Thing #15

I believe that it is extremely important that libraries be the leaders in ushering in Web 2.0 technology. I agree that there are some ideas that librarians need to let go as Rick Anderson stated in "Away from the Icebergs." Libraries need to move away from relying solely or mostly on print resources for their patrons. The digital generation is aging and seeking information in ways that are most relevant to them. They are looking to the Internet, e-mail, texting, podcasts, webquests, wikis, blogs, etc. Libraries need to be ready to provide their patrons with the digital and technological tools their patrons need.
For me, I am still a babe in the Web 2.0 world, but I am quickly growing accustomed to it. I have learned how useful it can be for me personally and professionally. I think I now understand why I don't always relate well with my students. I have still been using 20th century teaching on 21st century students. It's time to learn their language.

Anderson, R. (2006). Web 2.0: Where will it take libraries? Away from icebergs. Next Space: The OCLC Newsletter. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm

Thing #14

I think Technorati is a very useful site. Searching the web can be overwhelming and exhausting. It is great to have tools that can help you narrow your search. I think tagging is very useful as well. It helps you narrow your search. I like the purest version of Schachter, that tagging was created for the user so they could access their information easily. But I see why businesses and bloggers want to use tags, also. It does draw attention to your site.

Thing #13

I actually have a Delicious account already. I took a Web 2.0 class with my district's technology supervisor, and she taught us about Delicious and helped us set up our accounts. I love it. It is so frustrating to have all your favorites saved on one computer and not be able to access them on another. This is a very useful tool for students because they may not be using the same computer they were using yesterday. As a librarian or teacher, you could bookmark all the web sites you want students to search in doing a project, and they would be able to access them from any computer. You would probably want to have a general account separate from your personal account, however.

Thing #12

The two points made that I think are most important are 1) watch out for and don't be a Darth Commenter (coolcatteacher) and make it easy to post comments (problogger). Both of these bloggers made other very important points, but these were the two that stuck out for me. I would certainly hate to think that I offended anyone with comments I've made, and so I would hate to be offended by someone else's comments (Golden Rule). I believe that you can disagree in a civil manner. Besides, ranting just makes people turn you off. If you truly have a valid point to make, no one is going to listen or respect your comments if you are rude and hateful about it. And I so love that problogger said to make commenting easy by not making the commenter login. Many of the sites that we have had to explore in 23 Things have asked you to login to be able to use the tools. That just means coming up with another username and another password. I just want to go to the site, use the tool or make a comment when blogging, and then go on about my business. Thank you problogger!

More later when I come back to this post.

I posted on a blog Edible Crafts. I'm not sure I did so successfully or not. I had to give my name and e-mail address (not published) which I did. I then wrote my comment and hit the submit button. It told me my comment was awaiting moderation. I don't know if that means they will review it before posting it or that I was supposed to do something that I forgot to do. Oh well. It is an interesting blog to me because I am an amateur cake decorator. I like to know what other people are doing in the cake decorating world. I also commented on Cool Cat Teacher. She wrote today about not "decking the hands." She was talking about how sometimes we criticize or lay blame unnecessarily and lose our workers, if not physically then psychologically. Very wise words.

Thing #11

LibraryThing is a great site. I have a huge collection of books in my classroom, and this site could help me keep track of information on my books. I can access the site to pull of information, especially books I haven't read yet, to share with my students. I think it would be great in my classroom and the library to search information on new books or books we want on our shelves. Students could search and be involved in the selection of books for the classroom or library (with supervision of course).

Thing #10

(This image taken by Bronwyn Rumsey, caption and stamp created at http://bighugelabs.com/captioner.php)

I enjoyed playing with the image makers. My favortie was Big Huge Labs. It seemed to be the most user friendly and had so many options. I think that librarians could use these image makers to design posters, bookmarks, signs, etc. to promote programs happening in their libraries. They could get students involved by allowing them to help make the products, and then maybe vote on the ones that will be used. Teachers could use the comic strip and cartoon generators to teach satire. These are also helpful to students who can't draw or have no interest in drawing. They can use these to create artwork for their projects.

Thing #9

I don't know if it is because it's late or what, but I had some trouble with this one. Several of the sites were unavailable to me for various reasons. Very peculiar. Anyway, I liked Technorati the best. It was well organized and easy to navigate. I found the news web site I like to follow and added it to my Google reader. So it was helpful to me. I also added the Atomic Learning blog. We have just started using Atomic Learning in our school district, so I thought it might be good to keep up with that one. Oddly enough, I thought Google Blog Search was too busy. It looked too much like Google Search, which I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that. Edublog confused me with the voting buttons. I was not prepared to vote. I just wanted to look.

Bron-wyn