Games Galore!

Okay, this is definitely a dangerous tool to learn about simply because of the addictive nature and wanting to play some of these fun games over and over and... Who has the time to use all of these wonderful Web 2.0 tools? However, it's good to know that there are some fun, free games out there when I get tired of playing Spider Solitaire at home (especially when the computer won't let me win). I think I'll introduce my youngest child to Yahoo Games to lure him away from the sometimes questionable Addicting Games offerings. That's provided I can pry my husband and both kids away from World of Warcraft. They've all gotten hooked in to this game. We do have our challenges of fair segments of computer time since we currently only have one computer for all 4 of us. Oh, how times have changed...anyone remember Dungeons and Dragons?

#18 Google Earth

I've used Google Earth before but I am impressed with the updates that have been made--especially the "flying" to other locations. It's a unique perspective of our world. It's interesting that the pictures of your home are clearer from a higher altitude than if you try to zoom in too far--it's still fun to look and try to determine when the picture was taken. I also like that people have been able to post real pictures, like of Mt. St. Helens. Since "staycation" is the new term for beating rising fuel costs, this is one way to explore new areas that you're not able to travel to--not exactly like the real thing. I also see good uses for teaching the kids about geography and a resource for school projects.

Avatar Me

This was a very fun assignment this week. I didn't really care for the avatars on the doppelme and tektek Web sites--thought they were too cartoonish. However, http://www.meez.com/ offered more realistic options and I had a lot of fun creating my Avatar HRGal (HRGirl was already taken). I don't currently live in Second Life and I created a login and started to create an avatar. I have to say that Second Life scares me a little bit--it just feels really personal to put yourself out there with tons of other people. Guess I'm just not ready to really live in Second Life. I also don't think I would spend the time in the Second Life world--I have too much to do in my First Life world. Anyway, I added my full-size avatar to my blog and here's the headshot.

#16 Online Applications

Assignment #16 was interesting in that I didn't actually realize that there were free online applications and tools that look very similar to MS Office products. I wish I had known about these when I was completing my degree online. We often had issues with version control when a 6-person team was spread all over the country and trying to add to the same document. Invariably, one person became the "editor" to put the pieces all together. I may even start using some of these features for other committees that I'm on--especially when people have different applications. It seems fairly simple and straightforward to instruct everyone to the same program to make viewing minutes and documents accessible to all.

Search Engines

I used the "big 3" search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Ask) to search on button mushroom recipes (they were in the fridge and on the menu for dinner and I couldn't think of anything else on the spur of the moment). My results were: Google, 129,000 sites in 0.15 seconds; Yahoo, 2.1 million in 0.39 seconds; Ask, 105,800 sites. All three sites pointed me to the Food Network and Michael's Best Button Mushroom recipe--which looked pretty good and I'll have to try it sometime. The sites also led me down the path of how to find and/or grow my own mushrooms. And I never knew you could purchase Mushroom Essence---hmmm, not sure I'll be going there. Ask.com offered several interesting alternatives to my search including the intriguing link "How Do Button Mushrooms Reproduce." I also checked out Dogpile, which seemed interesting and I might check it out occasionally. I think I'll probably stick with Google as a search engine and start using some of the search features better (the Berkeley paper was very enlightening and I did add it to my del.icio.us list).

Podcasting Made Simple?

So, I get what podcasting is (I think...) and I found a couple of feeds that I added to my bloglines for entertainment value. However, I was unable to locate other podcasts that I would actually want to have an active RSS for--whether for professional or personal use. Granted, this may be because I don't actually work in a library branch. I checked out Booktalks Quick and Simple and could see a use for Sno-Isle in this idea--it appeared to be a quick and easy way for one person to share book talk information with a large audience without being at a specific location at a specific time--good for both the library and the customer. I've never created created a podcast myself, but I just thought of another use and something we've already done--benefit open enrollment meetings in the form of a recorded webcast or podcast, if you will. The only drawback is that since podcasts aren't interactive, they can't completely replace in-person meetings or phone calls.

