Thing 37: Photo Tales

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I tried using Flickr since that is what I used before. I was unable to access the website, it was having trouble loading. I decided to start an account with PhotoBucket but in order to more forward with it, I need to get some pictures onto my account. I got some pictures that I had taken recently off of my facebook page and uploaded them onto photobucket. I tried to do the tiltshift thing because I thought that it sounded cool but when I actually went through it and created a miniature model picture, it wasn't nearly as cool as they played it to be. I then looked at One True Media and I used this to create a montage or slideshow of my pictures. I thought that this was pretty neat but very limited to the effects and things that you could do to your photos. I liked that they had music available to add to the montage and there was a large selection to choose from. I could see this being used to create a montage or slideshow of an event at the library to put on the library website and promote the different things that are going on. I could also see using this at home for photos from a vacation to share with friends and family but really for me, it is too much to do, I would rather just show people the actual pictures.

Thing 36: Comic Relief- Generate some fun

Being the huge nerd that I am, I loved the notepad generator and the cornell note taking generator. I got excited to make personalized stationary and could see how it could come in handy if I was still in school or needed such item. There seem to be a lot more things out there, mainly on the internet that allow people to easily organize and keep track of things. These definitely would have come in handy back in the day. I also loved the dewey decimal generator. Trying my full name, I was 189 Medieval Western Philosophy. When I put in just my first and last name, I was 079 Newspapers in other geographic areas. I was very amused by this generator and could see this become an almost addiction for the nerdy librarian in me. I also checked out the braille generator which i thought was neat. I looked at the XtraNormal website where they convert text to movie. I didn't want to create an account so I was not able to view my movie but it was interesting. I liked the ToonDoo and I think that I may just have to check that one out again and make soem cartoons from scratch. I am sure that I am the only one that will find them funny but I will be laughing out loud at my own jokes. I think that it would be neat for the library to have a weekly or daily cartoon created by the staff on the website. I think that patrons would like the personal touch and it would give them a way to get to know their librarians better. Other than this, I don't see how any of these generators could be used in the library but they are good for entertainment.

Thing 35: Books 2.0

In our library, I have not seen much change in the borrowing of books being influenced by kindle or other electronic book type things. I think that people like to have the physical book in their hand. That's part of the whole experience of reading it, feeling and smelling the book. I also think that people find it hard to read on the smaller electronics and it hurts their eyes. Personally, I like the whole process of going to the library, looking through the books, seeing a cover, and actually touching the book. I think that the electronic devices make it seem like you are more of reading a webpage than a book. I think that its not the same experience and because of this, there won't be a mad rush of people switching over. I already have been a member of LibraryThing from the first round and I absolutely love it. I mainly wanted to join so that it would organize my books for me and I would just have to coordinate my shelves. I wish that I would have more time to finish entering all my books but soon, I hope. I looked at a few other sites that were on the list, but I think that I still like LibraryThing the best. I created an account with the Shelfari website. I really liked the look of this site and was excited about it until I joined and got started. There was no organization for my collection and it seemed to be more of a book talk site rather than an organization and collection site. I also looked at the BookLamps site. I joined because once againI thought it looked cool. I was way confused and didn't really figure out what to do on the site. We already use the KDL What's Next site at our library and it has come in handy quite often. The last site that I looked at was the Living Social website. If I spent more time on the internet for entertainment, then I would definitely join this site but it just seemed like one more thing that I wouldn't have time for.

Thing 34: Is this our competition? --Online Answer Sites

I think that a lot of people like the idea that when they ask a question on an online answer site, they are able to do so completely anonymously. They aren't afraid of looking stupid or anyone making fun of them for what they ask because it cannot be tied to them. I also think that to many people, the idea of doing things on the internet gives them the idea that things are being done faster and more efficiently.
I saw a lot of relationship and sex related questions. I think that this is because of the privacy and secrecy that the internet allows them. These are questions that they may be too embarrassed to ask someone in person and perhaps want the opinion of someone who is impartial to the situation. These are questions that they don't necessarily need an expert or a professional to answer, they just want an opinion. So, these are questions that are not really appropriate for a librarian or to be asking in the library.
I did not participate in the slam boards. I think that libraries are coming into this question and answer technology on their own. Using email and instant messaging, people are able to contact and use the resources of the library without even stepping in the door. We are making a virtual library as a place and people are using this place to interact with librarians and get their questions answered in a timely manner. They know that they are getting an expert or professional answer and I think that they value this more than an answer from wikianswers or askville.

