Thing #19

I investigated a genealogy site called My Heritage. I created a little bit of a family tree. Feel free to view it. It was extremely easy to do. I will have to look for information on birth dates and some death dates, but I will be going back to fill in much more of my family tree. You can add pictures and other information as well. I don't have any information in a genealogy program, but if I did, I could import that information directly into this program. It also has a calendar, so you could make this an extended family page and keep extended family events or even birthdays on this calendar. Another thing that I might want to do is let my family know about it and they can fill in their own information as well as other information that they may have that I don't have filled in yet. There is even a place to put recipes. So those secret family recipes won't be lost. You can keep track of activities that are happening as well.
As far as libraries and schools, I think that this is a valuable tool for students to make their own family tree. It is user friendly enough that it could be used by 2nd or 3rd grade. The great thing is that the kids could save it and go back to it when they are older--or add information throughout their growing up years. What a history they could leave for their children!

Thing #18

I downloaded and explored some of the features of Open Office. It seemed pretty user friendly. I am very familiar with Microsoft Word, so I made a small word document. I think that this can be a valuable program, especially for those who may not have Microsoft Word. It certainly offers many more features than Wordpad. If it is utilized in the classroom for the students, it could save money for schools, since Microsoft does not offer a site license for its Office products. I like that it can be saved as an Office document, because chances are the computer you would have to do a presentation on these days would be a Microsoft product. This helps for those who may not have Office or an updated version of Office. I also liked the feature that would convert the document to a pdf format. That and emailing the document is right on the shortcut bar.
I don't see myself using this, just because I am so used to Office, but I am glad to know about it to recommend it to students who may not have Office. There were some nice templates and wizard for presentations as well, and they could be saved in a Powerpoint format.
I also investigated the Google Docs templates. When I investigated all the Google features earlier in the 23 things, I had saved a document to Google Docs. I thought that was what it was for--which is really cool because I don't have to carry around a flashdrive or attach a document to email. Now after looking at all the other features of Google documents and the templates, I will be using these as well. There are things for address labels, invitations, scrapbooks, presentations, and more. These also have the ability to save them in a Microsoft product format and has the benefit of having other people to have access to the document. Once again--lesson plans for grade levels and/or collaboration could all be done via this resource. I am still amazed at all the things that are available on the internet for free!
The only disadvantage that I can think of for this type of document is if the internet goes down, you would be stuck without your document if you didn't save it in an alternate place.

Thing #17

Wow, thanks for the video explaining rollyo. It was excellent and made it very clear on how to set up your own list. I set up a list for my GT kids. They have all chosen a person to study, so I titled my list biography. Here is the link to that page http://rollyo.com/lford/biography/
I wasn't sure how it would work, so I tried it out with some of the people the kids chose and I got hits on all of them. The most I got was Harry Houdini at about 20,000. The others were usually in the 1,000's. This is such a valuable tool to limit the searching to valuable websites that you as a teacher or librarian know can be relied on for accurate information. I will definitely be using this tool!

Thing #16

I think wiki's can be a valuable tool for grade level teacher planning. If teachers work as a group to plan, then each can put info. that they have found into the wiki and then hopefully double work won't be done. It can be a great collaboration tool between the teacher and the librarian as well when planning collaborative lessons. Teachers can use wiki's with their students to answer discussion questions as well, but I think I might prefer the blog format better.
I did go ahead and set up a wiki for my family. I thought that this year for the kids' Christmas lists, if we all have a list on the wiki, when someone decides that they will buy a certain item--they can put their name next to it. That way instead of many phone calls for who is taking care of what, or emails that get confusing--we should all be able to keep up. We'll see how it works.

One thing I did see when looking at some of the wiki's and I could be wrong, but it seemed that they were more temporary than a blog. They seem to get used for a certain purpose and then never get used again. Those with more wiki experience, what do you think?

