#23: I Made It...and other fabulous things

I can't believe it is finally here! I cannot believe I am writing my twenty-third iHCPL response! First, I particularly enjoyed: making my avatar, spending more time cataloging my books through LibraryThing, blogging about all of my investigations, discovering all the fabulous e-Audiobooks HCPL has available, getting some training credit to play around with Flickr and YouTube, registering my own del.icio.us account, and playing with image generators and editors. I don't know particularly if iHCPL has modified my path of life-long learning (as many of the exercises involved using services and technologies with which I was already familiar and sometimes frequently used); but it has made me hopeful that I can stay in touch with new and emergent technologies throughout my career. Since the Children's Department here at Freeman has been discussing setting up a blog, we in the YA department have also considered doing something similar as a way to get the teens involved in the planning of programs, voting for what movies or anime they might want to watch for movie nights or our future anime club, giving us feedback on programs they have attended, highlighting new materials, and eliciting book, movie, music, etc. reviews from our teen patrons. I know that this is not the end of the road, by any means, and I look forward to spending more time discovering new resources on my own, in collaboration with friends and coworkers and our patrons, and hopefully to share my knowledge and experience to positively influence interactions with library patrons.

#22: Downloading the Motherload

While I spend time looking for e-audiobooks and e-books for patrons who come to the reference desk, I've never had the time or thought to look for myself...so it was an eye-opening and infinitely enjoyable experience to find so many young adult authors with e-audiobooks available through HCPL (Jerry Spinelli, Stephanie Meyer, Christopher Paolini, Eoin Colfer, and Walter Dean Myers...and more!! oh my!!)!!

Although LibriVox was certainly cool, I thought Wowio was amazing! So many comics and manga available to download for free! Wowio also seemed a little more aesthetically flashy than LibriVox (at least to me); but I can see myself recommending either.

#21: Podcasting Your Heart Out

I looked at both Podcast.net and Podcastalley.com and added the podcast "This Week in Houston," where local citizen/journalists describe upcoming events in the Bayou City. Because I'm still relatively new to the area, I thought it might be fun to hear about some of the great events, attractions, and individuals that make Houston a fabulous place to live. Of course...I'm one of only two subscribers...but I'm sure the word will spread (as I am doing right now!).

I think podcasts can be really fun. I have friends who have made crafty or d.i.y. podcasts and I can definitely see the usefulness of podcasting as an alternative media source and for community information/community building. I fairly recently taught a Teen Podcasting, 101, class and made a brief podcast from home (using audacity to record; iTunes to export as MP3; feedburner to make my blog's rss feed podcast-ready; and uploading my audiofile to OurMedia) as a demonstration. We only had two teens show up and they seemed a little peeved that there were so many steps to the process; but, nevertheless, once you kind of understand the process, it can be really easy and rewarding.

#20: Mr. Bean Does a Dance...but is it legal?

If you cannot view the hi-larious video of Mr. Bean, click here!

I've always enjoyed playing around with YouTube: whether to find videos of random people doing crazy things (putting a bar of soap in the microwave, for example); to find videos that friends have uploaded (songs, dances, jokes, greetings); or to find footage of New Order performing Temptation. I think it is an interesting social space bringing individuals together via one of the most powerful medium to date - the combination of sound and image.

Nevertheless, while I can certainly see the usefulness of YouTube for libraries (what if we could bring programs and tutorials to a wider audience online??), I do have concerns over copyright protections. Is it all really legal? And do most people know where they can go to find media (whether images, videos, audio, etc.) that they can use, manipulate and re-fashion in the free and clear?

#19: Web-Based Applications

Online Application: Zoho Creator

I'm using Zoho to create this message and while many of the features I understand (being relatively familiar with many separate software applications), I feel also that Zoho has some labeling and organizational issues that might interfere with an optimal use of all available features for beginners. Zoho creators, however, seem to be aware of these types of problems after some usability testing/feedback, the results of which they posted to their information blog:

• Accessibility (some features buried deep into modules)
• Navigation ( unable to reach a screen or module quickly)
• Too many clicks
• Complex screens, etc

While I think that this can be an incredibly powerful tool, the interface and some other hindrances to usability will need to be corrected or accommodated before I can see it really taking off.

#18: Social Networking, or, Is My Life Really that Interesting?

Okay, so maybe I don't really believe that MySpace or FaceBook or whatever are for losers (as the graffiti tag might have you believe), but I've never really gotten the whole online social networking site phenomenon. My friends and I have done a pretty good job of keeping in touch without the need to "expose" our lives and our whiny-selves to the world; and I'm not sure I need another (albeit virtual) social venture to remind myself that I do not always make friends so easily. Moreover, I'm not sure that I could really spark others' interest with my textual/graphic/visual output to make many new friends.

However, I did enjoy Dogster and made a profile for my baby Lilly (a.k.a. Lilly Fried Chicken). I found it really helpful in finding a vet and off-leash dog parks in the area (since we recently moved). Threadless was certainly cool and crafty (things I certainly aspire to be) and really sparked me to think about some teen fashion programs. RateMySpace only made me wish I could put more time and effort into making our home decor a little jazzier and did not make me really wish to share my ideas with the world (to have them rate how my partner and I choose to make our living quarters comfortable) or to network with other home decoration savvy-deficient people.

I don't think I'll ever be a MySpace or FaceBook kind of gal. It isn't really my scene on or off-line.