the 24th Thing!!!!

I received my MP3 player and started on the last? project.  I had never downloaded anything before so it took a while to figure out how to download an audiobook onto my computer.  I checked out “The Fountainhead.”  Then I found out I had to charge my MP3 before loading.  After that was finally done, I had to figure out how to download on it.  It was hard for me to figure out how to operate the device also.  I succeeded with a little help but it was stressful!  At last I can listen to my book but will I remember how to do it the next time?!!!!

THE END!!!!

This has been a long project hard in some ways but fun and interesting in other ways.  I realize that there is so much out there that I didn’t know existed.  I learned a lot from doing the exercises but only managed to scratch the surface of most.  My favorites were :setting up my own blog; learning about and using Flickr;using Library Thing and creating my own account and being able to set up my own “Library;”learning about Wikis and contributing to them, watching some things on YOUTube and also podcasts and finally downloading an audio book. These are things I knew nothing about. 

I was surprised that I actually could complete the 23 things. I am not particularly technically oriented and didn’t think I could do it.

I will continue to explore some of the things that I learned.  I want to go back and change and add to my original blog, I want to add to some Wikis and create my own and I want to practice using some of the material I found in my own blog.

I found that I did not have the time to spend on the subjects and things that I found.  (15 minutes a day was definitely not enough time to absorb all this information) Some things I could not complete by myself or with the written instructions.  I needed an instructor to help me. Perhaps next time, there can be smaller groups meeting back at each library to explore more fully each topic. Perhaps there could be one area that is studied instead of such a vast amount of information on many things.

It was enjoyable however and I did learn a lot of new things.

TRYING to download an e-book

I am coming down the home stretch.  After watching the “Guided Tour” on Overdrive I tried to download an audio book on my computer.  I searched the available titles, read some info on interesting ones and tried to download the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and also 7th Heaven by James Patterson.  Everything went OK until I tried to install “Overdrive”.  It gave me a message of “problem has occurred in retrieving Digital Rights Management machine identification.  I talked with John Hughes and he has yet to find the problem which has occurred with a few other people in Tech Services.  So the completion of this is kind of on hold.  I’ve never tried to do this before but I think it will be interesting when complete! Jenna corrected the problem on my Overdrive and I downloaded my first audio book to my computer. Then I listened to the first chapter of 7th Heaven.

Listening to Podcast/or at least trying to

Researched some podcast in “Odeo.”  I looked under literature and found a podcast with an interview with Nelson DeMille about the “Gatehouse.” I tried to add this to my Blogline but wasn’t able.  Then I found “Gwinnett County Public Library Reading Festival.  It had a feed so I was able to subscribe and add it to the Blogline account.  I learned that podcasts were available and where to access some of them.  I also learned there was a lot of things that I don’t know how to do without help!

Viewing “YOU”TUBE”

This was entertaining. I didn’t know what exactly to search for and looked at random subjects including CCLS YouTube page. I viewed the Oxford videos and “Man vs. Library” from Bayard Taylor Library.  Then I searched some topics that were of more personal interest. My daughter has danced since she was 3 yrs old.  I found some great videos of young dancers at West Chester’s Rock School of dance, one teaching video of how to do a leap, and several videos of Braham Crane’s dance choreography. (My daughter used to dance with him in High School). My “fun” one was”the Macarena” being taught to children.  Since I was the mother of the groom at a wedding not long ago I needed to catch up on some “wedding” dances.

I think I can do this reasonably well now thanks to YOUTUBE. (I hope no one video tapes me!!!! Yikes!!!!!

Microblogging in Libraries

I enjoyed viewing a few library “My Space” pages.  I browsed the West MySpace page  and Facebook page for teens.  I had seen some of this at Discovery Day presented by Victoria Dowell.  The pages were colorful, interesting and seemed like it would appeal to young teens.  I also explored the Westmont Illinois pages for teens which was an upbeat colorful website and also the Prince George’s County Library System pages for teens because I used to live there and used their library facilities. One of the things it was advertising was a talent night for would-be writers, actors, musicians.  It did not seem to use as many different forms of graphics, pictures etc as some of the other sites I visited.   I think this is a wonderful resource for libraries and showcases their activities, facilities, personnel and programs etc.   I do wonder who monitors these cites and decides what is printed here.

Searching new sites/Recipe Key

I searched the suggested site “Recipe Key.” It has lots of things in it which were interesting to me.(ie: Matching ingredients in your pantry with a recipe, recipes for people with food allergies, recipe of the day, kitchen gadgets, Virtual pangry,food blogs and a chance for you to enter your own favorite recipes. There was a segment on “game day” recipes for watching your favorite football team.  I liked the different segments and the colored graphics and pictures of what you are making.  The bad part was that I could not get my password entered to set up an account.  I tried several times and gave up. I was able to access the recipes though. I will go back to this site.

Using Zoho Writer

I created my account in Zoho Writer.  It’s like learning Microsoft Word all over again.  I wrote a document titled” Welcome to my computer/Using 23 Things.  I changed font, color, font size, used bold type and change the language it was written in to Spanish. Then I viewed some spreadsheet forms.  So much to see and do!

CCLS 23 THINGS wiki

Frustration!!!! I created an account for myself but had problems entering my blog “Carol’s Blog” on the favorites page.  I had the instructions in front of me but needed Beverly(in Cyberspace) to rescue me!!!  This looks like fun, will be back next week to try and do a new favorite for myself.

Wikis-visiting different sites

I visited a few different library sites that were suggested.  I used the Bull Run Library wiki and tried out “gnod” a site that helps you find books and new authors to try.  It allows comments and lets you get more suggestions later if you leave your email. Later I will try and leave a “travel” suggestion on the ccl wiki that was developed for the 2.0 Discovery day. I want be able to do that as well as using the wikis for information.