Thing #17 Podcasts

I went to Podcast.com, Podcastalley.com, and Educational Podcast Directory. On Yahoo I did a search for "country music" and the things that came up were for itunes or sites to purchase the music. I did a search on Podcast.com for the Dave Ramsey Show since I knew that his radio show was available. I listened to CNN news update and part of the Dave Ramsey Show. Also at the Podcast.com site I went in search under a heading Kids and Family and found "Bedtime Stores My Kids Love to Hear". There were several stories about "The Man in the Can" that I listened to briefly. I also listened to the very beginning of a book titled "Dark Matter" but I think it would be more convenient to download books on a library site.

Podcast.com was the easiest site to navigate. I didn't find any podcast I wanted to add to my blog. I can see why someone would like to download items of interest to listen to at their convenience. I was not inspired or interested enough to spend my time on podcasting.

Thing #16 YouTube

Holey!Moley!, as my Great Grandson Dalton would say, there is just to much "stuff" out here in YouTube land. There is so much to choose from I can see where it could become addictive, time consuming and a big distraction in the workplace.

I explored YouTube and viewed several videos. I liked the "Library Dominoes" and "Library Musical Prank" I explored several different ones and decided to add "Forest Gump, One Minute One Take" to my blog.I liked this one as it was planned so well with the props and it was awesome the way you remembered the movie while watching for just one minute.

YouTube may be beneficial in a library program to show videos relating to the presentation or a booktalk to spark interest in the program.

Thing #15 - Rollyo

Finally on Thing #15, Rollyo. I created an account and a custom search roll. I decided on Country Cooking as I love to eat and cook. I included 7 food and recipe sites from a wide variety of options - everything from Paula Deen, Rachel Ray to America's Test Kitchen. I searched for "rice pilaf" and got over 52000 hits using my "Country Cooking" search roll.

In a library setting Rollyo could be beneficial for research because the sites selected would be sites you trusted and were confident the information would be factual rather than opinion.

As you can see, I have added a searchbox tool to this blog so you too can enjoy Country Cooking.

Select Search Engine...Country CookingSearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

Thing #14 Online Productivity Tools

Thing 14 was fun to work on and learn new tools.I looked at Igoogle, Pageflakes and My yahoo and decided on My Yahoo as my start page because I already have an account there.It was easy to add a calendar to keep up with my Grandson's baseball games and other family activities. I created a countdown widget to add to my blog. A Ta-Da list was very easy to create and I have started adding to a list.I think this was one of the more useful "Things" and I intend to go back and explore more of the online tools on my own time.

Created by OnePlusYou

Thing #13 Library Thing

I am definitely a book lover. I think LibraryThing is something that I will use to catalog and keep up with books that I have read and plan to read. I added books to my library, created a widget and a link. The books I put in My Library typically had rating between 3 and 4. There were good reviews by members for these books. I also looked for local events under LibraryThing Local. There were no events within a 50 mile radius of Gainesville. There were listings for various libraries and bookstores n the area but I did not see Alachua County Library District listed. I think that LibraryThing can be a useful tool in the library setting. It would be useful for book groups, reader advisory and outreach or special interest groups.

Thing #12 WIKIS

I think using wikis within the library for staff members workng on a project, planning an event or an activity would be beneficial with everyone having the opportunity to add, edit or even delete information. Sometimes arranging a meeting with all interested parties is hard to plan but with wikis anyone could contribute information and add to the discussion.
I like the idea of libraries using Wikis as a place for community resources to be displayed, discussed, edited, added to or completely deleted by members of the community. This would help libraries become a center for information in their local community.
Wikis could work well for organizations, clubs or individuals interested in the same topic, event or activity.
The only problem I see is people who would add or change things or information inappropiately or inaccurately.
I edited and made comments on neflins23things.pbwiki.com.

Thing # 11 Social Media

OK! I browsed through Mixx, Digg, Newsvine and Reddit and thought it was a big waste of my time. Definitely a productivity detractor. I do not automatically read something just because it is recommended by others. I would rather rely on CNN, Gainesville Sun and the local TV news in the evenings because I feel these sites are accurate and adequate for my purposes and contain all the news information I need.

I really did not care for Reddit as the articles I happened to read were gross and contained some obscene language. Digg and Mixx to me were basically the same with Newsvine being the better site.

I personally do not see the Library using the social media sites when there are so many other tools availble.

I read an article in the Gainesville Sun and shared it in my Delicious account.