Assignment #13 Mash-up

Now I finally understand what a mash-up is and how to do one. Thank goodness for all those wonderful templates! Watching the little tutorial certainly helped figure this out--and I was able to impress my kids when I showed them the pictures I had created. My younger son is already planning how to put the dog's head on a different body.

This was a fun assignment and I'm sure we can come up with some unique and interesting uses for this skill!

#12 Done

I will admit that although I knew about Overdrive, I've never attempted to check out or use it before Jim's plea to do so in assignment #12. Given that my job typically involves phone calls, talking with people, and meetings, the music downloads may work for me sometimes when I'm working on a project (like this), but the books will need to be an at-home thing. The issue I see with that is being tied to the computer, which isn't the best option for me because there are 4 of us in my family actively trying to use one computer. We often have to set the timer...do you know how fast 20 minutes goes??? I'm just now going to give books on CD a try. I'll have to report back on how that goes.

Del.icio.us--mmmm #11

Wow, how did I manage to fall so far behind in the assignments? Well, today is the day to get caught up. After watching the Common Craft del.icio.us video again, it all started to sink in. I had a little trouble getting the Tag and My del.icio.us buttons to show up on my tool bar, but I did manage to succeed. This is an interesting tool--and one I hadn't heard of until now. I like the fact that your bookmarks have become portable--which is especially useful when you have more than one computer. As the instructions point out, what a great tool for library customers who access multiple computers at various locations. All of their bookmarks are in one Web-based place and easy to access.

Wiki What? Wiki Who?

Actually I found Assignment #10 rather interesting since I've never created my own wiki. I have used Wikipedia extensively, both for my own homework and when helping my middle-schooler. I know that not all of the information may be accurate on Wikipedia but I could usually find what I needed and/or a list of resources at the end of the article.

I think that individual wikis have their use in planning events, etc., especially if the team or committee members do not work in close proximity. It seems that the Wiki would help get everyone's thoughts in one place and you could set up guidelines or parameters for how the team members should add their thoughts and ideas. In this type of use, I would make the Wiki private and only invite the members that I wanted, rather than making the Wiki public.

Overall, I think this could be a useful tool for many library applications; specifically interdepartment committees.

YouTube, etc

I love YouTube for the entertainment value. My family spends a lot of time looking for things--some useful, some funny--and they've even posted some videos, as you can see in a previous post. I think YouTube has value for libraries in getting more information about Sno-Isle out on the Internet. I started looking at the Teen Videos, but was having problems with hiccups in the streaming. I'll have to try again. I think YouTube would attract a specific audience and would definitely appeal to teens and kids coming up since it is a widely used source.

Hulu and Fancast don't hold much appeal for me unless there is an episode I miss of a show specifically on those Web sites. I have accessed network Web sites like cbs.com to catch up on missed episodes of Survivor. The ads are limited, although repetitive. I prefer just to catch the episode on TV because it's much more comfy on the couch than hanging out at the computer desk. I don't see much use for either Hulu and Fancast in the library other than to provide a resource for customers to catch episodes of TV shows.

LinkedIn

This week's assignment seems to have come at just the right time. I don't have a MySpace or Facebook page, although my son and husband both have MySpace logins that we use for keeping in touch with family. My son links up with his friends and cousins who are all over the country. A couple of days ago, an HR colleague in another library system invited me to join her on LinkedIn. If I hadn't just read this week's blog, I wouldn't have known what LinkedIn was all about. So, I've joined and just started exploring the features of LinkedIn. It will be interesting to see if I am able to connect with former colleagues, etc. I think this will have a definite use for our group of library HR professionals--we already have an email group, but I think LinkedIn might be a better path to share information with each other. We'll see how it goes.

Godzilla on YouTube

Okay, so you might be wondering why I have a post titled Godzilla on YouTube. Well, I have a child who is very into Godzilla--yes, we are talking the cheesy, dubbed Japanese movies from the 1950s. You'll see if you watch Nick's video that there are a lot of Godzilla movies and toys currently available, so there must be a following out there somewhere. And he's not the only one since there is a wealth of Godzilla videos on YouTube. Please note that my 9-year-old took it upon himself to record and narrate this video...(I know I sound like a proud mommy, but my kids constantly amaze me). Enjoy!

