Lesson #21 -- Podcasts:

This is a whole new realm for me, but really interesting. Just a brief note for starters -- have wanted to catch up on back episodes of Smallville & now I know how! Cool! Here's the link
http://www.fancast.com/full_episodes -- more later.

Featured here is a photo of my favorite Smallville character, Chloe, facing yet another adventure in the episode, "Sleeper".


Later: Podcasting is new for me, but it appears to offer incredible resources for library service, both in terms of what we could offer customers on Discovery Place & the way we could communicate w/ other staff members -- I see possibilities for sharing training videos, podcasts on library events, also on technology, science, & current events as well as podcasts of conferences, meetings & lectures (e.g., presentations given by CO-ASIST & OCLC & others).

Later, again (still catching up): Just added the podcast site, Fancast RSS to my Bloglines Account (also added Dilbert, N.Y.Times Book Review, & Abstract Art while I was @ it). That was interesting -- not only did I learn how to do that, but up until now I hadn't even thought of doing it. So I learned 2 new things.

YouTube - A Painting in the Making

Lesson #20: Learning About YouTube:

An interesting assignment. I opted for a video on Acrylic Painting Techniques, & found this (link below). There's a lot out there, e.g., NASA has some beautiful YouTube entries. This definitely can find a place in library technology, some of the demonstration vids on Wikis & Twitter are excellent examples of training & tutorial possibilities. Library presentations, demos on research, views of new options for library use, etc. -- options abound.

One note: a simple Copy & Paste for the embedded code didn't work. Thanks to Erin I now know that the Paste has to be done in the Edit HTML page, not the Compose page. There's a lot to learn! Here's my comment & Gerald 2.0's response entered on L&P@CML Blog:
4 Carol
Hi, Just a note re. Copying & Pasting to embed the code for a YouTube entry: the pasting needs to be done on the Edit HTML page, not the Compose page. Thanks to co-worker Erin for showing me how to do this.Cheers! Carol
on October 24, 2008 at 9:45 am
5 gerald2.0
thanks for the share, Carol!

YouTube - A Painting in the Making

Lesson #19: CML's PowerTools, etc.

Just visited the Discovery Place PowerTools Page, from there visited TechCrunch, which was interesting. Today's visit to TechCrunch found an article on recent attempt to change copyright laws pertaining to cyberspace. Also, I'd like to download the library toolbar, but I'm not online @ home so that will have to wait. Then visited ToolingAround, also interesting -- &, yes, I have opened a G-mail Account.

Lesson #18: Exploring Web-based Tools:

This was interesting. I'd already been thinking how cool it would be to have an online desktop & so that was the online tool I explored. The most interesting was G.ho.st (http://www.g.ho.st/home/Screenshots.jsp?language=en); might be something to look into. The thing I liked about it the most (& why I had already been thinking about the need for such a service) was that it would, or @ least could, be a portal for all the other online tools, accessed from one spot instead of having to continually either go to a browser or to some access point like del.icio.us.

I also checked out the Visual Art Tools but the ones listed seemed more focused on converting data to Images, a worthy endeavor, but not what I'm really looking for. A free online Freehand is probably too much to hope for -- well, maybe, someday.

P.S. Oct. 18, 08 -- just found an interesting article hyperlinked through Wikipedia article on G.ho.st: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/technology/29compute.html?_r=1&ref=business&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Lesson 17: Online Tools like G-Account Word Processing, etc.

This is a really interesting topic for me, Just set up my G-Account & G-mail, etc.
Several days later...explored my G-Account some more, brought in an image file, explored "more options," etc. It looks really good & useful; only thing I miss, though, is the graphics & drawing capability of WORD.

A quick note, reference, actually. Here's the link to USAToday book review re. Nicholas Carr's The Big Switch. http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/2008-02-24-big-switch_N.htm?POE=click-referg-switch_N.htm?POE=click-refer & here's a quote from the review:
"Carr is excited about where this is all going, although his optimism is tinged with restraint. With technological advances, he says, come setbacks, not to mention mismatches between the power of new tools and the knowledge of how best to use them.
Those looking to The Big Switch for advice on how to harness the power of the computing revolution will be disappointed. Carr's book is a glance at where computing has come from and where it could go in the future, with a warning about what the future can bring."


more later.

...minutes later (that was fast) Here's the info. from CML Discovery Place Catalogue:


Book
1. The big switch :rewiring the world, from Edison to Google /
Nicholas G. Carr
1st ed.
Call number:
303.4834 C312b
Year:
2008
Subject:
Computers and civilization, Information technology, Technological innovations, Internet, Social aspects

This is a terrific read, dare I say "must read" for the Learn & Play participants & all concerned w/ the emerging technology, the direction it's taking, possiblities, implicationS, etc. Trust me on this!

2 Weeks Extension

Greetings! We've been given 2 weeks of grace to catch up w/ ourselves, explore in depth what we've been learning, & so forth. Thank you! So I'm doing exactly that: yesterday, 9/30, I started tweaking my Blog by creating section captions to designate Lessons & other, also figured out how to hyperlink which is really quite easy; it just takes time to figure these things out & then put them into practice. Also, yesterday Desi came alongside of me w/ the offer of a half hour of computer tutoring which was great (though the half hour dwindled to 20 min. w/ computer log-on weirdness). She walked me through Del.icio.us & showed me how to resource other sites, save links, even brought in my Favorites from my CML account. I had already registered for an account but was at a loss as to how to use it (no home computer online so no buttons or marklets, already mentioned in Lesson 13), so now I'm on my way to actually using that service in some meaningful way.