Thing 13

Tagging sounds perfect for all of the Web 2.0 stuff. It seems to gel nicely with all of the concepts we have covered so far, including blogging. If someone is using Twitter (or would one say "Twittering?") I think tagging would be a good way to organize it. From what I understood after spending a little time on the Twitter site a user can tag posts. (Weren't they called hashmarks?) Tagging could help to organize all of those comments.

As far as using it in the library, I think it would be appropriate for certain users. As the library becomes more and more dependent upon the Internet and Web 2.0 tools library users are going to have to have ways to organize all of the information they gather. It won't matter if the user is organizing reference items or items they have accessed for pleasure--pictures, books, articles,games, etc. There is going to have to be a way to make sense of all the gobbledy-gook! I feel completely overwhelmed with all of the stuff I have learned from the Things so far and I have 10 more Things to do. I can't imagine using all of this stuff regularly and having to keep track. Especially if I was using all of these tools at work or in school tagging would be a key to keeping it straight.

Thing 12

I did get on Twitter today. I really don't know anyone who Twitters. I have had discussions with people about it. All of them involved people saying they had no idea what it was about.

Other than a distraction, I really don't see what purpose Twitter could serve. Like some many other tools on the Things list it seems to take you away from the people that you are with in person!

Thing 11

I have IM-ed in the past. It is an effective tool when you are already working on the computer. I used it a lot in graduate school when I was CONSTANTLY on the computer. Since I spend most of my computer time at school I really shouldn't be instant messaging--just like most of the 23 Things.

After spending much time in the classroom as a English teacher the IMing lingo does not impress me. I think it is dumbing down our children who become too lazy to spell out entire words in assignments. It's a shame when I teacher has to preface continually that correct spelling is necessary for an assignment to be graded. It's the same with texting. Noone will ever get a job using such "lingo" on a job application. I think children and teenagers have a hard time differentiating what is appropriate.

As far as IM-ing overall, I think it's fine and has it's place.

Thing 10

Ning is different. I guess it would be good for people who want to find other people with their same interests. I gathered that rather than just catch up with people who you know like Facebook it is serves specific interests. I watched the video. The sound was kind of difficult to follow but I did get the gist.

I searched a few things. I searched "reading" and found some neat sites for book clubs, etc. I am a big Celine Dion fan. I searched for a site and came up with a tribute site to a man who was named Dion when he was alive. There was a picture of him in his casket and I think, a picture of ONE of his murderers being arrested. Very interesting, to say the least!

Thing 9

I think I made my feelings quite clear on how I feel about Facebook in my post for Thing 8. I did go in and ask invite a friend onto my Facebook account. That is as far as I want to take it. I am simply not compelled or comfortable with it to go any further.

I do understand the importance of it for many people. Additionally, when my children are old enough to get involved with Facebook--or whatever is the going rage by them--I will be a member and actively participate. Until then, I will listen to my friends talk about how wonderful it is as I sit in front of them chatting face to face with them.

Thing 8

I created a Facebook page against my better judgement. I have been pressured by friends to do this forever. I can't say I feel great or excited about it. Just like it said on the 23 Things site, I feel very transparent. My reply to friends that have encouraged me to get a Facebook account has been, "I talk to all the people I want to talk to." I don't have a need to connect with people who I don't see anymore. I don't want to sound snobby or ugly but that is really the way I feel!

I did use an email address that I have. But since I have never shared it with people it didn't generate any friends. I think I might skip the next step. Either that or just contact one friend that I know so I can go through the process of setting up a friend. I don't know. I am going to think about it longer.

I read where 23 Things encourages people to possibly ask for Facebook to be unblocked at work. I think that is a TERRIBLE idea. Really. I work in a school. Children need to be the focus in our building. My husband works for a corporation. He needs to be focusing on his work and not distracted by an online social network. I think that would be dangerous. So, the only option is to do it at home or using a smart phone. I don't have time for it. I want to be with my family when I get home. Not on the computer. It's all so snoopy to me. It seems like bragging and snooping to me. That's probably a pretty conservative outlook of it all.

Thing 7

The Common Craft videos are really great. It is funny to me how they are talking about technology with white boards and hard copies. I am glad that the 23 Things people said that we don't need to understand how the RSS feeders work. I was having nightmare-ish visions of grad school again. I have probably stated this 5 times already in this blog: I just don't follow that many sites on the web. I don't have a hard time keeping up. Although, I will say this. Yesterday I was sitting in the room as my husband sat down and began to peruse his favorite sites. I told him that there was an easier way for him to do this. He was very interested in setting up a reader. We got called away by the children or the dog or something on fire someplace... Such is our life.

Thing 6

I worked with Google Reader tonight. It was a little confusing to me. I accidentally clicked on a tab and now I have about 10 sites that Reader will automatically monitor for me. I don't have any idea about any of those sites. One of them was two guys having a conversation about meeting girls--whatever. I couldn't figure out how to delete those sites. I added one: The New York Times.

The thing about Google Reader is that I really don't have a lot of sites that I look at religiously. I do like the NYT site but I am updated by email at work throughout the day. Also, during the school year I don't come home and get on the Internet to look at stuff. I don't have time for it. If I did have four or five things I wanted to look at daily then Google Reader would be an excellent way to stay on top of everything.

This whole process is really interesting to me. It's opening my eyes to how much people stay on their computers! I would rather be reading a book than on the Internet.

Thing 5

Amusing tools in this Thing. Again, tons and tons of uses for kids and people in the workforce. I chose motivator site. I don't know how funny it really is but I accomplished my task. I have always wondered how people create the images in the off beat emails I get. Now I know. I was VERY surprised at how many image creators there are online. Hours and hours of fun for someone.

Thing 4

Yesterday I created the picture of the two kiddos and the deer on captioner. This was a great site. There is no end to the possibilities that students could do with tools like the mashups. Very fun and entertaining. Again, I was out of my comfort zone using sites I would never have known were there.

This is a the picture I uploaded to Flickr. It is a picture of Sophie, my sister's dog. She is much better behaved than my own dog, Emma. So, I used her picture after trying in vain to take Emma's picture. Emma kept slinking away with her ears and tail down. Not too cute. :)

I just completed Thing 3--Flickr. I did upload a picture to my account. The funniest part of the this story is that my husband and I bought a new computer 18 months ago. In all of those months I never took the time to figure out how to load and organize pictures onto the computer. Dumb, I know. Now that I needed to upload pictures to Flickr I was forced to figure it out. It has been a great afternoon!

I have used Flickr in the past to find pictures to use in book talk videos. It was very effective. There are so many creative people out there. If it wasn't for a site like Flickr I would not have been able to create my book talks.

Thing 2

After watching the videos and reading the articles in Thing 2 I am excited about learning more. I have been aware of many things going on with the Internet that I could harness to use in my library. I must admit I have been complacent in my librarian position. I have been telling myself that my job is about books rather than technology. But, while I have been telling myself this, I knew I was going to have to jump on the band wagon and figure Web 2.0 out for myself. There was a lot information in this step. Much of it, I felt was over my head. Again, I am ready for the challenge and looking forward to learning as much as possible.