Web 2.0 Tips

I thought this blog post from the Librarian in Black was worth sharing: Ten Social Tips for Libraries. The most worthwhile advice, in my opinion, are tips #2 and #10. In #2, she advises us to keep all of our blogs, wikis, Facebook accounts, etc. up-to-date. After all, if we're going to call ourselves "information specialists" we best keep that information current and accurate! And likewise, #10 advises librarians that it is okay to delete accounts that you are not using. Hey - you don't know if a Web 2.0 tool is going to be a good fit for you unless you give it a try. But, if it doesn't fit and you aren't keeping it up-to-date...get rid of it and move on.

Week 6: Thing #15 - Library 2.0

It's timely that as I explore this week's assignment on the concept of Library 2.0, I just came across yesterday's New York Times article, Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? Actually, it is the beginning of a series of articles on the " Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read". This first article discusses the differences between reading a book and reading online. Of course, each has its merits and downfalls. Reading a book, to me, feels much like visiting a friend for a few days - I get the opportunity to really get to know them, learn from them, and am often sorry to say goodbye. Whereas when I read online, I feel like I'm in a room full of people with all different interests and viewpoints. I find myself drawn into one interesting conversation, but then am distracted by something else being discussed that also piques my interest. So, although I am offered a plethora of information and ideas, mingling through all this information takes patience and time...and it takes much effort to stay focused!

When you think about it, Library 2.0 or Classroom 2.0 tools are also kind of like being in that room of people: there are so many worthwhile, valuable ideas out there, but keeping your undivided attention on one for any length of time isn't easy. As our students are offered more and more online learning opportunities, they are placed in the same scenario. Does that mean that we keep closing the door to that room so that our students stay focused on just books and classroom learning? Of course not. Actually, our jobs as librarians have taken a very important shift: it's vital that we guide our students through all this information and show them how to get the most value from it all.

As Penny appropriately remarks on her Considerations 2.0 blog, "Kids need a safe haven and someone to help them make sense of all the information with which they are bombarded daily."
And yes, sometimes that safe haven is a little visit with that faithful book friend.

Testing "Blog This"

Nicole Atkins gets silly with Jim
Originally uploaded by mschwander

Jane asked a good question about blogging with Flickr on her There from Here blog, which really got me investigating. She wondered why some people's photos allowed her to post to her blog, whereas others did not. I never even noticed that.
Well, according to Flickr help, you can set that option up in your personal account - choosing whether to allow others to post or not.
To test - this is a picture of my husband with singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins taken at XPN's XPoNential Music Fest last week in Camden, NJ. So, anyone wishing to do so, could open this in Flickr and be able to post it to their blog through the "Blog this" option since that's how I set mine up. (not that I would imagine any would want to!)
Anyway, that's one of the best things about this Web 2.0 class - I am definitely learning and getting ideas from my colleagues' posts. Thanks for sharing that issue, Jane!

Templates Worth Exploring

It's been kind of bugging me - how come my blog looks so cramped and crowded, whereas the PA Online Web 2.0 blog is stretched across the screen without blank, unused areas to the left and right? So, I started exploring different templates in Blogger and discovered this one. No more wasted space for me. Much better!

Week 6: Thing #14 - Technorati Tags

So much to learn with Technorati! I thought I was understanding Technorati pretty well after I learned how to add my blog site and to post a link on my blog so that users can mark it "favorite" on Technorati. I also had no trouble in updating my pings as well as creating a Watchlist of my favorite tags.
But I'm not so sure I understand how to tag certain posts to Technorati. Actually - I guess I'm not even clear on why I need to do this. Since my blog is now "claimed" on Technorati, I would have thought that whatever tags I attribute to a post, get picked up by Technorati...no?
Anyway, I'm going to give this a whirl and attempt to add a Technorati tag, Library 2.0, to this post as per their directions. Keep your fingers crossed!

library 2.0

Week 6: Thing #13 - More Great Ways to Share

On my blog about Thing 11, I talked about the great ways Web 2.0 allows educational professionals to share their resources and ideas. Of course, the sharing is not limited to just teachers, and the Del.icio.us bookmarking tool is a perfect example.

I started using Del.icio.us a couple of years ago. At first, I was only sharing amongst myself; I used it so that whether I was at school, at home, or on someone's computer - I could have access to all my favorite sites. It didn't take me long to realize that it was the perfect tool to use with my students. As I am always creating Pathfinders of resources for various class units, I used to have to go in and update each Pathfinder site as I discovered new websites. But Del.icio.us has this great, little widget called a linkroll. Not only can you display your widget on your website, wiki, blog, or whatever - but you can limit the bookmarks to certain tags. So, on my Pathfinder for the World Cultures unit on China, I have a linkroll embedded for just my bookmarks tagged "China". Every time I add a China site to my Del.icio.us account, it automatically shows up on my Pathfinder. How great is that?

