Week 9, Thing 23 - Tra la, I'm done!

Well, it looks like I've completed the program. I'm going to run through all the suggested questions that are part of Thing 23......

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I really enjoyed learning about RSS, sites where you can share word processing and spreadsheet files, and del.icio.us.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This can be overwhelming. It gives you the feeling that you can never keep up. I find that I'm more committed now to tracking at least a few sites/blogs/feeds that will keep me at least reasonably up to date on what's going on.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I find I'm using the collaborative shared file sites right away to work with people from other departments and organizations. Like my cool new GPS gizmo, it was one of those things that I didn't realize I could use until I actually experimented with it.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I'd put Thing 3 at the beginning. Setting up a blog is a landmark moment for participating in this program. I think it would be good to have that in place first thing. It's not difficult (at least it doesn't seem difficult now) and it would give folks an instant place to start recording progress.

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

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?
This program served three important functions for me....

1. It made me familiar with things I'd only heard about. Taking the time to experiment has demystified terms like blog, rss, etc. so that I can now launch into discussions about them with confidence.
2. It made me aware of things I had never heard about and now find completely essential. Shared file sites and del.icio.us are now part of my life.
3. It allowed me to collaborate and celebrate these new technologies with others in and outside my library system. This was just the nudge I needed to launch out in this direction. Thanks!

Week 9, Thing 22 - Gutenberg & Downloadable Audiobooks

Finally, here's one where I aleady had lots of experience. I've downloaded audiobooks from both NetLibray and Overdrive. It takes a bit longer through Overdrive to download their media console but it's a handy piece of software to have. It helps manage the download and the digital rights stuff. I also like how Overdrive breaks their titles down into manageable size parts. That's a plus.

I have used Project Gutenberg lots of times to help customers find info. Once we had a customer who had a line that he thought was from Longfellow but couldn't say what poem. Of course, it wasn't the first line so it didn't turn up in any of the usual print indexes (this was a few years ago). We downloaded the complete works of Longfellow from Gutenberg and had the computer search the file for the line he remembered. He was IMPRESSED. So were we.

Week 9, Thing 21 - Podcasts

I have to admit that podcasts haven't impressed me so far. I haven't found anything that I want to chase after to that degree. I did check the Denver Public Library site and subscribed to their RSS feed of story time podcasts. That should be fun. It took me a while to figure out how to do it but it finally worked. At least it SEEMED to work. We'll see if anything feeds in!

Week 9, Thing 20 - YouTube

I have seen lots of YouTube videos and have even used it to answer questions when custoemers are looking for particular songs. It's amazing how many old music videos are on there. I've seen the popular favorites like Cat vs Turtle, Shopping Penguin, Charlie the Unicorn and (my favorite) OK Go on treadmills.

I recently bumbled across this one that really caught me. It would probably be a good science fair selection for someone. Fascinating patterns made from sound....

Week 8, Thing 19 - Web 2.0 awards

Well, I browsed around on that award site for quite a while. It was interesting to see the variety of things that are available. That list is a good answer for people who ask "what is web 2.0".

I saw a variety of interesting stuff but didn't find anything that I really HAD to play with until I landed on Pandora (www.pandora.com). That was really cool. I entered an assortment of song titles or groups and it came up with many similar selections. I don't have weird music taste but I don't know a lot of people who would make the same selections so this was a plus. I will no doubt spend much time here.