Facebook

Sorry, but I've heard some disconcerting opinions about FB and I'm not sure that I want to go there. I think it is probably a great tool for some folks and obviously the library always wants to stay up to the minute with what the community is doing and FB is a way for us to continue to spread the news about how great we are, but on a personal level it something that I may not participate in.

Virtual Worlds

I am not a SL citizen and although this is all new to me I think that these virtual worlds are pretty amazing and I can see them becoming more popular. I don't necessarily believe that we are competing with virtual reality worlds today, but we might see that happen in the future.

From the "Dark Side"...

All I have to say is that I just recently saw a report of a person who only conducts her business transactions on line and has been extremely careful, and she got her identity stolen off of the Internet. So if even the most experienced folks out there can get scammed...I don't take any extra chances. I'm sorry, but I don't put any of my personal info out there and I don't do online payments or banking. Call me old fashioned, or foolish, or just plain paranoid, but I've had my identity stolen once before with snail mail and I don't want to go through that again!! Phishing and Malware are just frightening!

Life Long Learning

I just can't keep up with all that is out there!!! Whew, there were so many great links in this last assignment I wanted to spend more time exploring. The Berklee Music Lessons were very cool, I loved the fact that a amateur blues guitarist could basically get free lessons from a professional musician of a prestigious music school. How cool is that?! Like I said, I definitely could've played around in this assignment more. The positivity blog I would visit again and I think that Instructables is just evil. That is just plain addictive for the do-it-yourselfer. Very, very cool. I will be checking that out like crazy. eHow was great too. The online graduate classes are something I was already familiar with and the eCollege Guide is a handy tool. I have some further investigating to do on my own part after 2.1 has ended. There are just so many tools out there to find info, it's mind blowing. I really enjoyed this assignment and I will be returning to many of these web sites.

I think that our Orange Seed is a great way to share ideas and suggestions as well as solve problems together with fellow staff system wide. This is a easy way to brain storm with a group of people and to get feedback on ideas and solutions. Orlando Memory demonstrates how OCLS is part of the community and visa versa, because the community is our reason for being here. I haven't added anything to OM yet because I am newer to Orlando and I haven't thought of anything fun to add to the website-but I intend to. As far as the new strategic plan...it has a tremendous impact on me and the work that I do here because it means I must continue to improve my skills, learn, and evolve with our library in order to keep up with the community that we serve. I will need to continue to attend classes and webinars, and update my skills to better assist our patrons. I do feel that we are already a progressive institution that strives to accommodate the needs of our customers, but we will need to continue to stay on top of all of the advances in technology and communication to remain one of the best libraries in the country.

To be continued...

This week I feel as though there just is not enough time to really play in the adventure exercises but this assignment was a lot of fun (even though farecast didn't have my home town airport for the airfare trends), and it showed me once again, just how much information (and fun stuff ) is out there for everyone. I will definitely be using Pan Images and I'm cooked. As far as what I think applies to OCLS....We could use the StandoutJobs.com in our Netlinks for employment, Biznik would be perfect for all of the patrons that come in looking for information/help on starting their own small business, the genealogy links My heritage and Geni are both free which our patrons would use, and .Docstoc could replace the database we used to use for legal forms. I'm sure that Vufind would be useful to the library but I honestly had trouble working my way through it. Like I said I really enjoyed this assignment and it was also very infomative.

Organizational Change...

It's what we're all about, we have to keep up with the demands of our patrons/community. We are keeping up, and our patrons appreciate it. In our Mission Statement we talk of a "changing community" which is why our "services" need to keep evolving, and when the statement mentions "continuous inovation" that equates with being up to speed with the newest technologies out there. Our patrons love the library and the services that we offer. What we offer our community enriches their lives, makes their lives easier, saves them money and saves them time. This is where the the Davinci article comes into play, because we offer our customers more than information, we also give them an experience. We are already aware of the suggestions that this article makes. We have secret shoppers to "evaluate the library experience", and as an organization we are always "embracing new information technologies" and Orlando Memory touches on this article as well. I think that we are already doing a lot of what this article suggests libraries will need to do in the future to keep folks coming through their doors. The music/theatre performance rooms are a great idea that I'm sure would do well, but Orlando just can't afford any new expenditures right now. Something for the future maybe, a very cool idea. And the USB bracelets-very very clever! Willie Rules!

Assignment #4

I really enjoyed this weeks assignment and it amazes me how we can share news that isn't even news yet, and have a voice in society without even leaving the comfort of your home. The podcasts alone make me realize just how fast we are cruising through the 21st century and what incredible advances we have made, and will be able to make with the Internet making it possible to share information thousands of miles in just seconds. The Shibuya Universities seem like a really incredible idea, and I checked out another podcast based on where we'll be in 2020 about design and our ecosystem and that was really impressive too. I don't personally think that I'll be using liveleak but I would definitely use answerbag and askbille for fun. The other sources Google Scholar and Library Spot have OCLS written all over them. They are perfect sites that we can direct our patrons to! We are basically a business that relies on open source information. It is what we are all about, and obviously with the world moving at warp speed because of advances in technology...we strive to keep up with these advances and offer our patrons free information that is easily accessible, even from home. I think OCLS is definitely on board with open source information already, it is what we offer to assist our patrons every day.

