Dr. Susan Love launches the Army of Women

10/03/2008
Please consider joining if you are able to....thank you.

I just joined the Love/Avon Army of Women .....
The Love/Avon Army of Women offers women the opportunity to partner with the scientists who are conducting research that will end this disease--once and for all. Breast cancer has been around for decades, but it does not have to be our future. We can be the generation that stops breast cancer once and for all by figuring out what causes this disease and how to prevent it! Sign up for your sister, mother, daughter, granddaughter, best friend, and the woman you met last week. This is YOUR chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer. It takes a just a minute to join. But the impact we will have will last a lifetime. Please Join Me in Being One in a Million!

http://www.armyofwomen.org/

weather wonders....

08/29/2008

a pic I took this a.m. on the way to work ... ground (or river?) fog........

BeFunky Cartoonizer Tool

07/18/2008

Okay, so I've not been actively blogging since I finished 23Things ... well it's not that I couldn't have been blogging ... I just haven't. But today I came across this fun tool so I thought I'd share ... just in case anybody out there is watching me. It's a "heard it through the grapevine" story ... from a Tribal College Librarian's listserv (thx, alvin!) that I'm on we were sent this iLibrarian link for 17+ Fun things to do with your online photos. I only took the time to look at the BeFunky Cartoonizer ... and look what I made........

Thing 23 -- The Grand Finale!

04/04/2008

Whew! I'm done! So here are my final "things" ramblings in reponse to the asked questions:

- Go back to your thoughts/ideas about Library 2.0. Has anything changed as a result of this experience? -- hmmm, I try to keep up with technology but I guess not as well as I thought! Making the resolution (hopefully better than a New Year's resolution!) in Thing 22 should help with that?? I can only try!

- What were your favorite Things and discoveries? -- getting into LibraryThing; playing more with Facebook; graphic tools; reading other thingster's blogs about how they viewed the tasks; and starting/maintaining a blog!

- How did you connect with others doing the 23 Things On a Stick? -- I tried to comment on other people's blogs in areas of interest to me. I guess I succeeded in helping a fellow thingster (Darin) ... and that was rewarding!!

- Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? -- I really like the ning ... would like to see that continue as a way to connect with other thingsters.

- What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or content? -- come up with a better way for the thingsters to communicate ... as I suggested in my survey & in my Thing 21.

- If we offered a 23 More Things On a Stick program like this in the future would you participate? -- YES, definitely I'd participate!!

- How would you describe your learning experience in one word or in one sentence, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things On a Stick learning activities to others? -- Great learning tool!!!

Thing 22 -- What Did I Learn Today?

04/04/2008
So what did I learn? always take time to "STOP for Web 2.0" ... I've always tried to keep up on technology in general ... it's been my life ... but sometimes other things get in the way ... like finding time. And then it's how to keep up? So many new things are popping up every day ... so my "resolution" is to keep carving out a little time each Friday (slower day at work) to keep up with Web 2.0 and Library 2.0.

Thing 21 -- Ning & Other Social Networks

03/28/2008
Ning -- Ok so I joined 23 Things On A Stick Ning. I posted a comment (liked the Dewy pic) on Cheryl's Ning. I changed my settings on my Ning. I've added a Ning badge to the right. And I uploaded some pics ... see widget below:

[will have to come back to this ... can't get it to work right now ... bummer!]

I think it would have been a good thing to have had us all join the 23 Things On A Stick Ning near the beginning of the Learning Program. I think it would have provided us a better way to interact with each other. At times I felt like Darin -- am I the only one out there? do they know I'm here? Especially since we were supposed to be commenting on other participants' blogs. Oh, well .... Ning was/is fun from what I've seen in this little glimpse.

WebJunction -- I've glanced at this site a few times but I usually forget about it until I get an e-mail that mentions it or something on the site. I did sign up for a freebie self-paced class but I put that on hold until I finish with the 23 Things.

gather -- I snooped around the site but that's about it ... maybe I'll come back to it another time.

Thing 20 -- Facebook and MySpace

03/28/2008
Facebook:
I've had a Facebook acct for a little while ... I set it up originally with the intent to see if it would be a good way to connect with students at our college. We have enrollment of about 1100 but our Facebook network only has about 70 members (including alums) so for the time involved I decided not to pursue it ... but I will keep it in mind for the future.

