Week 6 - Thing 13

First of all, our 2.0 team knows that the Del.icio.us tutorial link isn't working, right?

Viewing what other people have bookmarked in Del.icio.us was a giant diversion (read: way to lose track of time)! I found myself delving into "100 Tips to Improve Your Life." Yikes! Each of the tips had a link to a larger article, sometimes with additional lengthy lists. Whew.

More later. I still have about 64 tips to explore!

I can see that this is a powerful concept for accessing useful websites. By tagging, a user can access targeted information and locate sites they might otherwise miss. It goes beyond simply using a search engine.

For those of us who use computers in different locations, it is handy to be able to have access to personal bookmarks wherever we may be.

Librarians are information brokers. As we try to find information-rich, appropriate sites for students and also teach them how to do their own searching, De.licio.us is a nice addition to our bag of tricks!

Week 5-Thing 12

Creating a Rollyo for Kids' Books was easier than I expected. I just used sites that I had already bookmarked.

Select...Kids' BooksSearch The Web

Help from Rob was appreciated for getting it posted here!

Week 5-Thing 11 - Ning

OK, I joined the Teacher-Librarian Ning. This is something I wouldn't have done without a nudge from School Library Learning 2.0. I think the library listserve suits my needs quite well, and I haven't really felt the need to join a network community of this sort. It's interesting though, and I will have to pursue it a bit before dismissing it so quickly.

Week 5-Thing 11 - Web 2.0 Awards Winners

This is a cool staircase from the Edgartown Bookstore in Martha's Vineyard, for your enjoyment.

Having just spent quite a bit of time on airplanes, I have been thinking about social interactions and non-interactions. Looking at some of these social networking sites and tools, I am struck by the issue of physical and virtual proximity. Consider the relationship between two people who might spend hours together seated uncomfortably close on an airplane, for example, who might never speak or interact with one another. Unless these travelers decide to engage in conversation, their sole apparent common link is that they are on the the same flight and are sharing that experience. It can be a bit like the non-relationship among people on an elevator, but the duration is different.

However, people seated in front of their computer monitor, quite possibly isolated from any physical human contact, can opt to join a community based on common interests. Relationships can grow and flourish and can even become intimate, though a physical meeting might never take place. The only thing that comes to mind that existed prior to the advent of the internet is a pen-pal relationship. But those communications would have been relatively few and far between.

I visited Blue Rectangle, which received an honorable mention in the Book category. The best part of the site for me was the video book reviews. Wow. This bumps up the concept of voluntary book reviews, such as those at amazon.com, to a much more personal level. With a video of the reviewer, you are able to see facial expressions, hear voice intonation and get a better sense of their personality. Here's the link for children's book reviews. It was especially fun to see kids' books reviewed by a real kid. The site gives you the opportunity to purchase the books through Alibris.com. A person submitting a video would have to be willing to put themselves "out there" much more than simply writing a review. I wonder if some of the book vendors, Barnes & Noble or Amazon, might consider posting video reviews.

Week 5-Thing 10 (and this concludes my Thing 10 fun)

OK. This is the last one--I promise! But I just felt I needed to break loose from the food imagery. (I went ahead and ate lunch--I think that set me free.) Everyone loves to read bumper stickers! These and vanity plates are hard to ignore.

This also came from RedKid: http://www.redkid.net/generator/bumper/

Week 5-Thing 10 (one more!)

OK, I'll admit I'm fixated on food. But isn't this cute? Alphabet soup and fortune cookies--combining two of my favorite activities, eating and reading. Maybe you could use these as wallpaper on a computer desktop and change it periodically.

By the way, images certainly enhance blogs and grab your attention, don't they?

This also comes from RedKid.net. Here's the link: http://www.redkid.net/generator/soup/in case anyone is interested.

Week 5-Thing 10

After spending quite a bit of time browsing through the possibilities, I came up with this one. Fortune cookies are just FUN! And people actually read them. I think it could be a great attention getter. Here's the link: http://www.redkid.net/generator/fortune/

Actually I have attempted making my own fortune cookies but never found a workable recipe. Instead, I found that if you microwave them for a short time, you can remove the fortune and insert your own, but you have to be fast! Sometimes it's just frustrating. This was much easier! I suppose there would be a way to make several of these and perhaps personalize them for students and/or staff.

Week 4-Thing 8

RSS-ing!I've been away for awhile, so it's good to get back and move forward. I signed up for 5 feeds, and this is pretty exciting. I chose to share one item from "Library Thing." Check on "Shared Item" in the upper left corner of the blog. It made me laugh because I have TOO many cookbooks. The irony is that I hardly ever cook. If I do, I generally search for a recipe online. Yet I cannot part with those cookbooks. Sigh...

I'm going to have to live with RSS for a day or two and see what I think. Setting up is one thing; keeping up is another. I'm not a huge web surfer, so this is actually going to expand my horizons rather than narrow them.