Thing 5 - More Fun

At the website, Big Huge Labs (what?), I used Motivator to create this poster. Using a photo from a relaxing family vacation in Canada, this mashup was easy to use and upload. I could right-click to save the poster as an image file, then use the "add image" feature of Blogger to bring it into the page. Big Huge Labs appears to have several mashups that I will explore further including Matte, Movie Maker, Top Cameras, Calendar, Framer and Billboard. I'll have to come back to this one! What a surprise. When I first began exploring the Top 10 Mashups using a Google search, I felt like I entered the world of wasted time. Of course, on the Internet, you never know what you will find on the next page.

Along the Way

Today I began to develop a presentation to share with teachers at the beginning of the new school year. I think I will give them a quick overview of some Web 2.0 options I have learned in 23 Things on a Stick. I believe I will follow-up with a few after school mini-trainings for those who are interested. There are so many things to share! Our library is also upgrading to Destiny this summer. I am anxious to share this with teachers, as well!

Thing 4 - Flickr

Photography is not my strength. Not surprisingly, Flickr does not immediately capture my imagination. OK, I can certainly see the benefits of storing photos online, having the ability to share them with friends and family, even browse through photos posted by those more gifted that I.

That being said, I am intriqued by the ability to search for photos by geographic location. (geotagged) I stumbled upon this photo, "London from the Stone Gallery" photographed by otrocalpe and displayed on Flickr. This photographer has received many accolades from others for this and other photos in his/her collection. At full size, this photo is magnificent. Anyone studying London today?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/227/455457538_12e5c002b6_o.jpg

I really appreciated the link to Creative Commons licensing. We need to continually work with students to help them understand that photographs belong to the photographer, just as text belongs to the author. Creative Commons provides an excellent example.

Thing 11 - Del.icio.us

A media specialist friend mentioned the Del.icio.us website to me quite some time ago. I decided I would begin my summer by diving into Del.icio.us. It has been great! So to kick-start my lagging 23 things blog, I thought I would restart with Thing 11. I set up a Del.icio.us website several weeks ago. I have enjoyed having my favorite websites readily available at any computer I use. I've played with tags and find that one or two generally meets my needs. More often than not, I have deleted a tag, rather than adding another. I am anxious to share this site with teachers who might also enjoy the convenience of easy access to online favorites. I also added the minn23 website to my Blogline account to keep track of new tags as they are added., but I am not sure that is working.

Now, as I explore the website futher and read through Thing 11, I better understand the option of sharing tags with others. Though I am not ready to introduce De.licio.us to middle school students for research, I do believe it will be one of the resources that I will check when looking for online resources to support the curriculum. I think I might create a De.licio.us website for the media center to assemble the websites we use at school. In the past, I have tried a variety of ways to organize these sites; none of which have been completely satisfactory. Maybe it would make sense to create my own "minn23" website for the students at our school. I'll look into Pagemaker a bit more, too.

Thing 3 - RSS Feeds

Over the last week or so, I have been using Bloglines to subscribe and unsubscribe to RSS feeds. It doesn't take long to figure out when you have subscribed to more than you bargained for. On the other hand, the format allows you to quickly review your feeds and move on. The 100 Favorites provided a quick way to "get the hang of it." I think I will be refining my list for quite some time. I've tried news feeds, a fellow blogger, as well as a variety of book and technology related websites. Now that I have a Bloglines account, I notice RSS feeds as I browse. What a great tool to gather favorite sites!

Thing 2

Anticipating that the 23 Things would be technical "how-to's," I was pleased to find myself in the midst of the "why." I certainly looked forward to becoming more familiar and comfortable with "how," but wondered if I would really use these tools for the library or only to support teachers in projects they wished to pursue. Clearly, this needs additional thought. Often, I find myself in the position of seeking student input. Why not use the online tools that they enjoy? I currently spend the time seeking them out. Not always practical in a school setting. In the long run, one might be more efficient using a Library 2.0 approach - once the tools are mastered. I agree with Abram, the time must be managed.

After reading the "Ongoing Web Revolution" and Blyberg's "11 Reasons," I wonder where this might lead. My sudden change in perspective plays right into Abrams, "look at the unintended consequences." I do not know where this thought will lead at this time, but I am already convinced that it will lead to change.

Getting Started

Working alongside two other media specialists led me to "Dewey Together." I'm looking forward to taking great new online adventures with 23 Things on a Stick and two great colleagues. We've laughed alot already just getting this far. Can't wait to see what happens next!