As for personal use, I keep in touch w/a friend but we were doing that anyway via e-mail. I "friended" Lydia from our 23 things learners after I read her plea that she was feeling pitiful without friends. From the assignment instructions I wrote on several walls, and I joined a few more groups (ALA, Library 2.0, AILA, Librarians and Facebook) -- I had done both these things previously but what the heck. I looked around for additional friends to add, but I wasn't too successful in finding people I knew in my age group (yes, over 20 or so!) I did find lots of my daughter's and son's friends (okay that gives you a clue as to my age ... but it's only chronological not in mind & actions!!). I sent a msg to one of my daughter's best friends who has always called me "mom" ... I didn't want to invade her life by asking to be "friended" ... I just wanted to say "hi". Well she "friended" me! Something I'm sure none of my kids would do!! Even so, this is my pledge that I will NOT be a noisy snooper in Laura's Facebook so her friends can rest easy.

MySpace:
I've been out on MySpace before but I've never setup an account & I probably won't do so for personal use. And even though libraries are out there on MySpace I don't think at this point in time that I'd take the time & effort to create a site for our library.

I've thought of MySpace as "wilder" than Facebook but after reading in HS Media Musings that he found (accidently) a Facebook group for having sex in the library I'm not too sure about that statement anymore! I view MySpace as more of a private (that does get public) way for people to express themselves and interact with friends. And I'd take bets that my kids and their friends would not add me as a friend and that's okay. I should add that my "kids" are adults (20 somthings) not teens.

Thing 19 -- Podcasts

03/21/2008

The 1st podcast I picked I found in podcast.com. I used their "rooty/our featured pocasts" menu and then clicked on Science. Kidcast.tv : Science@Home jumped out to me. My 3 "kids" (human not 4 legged!) watched Bill Nye the Science Guy as they were growing up plus I've always been interested in science. The episode I viewed was Science@Home: Minute 7. These podcasts are only quick, simple shows that answer science questions submitted by kids but DEFINITELY more useful than commerical advertisements! I did notice that the podcast was listed under "lastest episodes" but the link info said it had been posted 41 weeks ago -- hmmm, not too recent. So I found their direct website and found out quickly that they have had to abandon their shows etc. -- their news blog indicated a "cease and desist notice" ... so much for that!

Okay so on to some more podcasts I tried. The Education Podcast Network (EPN) seems like it would have some interesting & academic titles (I work in an academic library). I started to listen to Math Mutation #60 "Drop that number or we'll shoot" but it was only audio ... and surprise, surprise ... boring!! Just thought I'd give it a shot (yes, pun intended!). So while still on EPN I checked out a podcast under the topic "Healthful Living", The EnvironMinute -- "Easter Eggs" but again, just audio. So I'm really a visual person while on the computer :))) and if I wanted to listen to audio only then I'd turn on a radio ... and if I wanted boring radio then I turn on talk-radio.

Podcastalley.com didn't appeal to me; reminded me more of a news source. Podcast.net wouldn't load for me so I went back to Podcast.com and checked out the Education rooty and selected The Princeton Review Vocab Minute "Party". This is supposed to teach a vocab word in 60 seconds via song. Well, for higher education it's an interesting concept ... and I guess could be used to bridge a link between K-3 and ESL ... but mainly I think it's a college group having fun and touting this as educational. I was expecting something more a long the lines of Schoolhouse Rock teaching but this is more like Raffi enjoyment. ... I should note this was only audio but I did like it!

Would I ever podcast? As in create one myself? I really don't think so ... or at least I don't have any inspiration for a podcast of my own creation. As for subscribing to a podcast I think I'd have to do a little more researching but I don't think that I would subscribe. But I reserve the right to say "never say never" ...

Thing 5 Revisited -- More Flickr Fun

03/18/2008

I was so inspired by Linda's "Missy Kitty/Warholized" that I had to try it myself! So here's me (at about age 15) "Warholized" using BigHugeLabs Warholizer. I think Missy Kitty still rules but I had fun trying!

Thing 18 -- YouTube

03/17/2008
I so wanted to upload Gary Allan's video "Tough Little Boys" but the embedding has been disabled by request (I assume by the artist etc.) I think is this a wonderfully done music video. I remember having listened to the song many times before actually seeing the video. I had enjoyed the song and always wondered what the video was like but I had NO idea that it was portrayed as service men with their little girls. Wow!

Okay, so here's the video I picked: Cats talking, Translation.

Yes, cats rule!

