#21 Discover some useful tools for locating podcasts

First off, I didn't like the Yahoo! Podcasts search. I have a Yahoo! account, but I don't want to have to log in to access them. Half the time I forget my password for yahoo! because I never use it. :-P

But I did find a Severus Snape podcast from http://podcastalley.com/
Yay!! I like Podcast alley as it is much simpler to use rather than Yahoo! I then managed to add it to my Bloglines account

So go me, I'm finally done with my 23 things!!!!

#9 Locate a few useful library related-blogs and/or news feeds.

http://www.topix.net/

This is great to be able to find all sorts of new related posts right from Frederick County. And much cheaper then getting the newspaper ... but no comics :-P

I can even search the news in London, England!

I don't get the paper at home and I hate trying to shift though the online version so this = a much easier solution.

I must go bookmark this!

#23 Summarize your thoughts about this program and learn more about where to go from here

• What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I loved the "fun" exercises; YouTube, Flikr, The Web 2.0 awards site. The others were great as well and I really learned a lot from them. But in my day-to-day life, knowing how to use Flikr is going to come up more than some of the other sites.

• How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

Its taught me that I can find just about anything on the web to help me do just about anything. Its a matter of staying in practice with all the new toys I have play with over the past few weeks.

• Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

All the cool and neat stuff on the web that I never knew existed. And that many of the things that I thought were going to be hard and challenging we really quite easy. Yet the other things I thought were going to be easier were hard!

• What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I like this concept. That you don't flood us with the things and space it out over the week. Also that you gave us time to play catch up at the end to was great!

• If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

Yep!

• How would you describe your learning experience in a few words or a few sentences, so we can share our successes and promote this program?

Interesting. :-)

22. Take a look at the titles available

NetLibrary was nice, but I spend to much time looking at a computer screen a day as it is. Its great If I can find a book on here if I can't find it anywhere else. But besides that, I'd much rather have the ink-and-paper version.

I must confess that I did spend a bit of time reading the Aeneid once I found it. Yes, I'm a bit weird, I know. :-P

http://www.netlibrary.com/

20. Discover YouTube

I love YouTube! I don't pay much attention to the comments because most of the stuff I find had me recommended to me by friends. Also, I like the feature on the side that shows related videos.

I've included one from my favorite BBC TV show Top Gear. Its not shown in the US but you can get it off the Internet.

Usually its a bit more serious with honest car reviews, but this episode was made the when the winter Olympics were on so its like putting the cars into winter games. If you want a laugh I highly recommend them both.

19. Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list

http://www.fuzzmail.org/ This site is pretty cool, you basically type an e-mail and it sends it to the other person, except they read it like you typed it. For example, if I typed something .... then erased it, it shows that.

http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/ : so very fun, you basically have to look at the 20 pics they give you and guess what the Google Search was. Its addicting!

http://www.pandora.com/ I love this site and use it all the time, the only annoying thing is that you can only pass over 5 songs an hour. My suggestion is to make lots of stations to bounce around between.

Oops... wasn't I supposed to say how they could be practical in a library setting? Hmm.. Well, I think these are practical for those days when you've just had enough of library stuff and need a break from it all. ;-)

18. Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.

I love Google Docs. I've used it for a long time now and love the fact that no matter where I am, as long as I am a near a computer I can get my documents. I can't tell you how many times it's saved me in school when my flash drive is misbehaving and I can just open up my Google account and print it from there.

Its a simple form of Word in my mind and works just as well with out all the fancy bells and whistles. Which is just fine in my mind. :-)

17. Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki.

I've posted my blog : http://marylandlibrariessandbox.pbwiki.com/Favorite-Blogs

:) Which was a lot easier then I thought it would be. I was worried when I went in to add my blog to the list that I would accidentally hit the wrong button somehow and delete everyone's entries. But, thankfully, I didn't.

Go me!

And it was pretty cool to be able to look at everyone else's blog from the state.

#16 Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them

http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/ : I love this site, not only does it give good quality reviews, but its also a great way to find my next book to read. Amazon.com always seems to flood you with suggested titles and after a while they all start to blend together.

I think libraries would benefit from something like the above wiki. Some partons will come up and ask what is a good book and etc. But for the others who don’t want to ask or whatever, this would be a great recourse; and a way to feature some of the books that are not as well known. I know that Urbana has many books on amazing subjects, but not many would think that we would have them.

…. I think I rambled a bit, but you get the idea. :-P

#15 Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 & the future of libraries

Away from Icebergs : I agree with him that libraries today really need to start thinking about getting a great deal of material turned into “electronic” resources. Whether we like it or not, Google has been turned from a noun into a verb. How often do you hear someone these days say, “Hmm, I have no idea, Lets go to the library to find a book about it.” No, its more like: “I have no idea, Google it!”

To better bibliographic services: This guy also has the right idea, that we need to work on getting everything centered in one place.

#14 Discover Technorati and learn how tags work with blogs

Technorati was pretty interesting, I had no idea there are so many blogs out there about some of my favorite topics. I loved finding a few on ‘Top Gear’ ( A BBC car show). I guess it has its uses. That you can search for just blogs on a certain subject instead of wadding though everything Google pops up. I don’t think I’ll use it on a regular basis, but its nice to know its there.

#13 Tagging and Discover Del.icio.us

It took me a while to think of how this could actually be of any use. But I think that the main reason I would use it would be if I am away from my home computer and needed to access a site from my favorites list but couldn’t remember the address. … Then again, isn’t that what Google is for? :-P

http://del.icio.us/Grasshopper95