Thing #15

Library 2.0 has to be where libraries are headed if we are to keep patrons. I like what the "Away from the Iceberg" article said on the 'just in case' scenario. Why spend money on hard copies of books just in case someone wants something on that topic? If the occasion occurs where someone does need information on something that the library has chosen to not hold a hard copy of any longer--then connect the patron to the web resource for that. The information is out there and it is ridiculous to spend money on some things 'just in case' someone needs it once a year, when you can get the same on the web. Libraries need to focus on the books and media that the patrons crave. They must be "user-centric" as the "iceberg" article also said. One library which I frequent is the Freeman Library in Clear Lake. I discovered this gem last spring during my Children's Lit. class. It is what I would like to see the school libraries go toward. There is a computer lab and in addition, laptops for check out and probably 75 more computers for patrons to surf the web, play games, do research, etc. They have a night for their young adult section that is "Guitar Hero" contests. If we are not focusing on what the people of today want--the library will become a museum. My husband likes to visit museums and read all of the information in front of each exhibit--but I am more of a children's museum type of person. I want interaction with the exhibits. The same goes for libraries. We are coming upon a generation of multi-taskers. We need to meet their needs and give them things they can interact with. My 2nd grader reads very well, but he also enjoys listening to books on tape, because while he's listening he can do something else. His vocabulary has grown tremendously through listening to books, and when he does sit down to read--his reading has improved because he has transferred some of that listening vocabulary into his reading. I know that the 'playaways' are starting to be used in some libraries and I have heard some say--they don't think it's good because then the kids aren't really reading. But if they are getting great literature in a digital format, it will increase their knowledge. I have seen it through my 2nd grader in his writing at school. His teacher recently showed me his How-to paper that he wrote and I was totally amazed. It is far above his grade level and I truly believe it comes not only from reading he has done, but much that we have listened to in the car on the way back and forth to school. I do read with my kids some at night, but with busy schedules, it doesn't always happen. Since we started listening to books on tape last spring--he has actually asked for more, and sometimes we bring the CD inside to finish listening because of an exciting part. He chooses this sometimes, instead of turning on the TV. I can see that my children are in a different library world than what I grew up with and I want to make sure that they remain excited about learning. 2.0 is the way to get there, with the extensions of 3.0 and 4.0. I am looking forward to learning more how to utilize and build a true 2.0 library when I am in one!
School libraries are going to have to convince the administration that 2.0 is something in which to invest to keep up with the student's technology of today.

Thing #14

Doing a keyword search for “School Library Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory in Technorati, I did not come up with any results. Maybe I was not doing it correctly. I even went to advanced search. I also tried doing a search on the 3 areas using library collaboration and found nothing. I will definitely have to investigate a better way to search on technorati.
While exploring poplular blogs I found this little treasure of a blog that included this youtube video that is available in France as a DVD. It is hilarious!
apparently there are several more from this company. I love it the end and the creativity they used. Just when you think it is over--they showed how to make something of what we thought was garbage. Watch it to see what I'm talking about. I also like it because it is wordless and so language is not a factor! Looking at the popular blogs is interesting, but I am more interested at this point, in being able to search for blogs relating to my interests.
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/22/minuscule-cgi-bug-vi.html
Using tags will be a great time saver and a great way to organize my 'cyberspace'. The value of tagging is truly priceless. We all need more time in our days, and by tagging things on blogs, pictures, websites, etc. when we come across them, we essentially are saving valuable research information at times--before we need it. When we do need it, we will already have some great resources to use before we even have to put time in to find more. What a benefit to a teacher/librarian from day to day, month to month, and even year to year as they are used.
Technorati has a wealth of information on their site and I plan on going back to try to understand it more.
I did look at some of the widgets and gadgets. I am going to attempt to add the ticker of popular searches on Technorati to my blog!

Thing #13

Wow! All I have ever used on my browser is my 'Favorites'. Del.icio.us is great! As I was searching, one topic that I chose was library collaboration. Some of the articles that came up are the same as if I was searching the databases at UHCL. But in addition, there were blogs and wikis as well. I also searched podcasts in libraries and got some helpful sites not just that have podcasts, but show the many ways they can be used in libraries by not just the librarian, but the students. Others might find this wiki helpful as well. Check it out!
I think the school community can really take advantage of social bookmarking in the sharing aspect that was in the Commoncraft show. As the librarian builds up bookmarks on various topics, by sharing the best of the best with the teachers some collaboration begins. By everyone being able to share amongst themselves, what a great amount of research that can be done while time is being saved. I will definitely be utilizing delicious. I have been keeping up with my RSS feeds through google reader and have seen the delicious add to--now I can do it!