Week 9, #23: Copyright & Creative Commons

That Disney video on copyright is downright irritating. It covers the topic, but the constant patching gave me a headache. Yes, yes ... I am a librarian who is well-schooled in copyright. I have given workshops on copyright and teach all the students about plagiarism.

But this Creative Commons thing is a fantastic idea. With so much on the Internet that we could so easily copy and use, the idea of allowing a certain level of reuse without the re-user having to go through people's lawyers and such is a breath of fresh air.

Week 9, #23: Summary

This course truly felt like I was just surfing the Internet Web 2.0. Now I feel a bit overwhelmed by the "To Do" list I have created in order to "dive deeper"..

1) I need to document all the new accounts I have created.

2) I want to go back and learn more about many of the tools and websites.

3) I have a blog and several projects I started on a very sketchy basis that I would like to go back to and flesh out.

4) I still need to get my avatar to show up on my blog!

5) I have videos to download, podcasts to listen to, and eBooks to download and enjoy.

6) I have my church catalog to create.

7) Now I want to try and create some podcasts for my students.

In summary, this is the never-ending learning.

Thank you, CSLA, and the good people who put this all together. Kudos to you all!

Week 9, #22: eBooks

I checked out the eBook sources. For less that $10 annual subscription, you have access to a lot of audiobooks. This can definitely make commuting more interesting.

Our local public library has audiobooks, or ebooks, available on-line. Unfortunately, they are not compatible with Macs. BOO! HISS! I noticed some English lit book titles available for burning on a CD. So now I need to get to a PC with a CD burner and attempt to capture some titles for our RSP and ELL students.

Week 9, #21: Podcasts

I checked out all the listed directories for podcasts. The first two were frustrating and the first 5 podcasts I selected did not download, or open. Yahoo was the best. It quickly found the podcasts I usually open from the originating webset, much to my surprise.

I got carried away looking for podcasts on the Educational Podcast Network. WOW! This is a cool way to learn about stuff, and to get ideas for creating my own podcasts.

But wait! I have an Apple computer and an iPod, so I went to iTunes and was stunned by what it available from there for free. Check it out! It's exciting!

Week 9, #20: You Tube

Now, this is a site I have been using for several years now. I started out looking for missing episodes of the Daily Word from the Colbert Report, and now I use it frequently. When Apple posted a list of songs for Valentine's Day, I watched each one on You Tube. When I consider buying tickets for a show, I check out the entertainer's videos. I also use it to find explanations of things, like the Web 2.0 videos.

So here's my contribution: Rube Goldberg in the Library.

Week 8, #19 Library Thing

Here's the link:

My Library Thing

I tried to work the widget for adding a "search my library" to my blog. I guess I need to work it some more.

Week 8, #19: Library Thing

I volunteered to organize my church library and have spent a long time trying to figure out how I can do this to make sense to the people who use it. I am definitely going to use this to see if it will work for them -- and me. What kind of print-outs, lists, or whatever can I produce. Yes I will have to learn more about Library Thing and all of its features.

Week 8, #18: Zoho Writer

Check out Zoho Writer. It's a pretty sophisticated word processing program in which you save your document online. It would be useful if I was working on something at school, and wanted to continue working at home, and I did not want to mess with a flash drive. Hey, wait a minute! I work at three sites and I could put lists and stuff on Zoho and access it from any site.

Students can do this with class assignments, also. No more dealing with school servers.

I could also see using it for a collaborative project: like developing district policy and procedures, brochures, sharing pathfinders, bibliographies, etc.

Week 7, #17: "Sandbox" wiki

These exercises are opening up the creativity in me. I did do an entry in the "sandbox" about both blogging a school project and creating a school wiki. The issue is, will I be able to keep up with all these projects? I think not. So I will need to select the most useful.

Week 7, #16: Wikis

Steven Colbert did a sketch on his show "The Colbert Report" in which he demonstrated how easy it was to alter an entry in Wikipedia. That image stays with me whenever I look at a wiki.

Well, I did enjoy the tour and the quickie lessons on wikis. I will probably incorporate at least one of them in my library lessons.

I will be refering to the teacher librarian wikis in the course of my work. What a good source of current information on the field.

I had not considered a wiki as a library web page, but the ones I saw look like they could be useful pathfinders.

Week 6, #15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0

I read every one of the readings and I was startled with the lack of relevance to the real world. All but one of the contributors was a man from higher education who had the same message: "Get with it! People aren't going to use books anymore. They are going to access knowledge through the Internet." Well, yes and no. That is a very educated middle class statement, and one I hear from adults all the time. I liken it to the statement I heard repeatedly from school administrators 15-20 years ago: "We do not need libraries anymore--just search stations. The entire collection of the Library of Congress is available on the Internet."

What is needed is training for students, and adults, in how access and assess the information they are getting on the Internet. Is it really the entire collection of the Library of Congress, or the bibliographic records of the Library of Congress? I teach at a high school that is 71% Latino, 61% free and reduced lunch, and 40% ELL. Many do not have Internet access at home, much less use it for all their communications and research. This is college stuff, of which, I believe, only a minority of us are college educated. So who are these users they are talking about?

