The Last Gasp (Week 10 #23)

Creating and using a blog was fun. I may create a new personal blog in the future. The "fun" stuff was certainly where I found some of my favorite discoveries: Flickr, avatars, movies. Podcasting surprised me and holds some interest for continued use. While I wouldn't call some of the other resources we looked at fun or favorites, the exposure has given me a much fuller, hands on experience of the incredible (in both the good and bad senses!) of what's "out there".

How has the iHCPL experience assisted or affected my lifelong learning goals? I'm not sure yet. I'm sure the exposure iHCPL has given me to so many resources will result in triggers being pulled in the future when an application of something learned suddenly becomes evident.

Did anything surprise me? Yes, the simplicity of things that I had felt (obviously without basis!) would require a steep learning curve.

At the moment I have no further interests. iHCPL has been a good overall experience but it has also reached the point where I am ready for it to be over! I don't have suggestions to offer but I'm sure I'll find something of future interest in what others may suggest.

Downloadable Media (Week 9 #22)

My mother always says you get what you pay for. This is clearly true when comparing the free sites for downloadable media to the paid sites. LibriVox and Wowio have decent content but, since what they offer is in the public domain, it tends not to be particularly recent content. Still, if you're looking for a good read or listen, there is ample content from which to choose. Overdrive has much more current content as one would expect of a site that charges for its content.

Podcasts (Week 9 #21)

As with so many resources we have looked at over the course of iHCPL, I have to say once again that I am amazed at the variety of topics about which podcasts are produced. I guess I shouldn't be surprised any more but I still am! I like PodcastAlley for locating podcasts. The various methods for locating podcasts and the predefined searches already established on the site make it a really flexible site.

I found podcasts on many topics that would be of value to library staff. A search on PodcastAlley using 'libraries' returns an impressive list covering a variety of library-related topics.

I think an issue with podcasts is probably shared with wikis. How authoritative or biased is the content?

YouTube (Week 9 #20)

I have browsed around on YouTube on several occasions. I have also watched over the shoulders of my kids even more times as they have insisted I watch something they found particularly amusing. The comment in the iHCPL posting that there are videos that aren't worth watching is very true. I often wonder at what people think others might be interested in. I also wonder at what some people consider funny! Occasionally I have come across videos that are really questionable in terms o content. Still sites like YouTube can be a lot of fun.

The usefulness of sites like YouTube for library websites isn't something I had ever really thought of. However, it holds potential for marketing and promoting of library services and events. This approach could also be a way of promoting libraries and our goals at a higher level. There are often issues affecting libraries nationwide that are often discussed by state and national agencies. Links to YouTube type videos from the library website could help raise public awareness on issues facing libraries in general.

Village People's YMCA with Life Size Puppets

I get a laugh out of this video every time I watch it. Keep in mind that the only real person is the guy in the middle dressed as the Indian.

Bills Test Document (Zoho Week 8 #19)

This is my maiden run with a web based application.  There are a lot more options available than I was aware.

 

Zoho looks like it can do everything I most commonly do in Microsoft Word.

 

Although there are not nearly as many choices of font, I still have a variety of fontsavailable to use.

 

I can do some special effects.

 

Now that I've inserted it, I can't get rid of this frame though!  So I might as well make it colorful!

 

 

 

Social Networking (Week 8 #18)

I have ridden the back slopes of the social networking phenomenon as my children have grown. Both have moved on from MySpace to FaceBook now. I have seen how integral social networking is to communication between young people especially. I watched more closely over my daughter's shoulder than over my son's. Yup...the ever protective dad! No...she rarely appreciated me looking over her shoulder! I have to say that she proved herself to be a responsible social networker pretty much ignoring comment and efforts to engage her by people she doesn't know. I have been impressed by the creativity and maturity I've seen in a lot of the profiles and posts. On many levels I think social networking is a great thing. However, the issues of internet safety are ever present.

I don't see as much value in social networking in a professional environment as I have seen on some of the other resources we've looked at. In my view the content would be of a much more casual nature.