As an example, here's a linkroll on my bookmarks tagged "Web 2.0". By the way, that first one listed is the latest one I added and one I learned thanks to this class! I found it on fellow blogger's site , Considerations 2.0!:

Week 5: Thing 12 - Searches Made Simple

Rollyo is a tool I have used in the past for home use: I have a Rollyo for recipes which includes all my favorite recipe websites. I also have a Custom Google Search tool which searches various book websites.
But this week's assignment challenged me to think about how I could use it in a more effective way for students or teachers. It didn't take me long to think of a useful custom search tool: digital images which are copyright-free! Our students are constantly needing to find images for projects which may very well be posted to the web. Similarly, teachers need to find copyright-free images for their class websites. Too often, both students and teachers turn to Google Images and don't seem to realize that the images they select may very well have copyright protection. By having a Rollyo tool on my library page just for copyright-free images, I would really be helping my school community to use images properly and ethically. I plan to put this on my library website right away!

Select...Image SearchSearch The Web

Week 5: Thing 11 - A Sharing Communty

One of the best things about Web 2.0 tools is the ability it gives educators to share professional resources and learning ideas. I joined the TeacherLibrarianNing a couple of years ago for just that reason. I've gotten some fabulously creative ideas from this network and have gained many professional relationships. Creative Commons, Flickr, YouTube...are additional sharing networks which have been invaluable to me as well as my fellow colleagues.
After exploring the many wonderful sites on the Web 2.o Award List, I was immediately drawn to docstoc because of its value in sharing educational resources. Powerpoints, pdf files, and spreadsheets are just some of the formats which professionals have posted to share. With a separate category for education, you can find anything from gorgeous China photographs to a literary analysis organizer. Not only can you email, download or link to the documents, but you can embed them into your blog our website.
To test - here an AP US History Presidents Quiz. How well do you know your presidents?

AP US Presidents Exam - Get more College Essays

Week Five: Thing 10 - Let's Get Cooking!

The things you can cook-up with Image Chef!

Above...an advertisement for our new library courtyard.

Week 4: Thing 8 & 9 - Can You Read Me?

Okay - so I set-up a couple of RSS feeds with Google Reader. To be honest, with my iGoogle account, I was always content with just having feeds on my Google home pages. But, now that I've played around with Google Reader - I'm really liking it! Not only can I apply my own tags to my feeds, but I can organize whole feeds into folders. Plus, I can create a public page to share feed articles with others.
So, what are some favorites of mine? Joyce Valenza's Never Ending Search and Sarah Houghton-Jan's Librarian in Black are two that I always keep up with. I also like to keep up with new book releases with NPR and New York Times.
And now, I'm anxious to check-out some of my fellow Web 2.0 classmates' postings for other feeds to check out!

Week 3: Thing 7 - A New Soul

You know that MacBook Air ad which plays the Yael Naim song, New Soul? Now that I've recently gone from a PC to a MacBook, that's kind of how I feel: "...a new soul, I came into this strange world hoping I could learn a bit 'bout how to give and take". The taking part is easy - iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb: these tools (like all Mac apps) are so, so user friendly they are pretty much a breeze to pick-up. Plus, when I do need some help along the way, the Apple iLife Tutorials are great as is Apple's Switch 101 site which helps fellow PC switchers like me.
The giving part? Well, actually that's just as easy as you can easily post and share your self-created podcasts, movies and websites.
This is all pretty exciting to me since this coming school year we are to get about a dozen Macs in our library. If the Mac process is easier for me, it's got to be the same for my students. In years past, I cannot tell you how many frustrations we had over Windows Movie Maker. Importing videos clips and saving projects were a constant headache and many teachers and students were totally turned-off to creating video projects. What a shame! Here's hoping our new Macs bring life to our "new little souls" and video projects come alive again.

The Wonderful World of Widgets

I guess you could say that I'm "widget-happy". So many widgets, so little room on the blog. I decided to add two of my favorites to this blog:
1. Shelfari - my own little online database of books. Not only can you share what books you have read, but selected books in your database which are marked with a particular tag. I'm finding this a handy little tool in my high school library because it's a great way of sharing a selection of books with students. For instance, once our Reading Olympics books were announced for this year, I entered them all onto Shelfari and then posted a Reading Olympics widget on my blog. Students don't just get a boring list of the books, but images of the book jackets along with summaries.
2. ShowYourself is a cool little tool to help you stay connected through all your many social networking tools. Whether it's Flickr, YouTube, Twitter or Technorati - this widget allows your blog readers to quickly access your accounts.