Thing #17

Rollyo was interesting. Creating two searchrolls was easy and fun. My first was for the endangered species mentioned in Thing 16. The second was of library organizations that can be used for research. I can really see myself using these. After watching the video by Bruce Goodner, I can see linking the searchrolls to a wiki or web page. Searching Google has gotten to be a time waster for the students that have only twenty minutes to 'research' in the library. With the new Mac computers, I can see installing the Mozilla add-in and having the link in the toolbar. I can also see the potential for use in my studies. Pulling together the websites that are regularly used for research, making a searchroll for discussion questions, and bookmarking the results with Diigo will streamline the process of responding to assignments. Since I use Mozilla on my home desktop, the toolbar will further speed things along. Hopefully, more of my time will be spent acquiring knowledge, and less acquiring information that requires so much time-consuming sifting.

Thing #16

Frankly, wikis scared me. I wasn't sure about their uses, and that creates fear in my world. Using the class wiki Dr. B set up helped start the learning process. Now I can see many uses for them. I liked the idea that when you contribute information to a wiki you become a participant. The students love that. In collaborative teaching, a wiki will be a great tool for information sharing. A librarian can set up a wiki for a class and provide links to the books needed for a specific research topic (endangered animals), the websites available with pertinent information (WWF), and tools for reporting that information: Glogster and BigHugeLabs, for example. I found a couple of wikis that I added to Diigo: Childrens Book Reviews and The Hub (another country's point of view). I will most certainly be using wikis in the future.

Thing #15 Caught in the web?

This one is going to be tough for me. I am the example of the conflict between the library of yesterday and the library 2.0 of today. First, let's get something straight. I love the technology! My husband works in the computer industry and I have been telling him for years that the way to access the amount of information and make it portable is . . . and then I would describe something akin to the smartphone, the tablet pc or the new iPad (yeah, Windows 7 was my idea. . .). The people behind the changes in technology in my lifetime are geniuses. Ah, and there's the rub - my lifetime! The video in Thing #15 is correct - in order to really learn the information that we need, we spend most of our time online. As Rick Anderson so eloquently put, when we have to learn how to use each of the programs, websites, and databases, then remember the accounts and passwords, we are wasting valuable time and energy. And then there is doing it while keeping you and your identity safe. I know that we are learning, we are just spending a great deal of time on details not related to the actual information. You see, I'm not just the librarian, I am also the student. One that has learned each evolution of the technological age. Now that there is so much information available, it needs to be easier to find, access, evaluate, and use.

The library I see in my elementary students' eyes looks like this: a fun place to learn with accurate, up-to-date information that is easy to use so that they can focus on learning the reading, math, science, social studies, and global social skills that form the foundation of what they will use for the rest of their lives. It is a place that has the ability to connect with the global community using technology. It is a place to learn and practice basic skills with elementary components like books, magazines, and poster board. And it is a place that has the ability to adapt to all learning styles using all available resources. My job is to help them do this in a safe, but not confined, environment. Developing an information literate student with a love of learning is part of the public school 2.0 librarian's job description. That includes the skills necessary for students to do what I am doing: adapt and figure out how to use new technology as it comes along.

Well, I'm about to sneeze from the dust of this soapbox, but I hope that what I have said will stimulate readers to put in their 'two cents worth' (and join the 2.0 library vision). I have a concern that we need to make it easier and quicker to understand and access the different programs and data. John Reiner's article covers accessing metadata. Hopefully, we can incorporate those ideas into all aspects of a student's web needs. I'm on board, are you?

Thing #14 Technorati

My first introduction to Technorati came about 18 months ago as I was following the No Impact Man blog. He mentions it in one of his posts and I had no clue what he was talking about. After taking a look and reading what changes have occurred, I can see how you would check your 'standing.' As to the 'new' Technorati, I was not able to find any posts or blogs with 'School Library Learning 2.0' in them but I was able to find some posts with 'librarians.' The first defends the value of librarians, and the second shows where librarians have been cut. They are from ResourceShelf and I liked them so much I bookmarked them in Diigo! I can see using this to find posts with relevant information. The Popular and Widgets sections of Technorati are not available at the moment. I was able to find references to Library2play using the search feature. Tagging definitely has its benefits and I must say that Flickr and Diigo rank higher for me than Technorati. It doesn't mean that I won't use it, it just did not seem that user friendly.

