Phoenix Mountain Preserves Hike with Walk Across Arizona Teammates

Going up the trail to the saddle and back with Deanna Adams, Paula Crossman, Kathryn Morrison, Richard Howley, and Alisa Hawthorne.

Flickr Vs. Picasa

On my lunch hours, I am loading some of my photos onto Flickr, and I think I'm going to really enjoy having online access to my pictures. However, the process is so slow. If I try to upload more than one photo at a time, my computer gets hung up. I don't even dare try it on the prehistoric computer I have at home! Plus without upgrading, it doesn't seem like there is that much initial storage space on Flickr. I've been told that Picasa is easier to work with, and also has other advantages, but I can't access Picasa through my work computer, don't want to be using the public pcs to be doing this, and see above for my at-home situation. Dear Tackies, can you as a committee get us clearance from the City to use Picasa for the same purposes that we might use Flickr in our jobs? I've heard that the Learning 2.0 lesson series will run again sometime in the future, and maybe Picasa could be included as an alternative to Flickr?

Exploring, Adventures, Discoveries

Captain Cook, Amelia Earhart, Christopher Columbus, Chris Howley...what do all these people have in common? Great voyages of discovery! Library 2.0 has been just that for me. I appreciate having had the chance to take this voyage and would be willing to sail again. To be able to chart new courses for myself and explore new territory was very valuable--I feel MUCH more capable and knowledgeable about technology than before. Hands on was definitely a better way for me to learn than attending lectures or just reading about these things. I loved having a blog wherein I demonstrated the various techniques I had learned. And by also covering areas that I'm not that interested in, the tutorials widened my horizons. My favorite lessons were Flickr, image generators, YouTube, blogs, Web2.0 tools, Facebook. But whether I personally enjoyed every lesson or thought every tool was useful for me, I still am glad to have had to opportunity to get acquainted with them all. Thank you Tackies!

Audiobooks

I regret to say that doing this exercise is not an option for me at this time. I have had tutorials on Overdrive, and understand the basic concepts, and I hope that will count as completion for step #22.

Podcast Puzzles

While this assignment seemed straightforward enough--it is essentially a copy and paste operation--it turned out to be overly complicated and difficult. When I went to Podcastalley.com, chose something to add, and added it to my Bloglines feed, I couldn't actually play the podcast without downloading software that I did not want to download. So I tried going through the NPR link. I picked something and added it. It worked perfectly, so I left the site. Then I went back to try it again, and could never get back to it, or any other podcast for that matter. I eventually discovered that I missed a step the second time around that I did not miss the first time, but it was all JUST BY CHANCE! Anyhow, I had a pretty high frustration level with this one, and I think it is mainly because I am feeling the deadline looming and also because this topic is not as interesting to me. That doesn't surprise, because I didn't much enjoy the topic of RSS feeds, and this one seems rather similar. Good to know about, of course, but not where I want to spend a lot of time.

Google Docs

I decided to try Google Docs to make a chart, which I am not very skilled at doing, as you can see from the above example. If this chart is extremely rudimentary, it is my fault not Google Docs.

#19...And the WINNER is...

This was one of the sites I liked the most, http://www.farecast.com/, but frankly I love exploring this kind of stuff and could spend hours looking at the Web 2.0 award winner nominees. I love that someone else has already sifted through all the entries and chosen the jewels, and I get to come along and dig my hands into the treasure chest!

splslearning wiki / Favorite Vacation Spots

>splslearning wiki / Favorite Vacation Spots: "I would like to nominate an under-rated spot here in Arizona. It's not technically a 'vacation spot,' I guess, but it is a beauty spot--Montezuma's Well. This national monument has lots of water, both gushing and still, desert and riparian environments, Native American ruins, animals, and hardly any humans! What's not to love? It's close enough for a day trip, just north of Montezuma's Castle, and I think it's free.

splslearning wiki / Favorite Books

splslearning wiki / Favorite Books: "If I reveal the name of my favorite book, I would also reveal my password, so instead I'll talk about a book that I just love and re-read about once a year--Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel! (I think all the sequels are a big disappointment.) It combines several of my interests--prehistoric peoples, language, plant lore, survival, etc. into a riveting adventure story about the ultimate outsider and her desire to belong. I know it's not classic literature, but I just don't care--I plan to keep on reading it annually! In fact, I think I'll get back into the world of shamans and sabertooths (or is that saberteeth) tonight!

Wikis

The use and usefulness of wikis as applied in a library situation would seem to me to depend on how "open" a system wanted to be. And would participants (both external and internal) get to post with or without a gatekeeper? No gatekeeper or filter opens a library to all comments, not just positive ones, and they are out there for the public to see. Gatekeepers mean extra time and staff. (I'm not sure gatekeeper is the correct term.) But the variety of topics or focuses looks like it could be unlimited: in addition to publicizing events and reviewing materials, there could be wikis devoted to different age groups (even preschoolers can have their parents post their comments or photos of pictures they've drawn, etc.), to different interests from authors to genealogy to tough reference questions to poetry favorites, and on and on and on. Here's a link I found when looking for wikis through Google: http://librarygoddesses.pbwiki.com/

Kitty picture link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevlar/1152595430/

Just for fun--video of Big Audio Dynamite doing my favorite song of theirs, "E=MC2"

The founder of B A D is Mick Jones, formerly of the Clash, and the video features brief clips from various Nicholas Roeg films.

The "Icebergs" of 2.0

Rick Anderson of the University of Nevada at Reno library system proposes an analogy where we are in a "library boat" trying to row toward Web 2.0 and faced with the disastrous "icebergs" of 1)the "just in case" collection, 2)reliance on user education, and 3)the "come to us" model of library service. It's a fun and interesting analogy, and he makes good points. But to continue with this analogy a little bit, there's more to it than that. As an excellent librarian just pointed out to me, we're in the Titanic, not a rowboat, and you can't turn a ship that size on a dime--these things take time! And while consensus in a rowboat may be relatively easy (although I doubt that; everyone's got an opinion!), forging common goals and plans gets really tough when you're on the Titanic! And that's just among the crew! What about all the passengers (aka the customers)on all the various decks, from the upper-deck technophiles with all the matched luggage (MP3 players, fabulous computers, broadband, iPhones, etc.)to the souls in steerage with little more than a mouse for company? Ok, I'm getting silly now, but it is a very complicated process that will take lots of time. Maybe if we stay alert and focused, keep in radio contact with other ships, consult our charts and look out the window, embrace the workable new without sacrificing the lifeboats, and above all, keep our heads and not panic, we can keep from foundering on any icebergs! (Please see iceberg collision video below)

Iceberg Collision