week 10 #23

Wow! What a trip! When I first started on this adventure, I didn't know where it would take me. It has taken me on numerous side adventures. I really liked the interactive map, and the Avatars. The section on Overdrive was of interest to me and I think I might try it in the near future. When I surf the WEB or read about the internet, my knowledge gained from this program helps. I now know what tags are, how to create a blog and many other numerous things.

Part of the draw of the program was the fact that coworkers were all doing it together. So many times we are compartmentalized and don't have the time to share our knowledge and experiences with our coworkers. This program allowed us to "mingle".

I would say that a followup program would be good but I would make it a little shorter.

Thanks for all the work that was put into this endeavor.

week 9 #22

When the library first announced that Overdrive was available, I didn't have much interest in it. However after reading about downloadable media in this lesson it has become more interesting. The ability to download books, etc into an MP3 player is a handy thing to be able to do. Exploring the different sites really opened my eyes (and ears) to the world of audio books, and other media. One of these day I just might try one!

week 9 # 21

I explored several sites that had podcasts. I watched a few and found them interesting. However, I could never figure out how to download them to my bloglines. Several had links to thr rss information but when I pulled it up it was of no help. Maybe someday I will come back to podcasts and try and figure it out, but for now I will move on.

week 9 # 20

You Tube was a blast to watch. I typed in random subjects for my life . . . Mukwonago (where I went to high school, Paris and amsterdam, and of course dachshunds! It was fun to watch other people's videos, although the quality was sometimes very poor.

I chose the Sprint commercial video because I just like dachshunds. I own one and he is as crazy as they come. I remember viewing this commercial and laughing then. It still makes me chuckle!

Week 8 #19

The idea of having word processing, spreadsheets, etc. available on the internet is a great idea. From personal experience I know that these programs are expensive. Not everyone can afford them. The online capabilities makes these programs available to everyone. They seem easy to use. My only concern is security of the documents. I am still wary of putting personal information on websites. If I used Zoho, I would only work with projects that are non personal in nature.

week 8 #18

Social networking is the in thing for our young people. My son especially, uses MySpace as his connection to his circle of friends. I am not that into computers so the social networks don't really appeal to me. However, I did get a kick out of Dogster and was tempted to open an account for my dog.

week 7 # 17

Technology. . . that field is wide open. The hardest thing to fanthom is how fast it changes. Just when you think you have figured something out and feel really good about it, WAM the technology changes and now you are in the ancient past.

Oh, well. I still have had fun exploring the lessons. Even though some frustrated me, all in all I have enjoyed navigating the river of TECH!

week 7 #16

You definately have to have patience when going to IHCPL's wiki. I had to wait more than once to edit steal lock to enter my views. Once I got in, it also took me a little while to figure out how to add a comment. Simple and obvious is not necessarly easy (for me that is!)

Oh well, that's the point of these exercises . . . learning!

week 7 #16

The world of wikis is facinating. As a creator it is empowering to know that you are able to post your research, feelings, etc about a particular topic. As a user though, you must be careful about believing everything you read on a wiki.

A wiki I especially liked was Library success . I found a very interesting discussion about weeding, which is something I am doing right now at my other job. I was also glad to see some safety features installed to control vandalism. I will definately link this wiki to my blog!

week 6 #15

I read several of the articles on Library 2.0. They were all interesting but the one that struck me as the most as down to earth was the Library 2.0 Manifesto. Laura put into simple language waht we all need to think about and be practicing. In my opinion, HCPL has been and continues to be on the track laid out by the Manifesto.

week 6 #14

Wurfer should be surfer!

week 6 #14

I explored Technorati and found it offering too much information. I am not a wurfer of the web and sometimes feel that there is too much info out there and much of it is frivolous. I did find that the way you type your keyword for a search does matter. Spacing of "learning 2.0" brought up different hits. Even though I do not care for this type of website, I am glad to be exposed to it.

week 6 #13

I ran into problems watching the video. It quite after 32 seconds and I could not get it to run any further for me. I did go the the hcpl deli.ci.ous page and explored some of the links listed. A very handy tool. I will try to watch the video again at home so I can learn a more about this tool.

week 5 #12

The ELF program can be a asset for patrons. However, I feel that HCPL has a great notification system and do not need to use ELF. It is a good idea to learn about all that is out there in cyberspace, but a person needs to carefully consider their options and not overload. Too much of something can be overwhelming and then become a big turnoff.

amsterdam street actor

amsterdam street actor
Originally uploaded by sgreer@hcpl.net

Hey lady, do you think I can survive on 5 Euros?

week 5 #10

The avatars were a trip! It was fun to be creative and just let your imagination run wild.

week 5 #11

The librarything website is pretty cool. Making a catalog of my favorite crazy children
's books was fun. In thhis exercise I also had to review how to add a link to my blog. That was a good thing because I did not remember how to do it.

week 4 # 9

I am not so sure this RSS stuff is anything that really interests me. Sometime the amount of information out there overwhelms me. The sites at which you can find feeds obviously show that RSS feeds are very popular and the easiest one for me to use was Feedster. But it still does not interest me. I prefer to get my news the old fashioned way. I am however glad to learn about these tools, they keep me up to date.

week 4 bloglines post 8

This was an interestign activity. The tutorial was helpful but it took awhile for the info to sink in my brain. With all the information out there in cyberspace, organizing the few you like makes sense. I hope to use my blogline on a regular basis. I needed help to add a participants' blog and I never did figure out how to add flickr. On to the next activity!

Get your own Trippermap!

Editing pictures

Here is the photo I edited. It didn't upload with my other post because I forgot to read the fine print and did not say I agreed to their terms. I obviously still need to practice.

I haven't quite got the hang of this photo editing. I used snipshot and pixar and was able to crop, resize, etc. but not add the special effects. I will need to explore this subject a little bit more.

I just discovered the mapping capability on flicker. That is so cool! You can create a pictorial history for your children. Just knowing where a person lived or activity happened is one thing but being able to visualize it on a map is another. You could trace ancestor's trip or your own vacation. I will defiantly add more photos to my map and also show my children. Maybe I can teach them a computer skill. that would be soo neat!

The Past

grandma
Originally uploaded by sgreer@hcpl.net

This is a photo of my mother when she was about six months old. I have always loved history and photos like this reminded me that history is as important to us now as the present.

lucky

lucky
Originally uploaded by sgreer@hcpl.net

Here is our dog Lucky. We called him that because he was lucky to get us and we were lucky to get him. Happy birthday Lucky (October 16)!

Internet privacy is very important to me. For years I did not buy things on the internet because I was afraid of fraud. However, now I will do more on the internet. I have found it to a convienent way to conduct business. I am, however, very careful about where I surf and what sights I visit. I feel it is essential to use firewalls, virus protection and spyware to protect your self. One of the biggest helps to protect yourself is using common sense. Using the internet for business is similar to conducting business in person or on the phone. You shoud be aware of how you are talking to, who is around, where your personal stuff is, etc.

The easiest thing to accomplish is reading about the different things you can do on the web. The hardest is actually doing them. But the blog setup was easy.