Week 5, Thing #12 Rollyo

This was very interesting. I can see the potential for creating a search engine tool for my 5th graders for their various research projects. It would give them a place to start for basic information. I created a Rollyo on women's history. I searched for Martha Washington using my Rollyo and was impressed by the results. I liked the fact that I could export my bookmarks to one location accessible from any computer.

Week 5, Thing #11 Web 2.0 Awards

After exploring dozens of sites, I narrowed my selection down to WorldCat and LibraryThing. Both sites received Honorable Mention on the Web 2.0 Awards site. Of the two, I found that WorldCat would be most useful to me in my library setting. I am frequently asked where a copy of a popular book, that has been checked out, could be found. I had quite a demand for the Newbery winners this year, and my students wanted to get the book at the public libraries in the area. I searched the catalog and found useful information for specific titles such as reviews (from GoodReads and Amazon), subject access, author information, and user tags. I could also use WorldCat to check out a title that has been recommended to me by my students. On the personal side, I thought LibraryThing was great. I'm always looking for book recommendations. Checked out Ning for Computer-Using Educators and had fun playing Travel IQ.

Week 5, Thing #10 Image Generator

Well, this was fun and the possibilities were endless. I could easily play around with this for hours on end. Sleep? Who needs sleep? I like the comic strip generators but had difficulty thinking of something funny. I know my students would love playing with the ReadWriteThink comic creator. I used Image Chef for my "Stone Soup" image (www.imagechef.com). I actually created a number of images but settled on this one. Uploading the image was very easy, just follow the directions given by Image Chef. I enjoyed skipping through the custom sign generator with their "Wacky Packages." Couldn't help but notice that there are many image generator sites to update a MySpace page.

Week 4, Thing #9 Library blogs

Checked out all the search tools listed on the page and found Technorati, Google Blog Search and the Blogging Libraries wiki the most useful and the easiest to use. Bloglines search tool required quotes around my string of search terms so that they appeared together and not randomly. The Google Blog Search was quick but the blogging libraries wiki was right on target with less distracting type and advertising. I tried Blog Pulse to see what tracking conversations was all about. I broadened my search term from school library learning 2.0 to library just to see what would happen. It was interesting but not quite what I expected or needed.

Week 4, Thing #8 RSS newsfeeds

I set up an account with Bloglines and started to subscribe to a bunch of newsfeeds. I like the idea of having the latest news fed to me with a click. It saves so much time and helps me to keep up to date on the latest in the library/information world. Without my library tech this year (I lost her to budget cuts), I have very little if any time to spend going from website to website reading to keep myself current. At first I went a little overboard subscribing to many newsfeeds, but I found that some did not provide me with the information I was looking for. I decided to focus on newsfeeds that were directly related to my job as an elementary school librarian primarily book reviews and school library related issues.

Week 3, Thing #7 Technology eReaders

I recently received a Kindle as a gift and have downloaded several novels from Amazon as well as from 3rd party sites. I'm of two minds when debating the pros and cons of an ebook reader versus hardcopy. The Kindle is fantastic when sitting in the middle seat on a airplane with very little personal space. Plus I can have a wide assortment of options to read when traveling-- novels, newspapers, etc. However, I still enjoy the feel of a physical book. When reading I like to go back and reread passages or jump ahead to read the ending. That's a little trickier to do on a Kindle. I think I might enjoy reading on an iPad a little bit more with it's visual element of a page turning. Probably the most distressing thing about using an ebook reader is that I can't share a book I've really enjoyed with my friends and family.

Week 3, Thing #6 Flickr mashups

I really enjoyed exploring Flickr's mashups and some of the other tools. The mashup that most intrigued me was Flickr Color Pickr. I found it amazing and had to agree with KrazyDad Jim Bumgardner that "it's purpose is simply to provide wonder and delight." I couldn't agree more. It was delightful! I tried several more of the Colr Pickrs and found them just as interesting.

I then went on to create a Librarian Trading Card. I have kept it private for now as I want to edit it a bit first. I thought it would be fun to have my 5th graders create a trading card to go along with their biography book reports.