Thing#23 The End?

Its all over,Learn&Play is drawing to a close. I'm ver happy to have particiapted in Learn&Play because it has taught me a lot of new thingsa I dodn't know about the internet. I've been using the internet for years and I am fairly confident in my abilites to get around. Even with the prior experience Learn&Play has taught me how to use RSS feeds, how to actually use twitter and what that site does, it helped me discover some fun new programs such some image generators and some cool free flash stuff. Thanks to learn and play I can now use sites such as delicous for bookmarking and flickr for finding reference images for my artwork. If the library ever offered another Learn&Play program I would gladly sign up. I though I knew EVERYTHING about the internet,but thanks to Learn&Play I now know there is so much more to learn and how to use it.

Thing#16 Learn&Play Sandbox Wiki

I found adding my blog to the wiki to be a little hard. If there wasn;t the editting tutorial I would have never seen the the edit tab at the top of the page. I wish this excersize let us edit a little more to the wiki so we could be better accustomed to adding and editting information on a wiki.

Thing#2 Lifelong Learning

Lifelong is important. I took this presentation to heart,especially concerning my college education. The thing that is easiest for is playing, I like playing and sometimes I do it a little too much. As for the hardest would be having confidence in myself as a learner. I've never been the head of the class and I'm known to slack off, so having confidence in myself towards learning isn't the easiest thing for me, I may be dedicated but it doesn't mean I always show it. I will definitely be using this presentation to help me get ahead in my schoolwork and in whatever may happen to me afterwards.

Thing#12 Twitter

Its taken 2 weeks to use twitter, their search function has been down whenever I try to use it. Now I can. Twitter is still new to me,I'm not one for online community stuff,my myspace and facebook pages are left untouched most of the time. Maybe I'm just a hermit. After searching I did come across a few posts, one brought me to a contest dedicated to horribly drawn game artwork, it was all good until I saw it was intentional,either way still awesome. My twitter name is Wake Up Sammy. As for the library using twitter as a tool I could see it being used as a non-library bulletin board. It would be a good place for others to post library news and a few other not-library related news.

Thing#10 Online Image Generators

I love online image generators. I'm more fond of the picture replacement generators,which website addresses escape me at the moment. Anyways it took me awhile to find a few good online image generators that didn't look like they were just text dumped in front of an image in a 30 second job in photoshop. The sites I did find were great, the first is a an online generator from http://www.redkid.net/generator/sign.php ( I would reccomend not straying too far on the site since it does seem to be linked to a few "NSFW" sites. The site contained quite a few image generators but I chose the Las Vegas sign generator.
The other was www.churchsigngenerator.com which allows you to make a ton of customized church signs.
Here are the results of my labors:

Thing #17 Google Documents

All I can say is holy crap! I don't care if one day google will own the entire all I can say being able to type a file online and being to work on and transfer to any computer is a godsend. As a college student this is a HUGE asset I've had many papers not works as I go from computer-to-computer to work on and finish a paper,especially since I'm going from PC to Macs constantly. This single program alleviates all of those problems,and for free! I will making google docs to help type and store my papers in the future. My only complaint with google docs? I don;t know where the double spacing feature is for formatting but since I can transfer these documents to word on any computer and then spell check them there, it doesn't matter. This will make typing papers so much easier,thanks Learn&Play for showing me this awesome tool.

Thing#22 Ebooks and MOLDI

I've never really been a big fan of Ebooks only because I don't like the idea of losing printed media as a way to convey information,plus staring at a computer screen hurts my eyes sometimes, especially when reading lots of text. Even though I feel this way I really do like the idea of MOLDI. After searching through it I'm very surprised with the amount of good books they have available. I assume MOLDI is free,since I couldn't log in because my library card number is apparently not found, but if it is a free service I could really see myself using it. I was happy they have a copy of Slaughterhouse Five, a book I've been trying to get around to reading for awhile. When it comes to older more classic books, I tend use Halfprice books for finding them since Barnes and Noble usually sells newer copies at higher prices. And being a college student and all I like to save money. With MOLDI I can find many books I've been trying to track down and read more easily and without having to go purchase it or hope that the library is open or having to reserve the book. As long as MOLDI continues to get more support I could see this service becoming an evemn bigger asset to not only our library but to other library systems as well.