YouTube Uses -- What can I say? Yes, numerous uses. I especially like the Winona State Univ Library video -- great way to advertise a library!

Thing 17 -- ELM Tools

03/17/2008
Well I have to admit I have a link for ELM on our library website but I don't use the ELM resources very often nor do I suggest them to library patrons. I do have separate links for EBSCO (using "MegaFile") and ProQuest but the remaining ELM links have not promoted as heavily.

Gale -- I, like others it seems, was not able to get the RSS feed working. The feed symbol showed up but I rec'd an error msg when pasting the URL. IF it worked I think this would be useful when researching for a project or paper.

EBSCO -- Page Composer was "ok" but I think there are much better options out there for creating webpages ... but maybe I'm tainted by having 13 years experience in webpage design.

ProQuest -- I did like this feature of creating a "web page" (actually just a way to send your research results via e-mail) ... being able to add notes or comments is a great advantage and just that little extra reminder about why you liked or kept a certain webpage.

NetLibrary -- Yet another offering of ways to save, share, and comment on research items. I wasn't able to fully explore this since my NetLibrary logon & password weren't working for me ... this has happened for me more than once in the past with NetLibrary. I sent a logon/password help request but still have not yet had a response ... all this discourages me from using their product.

How can these tools benefit us? Since we are an academic library and the majority of our patrons are our students these are good ways to help them keep track of their research resources.

Thing 16 -- Student 2.0 Tools

03/14/2008
Assignment Calculators -- a GREAT idea! I've previously looked at the UofM's Assignment Calculator and I had already downloaded the OS code in order to customize it for our library ... just another of those "time" things! I think that this could be a very useful tool for our students ... especially considering so many students come to our college with little or no concept of how to do research or write a paper ... the timelines and helpful hints could be lifesavers for them.

Thing 15 -- Online Games

03/14/2008
So this thing is "games" ... I tried out the Puzzle Pirates and now be known as "Bloodkin" ... I thot I be aptly named as a descendant of the real Captain Blood! But kin or not I had to start out by pumping bilge ... agghh 'tis noth'n like hard labor on a priate ship in the www (wet web world)! Okay, I plead writer's license.....

Second Life -- I've signed up for an account but now just waiting for my confirmation e-mail so I can jump into the world & try it out .... my 2nd life name is georgie Aaron .... more later!
03/21/2008 UPDATE -- I still have not rec'd my confirmation e-mail so I have not been able to try out Second Life -- bummer! I'll see if I can connect w/them via "help".

Thing 14 -- LibraryThing

03/12/2008

LibraryThing -- okay, I'm hooked! I had looked at this before and wondered hmmm, would I use it? So now with the assignment to add a few books I did so ... then I added a few more ... now I'm trying to remember all the books I've read over the years .... agghhh!!! :))) Okay back to Earth ... I'll just try to keep up with what I'm reading now and add as I go ... and IF I happen to remember a title from back when then I'll add that too.

So off to the right you should be able to view "Book Titles in My LibraryThing" ... a few random covers should appear. And there should be a link to my catalog otherwise just click here on my catalog.

Here's an example of LibraryThing in use that came across a listserv e-mail this morning from the U of MN libraries. One thing I wish it could do is link directly to their catalog as an option vs. only to Amazon.com.

Thing 13 -- Online Productivity Tools

03/12/2008
Customized homepages -- I hate to sound like a broken record (okay I'm old enough to know this cliche!) but this is another thing on my to-do list ... hmm, maybe I should try one of those online to-do list tools! Anyway, I've looked at both iGoogle and PageFlakes prior and had not yet implimented one into use. I have also looked at and considered Netvibes. After looking at each I'm still unsure as to which I think I'd really like since a lot of the customization tools are similar. An option for me is to try one out for a week or two, then switch to another and then switch to the last. Then decide which I overall find more pleasing and useful.

Calendars -- Good idea but I think I'll stick with coordinating my schedule at work & home via my e-mail system. Maybe this would be more useful for groups of people?

Lists -- I'm not sure I'd use this type of feature. So far my brain is an information soak for my to-dos and I still love real paper sticky notes. Maybe the day will come that my brain won't have the remembering capacity but then I might not remember to add something to the online list or I might not remember that I added it to the list or I might not remember that I have an online list .... hmmm, I'll wait and see.

