# 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.

# 17 SandBox Wiki

I made several tried to create an account through marylandlibrariessandbox.pbworks.com, but the site failed to let me open an account. I also tried PB Wiki Tour and PB Wiki Video Gallery, both shown not available. I think this is a broken site. I am not going to spend any more time trying.

#16 Wikis

 I use Wikipedia frequently as a quick referencing tool for general information. You can also select different language settings. I watched slide presentation by Gorran Farkas and read about Wiki’s. I liked the Princeton Public Library Book Lovers Wiki book review categorized by different genre. The MERLIN Wiki learning link is connected to other Maryland libraries. I like the Wiki because it is more accessible and open to a group than a blog. The format is good for a book discussion group, a training site, or a community guides.

#15 Library 2.0

I watched the video “the machine is Us/ing Us”, anthropologist Michael Wesch discusses how we live in a fast changing, new form of community, and the world wide web is linking people together. Library 2.0, is an extension of Web2.0 and shares many of its same philosophies and concepts. Based upon cultural trends in the web environment, I think libraries have a lot of rethinking to do. We have to ask ourselves how we are going to familiar with the most up-to-date technologies and make this Web 2.0 information more available to everyone in the library in the future.

#14 Technorati

I did not sign up for the Technorati account. I am already signed up for 9 accounts since I began the 23 things learning journey. According to Wikipedia the name Technorati is a blend of the words technology and literati, an Internet search engine for searching blogs, Technorati looks at tags that authors have placed on their websites, these tags help categorize search results. I browsed through the top favorite blogs, top searchers, and top blogs. The Technorati keep track of influential bloggers and ranking it, the Top 100 runs once a day, see who's up, who's down, and what the blogosphere is paying attention to. It's a great site to browse; I'm not sure what use this site would be for working with patrons.

#13 Del.icio.us

I tried to watch Del.icio.us tutorial video but the site is no longer available. Luckily my library has been using the Del.icio.us tool for a while and I am familiar with it so I created my own bookmark. Del.icio.us has useful applications, especially for research, it is a good way to connect with other people doing the same research or having the same interests as you. It is a really handy way of keeping bookmarks organized with tags.I do not need to use the browser on my Desktop to keep track of my bookmarks. Ever since I enrolled in an American Sign Language course I bookmarked some ASL learning websites. I also like the bookmarks that can be shared with my ASL classmates. I have more than 50 bookmarks. I would recommend that patrons use del.icio.us to create their own lists of bookmarks according to their specific needs, even find additional resources by looking at other users' lists.

# 12 Rollyo

Rollyo is a Yahoo!-powered search engine which allows users to register accounts and create search engines.It enables the concept of a personal search engine.  Rollyo lets you search any site you visit just by clicking the bookmarklet, and allows you to save frequently visited sites into a “searchroll” so you can search your favorites anywhere. I started an account on Rollyo and I was quickly able to create my own search engines. I tried many times to drag my web search into the searchroll but failed. Maybe I'll come back to explore some more after I finish my 23 things.

#11 LibraryThing

LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books. This is a quick and easy way to create bookmarks that could be accessed from anywhere at any time—including mobile phones. One of the features I like the best is the shared feature that you can click on to link to other LibraryThing members and review their booklists based on similar authors. This is a useful site for keeping track of things I have already read and enjoyed reading. These are some of my favorite books. I am going to bookmark a reading list so I can keep track of the books I have read.

#10 Online image generator

I created an avatar on Yahoo Avatar and Meez. It is fun to play with image generator.

#9 MERLIN

I had experience using the MERLIN (Maryland's Essential Resource for Library Information Networks) site last year when I took the Skillsoft class online. Library Lingo, one of my favorite sites, is a listing of some common library terms and organizations. Thorough this site, there is another interesting site is Baltimore Art Research and Outreach Consortium (BARCO), http://www.marylandartsource.org/, you can find out about the Maryland artists, art institutions and art collections online. I think this site is good for homework on artists in Maryland. The social networking sites share links to other libraries, and how libraries are incorporating podcasts.

#8 Bloglines

I tried to sign up my Bloglines newreader account by using my gmail account. For some reason they rejected me then I switched to hotmail account and went through and receive email notifications. It is easier through yahoo for many sites. “RSS in Plain English ‘ tutorial video, is also helpful. The bloglines website made it very easy to add a variety of feeds. Some of the RSS icons are difficult to find. I subscribed 16 feeds, you can see here.

# 7 Technology related

There are different ways to download music, movies or TV shows into the iPod nano. With my first iPod, I imported some songs from CDs into my iPod music library and created a folder for my exercise music. One of the features, the Nike+ pedometer kit, has become my computerized personal trainer. It monitors how many steps I walk and how much calories I burned every day. If you have iPod nano and you are interested in joining the program this is the link. I just downloaded the Windows version of Safari to my desktop and I am trying to see if I can download a movie into my iPod, but I do not know how long is going to take.

#6 Flickr Trading card

#6 Flickr Trading card
I used the food photo and went into this link,this is my trading card.

#5 Flickr

Flickr is a photo sharing site supported by the parent company yahoo.com. Flickr is widely used by bloggers to host images that they embed on their blog posts. Flickr is a great site for sharing photos with family and friends. Since I already have yahoo account I was able to quickly create a Flickr account. I uploaded some photos my niece took when we ate in different restaurants during a visit to my hometown 2 years ago.If you want to see more tasty food.

#2 Beginning of learning journey

This blog should have been the first one for the Week #1.After I read the introduction of this progrma. I was so eager to try it that I jumped into Week #2 and setting up my own blog account and posted my first blog. Learning new things is very challenging and fun. I even coached my colleague setting up her Blogger's account.

# 1 Some thoughts on Blogging

I don’t like blogging and I am not as comfortable as some people in putting thoughts on the web. This is a great opportunity for me to learn about blogging and other forms of web communication tools. Seven and a half habits of Lifelong Learning is an easy introduction for those who are taking online class for the first time. After a few edits, I created my own blog. Now I have more confidence utilizing blogs and I am looking forward to learn about other web communication tools. One of the best ways for me to gain a better understanding of this learning process is by teaching it to someone else.