Curious - Think different

This is the last Project Play assignment of Semester 2. I'm kind of sad. Overall, I would say that I enjoyed Project Play. It has encouraged me to be more curious about the new tools available on the web. I'll miss the assigned exploration of Web2.0. Some assignments were fun and some not so fun. Now I'm on my own, so to speak, but I will try to continue to try to keep playing more, learning more, and fearing less. To do that I will try to stay current with the newsreader Bloglines and I'm going to try to carve out some time each day (or at least each week) to look at sites like eHub or Go2Web20. Google sites looks interesting and I wonder if the dept I work in could use it somehow. I'll have to think about it some more.


Maybe I'm not as curious as I should be, at least according to Seth Godin. See his video. He does have a point about how our society as a whole is not curious, that we watch too much television. Perhaps if more of us were willing to explore new ideas, to push the envelope so to speak, our world's problems would be fewer? What kind of world would we have if everyone was curious, where one was open to new ideas, where one could see new possibilities? Life in that world sure wouldn't be dull.


I used Sloganizer to find a title for this last post for Project Play. After watching Godin's video, I think the Sloganizer came up with an appropriate title. Being curious means thinking differently. One is not afraid to try new things or ideas. Project Play has started me on that path and hopefully I will continue to keep on playing more, learning more, and fearing less.

Mashups: [Project Play: Semester 2: week 10]

This week we got to learn about mashups.

The assignment was to add my library or some location to the Project Play sandbox map on mapbuilder.net. At first I couldn't figure out why my screen looked different than the example. It was hard to click on the correct buttons. However, after some help from owlsbeth I realized that I needed to change my resolution in order to see what I was doing on mapbuilder.net. Once I did that things became a whole lot easier.

Mashups are kind of fun and have an unlimited potentional. One example, that I was interested in was LibraryThing for Libraries, bringing together LibraryThing and library catalogs. People then have another tool to help them find something to read. I wonder if my library has considered doing something like those libraries have done (Libraries Using LibraryThing list).

I thought about doing a map of the locations of mysteries that I've read. It would be cool to see on a map the places that I've read about, but that would take a lot of time on my part. Plus most books don't have an exact address. Maybe I'll play with it at home?

I'm still trying to play more, learn more, and fear less!

YouTube: [Project Play: Semester 2: week 9]

This week we get to play with YouTube. There is a lot of variety on YouTube. I started out by watching some of the library videos. Arlington Heights PL did one on virtual reference, consentrating on IM. Next up was a travel writer giving tour of a library in Kansas. The last library video I watched was a commercial for the Grand Rapids PL. It was pretty easy to find videos on libraries. One could get carried away going from video to video.

I also took a look at some knitting videos. One was for binding off. I forgot how to do it and this short video showed me how. I like that you can find a video on how to do something. But I wonder if one could develop a YouTube addiction?

I probably spent too much time messing around with YouTube. Libraries can use this to promote services, give tours of the library, share a library program, the possiblilities are endless.

I tried to put a video that I found in the Film & Animation - Top Rated (Today) section. It was fun and made me think of summer. However, I couldn't make it work. So I'll try another one, which seemed to work. [Yeah!]

Screencasts: [Project Play: Semester 2: week 8]

This week we get to find out about screencasts. I don't have a whole lot to say about them. I do think that it's a good tool to use when trying to show someone how to do something, such as search the library's catalog or reserve a title. The ones at the University of Calgary: Library Connection looked and sounded pretty good. The few I looked at were short and to the point. It's another way to reach people.

Podcasts [Project Play: Semester 2: week 6]

This week we got to learn about podcasts. They're a good way to share audio or video content. I took a look at some of the library podcasts. A fair number were geared toward children.

I chose to add to my bloglines subscription Uncontrolled Vocabulary : a live discussion of news, trends, and topics in librarianship. In fact, I started to listen to one of the podcasts. I didn't finish it because it was an hour long and I needed to get back to work.

I haven't really gotten into podcasts. I prefer to listen to music when I am driving in the car or doing a physical activity outdoors. I do occationally listen to an audiobook. However, I can see the value of podcasts. It is a way to get out your message using audio or video. People can then listen to it or watch it at their convenience and not worry about missing it.

Social Networking sites [Project Play: Semester 2: Week 5]

This week we took a look at social networking sites. Although I understand the attraction, I'm not totally convinced that I personally need a MySpace or Facebook page. Yet it may be a place for the library to connect with younger users, at least to start with.

My assignment is to look at 3 library myspace pages. I took a look at Oshkosh PL OurSpace, La Crosse PL , Denver Public Library , and Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. The one I liked the best was Denver's. Oshkosh's was pretty basic. LaCrosse's site seems to be about blogging. I was wondering why there wasn't a link to the Library's home page or library's services. Whereas both Charlotte and Denver' s had links to library services. Charlotte has links to the best books of 2007 for teens, a meebo link for chat, links to find out more info about the staff. Denver has links to library services: AskColorado (virtual reference service), the catalog, reference databases, youtube summer reading video.

A lot of people are using social networking sites, so I guess the library has to go where the customer is, so to speak. But I think gearing a library's social networking site toward teens would be more useful. It would be interesting find out the impact of those sites on library use. Does the use of the library's databases increase? Does the use of instant messaging tools (Meebo, virtual reference services like AskAway) increase? Does it reach potential users and make library users out of them?
I'm not sure about getting a page on MySpace or Facebook for the library for which I work. Perhaps doing as Denver Public Library , and Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County did and concentrating on teens would be the way to start? But I think that the site has to be useful to the population that you are trying to reach. Otherwise, why would they even visit the site?

Remember the Milk & Jott [Project Play: Week 3: Semester 2]

This week we got to play with Remember the milk and Jott. Both have the potential to be useful tools, particularly for list makers. I successfully sent a message to Remember the milk. I added a due date and then clicked on "complete". It took me a while to figure out where my task went to after I did that. I think with a little more effort I could tap into the usefulness of Remember the milk. Whereas, with Jott I'm not so sure. I do see it's usefulness, but I have never lived and died by my phone. I do have a cell phone, but I'm still learning to use it. My screen is so small, I really haven't wanted to use it for email & texting. I guess I'm just old, but I am trying to play more, learn more, and fear less.