Backpack -- Again I'm not sure this would be useful to me ... at least not at this point in time. But it does look like a very useful tool especially for people who travel for work and give presentations. Maybe it will be come useful to me once I'm in grad school (if accepted!).

Thing 12 -- Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Reddit

02/29/2008
Okay so more ways to read articles online ... do I have the time? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes just glancing at the good old newspaper(s) seems to work. I think it's one of those things where you catch an article title online, click on it, read it, and then somehow you're off onto another topic and time has flown by.

I read this article "I'm the Idiot Who Bought an HD-DVD Player" that was linked on pg 2 of Digg this morning. The topic caught my eye because I had very recently been asked if my DVD player was HD or Blu-ray. I bought a new DVD player about a yr ago -- shortly after I purchased a HD TV. After reading this article I think that I'm luckier (for now that is) than the author, Josh Levin, because I have the plain old regular DVD player/recorder which I bought to transfer my videos ("home movies") to DVD.

I looked at the other sites -- Mixx, Newsvine, and Reddit. I didn't like the "look" of Reddit and would not consider this a choice. Mixx I think is on par to Digg. Newsvine looked more like what I consider the "traditional" online news sites such as the New York Times and ABCnews.com.

Share tools -- I read this article on the New York Times online "A Lifetime of Pain, and She Still Will Not Complain" by Paula Kamen. The article was of interest to me because my daughter has suffered from migraines for years. I used the "share" tool on the NYT site and posted this article directly to my facebook acct. This was very easy & seamless to do and offered an area to comment before the actual post went to my facebook site.

Thing 11 -- Del.icio.us Tagging

02/22/2008
Tagging! Yes! This is one of those things that's been on my list of to-dos for maybe a year or so. I have so many web bookmarks on my office computer & then my co-worker has numerous web bookmarks on her office computer as well as 2 other computers. Years back I kept a webpage of all of our links for sites we visited often in assisting patrons (students usually) with research. That webpage finally became so cumbersome that I took down the link several years ago. I always hoped to find some other way to quickly be able to use & share these valuable links. I happened upon Del.icio.us and thought, yes, this might work. I shared this with my co-worker, who said she'd look it over, but then that's about as far as it got. So now maybe is the time?

Furl -- I looked over their website and one thing that popped up as a good benefit was the option of achiving cashed websites which allows for you to always have access to the website as you viewed it even if the website is taken down.

Thing 10 -- Wikis

02/22/2008
The wiki concept of collaborative authoring is interesting because of the ability of multiple people to add to, edit, update the topic content. The falldown is "who" is allowed to doing the adding, editing, updating to be able to ensure correct information is given.

I liked the BookLoversWiki and see this as a good use of a wiki. Although I found more books to add to my "need to read" list!

On the 23 Things on a Stick wiki I centered "Welcome to the", I italized "23 Things on a Stick", and I added the link "23 Things on a Stick BLOG page" -- (jd was here!) is me!

Thing 9 -- Online Collaboration Tools

02/26/2008 UPDATE
Well it took a little longer than I expected to get my "invite" ... that's 'cuz the e-mail invite was filtered into my junk e-mail. Luckily I ck'd my junk folder today and as I was going to empty it I saw the invite. So I went online & edited (actually used the "comments" feature) on the doc provided. This tool seems to be a great way to edit/comment a doc by multiple users. One downfall is that if a doc such as this was going to be worked on by multiple users it would be good to define how to do that first -- such as only using the comment feature & one person being responsible for the final edit or something such. I say this because you could see that different people worked with the document in different ways -- some just edited (that doesn't offer the tag of who did it) while others used the comment feature (which indicates who made the comment).

02/22/2008
hmmm ... just waiting for "invites" to be able to edit ....
In the mean time I think the idea & ability to edit this way could be a great tool.

Thing 8 -- Share Your Creations

Here are some pics of our Library Addition/Remodel as viewed from my office window. I used Picturetrail. I think that I will consider using this product to showcase our construction pics vs. what I used for our current slide show -- which was just the Adobe Photoshop Web Photo Gallery. Picture Tail did take me a little while to figure out but then there is always a learning curve with a new product.

Thing 7 -- Web 2.0 Communication Tools

02/20/2008
E-mail -- I have had e-mail for about 15 yrs. & I currently maintain 3 personal accts (1 for family/friends, 1 for personal business & 1 for "junk"), 1 work acct, and our 1 library acct. Our library acct doesn't get too much use but I still think it is a very important tool. I mainly use it for sending overdue notices, ILL notices, and communicating with distance students. On our library website we have it listed as as way to submit reference questions although responses are only generated during work hours.

