Social Bookmarking is an interesting concept. I appreciate the ability to find my favorite bookmarks on any computer. How long have we been waiting for that to happen?! I also like the idea that we can share out book marks with others. My dad and should create an account so we don't have to send so many emails to each other with "check this out" and a URL attached.
Tagging was somewhat daunting until I realized it didn't really MATTER what I decided to tag my sites with. It's what I need to get me back to that page and not what is "socially acceptable" or "correct." Like some of our other librarians have said, tagging offers an opportunity to teach our students how to categorize what they read and use keywords, synonyms, etc. It's a great learning tool.
Of the three sites we investigated (del.icio.us, Furl, Ma.gnolia), I have an account with del.icio.us because I would be able to network better within that site with other librarians. I also liked the fact that it is simple and clean. Ma.gnolia is the most aesthetically pleasing site and I might find myself using it at some point in the future. The difference with Furl, that I'm really drawn to, is the ability to highlight and save a portion of the text from the site you are bookmarking.
No matter which site you choose, the possibilities abound for school use. The ability to have sites at hand for students to use in research is fantastic and much easier to create than having to go through the longer processes we've used in the past with other sites. Social bookmarking will also allow students to find and share sites they think appropriate to what is being taught in the classroom. It gives them ownership of the learning process.
If you haven't realized it, you need to check the home pages of these sites often because they post "sites to watch" and other noteworthy sites for the day. One such site I found was BookMooch, a site where you can "mooch" books off of other people around the world.
The only frustration I have come up against so far is knowing the identity of my fellow "bookmarkers" so I can add them to my network.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Social Networking -- Thing #12
Okay, here's the deal.....I don't mind social networking. I like connecting to others online, creating discussion threads, seeing what others are doing, and having a place to "belong." Those who don't "like" it may not understand it or don't realize how important it has become to the younger generation. This is THE way young people stay in touch with each other. I wish Facebook had been around when I was in college and I might not have lost touch with some of my friends.
As educators, we need to know how this stuff works so we don't lose site of where the future is headed. The children in our homes and the students in our schools use these sites and we should be informed about what is out there that might or might not be good for them socially and emotionally.
Personally, I don't care for Myspace or Facebook. Maybe because they seem to be aimed at a younger population, and some of it comes from all the ads that you deal with on Myspace.
My daughter has a Myspace account, but we have many privacy blocks on the account and all traffic comes through my email address. I have her login/password and check it frequently. For her, it has been a way to keep in touch with her friends after we moved away. I have a page as well, but don't care to deal with the hassle of working on it. My daughter had to show me how to change the background and load pictures. I'm usually pretty good at that stuff, but I was tired and didn't want to fight with it. She was a much faster resource.
I signed up for Facebook as well, but don't think I will use it either. I played around with it, liked it better than Myspace, but don't have any "friends" that I can find. Bummer!
Which leads me to Ning! I LOVE IT! First, I have friends -- the librarians of Mesquite. Second, it was easier to work around and I like the layout. I can see using it at school. Setting up a group for my teachers and letting them use it to open discussions. It's much easier to put those groups together and even have sub-groups like the Elementary Librarians group Mary set up. I may work on this for next year. We could have grade level groups or subject groups. I think it would work well if the district filters will allow us to get on at school.
As educators, we need to know how this stuff works so we don't lose site of where the future is headed. The children in our homes and the students in our schools use these sites and we should be informed about what is out there that might or might not be good for them socially and emotionally.
Personally, I don't care for Myspace or Facebook. Maybe because they seem to be aimed at a younger population, and some of it comes from all the ads that you deal with on Myspace.
My daughter has a Myspace account, but we have many privacy blocks on the account and all traffic comes through my email address. I have her login/password and check it frequently. For her, it has been a way to keep in touch with her friends after we moved away. I have a page as well, but don't care to deal with the hassle of working on it. My daughter had to show me how to change the background and load pictures. I'm usually pretty good at that stuff, but I was tired and didn't want to fight with it. She was a much faster resource.
I signed up for Facebook as well, but don't think I will use it either. I played around with it, liked it better than Myspace, but don't have any "friends" that I can find. Bummer!
