#14: Technorati

OK, I'm going to very honest here. This was not one of my favorites. I feel like the site itself is very overwhelming and I guess I already have information overload in my life. However, if I someday want to publish a blog or find information via blogs, I have discovered the key is to tag, tag, tag!

#13: Del.icio.us

I can't believe I haven't been using some of these great resources before! I did set up my own account, which was very easy to do. Now, I will no longer be frustrated when I'm sitting at my home computer wanting to get to a website that I can't quite remember, but is bookmarked on my work computer. Fantastic!

#12: Games, Games, and more Games

Ahh, so many games, so little time...I really love the jigsaw puzzle site www.jigzone.com. It would be fun for all ages (I'll definitely introduce my son and library patrons to it). I also had fun with Bejeweled and Minesweeper. My five-year-old son has some favorite games sites already: www.noggin.com, www.nickjr.com, and www.starfall.com. The last one isn't so much a gaming site as a reading site, but it is very good for young kids.

#11: Facebook

Facebook is great! I have just connected very easily with my many late teen to early 20 something nieces and nephews. As stated in my notes: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&preview&suggest&note_id=40630239153#/notes.php?id=1093001959 Facebook will quite possibly be the 'thing' I use the most after I have completed all 23 Things.

#10: Chat and IM

What fun! I chatted with Kam a bit, and then I went to my g-mail and chatted with a friend who happened to be online, too. I had forgotten that she is actually in San Francisco right now, so that made the chat even more interesting. My chats didn't seem all that 'insant', but I'm guessing that the more you chat, the faster it becomes.

#9 Finding Feeds

OK, don't get me wrong. As stated under #8, having the Google Reader is very cool. And I'm sure I have subscribed to way too many feeds, but I'm beginning to feel information overload! I just looked at Topix as well as Syndic8 and Technorati, and wow, those are some busy websites! I think I prefer Technorati the most for its ease of use.

#8 RSS Feeds

Wow, they weren't kidding when they said this was addicting! I've added so many things that I know I'll never get around to reading them all, but oh well! My favorite three feeds?

• Well, #1 would have to be Unshelved http://www.overduemedia.com/rss.aspx I used to read this funny library comic strip religiously a few years ago when a fellow librarian sent it out via e-mail everyday. And now, I can easily view it again along with some other favorite sites.
• #2 http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/rss.xml Cute Overload - I think the title says it all!
• #3 http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/applications/rss/index.asp Round Rock, Texas - City News Here's an easy way to keep up with my city's current news.

#7 Image Generators

I really hope this works! I just entered all the code that the website indicated and it is supposed to link to my incredible Wordle! Using this website, http://www.wordle.net/ I could make a word cloud using any text I wanted. I tried to type in the website address, but I think the firewall gave me problems, so I simply cut and pasted most of the text from the Children's webpage at the Round Rock public library to give me the results. And voila! Looks great!!

#6 Mashups

This exercise has been a lot of fun! I enjoyed making photo mosaics with Montagr. Also, picking random colors using Flickr Color Pickr to mirror the same vivid hues in photos was magical. However, I have to say my favorite (so far) is Retrievr. I can't draw, but seeing my hopeless pictures come alive through the ones found on Flickr was truly awesome!

#5 b. adding Flick images

I've added three pictures (not recently taken, but library related). They are of the Children's Department at the Round Rock, our pet snake, and the library building. I'm going to try to put the pictures on my blog...here goes...

I think it worked! Of course I took them off my desktop instead of Flickr.

#5 - Flickr Image

As a Children's librarian, this photo spoke to my soul. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinerdog/223820063/ I can only hope that if I do my job well, this is a common site around this community.

Flickr seems pretty easy to use. I have made an account and have added a couple of pictures. It was fun to look up Round Rock and see all of the photos added.

Well, I spoke too soon. I've been trying to upload this image instead of just providing a link, and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Google

Wow! Google is so much more than a search engine! I had some idea, but I didn’t know about the Google Book Search feature or the Google Patents. And I may have to take full advantage of the Google Alerts (see I'm improving my Learning Habit #6 already)! I have been using g-mail and Google Images for a long time now, but I'm thrilled to learn more about everything that Google has to offer.

Week 2

I've gotten a late start, but I have my blog! As for habits, my easiest habit will probably be #2: Accept responsibility for your own learning. That's why I'm here doing the "23 Things" - it's noone's fault but my own if I don't get on board with all of this new technology. And probably my most difficult habit will be #6: Use technology to your advantage. Right now, the only thing I do with my cell phone is call people - how 90's. I need to move forward into the 21st century!