Week 5

Thing #10 - Play around with Image Generators


Generators? No, I’m not talking about those gas powered back-up things. The generators I’m talking about allow you to easily manipulate image and graphics to create fun images.

For this discovery exercise, I just want you to have fun. Find a few fun image or text generators to play around with and write a post in your blog about one of your favorites and display the result. Often adding the image you mocked up to your blog is as simple as copying and pasting code that the page provides. If not, you may just need to right click on the image and then save it to your hard drive before using Blogger’s image button to add it to your post.

If you’re having difficulty getting your image added to a post in your blog, ask a co-worker for help.

Discovery Resources:

The Generator Blog
Letter James
FD Toys

Also try searching for online generators, text generators or image generators!

Discovery Exercise:

1. Play around with some image generators and find one that you like.

2. Post the result of your discovery process in your blog.

Note: Be sure to include a link to the image generator itself, so other participants can discover it too. So take some time and have fun with this exercise. And remember to be tasteful too!

* For more fun, make sure to check out: Dummies Book Generator, FD Toys Magazine Cover, Comic Strip Generator.


Thing #11 - A thing about LibraryThing

Are you book lover or cataloger at heart? Or do you enjoy finding lost and forgotten gems on the shelf to read? Then LibraryThing may be just the tool for you. Developed for booklovers, this online tool not only allows you to easily create an online catalog of your own it also connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes. Add a book to your catalog by just entering the title -- It’s so easy that you don’t even need MARC record training to do it – or connect with other users through your similar reading tastes. There are lots of ways to use LibraryThing. You can even view your books on a virtual shelf, add a widget (see sidebar for sample) to display titles that are in your catalog or install a LT Search box on your blog.

So why not join the ranks and create your own library online. With over 65,000 registered (BTW: LibraryThing also has group forum for librarians users and over 4.7 million cataloged books, you're bound to discover something new.

Discovery Resources:
About LibraryThing
Library Thing tour
MoBuzzTV Review (3rd story in the 5 min broadcast)
LibraryThing blog (updates & news)

Discovery Exercise:
Take a look around LibraryThing and create an account.
Add a least 5 books to your library.

Blog about your findings and be sure to link to your LibraryThing catalog.

Thing #12 - Roll your own search engine

Do you have a group of websites that are your favorites? Or a set of online resources that are similar that you frequently use to answer homework or reference questions? Well Rollyo may be the tool for you. Rollyo allows you to create your own search tool for the just the websites you know and trust.

Take a look at some of these search rolls that have already been created:
Public Domain e-Books Search
Rare Book Library Search
Free Photos
Quick Quotes
Explore other rolls here.

Discovery Exercise:
Explore Rollyo and create an account for yourself.
Create a search roll for any subject you like.
Create a post in your blog about your experience and link to your search roll. Can you see a potential use for tools like this?

OPTIONAL: Add your searchroll to your blog using the "Create a Searchbox" tool.

Week 4

This week we are on to newsfeeds and rss. Both of these are great ways to stay informed on news, blogs and events. So off to things number 8 & 9!


Thing #8 Make life "real simple" with RSS and a newsreader


You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small funny tags on websites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is? Well don’t worry, according to a recent survey you’re still in the majority, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionalizing the way news, media and content creators share information, but it also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information.RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.This week’s discovery exercises focus on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account (a free online newsreader) for yourself to bring your feeds together.



Resources:
CNET Video: RSS – Feel the Need for Feeds (3:32) – a good over-view of what RSS is and the benefits to users.
Feed Me: A gentle introduction to Internet feeds - a good tutorial from Palinet, a library cooperative
Using Bloglines Tutorial (how to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday) – This online tutorial walks you through how to setup a Bloglines account and add newsfeeds. Follow Steps 1 to 3 to set up your Bloglines account. Steps 4 – 9 are optional and cover how to subscribe to different types of feeds (podcasts, Flickr albums, etc)
Additional Bloglines news feed subcription information (screenshot image)
Your co-workers - tap into their knowledge or work through your discovery process together.

Exercise:
Follow the discovery resources above to learn more about RSS and newsreaders.
Create a free online Bloglines account for yourself and subscribe to at least 10 newsfeeds to your reader. See Using Bloglines Tutorial steps 1-3 for instructions.Newsfeeds:

Create link to the Spokane Public Library 2.0 blog by typing the blog URL (spokpl20.blogspot.com)into the subscribe field in Bloglines. Try it, it's easy!
Then try adding a few other types of news feeds from news sources
(Select from the list below to subscribe to or find other sources)

American Library Association website
Library Jounral - The website for the magazine
Unshelved - Library cartoon feed

Create a post in your blog about this exercise. Optional: If you're up to the challenge, you can provide the URL address to your public bloglines account (find where to find this below)Don’t know what to blog about? Think about these questions:

What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your work or personal life?How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?

How to find your public Bloglines URL:
Click on the Share tab within your Bloglines account:
Scroll down the right screen pane and locate the public URL (see screenshot)
Be sure to add this as part of your post to demonstrate your completion of this activity.

Thing #9 Finding Feeds

Now that you have a newsreader (your Bloglines account), you can begin adding other newsfeeds that interest you. There are several ways you can locate newsfeeds:
When visiting your favorite websites -- look for news feed icons that indicate the website provides it. Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere in the navigation bar of the site. (Here's an image that contains a sampling of several feed icons).
Use Blogline's Search tool - Bloglines recently expanded search tool lets you search for news feeds in addition to posts, citations and the web. Use the Search for Feeds option to locate RSS feeds you might be interested in.
Other Search tools that can help you find feeds:
Feedster - One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets you search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts
Topix.net - This search tool allows you to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlet RSS feeds for information, not weblogs.
Syndic8.com - Syndic8 is an open directory of RSS feeds that contains thousands of RSS feeds that users have submitted.
Technorati - Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs you may be interested in. Additonal Resource: Technorati Tutorial on finding and adding your blogDiscovery Excercise:
Explore some of the search tools noted above that can help you locate some news feeds.
Create a blog post about your experience. Don't know what to blog about? Here some questions to think about ...