Jammin'

This week's assignment was really enjoyable. It's funny, when I see the kids playing Wii games I think the Wii system would be a lot of fun, and it is good to get these kids doing something somewhat physical seeing as no one knows what kickball or hide and seek are anymore..yea yeah...I know just dated myself again, but the Youtube general concensus was that it really isn't much of a workout. I do agree if you put more into it you'll probably get more out, and I think it would be a great starting point for someone like me who hasn't been working out for a while. The fun of the activity would make you feel like you're not even working out, therfore you get the results from having fun, which in turn would motivate you to continue to excercise. You know what I mean? It's all good! I really liked the Cardio Coach and the Youtube pilates video was very cool because it touched on the "form while doing the exercise," Wii fitess had received complaints about not stressing this enough in their excercise games. Nikeplus...do I dare ask ..how much does it cost? I didn't see the price mentioned anywhere in the link that we went to. Doesn't matter, I seriously doubt that I'll be running anytime soon, yeah I know it can be used for walking, but for the price I imagine it cost I think it would be more cost effective to use a pedometer and my MP3 from 2.0 :) But as always,I really enjoyed the lesson and it was very educational.

I found my way back!!!

Yippeeeeee! I can't believe this is still active and I can jump back in for our 2.1 blogging!!! This should be good!!

Wrappin it up

I didn't care for Liveplasma all that much, I see how it can be helpful, but I guess I'm not a visual learner ie back to Grokker assignment. I loved the Library Musical and wish that me and my fellow thespians had thought of that in college. I did really enjoy this course, I certainly learned a lot and realize there's a lot more out there for me to explore. Sorry this is so short and rushed but I want to have completed the couse to get that MP3.

(This is where you hear the music from Dire Straits)
I want my....I want my...I want my MP3

and nobody better steal that idea for staff day

Week 6 I had confused with 7, and in week 6 I enjoyed the "What should I read Next" application, which I've shown to patron and used to help me find titles for a display on animal fiction that I was assigned. I also dug the Book Mooch one because I love to recycle.

I had to return to week 8's assignment because I didn't tag my photo, then I forgot my password ('cause you're not supposed to write it down) I so I had to basically re-do part of the assignment. Ugh. Basically, I like the online learning, how convenient and I did get some help from friends. Very patient friends I might add. I also shared what I learned with others who were new to all of this as well, and I think it helped us to work more as a team. I didn't go out to other branches though, I didn't think to. I only wish I had had more time still to really play in the applications more, but that's why people have home computers. I'm one of the few that still doesn't own a computer, or a cell phone, and I don't have cable. Hard to belive but true. Anywho...Week 9 was impressive. Emily Wallace is very talented!! The whole Digital Rights Debate....I'm on the fence. Of course I don't want to have to pay to download items for my honest to goodness own personal use. However, I can completely understand why the artists don't want, and can't afford their stuff to taken for free or worse yet, see their art be used by others to make a profit. I know there's a better way to say that, but I think you know what I mean.

Well, I finally successfully downloaded an ebook. Took me two tries but I got it. My main objective for the MP3 player is to use it while walking, because other listening devices are bulky when moving around. So it's for purely selfish reasons but I don't care, because I will still need to learn how to "legally" download music to it. My education into this whole new internet world will not be able to end here, and as my friend Martha would say, "It's a Good Thing". TTFN

Hangin' in there

Flickr was pretty cool, I realize that I am NOT a visual learner, and ran into some frustating moments trying to download my photo to my flickr acct. I am barely making it through this course at this point, which is kind of a bummer seeing as I was really enjoying myself while learning what the internet has to offer. Honestly, I feel crunched for time and less able to play in all the different sites. Gotta go. TTFN

I've been so busy as of late that I haven't had a chance to play in my blog. Week 7's applications were pretty useful, all of the exploring part of the assignment I really enjoyed. This week I saw some really funny animal videos that may have bordered on animal abuse, but they made me laugh out loud. The Puzzle website I couldn't get to come up and there was nothing on the chug'd site of any interest, so I didn't waste time going to the wine one. Besides, everyone knows there is only one beer in the world. Guiness! Cheers TTFN

Week #4

Week #4's assignment was actually a lot of fun, but it took me a while to complete because there was so much reading involved if you went to all of the different links, which I pretty much did. I can see how people might spend hours visiting Myspace and Youtube. I was able to find OCLS through them, and I thought that I saw an old friend of mine from NYC in a Lazy Sunday video which was certainly entertaining (why I watched one, I'm not sure, but somehow I thought it was part of the asssignment). Oh, that may have been through SEOmoz, I can't remember, I completed the assignment almost a week ago, but I wasn't able to find more time to write what I thought about it on my blog. The Web 2.0 video was pretty cool, just fast enough to make your eyes go buggy.... It's pretty incredible how connected we all are, via the internet. It's still a little intimidating to me but it's fun seeing what's out there. During my free time I'd like to check out some of the websites I've seen but haven't had a chance to touch on yet, and say hey to some of my new blog buddies. I have already flew through my time for today so see ya later!!

RSS Feeds

I managed to do the assignment and I have more RSS feeds than I need. I'd like to play around more in bloglines, but the Grokker site didn't impress me as much as I thought it would. I may have to check it out again. I can write more about my experience later, but just a note about my feeds, I chose The "M" Word-Marketing Libraries, BBC News, OCLS General Announcements, USA Taody, and Web Zen.

I wish someone would say hey once in a while, guess I don't have any friends.

Hey There!!!!

Just messin' with the blog.