IM -- We don't use this tool in our library but I have used it personally over the years. Back a few yrs ago while I was working on a degree it was VERY helpful while working on a group project. As each of us worked on a portion of a computer programming project we could easily keep in touch by sharing new ideas, asking questions, updating each other on our progress all while working in different geographic areas.

Text Messaging -- Again, we do not use this tool in our library but I use it multiple times on a daily basis and LOVE it! A while back my brother-in-law (older than me) asked me "why"?? He didn't see the advantages of it. My sister-in-law shared with me that my 13 yr old nephew used it to get himself out of a situation where he was visiting a friend and the friend's older brother was doing some questionable things with his friends. My nephew sent a text to his Mom to come get him vs. having to "call" and sound like a cry-baby.

Web Conferencing -- Whenever possible I use this tool and think that it is great for saving time & money on traveling to & from meetings and training. There are the downfalls when the technology isn't working at it's best. But I think the overall benefit outweighs the bad.

Thing 6 -- Image Generator

02/19/2008
Once again from BigHugeLabs ... this time I tried the "Captioner" ... and here are my results.

This is another fun tool that could be utilized in many ways ... just a little imagination and time is all that's needed!!

Think 5 -- More Flickr

Diane & Greg Are Puzzled
Originally uploaded by drausche

02/19/2008
Puzzled?? I tried the jigsaw puzzle from BigHugeLabs ... and here we are!

Here's the web address if you'd like to try it:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/jigsaw.php

I also tried "Spell" so here's some "attitude" for you ...

Jigsaws & "Spell" could both be fun options in a variety of ways ... I think especially for attracting kids.

Thing 4 -- Flickr

02/19/2008
I had already explored Flickr but only a little bit so this was a fun experience! I have a Yahoo account (my "junk" e-mail acct!) so it was easy to create a Flickr account & upload some pics. I tried out the Flickr blogging tool and found it very easy to use; I also went directly from blogspot and edited my posts that I had made from the Flickr blogging tool. All went smoothly.

As for uses I think that I might find Flickr a fun tool for at home use to share pics etc ... but I don't think that I would have the time to use this tool at work.

A vew from my office window

A vew from my office window
Originally uploaded by drausche

Construction in progress as our Library Addition/Remodel began last summer ... this is the view from my 2nd floor office window.

Library Interior during Addition/Remodel

Library Interior
Originally uploaded by drausche

This pic shows posters that I added as aesthetics to somewhat cover up the temporary sheetrock that divides the current part of the library from the new addition. Our former view was a wall of windows to the outside ... we miss the natural light but the walls are only temporary.

Thing 3 -- RSS Feeds

02/15/2008
As with other technology, I've looked into RSS Feeds but had yet to really "use" one. I think I need to decide what "information" I think I need to know "right now" as it updates ... so a little contemplation time. For now I've added a local news feed and a local weather feed. I'd like to add a friend's "23 things" blog but I'm waiting for Jen to give me her blog address ... I tried searching for it but couldn't find it.

Thing 2 -- Library 2.0

02/15/2008
Even though I try to keep up on technology -- I like (love?) computers, e-mail (I have 4 accts!), IM, cell phones, computer menus etc. -- I think that sometimes technology moves faster than we can at times comprehend. So we tend to either pick & choose what we think we need to keep up with at the time or wait until, if ever, we are pushed into needing a technology.

With Library 2.0 -- I admit I had heard the term but I hadn't really dug into it's meaning until probably 6 months ago -- I like that it can emcompass multiple, ever new and expanding, ways of bringing information to people. And in our struggle to get students to "use the library" our adding a variety of technology seems to be a good way to connect with them. But then I try to balance how I can make these new ways work for us when we have a very small staff -- just 2 of us total. So I end up doing what I said happens -- waiting until we are pushed to do it.

Thing 1 (and 1/2)

02/15/2008
My "greetings" post on 02/12/2008 was my "Thing 1" ... for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm participating in an online Library Learning project entitled "23 Things on a Stick" ... a pun on our wonderful Minnesota State Fair where EVERYTHING is available on a stick! And it is true ... Greg & I had hotdish on a stick this past September!

So onward now to more "things"........

Greetings!

02/12/2008
This is my very first post to my newly created blog -- woo hoo!!