Reflecting

I am glad I was forced into the world of Web 2.0. I learned a lot. Each thing could be useful ... whether I end up using it or not remains to be seen. I'm sure I'll use some things like Flickr, streaming music & video, Google Earth and Del.icio.us. Though probably not daily or even monthly. Yet. Until it all becomes second nature because "everybody" is doing it. If nothing else it's excellent to know that if someone mentions blogging or streaming video I know what they're talking about.

I liked the program...liked being able to do it when my schedule allowed and at my own pace to a certain extent. I was glad not to feel "judged" as to how well I was doing with any given thing. I do think that if some employees are doing it it's probably good for all to do it -- so no one feels left out or left behind. It might be nice if there were mini-courses given the same way as new technologies come along.

Gaming

For the Gaming I did a crossword puzzle that took me a bit longer than 5 minutes. I'm not good at crosswords. It was fun though -- getting the instant feedback to know you have something wrong worked well for me. Then I played MahJong and, since I used to play this at home, I was better at that.

Interesting to think of the workplace expectations the gaming generation will have. Expecting rewards (other than a paycheck and continued employment) for a job well done may leave them disappointed, depending on where they end up working and with whom. The "gaming" and "non gaming" generations may both need to compromise -- and learn from each other -- if they're going to work together happily.

Maps and Geotagging

Google Earth is fun. I looked at Mount St. Helens and a few other landmarks. Interesting to see which areas would come in clearly and which would be a blur for lack of data. I did always find the areas I searched for (some places in Scotland and Maui and my house of course) but could only zoom in to a certain extent before most of those became a blur. Oddly, my parents house was very clear... and they live five miles from the nearest town (Snohomish).

I did cruise around San Francisco for a while and it was fun to see just how clear it can be. I have looked a little at the geotagging thing on Flickr. Haven't tried it yet but it would be a fun way to spend spare time if one had some of that.

Avatars

I had fun creating my Avatar. I tried Doppelme and Tektek ... they were cute in their own way. But the Meez came highly recommended by a trusted source, Jazzergigi, so I ended up there. And now my Avatar alter-ego is installed on my blog :-)

I do not currently live in Second Life but I did take a look and there are some interesting things going on there. I think it would be fun to try... someday... when time allows in the regular life. Or who knows, maybe it would be a fun place to get away for a while. With the current price of gas it would certainly be less expensive than most other kinds of getaways right now.

Online tools and applications

Theoretically I guess I should be able to type this on Zoho (or on Google Docs) then post it to my blog.  Not sure I see the advantage over just posting in my blog but that's probably because I haven't used it enough.  The other kinds of applications that are available are nice.  Quite a variety.  Good to be able to share information where everyone involved has access.  Well, everyone who is computer literate and uses their computer constantly, that is.  It's nice that it's stored online, too!  And it is interesting that they're available free of charge.  I think that the online tools and applications may be something I would use -- Remembering to use them will be the tricky part.  

Search Engines

I had almost forgotten there were search engines other than Google out there. I used to use Dogpile on occasion and have used Mamma a time or two. But lately it's just easier to go to Google for the everyday kind of searching I do.
Now that I've been reminded there are others, if I'm really researching something (rather than just looking for quick info) I hope I'll remember to try the other search engines.

I probably haven't used the others enough to really judge them yet. Probably because I'm more used to Google, I feel like their "sponsored link" listings seem easier to ignore than those on Rollyo, Dogpile, and Mamma. And I like being able to ignore those if I want to.

And I always found the Ask.com layout to be very confusing in the past... couldn't tell which links were the articles vs. which were links to ads. My simple test search came up with the same main results on each. A more complicated search gave me a different set of results on each. Interesting. I'll try these others over the next few weeks when I need to search -- to get a better idea of what each has to offer.

Podcasting

Podcasting is another thing I had heard of but never tried. I subscribed to "LibVibe: The Library News Podcast." Sort of like a mini news report with the only subject being news about various library related things.
I also ended up listing to the Denver Public Library Podcast of "Oliver's World" -- a cute children's book, just the first part of the book actually.
And the Grand Rapids Public Library book review by "Amy" of "People of Paper."

The personal interest podcast was harder to accomplish. I tried for one on Scotland, one on Maui, one on Hawaii, even one on Garth Brooks. One wouldn't let me subscribe, two I subscribed to but they had errors with a note from Bloglines that they'll "work on it." I did successfully get subscribed to one finally but not really my first choice.

I could see Sno-Isle using podcasts for patron instructions on how to use library services, booktalks, taping of programs for customers to listen to at their convenience. Could be helpful in allowing one librarian to sort of be in more than one place at the same time. Interesting.