Thing #13 Did ya go to Diigo?

Okay, the title is not my best work, but the site blew me away! After watching both videos, I tried Delicious, and it had some great finds, but for what I am doing at the moment, Diigo is the way to go (sorry for the rhyme). First things first. I took a serious look around Delicious by searching for collaborative teaching. I found a bookmark titled 15 different ways to use Wallwisher in the Classroom (now 19 different ways) and that was great. Something I can use. I also found a website, Citeulike that is an online bibliography manager. I looked up a couple of the topics we have discussed in class but struggled to find current articles. I then tried Ma.gnolia and was able to get to some information, but not the amount that I would like to have for the topics I want. This community seems to be in the process of being revamped and seems to be limiting access by using an invitation only format. I did however find Passive Aggressive Library Signs (in honor of Library Week) when I typed in Libraries. I have linked it just for grins.

On Diigo (actually I clicked on the Furl link, but it must now be Diigo), I found the same information on Wallwisher, but with a sticky note that had comments. I also found an article on 7 Things You Should Know About Collaborative Annotation that also had a sticky. This site has the ability to highlight images and text in the articles. You can also take a snapshot of a page and save it - a feature that I find very useful with online research. The site is easy to use and looks uncluttered, both attractive characteristics. I can see using this with teachers in the building and with other librarians. I joined the 'Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0.' and it has some really great stuff. Diigo (pronounced dee-go) stands for: Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff and its focus is on the social networking that goes with research and collaboration. That suits me, especially when I searched for several of the topics from our classes and found lots of information.

Thing #11

I am really enjoying this part of the project. And I was able to get my husband involved. He loves history, particularly political history of the U.S. and naval history. We have a large library and have had to develop a rule: we can buy new books and read them, but if we want to keep them we must part with another book on the shelves. My husband's aunt, who just died a few weeks ago, was a retired public school librarian from Ann Arbor, MI. She also had a rule: once a book was read, it should be passed on. The ultimate philosophy of a lending librarian! We have adopted some of that same philosophy and the books we choose to pass on go to the public library, family or friends.

LibraryThing was easy to use and fun. We set up a library and put in a few of our books. This will be a great way to keep up with what you have, what you want, and what you want to share. Our families are scattered across the U.S and also have extensive libraries. This would be a great way to see each of our libraries and make plans for sharing as we visit each other. I can see using this with students in middle school (maybe 5th grade) or high school. They can keep track of the books they have read and interact with other students with similar interests.

I checked out some of the groups. The one I was surprised to find, and really liked, was Naval History and Fiction and under that, Young Adult Naval Fiction. They mentioned several books from our school library and the Horatio Hornblower books by C. S. Forester. I just love sailing and the sea!

Thing #10

Okay, something I have done before! I am a scrapbooker and have used digital scrapbook page templates that have drop-ins for photos. This was very similar to that. I tried Comic Strip Generator but didn't like it. So I moved on to Image Chef and loved it! I had made 3 things before I could come up for air! The first was just like a scrapbook page using Sketchpad and a picture of George (monkey that travels with me - he is the center of stories I make for my nieces and nephew).

The second was a Word Mosaic and the third was a Bookend from the Work category.

The last place I tried was Dumpr. There I took one of my favorite pictures (from a trip to Bonaire) and made it into a jigsaw puzzle.


This is a great way to have students document activities (scrapbook-type pages), create poetry for the reluctant student (Word Mosaic), make components for slide shows, presentations, or Animotos. These can be used in research projects and book reviews, as extensions of technology lessons, and as enrichment in the classroom. The possibilities are endless!