Dog Days

Okay, I'm going to try the picture upload thing again. Although this sweet picture is not my own lovable yellow lab Max, I just couldn't resist downloading it from Flickr. Isn't he cute? I definitely need to access this from home and get some real pictures on my blog. Are we having fun yet?

Fun with Flickr!

Okay, there are just too many pictures on Flickr! I could spend way too much time browsing and finding interesting stuff. I had planned to move some of my pictures at home to Flickr, then post here on my blog. Just didn't get that done. So, instead I used all the other technology we have and sent this picture from my cell phone to my gmail account and now posted on my blog. The kids with short hair. Both have grown it out now, so they look a little different. I use this as my wallpaper on my phone. Don't they just look thrilled that Mom was taking a picture???

More on RSS

Now that I have my courage up at trying new techno-things, I started looking at RSS Feeds folder in Outlook 2007. This seems more beneficial to me than creating a blogline that I have to log in to. I already get in to Outlook every day, so I might as well have my RSS feeds in the folder that I'm more likely to see and look at. Just follow the Help directions in Outlook to set up additional RSS feeds in the folder. If it wasn't for Web2.0, I probably wouldn't have paid any attention to this feature of Outlook.

Pandora's Box

I have to say this is a really cool feature and I'm liking it--yet another thing to "play" with when I should probably be doing other things. Of course, once it's set up, all I have to do is login and I'm good to go. I set up a Pandora radio station and added several artists to it. I like that it automatically adds in songs that are similar to what I've already selected since I was looking for a variety anyway. I'm definitely enjoying the Web 2.0 process.

RSS Feed

I set up my blogline account and added my 3 links as instructed. My frustration is that I would like to put the blogline link on my blog--can I do that? If so, someone please tell me how. I think RSS feeds can be a great timesaver, especially for information that changes on a regular basis. However, I think it can also become quite overwhelming because there are so many interesting Web sites to receive information from. I already struggle with the amount of information that crosses my desk, now I would need to manage electronic information, too? What if I miss something important? Cause I might...Breathe...okay I'll quit freaking out. Like everything else, even RSS feeds must be taken in moderation.

Book Review

In the interest of keeping on top of all this blogging--time to post more comments. In an effort to broaden my reading horizons, I have been checking out the recommended reading banner on the SIL Web site. From there, I chose the book The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst. This book was a quick read; and was a touching, but tragic story. As you might have guessed from the title, one of the characters in the book is a sweet Rhodesian ridgeback dog named Lorelei. There is some tragedy and twists to the story, but the main human character Paul is just that--very human in how he deals with grief.

I don't think I'll say much more since I don't want to give away the story. (I wouldn't be very good at writing jacket copy to entice readers into a book--I'd give away too much of the story.) Overall, I'm glad I read the book for the "slice of life" it portrayed. If you've also read the book, let me know your thoughts.

I-M HR GIRL

I have successfully completed the next assignment of creating my IM presence in both Google Talk and Meebo. You'd think this one would have been a little easier since I've IM'd before, but I'm getting a little turned around with all of my screen names and logins and the like...Persistence and consistency won out and I have been successful! Woo hoo for me! Next step is to update my progress log and on to Week 5 assignment so I can "keep up" with the rest of the class.

Introduction

Okay, I have to start by saying that I'm really nothing like Catbert--however, I do think he's good for a few laughs! HR is just one of my jobs; I'm a mom with two boys; I'm a wife to a very patient man; I have a BeautiControl spa business on the side; head chauffeur; math homework help; chief laundry folder; head dishwasher; and the list goes on...

This is my first blog--so what to write about? Well, I'm a girl in a boy's world. As I said, I live in a houseful of boys--even the dog is a boy. We weren't sure about the fish, but he decided to seek his freedom by jumping from the bowl into the sink drain while his tank was being cleaned--so we should have named him Nemo. I also have four brothers and no sisters. And multiple nephews. Although there are a few nieces thrown in there--with the newest one due in May. We'll make sure she is the Pink Princess.

I'll check back in a couple of days as I complete my Web 2.0 homework assignments.