Yes, I am excited about Web 2.0 and its uses. I see how I can reach students 24/7 via the Internet using blogs and Del.icio.us and Technorati. I am getting Playaways and databases with home access and e-books and such. But I am not abandoning them in favor of Library 2.0. Last month I seriously considered weeding the print encyclopedias as outdated. Why use the print encyclopedia when there is so much good information on the Internet? Then I had several classes of sheltered English students come do research on the Russian Revolution. The ones who started with the encyclopedias, with their short articles, pictures, and outlined format were better focused and able to handle the content. The eventualyy went on to use books and the Internet. The students that were allowed to use any book or the Internet first became confused by the many formats and overwhelmed with the volume of content. Those that started with the Internet sometimes got lost. Now I think I'll buy a new set, if the money ever comes my way.

Week 6, #14: Tagging and Technorati

I am sold on this one. What a wonderful access to resources that will keep me a "life-long learner." I thank everyone who has contributed items I know I will either link to or use. I tried the recommended search of "School Library Learning Web 2.0", in each of the tabs provided. I got so caught up with checking out the results, that I can not be definitive right now about the differences. I'll have to do it again when it is not so late at night.

As for tagging, it sure does show how standardizing (subject heading) helps, as I found myself wanting to use the same tags other people used. Is there a lesson in there on keyword vs. subject heading/descriptor?

Week 6, #13: Tagging and Del.icio.us

I watched a couple of videos on YouTube about how to use Del.icio.us and then I visited Del.icio.us. I do believe that this could be a web-site-free device I could use to link students to websites for specific searches.

I found myself using this as a search engine to locate web sites on topics of interest to me. I will definitely set up an account and try it out.

Week 5, #12: Ning

OK, OK, so Ning is very easy to set up. I decided to establish a network for my school site teachers to pass along information about union stuff, events, etc. It would make it so easy to keep posted about what is happening on campus because we do not all meet in one place to eat or socialize. I hope it is not blocked by my district's filter so I can enhance the network at school, were all the information is kept.

Week 5, #11 Web 2.0 Award Winning Applications

I looked at the page of award winning applications for Web 2.0 and decided to explore wikis as I have been wondering how they can be used in classrooms. I selected wetpaint and set up a wiki on Elsie Allen -- the person for whom my high school was named. It was pretty easy to set it up, but I wasn't prepared with pictures and information to post, so I will have to go back to it and add some good stuff. I did invite two teachers to add to it. Let's see if they join in.

Week 5, #10: Online Image Generators

How do you like me image?

The first site lost my connection, or I lost it's connection after I created it.

The second site was unable to complete my image.

But the third site produced my masterpiece below.

Did that read a little like the Three Little Pigs?

holistic library

Week 4, #9 Library Related Blogs/New Feeds

I explored everyone of the options listed in the lesson. My goodness, there is so much I went into self-preservation mode. How can I possible spend all that time reading that stuff?

I tried to find an RSS on my local paper, but could not.

I'll just take this one step at a time.

Week 3: #7 : Anything about technology cont'd.

I opened my mail today and discovered my updated version of "Mail" has an RSS folder on it and I already had 10 feeds from Apple! I am in business with RSS without doing anything it seems.

Also, I was doing a lesson with a high school class on using SIRS Researcher. I was demonstrating the difference between a keyword search and a subject heading, or descriptor, search. "Can anyone tell me what a subject heading is?" I asked. A boy quickly answered, "They are like tags." Well, I learned that using blogs last night, and I was just so pleased that the very next day I could understand what the student was saying. Thanks, School Library Learning 2.0!

Week 3: #7 : Anything about technology

Now I bought a Mac computer a little over two years ago, and I felt like I was cruising. I got a new iPod for Christmas and was ready to enjoy my music, podcasts, etc.; but discovered that the new iPod does not work on Tiger. I was told I need to upgrade to Leopard. OK, so I've put it off for three months because I just know the upgrade is going to upset my carefully orchestrated computer. Monday night I finally got the nerve and installed Leopard. It took a couple of hours; but everything looked beautiful when I rebooted the computer and have this magnificent aurora borealis on my desktop.

Then I tried to get on the Internet. Wouldn't you know it would tell me I could not! I checked all my connections. I unplugged and replugged every cable I could find. I turned off every device for a minute and turned it back on, and I still could not connect. I called sonic.net, and after 58 minutes waiting to talk with a technician, and repeating all the steps I just described, we determined that it was not the DSL modem or Airport Express. How did we do that? The wireless connection with my laptop worked just fine. And I thought of checking that all by myself. Then I called Apple. First I talked with the Leopard expert, who told me the problem was with my desktop computer. The desktop expert (or is that genius?) passed me over to the Airport expert. The Airport expert would not help me unless I went through all the steps I had just described to her that I had done twice before. The whole process -- waiting to connect with an techie, turning things off and on, unplugging and plugging, checking settings in "network" and "preferences" took almost two hours.

Check that task off my "To Do" list.

Week 4, #8: RSS Feeds

I did it. I have seen RSS on websites and told myself that someday . . . someday when I had the time I would learn about it and try it out. Well that someday is today. I watched the video on www.blip.tv, went to www.bloglines.com, and created an account. Then I subscribed to two feeds and viewed them (they are so interesting). Now what I need to do is sit back and let it work.