# 23 Summary

Wow, I can not believe I'm writing the summary of the 23 Things online learning experience. With very limited time at work, I did my assignment 99% at home. At the beginning I was not comfortable with this self-direct online structure, after finished few Things, I was more confident exploring each Thing. I really enjoyed playing with Avatar, just like playing Barbie dolls, I create few characters with different outfits. I also liked downloading freebies from YouTube and iTunes onto my iPod. I experienced few challanges, thanks to Arlene and Stella who helped me out when I was having trouble. I bookmarked the frequently used websites on Delicious.com. Instead of carrying a thumb drive, Google Docs became my assignment notebook that I put my ASL lesson practice in each folder. I compiled pictures and upload into Flickr photo sharing site. I will introduce some of this online tools to customers. I wish all the MCPL staff have a chance to learn the 23 things tools. Thanks to the MCPL gave me this opportunity to exploring the 23 Things.

# 22 Downloadable audiobooks

I have never downloaded any audiobooks online. This is a good opportunity for me to experiment. I went to MCPL Maryland Digital Library Consortum downloaded Over Drive Media Console to my PC and browsed through. Each title gives you an icon selection (PC, MAC, Burn to CD, WMA, iPod or MP3) to choose for download. In Netlibrary e-audio selection the iPod/MP3 is limited, the titles I am interested in are not in that format, so I just downloaded "No. 1 Lady Detective Agency" into my PC. When a customer calls/asks us how to download from home I have no idea what kind of device or computer setup they have at home. I just show/tell them the links on our homepage. Project Gutenburg contains a lot of esoteric and classic stuff. You can also browse through the Top 100 downloaded e-books. At the beginning I had a problem download Laozi in Chinese after few tried I decided to download the most frequent requested title in my library "Alice in Wonderland" to my PC. Now, I know how to download an e-books.

# 21 Podcast

I tried Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts both of them did not work. (Not Found) I have iPod Nano, so I went into iTunes and browsed through the podcasts section. I thought that anything you wanted to download from iTunes would have a fee but I was wrong about that. There are many free downloads from News Noteworthy, What's Cookin? to In-depth Reviews.., they have either in audio podcasts or video podcasts. I really like the Book Review section, like NYT Book Review, Book Tour, World Book Club, Nat'l Public Radio book Podcast..etc. All these free featurettes on iTune updated frequently. So I subscribed few mini video podcasts into my iPod. If I have enough room I would like to download a movie into my iPod, just for the experience sake.

Librarians do gaga

This is from YouTube.

# 20 YouTube

I opened a YouTube Account and browsed through some videos and movies. I could not believe that there were so many things on this site. No wonder this is one of the most popular social networking sites. I tried to embed the video into my Blogger account but failed. I was very frustrated. I followed the book "Publishing a Blog with Blogger" step by step and still couldn't get the picture to come out. Thanks to Stella Fowler who coached me. The trick is I have to click PUBLISH POST then you can view the picture. I could spend a lot of time listening and exploring this site; maybe I can practice my social networking skills on YouTube with my friends. This is Twilight saga, eclipse official trailer 2010.

# 19 Web 2.0 Award

I am a decent cook and I have always enjoyed watching Food channels. imcooked.com is a receipe sharing site. The video show you either in basic view or detailed view of the cooking process. The Spotlight chef section is fun to watch. Yelp.com is a searchable city guide with variety of information and reviews. Just like Google localhttp://local.google.com/, a good site to see what upcoming events, places or restuarants you want to visit. delicious.com, my favorite site, I bookmark almost everything I like into this site and I will be able to access at any location.

# 18 Online Productivity

I chose Google Docs, an online word processor which is very similar to Microsoft Word. With Google Docs you can create your documents online, or the documents needed to be edited by multiple people, when the document is completed, you can access at any location. I created an ASL lesson assignment into folder 1, 2 3..  I can retrive each chapter's vocabulary, sentences instead of carrying the textbook. It is also a great alternative to thumb drives for many applications. When patrons do not have thumb drive and they need to create/send a document, I usually suggest them to use Google Docs. It can be used by anyone who has a gmail account. The other tool ZOHO Writer is also similar to Microsoft Word. I did not have time to explore it, but I plan to later on.