post the information to your calendar (Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook, etc.) and the calendars of others. Upcoming is, also, optimized to fit on any mobile phone. Very handy tool!!

Week 8: Thing 18: Online Applications & Tools

The assignment for this "thing" is to explore the web-based word processing tool called Zoho Writer, so here I am! This is the first time that I have used an online productivity web-based application. I have heard of Google Docs but I have never used it. I like the format of this application and it seems to be very user friendly. I'm going to try to post this to my blog. I guess we'll see what happens!

Success. I was able to post, my document, to my blog from Zoho Writer.

Week 7: Thing 17: 2.0 SandBox Wiki

I tried and tried to play in the sandbox for this "thing" but was unsuccessful. I went to the Maryland Libraries Sandbox and tried to set up an OpenID account, to log in, but it would not authenticate my account or let me into the workspace. After several unsuccessful attempts, playtime was over!!

Week 7: Thing 16: Wikis

This week, I became familiar with the "thing" known as a wiki. This term is derived from the Hawaiian phrase "wiki wiki" which means fast and quick. A wiki is a web site that is easy to build, maintain and edit. All users or members of the site are able to add and edit content at will. This makes such a web site an attractive and easy way to share ideas, information and knowledge among the people who use it. In a library setting, for example, staff can share resources, training information, best practices, programming details--just about any form of internal communication. A library wiki is a good resource to use for communicating information to customers, as well, whether it be about the "latest great reads" or advertising upcoming events and programs. As good as a wiki might be, the accuracy of some information may be questionable since it is easily edited by any user of the wiki and content can be altered at anytime.