Which leads me to Ning! I LOVE IT! First, I have friends -- the librarians of Mesquite. Second, it was easier to work around and I like the layout. I can see using it at school. Setting up a group for my teachers and letting them use it to open discussions. It's much easier to put those groups together and even have sub-groups like the Elementary Librarians group Mary set up. I may work on this for next year. We could have grade level groups or subject groups. I think it would work well if the district filters will allow us to get on at school.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
LibraryThing -- Thing #11
LibraryThing is an interesting concept that is being shared by other websites as well (goodreads). It's an easy way to keep up with what you read and maybe what you might like to read next. I like being able to see the book covers and easily add new books to my library.
I've sent out an email to our teacher book club members asking them to join so we can have online discussion about our books. I've created a group called Book Mavericks
which will allow members to participate in book talks before we actually meet. I think it will be great for the members who finish early and are dying to talk about what they've read, but don't want to ruin it for those that are still reading. It will also serve as a springboard for getting some of my teachers to use one of the nifty 23 Things we've learned about here in Libraryland!
Personally, I want to use LibraryThing to keep track of the books I read each year. My father and I are in competition to see who can read the most each year and now I can have my list right there in front of me. I can also get it sent to my phone so when I'm in the bookstore, I don't have to rack my brain to remember if I've read a particular book or not. Which brings me to my next dilemma: do I pay for the lifetime membership?
Without payment, I can only catalog 200 books....I read 100 books in 2006, and if I went back to enter my previous readings I would already be out of space. I could remove the old list and make a new one each year, but that wouldn't help me in the "Did I read that already?" nightmare I sometimes find myself in. So, what to do? If I spend the money, which isn't a lot....I think $25, then I'm good FOREVER, and if I don't, I'm limited by what I can do with this LibraryThing. I don't like limits, but I'm not close to it yet, since I only have 25 books listed so far. I'll have to think about it.....
By the way, if you'd like to see what I've been reading lately, I have a widget on the right side of my blog you can peruse.
I've sent out an email to our teacher book club members asking them to join so we can have online discussion about our books. I've created a group called Book Mavericks
which will allow members to participate in book talks before we actually meet. I think it will be great for the members who finish early and are dying to talk about what they've read, but don't want to ruin it for those that are still reading. It will also serve as a springboard for getting some of my teachers to use one of the nifty 23 Things we've learned about here in Libraryland!
which will allow members to participate in book talks before we actually meet. I think it will be great for the members who finish early and are dying to talk about what they've read, but don't want to ruin it for those that are still reading. It will also serve as a springboard for getting some of my teachers to use one of the nifty 23 Things we've learned about here in Libraryland!Personally, I want to use LibraryThing to keep track of the books I read each year. My father and I are in competition to see who can read the most each year and now I can have my list right there in front of me. I can also get it sent to my phone so when I'm in the bookstore, I don't have to rack my brain to remember if I've read a particular book or not. Which brings me to my next dilemma: do I pay for the lifetime membership?
Without payment, I can only catalog 200 books....I read 100 books in 2006, and if I went back to enter my previous readings I would already be out of space. I could remove the old list and make a new one each year, but that wouldn't help me in the "Did I read that already?" nightmare I sometimes find myself in. So, what to do? If I spend the money, which isn't a lot....I think $25, then I'm good FOREVER, and if I don't, I'm limited by what I can do with this LibraryThing. I don't like limits, but I'm not close to it yet, since I only have 25 books listed so far. I'll have to think about it.....
By the way, if you'd like to see what I've been reading lately, I have a widget on the right side of my blog you can peruse.
Online Image Generators -- Thing #10
This is too cool! I've always wondered where these images and ideas come from when you look at websites. Once upon a time, you had to know all the special codes and speak computer geek to get anything done.
I can remember making "pictures" out of computer code in high school back in the 80's, or writing the commands to make my name repeat across the screen. We thought that was something! Now, a whole world of images, graphics and possibilities are waiting for the click of a mouse. It's amazing!
The Bluebonnet Voting button will be posted on my library website's front page tomorrow when I return to work. I wish that website worked as easily as the blog and that I could manipulate it from any online source. And, of course, I couldn't go too long without a tattoo image. I just wish my back looked that good! :)
My favorite generator, right now, is Image Chef. I like it's ease in posting my images; either by HTML, click & drag to desktop, or a direct post to my blog from their website. Most of the image generators were very easy to use, but the Happy Face Generator gave me trouble. Some of the pages wouldn't load, so I'm wondering if they were just having a server problem. I'll check back with them at a later date and see if it has been fixed.
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