Thing #21 Locating Podcasts

I've never heard of any of the podcast finding websites before. I had no idea so many podcasts existed. I used podfeed.net and podcastalley.com to locaate podcasts. I found podfeed.net to be much easier to use and an overall better resource. Podcastalley felt much more limited in its amount of available podcasts only because it existed of a few top 10 podcasts, unlike podfeed which acted as an entire database of available podcasts.
I could see the library using podcasts to help spread the news of what programs and events are happening. I definately see podcasts as a way the library spread news to its staff quickly and efficiently. This would help keep staff informed and would allow news to spread throughout the library quickly instead of relying on word-of-mouth and a location to location basis.

Thing#20 Youtube

Oh the youtubes, where would I be without you. Thnaks to youtube my personal productivity has dropped severly. Personally I love youtube and love its ability to provide me with everything from entertainment to video reference. My only complaint with youtube is that the use of copyrighted material is often scrutinized and removed. Mnay a times a show I love will get posted on youtube and will be remvoed soon after. This is pretty depressing becasue many of the shows that get posted on youtube aren't available on dvd or on television.
The videos below are two that I find amusing. I can't garuantee they are in good taste, but that's the price we pay when everyone can upload their own videos online.

First off is a burning tickle-me-elmo. I'm Pretty sure many people can agree with me that this little red fiend has brought many a parent and child pain and suffering,and as the video proves fire only serves to fuel Elmo's happy demeanor.



Second is proof why not everyone is cut out for the music business. Below is Electronik Supersonik which is cited by some as the WORST music video of all time. I'll just let the video do the taking.

Thing#19 Library PowerTools

Thanks to the library's powertools I was able to discover BoingBoing and Make.com
BoingBoing is a blog that updates daily on strange,yet amusing news. In my looking over thwe page I found a range of topics such as a video of chickens breaking up a rabbit fight, an indepth discussion about the conciousness of decapitated heads, and other oddball things as steampunk jewelry and always creapy valley of the doll toyline.
Make.com is site dedicated to people hacking,modding,and macking there own stuff. Things such as easy-to-open notebooks, customized speakers, home-made Led lights and phonhe modifications can be found their. I also discovered the site acts more as a community since everything on the site is user submitted and everyone is encouraged to psot their own creations for others to try.

Thing#18 Discovering Web2.0 Tools

Thanks to the Web2.0 awards list I was able to find a site called the one million master piece. (www.millionmasterpiece.com) This site acts like one giant image mashup, where one million different pieces of art (all created on their site) will be pieced together to make an image that contains one million pieces of art. The idea behind the site is that it will produce the world's first truly global artwork in which everyone will have contributed to a piece of it.
As an artist I love the idea of making a piece of art that is composed of other's peoples are to create a unique work of art. Unlike deviantart, an art site where individuals post their own work, one million master piece instead uses everyone's individual work to create an entirely new work. This allows people to post their art as means to make something greater rather than showing your art to receive praise or a blidn following of fans, something deviantart is notorious for. Yopur art can instead be used to make a piece of art where everyone is equally responsible for its creation no matter what their artistic skill or passion may be. And on a final note One Million Masterpiece plans to publish and unveil its million-part work of art in London upon the works completion.

Thing#15 Wikis

Wikis are a great source for information since a wiki exist for almost any subject. A wiki's greatest strength is also its greatest flaw. Since content is user generated it allows for a wiki to have its information constantly updated and checked for facts. Because a wiki is user generated this can lead false facts,information or a wiki containing knowledge this is not factual and is instead a general consensus of its users.
Library wikis are a great way for library systems as well as libraries as a whole to catalogue information or share stats, procedures and knowledge. I was unaware that there was a best practices wiki or the fact that many libraries are already making their own wikis to share their information with others. The beauty of this is that can now share our libraries compare and contrast our stats and information which each other. This allows us to help find what working and what's not working with other libraries. Wikis have become an invaluable resource in helping move libraries forward in today's changing technology driven world.

