Week 3, Thing 7 Technology Thought from The Times

The front page of the New York Times SundayStyles section yesterday featured a long-ish article about librarians. "Today's librarians? Think high-tech party people." Yeah! One Washington librarian said the library was a haven for left-wing social engagement, which is particularly appealing to librarians who graduated around the same time as the Patriot Act. "We see what happens when information is restricted," she states. She became a librarian because it combined a geekie intellectualism with information technology skills and social activism. Another librarian states that new librarians are attracted to what they call the 'Library 2.0' phenomenon - it's become a techie profession. Well any of this is better than the endless whinging those of us who were in graduate school in the early 90's listened to about our role as librarians and the future of our profession*. So let's organize our RSS feeds and welcome the hipper crowd of shushers. Want to read the entire article?

(*a brief moment of levity, not intended as a criticism)

Week 3, Thing 6: Flickr Fun, Mashups, and 3rd Party Sites

I recommend the ZDNet whiteboard video about MASHUPS. And for hours of fun.....check out the Magazine Cover Maker among Flickr toys.

Week 3, Thing 5: Flickr, Picasa, Smugmug

Yahoo's Flickr eats up a lot of time. Who knew photo management could be so time-consuming and yet filled with such interestingness? Anyone with boxes of pictures still not in albums and zillions of digital pictures still not in organized files, I'm guessing. Be sure to visit and join the 365 Days of Library Pictures. The APIs (Application Programming Interface) are very useful and playful, too - badge makers, blog headers, calendars, CD cover makers, etc. The Flickr Trip Planner looks like a good way to organize trip photos. And Trippermap creates a flash map of your tagged trip pictures using Google Earth. Smugmug costs, but it has no ads and looks upscale. Google's Picasa will gather all of your photos from anywhere on your computer in short order. Then all you have to do is organize them into folders.

Week 2, Thing 4 : Registration & Confirmation

The California School Library Association Library Learning 2.0 has a connection to North Carolina! Just getting set up has been stimulating......I look forward to the cyber scavenger hunt beginning in earnest next week. Connie Williams is happy that we are participating and would like any addresses of wikis that we create.

Week 2, Thing 3: Blog & Avatar

In a busy world, what I enjoy most about blogs are their accessibility. No phone calls, no meetings - just everyone adding to a discussion at a time that is convenient for everyone. VOX has an appropriate name for bloggers - vox populus indeed!

Week 1, Thing 2: Lifelong Learner Pointers

After watching 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners I know I have the goal visualization and playing parts down.....now if I could only face problems as interesting challenges instead of onerous ordeals.

Week 1, Thing 1: California School Library Learning Blog

I was delighted to learn of this tutorial to help structure my internet explorations this summer. Thank you CSLA!!!