Thing 33: Travel 2.0

I have done a lot of looking at travel sites in the past. The last dozen trips or so that I have gone on, I have done all the planning and booking online. I think that it is great that we are able to access this information online and to take care of virtually everything. I only recently have gotten into the sites that go over traveler's reviews and advisory. I checked out a couple of the sites that were on the list. I had been to tripadvisor.com before and i think that it mixes well with the other planning sites such as expedia and travelocity. I have read reviews about hotels on travelocity and expedia and thought that those were helpful but I really liked how tripadvisor.com goes into more detail and seems to be a lot more helpful. I also checked out farecast.com and looked up some flight costs from seattle to fargo. I was a little disappointed that I could not get the cost forecast feature on these destinations but i am sure that is just for the major airports and destinations. I also checked out the blog My Kugelhopf and I absolutely loved this!! I think that I am going to have to live vicariously through this blog. The pictures were amazing and the words were very well written. It was a great advertisement for the areas that she had traveled to. I think that this is the sort of advisory that I would find most helpful. If I had the means to do a big trip, say to Europe again, I would definitely check out this blog or one similar to find places of interest to visit.
At the library, we get questions about traveling and about travel guides. Our library has decided against purchasing more travel guides since they are so expensive and they need to be updated quite often. These are great resources to provide for patrons. In fact, at our library, we are providing a class this summer about travel resources and websites. I think that many of these will come in very handy.

Thing 32: Google Maps and Mashups

I have used Google Maps quite a bit before. In fact, in my Internet Searching class that I have taught here at the library, I also show people how to use this website and a few of the neat things that can be done with it. I have not used the My Maps before. I had a little difficulty with My Maps and finding all the place point describers and the different features but I asked a coworker and she helped me a bit. I created a map of where we will be going on our honeymoon in a week and a half. I created some place markers for places of interest that we will be going to and some things that I like along the way. I looked over the mash-ups and took some time with the local brewery one and found some places of interest along our trip that we may have to check out. I can see adding the google maps feature to the library website to show people where the library is and to perhaps to help them with directions to the library. I can also see it working to show people where important places are in the city such as the post office, city hall, courthouse, etc. An interesting way to also use it for the library would be to create historical walking tours that people would be able to print off and follow throughout our community and find important places in our history. Here is my map that I created:

View Honeymoon in a larger map

Thing 31: More Twitter

What does your Twitter page say about you? How does it reflect your personality? Have you given people enough information about you so they have some sense of who you are as a person?

I had heard about Twitter before I created my account on the previous Twitter thing. I was excited to create an account and to be involved in this online sensation. I now use twitter on a pretty regular basis. I tweet about how i'm feeling, what i'm doing or about something cool that I saw on the internet and want to share. I have started following alot of celebrities and people that I admire. Its cool to become a part of their daily lives (almost) or at least to see a part of their lives that you might not normally have the access to. I have not found a whole lot of my friends and no family that I know of uses twitter so its become kind of a little different and almost a secret thing that I can vent into or use to say things that I might not otherwise say. I would say that I am in the microblogging stage. Although I am not constantly or daily updating my status, I try to as much as possible and I have 1x1 conversations with other peeps. I think that twitter is an excellent way to connect and to get your ideas and thoughts out there. I think that it is connection. Although I may be a little technology phobic when I think of being able to tweet from phones and many other devices. I like my phone to be used for calling people and texting directly to another phone. I don't have internet access on my phone or a full keyboard and I will resist this until its humanly possible. But I do like twitter and I will continue to use and communicate through it.