Thing#14 Library 2.0

Library 2.0,to me, is the term that will define libraries now as well as the next few years. Libraries are now expected to embrace new technologies as well as providing technologies for library patrons. This means libraries must stay on top of the current internet trends as well as the transition from paper media to internet media. The new skills that are required of librarians aren't something that will be easy. I feel that Learn and Play is one of the tools we are using to help Librarians and library staff get acclimated to what new skills they will be required to have in order for library 2.0 to work. With the speed that technology evolves we could be saying library 3.0 as soon as next year or as late as 10 years from now, but in order for us to get top that point we need to help move libraries into the new technological age,which is what library 2.0 is preparing us for.

thing#13

Delicious is pretty awesome. I've heard of the site before but I have actually visited it. Being able to see what other people are bookmarking is it a pretty neat feature. Just by searching around delicious I found a link to an online game called phun. Phun is a 2D physics generator which allows to manipulate and create objects that all adhere the laws of mass and gravity. In simpler terms: its like a gigantic user made domino or linking logs setk, and it was all on my first search on delicious! I will now be using delicious more often in the future. I might have to start using delicious to replace my boring firefox bookmark list.

thing#11

Librarything.com was very interesting. I found the ability to log and keep track of my books to be very useful. I also love the fact that it is linked to amazon.com so it won't miss any book I type in,no matter how obscure. My one complaint is that even after adding 10 books to my collection Librarything was still unable to give me any reccomendations.

Thing#9

Rss and news searching tools. The sites listed were all new to me. I like that Topix allows you to keyword search but I don't like the fact that it pulls in EVERYTHING in your search. This includes personal blogs, and even tiny forums that pertain to my search, in short: there was a lot of junk amongst all of the searching gold.. I will have to say the following was only a minor annoyance,it just sounds worse than it actually is.
I really liked technorati and syndic8, both sites were teaming with news in every category. It was like drudge report with a little more of a slashdot vibe to it. I like the ability to be able to view as much or as little news that I want to.

Thing#8

I found RSS feeds to be sort of a mixed blessing. The ability to see all the updates on many blogs that view regularly is nice,but as I found during this exercise, many of the blogs I visit rarely ever update their rss feeds. This means I'm viewing old information on my bloglines list. In this case its much easier for to simply check through my favorite blogs one-by-one which allows me to see all of their updates as well as anything that wouldn't be added to their rss feed.

Thing#7

This week scientists have discovered a fungi in the Patagonian Rainforest has the ability to produce a diesel-like substance through cellulose. These fungi grow in Ulmo trees and their ability to produce diesel was discovered by accident. Scientists are currently trying to figure out how these fungi could be augmented to produce more of this substance and how cost effective this process would be. If this idea takes off we may me be able to produce our own fossil fuels rather tapping our own reserves. Sadly,this alternative won't be profitable for a few years. While this won;t solve our gas and fuel crisis now it may allow us to produce less harmful and a less wasteful fuel source. The entire article can be found HERE .

Thing#6

More flickr awesomeness. Today I discovered a mashup program called retrievr. This lovely tool is awesome for artist (like me) or people looking for some random fun. Retrievr allows you to search flickr.com massive database by drawing a rough sketch of what you're looking for. Drawing little circles in the box can get you anything from pictures of the sun to even pictures of people's dogs. Here's a picture of the results of one my glorious masterpieces.

Flickr

Its flickr time and thanks to the glory of flickr's massive database of awesome photos I was able to find out about Stereographic Projections. Before you ask,no. the photo below isn;t a newly discovered planet, it is,as I mentioned ealier, stereographioc projections. Its a failry easy, in a technical sense, optical illusion, which allows you to take any hrizontal,landscape,or wide screen photo and a wrap it around iteself to produce a fish-eyed lens or "planet" like effect. If you want to learn more about this process, you can find a tutorial here :photojojo.com/content/tutorials/create-your-own-panorama-planets/

My first post is better than your first post

Hooray! My first post. There's only one month until the CML Learn & Play is over,but better late than never I suppose. And since its Halloween I bestow upon you a horrible and SpOoKy Halloween related clip. Happy Holloween boys and ghouls!!