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
Which was more confusing?
What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels?
Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

PS: Once you tackle this discovery exercise, you've tackled the most difficult one of the whole 23. :)

Week 3.5

We have heard from many of you that there just wasn't nearly enough time to complete week three's tasks, so we have declared this week 3.5. If you haven't yet started, there is still plenty of time to sign up and complete all 23 things between now and the end of the year. Last week the Friends of the Library agreed to fund the purchase of USB flash drives for each eligible Spokane Public Library staff member who completes the program, watch this space for more information about that. Have fun and be sure to take a look at the other participant blogs to see what your colleagues are doing.

Week 3: Photos and Images

Thing #5: Discover Flickr

Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Within the past year, Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword “tags” to create associations and connections between photos and users of the site.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a good look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer. Find out how tags work, what groups are, and all the neat things that people and other libraries are using Flickr for.


Discovery Exercise:

In this discovery exercise, you have two options…

1. Take a good look around Flickr and discover an interesting image that you want to blog about. Be sure to include either a link to the image or, if you create a Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool to add the image in your post. Another option you have for including images in your post is to use Blogger's photo upload tool. Netiquette alert: Even if the photo has a "blog this" icon above their photo, (See this photo to get an idea of what I mean) it is still a nice idea to tell the photo's owner that you are posting it in your blog post. Send the person a message (you can do this by clicking on the person's profile) or post a comment on the picture. It is also nice to provide the person with the link to your post, too.
   
   -- OR --
   
   
   
   
2. If you're up to an easy challenge ... create a Free account in Flickr and use a digital camera to capture a few pictures of something in your branch. Upload these to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images “SPL2.0” and mark it public. Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. Once you have a Flickr account, you have two options for doing this: through Flickr's blogging tool or using Blogger's photo upload feature.

So go ahead, explore the site and have some Flickr photo fun and if you're interested in looking at some photo hosting sites, then check out this Wired story.

PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) is it advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog.

P.P.S. The photo above is one that I took and have uploaded on Flickr. I used the Blogger Upload Feature to link to it from this post.

Thing #6: More Flickr Fun
Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications using images found on the site. Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups* that use Flickr images. Here are just a sampling of a few …

• Mappr - allows you to take Flickr images and paste them on a map



• Flickr Color Pickr - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.



• Montagr – create a photo mosaic from photos found on Flickr.

Discover more mashups, web apps, and Flickr tools.


Discovery Exercise:
Your discovery exercise for this “thing” is to:
Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there.
Create a blog post about one that intrigues you. A really fun tool is FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. And there’s a ton of librarians out there that have created their own Librarian Trading Card. So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat little apps. And if you're up to the challenge while you’re at it, why not create a trading card of your own. :)

*Mashup Note: Wikipedia offers some great articles that explain mashups. Basically they are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like a map).
In this example, you get Mappr (http://mappr.com/).

Thing #7: Blog about Technology
For this thing, simply blog about anything technology related. Yes, it can be anything that relates to technology! You just need to share a few thoughts." PS: Also be sure add at least one comment to another participant's blog. That's what online communities are all about - connecting and communication. :)

To Review, Week Three Activities are:

1. Explore Flickr and post a photo from Flickr on your blog.


2. Play with a Flickr Mashup and create a blog post about one that interests you.


3. Blog about anything technology related and comment on another participant's blog.

Questions? Please feel free to ask in the comments section or e-mail one of the 2.0 committee members.

Have fun!

Week two is for BLOGGING

Now that you've read how the SPL 2.0 program will work, it's time to set up your very own personal blog to begin recording your thoughts, discoveries and exercises. For this program, we recommend that you use Blogger *, a popular free online blog hosting service that is extremely easy to use.
Hint, if you are asking yourself "What's a blog? ? ?" visit https://www.blogger.com/start .

Blogger says
“A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.
Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not. Since Blogger was launched in 1999, blogs have reshaped the web, impacted politics, shaken up journalism, and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others. And we're pretty sure the whole deal is just getting started.”

Creating a blog using

Blogger takes just three steps:
Create an account.

Name your blog. It must be public. You may prefer not to include your personal name in the blog name; all participating staff blogs will be listed on the SPL 2.0 link :

http://spokpl20.blogspot.com.
Let’s encourage each other to read these blogs and post comments to your colleagues.

Debra created her blog [ http://spokanelibrary.blogspot.com/ ] for Staff Day, so that name is taken! Take a look.

Select your template.

Once you've created your blog here are two important things to know:
To add posts: The maintenance interface that you will use to add posts, edit or change the set-up of your blog is accessed online at

http://www.blogger.com/ . Be sure to write down your login and password.
To view your blog: Your blog address is http://xxxx.blogspot.com/ , (xxxx)=the unique identifier you entered in Step 2. Be sure to also write down your blog address.
If you run into problems or would like more information about blogs and using Blogger here are some discovery resources you can use:
Blogger tour
Video Blogger tutorial
OK --- Now, it's your turn...

Discovery Exercise:
Each day at work is a new learning experience, especially in a public library! Use the first post in your new blog to explore what is your own individual learning style.
1. Setup a blog for yourself using Blogger.
2. Add a test post or two. Use one of your posts to write about which learning habits from the tutorial are easiest for you, which are hardest and why.
3. Register your blog with Sally [schilson at spl.org] and inform your supervisor of your intention to participate in the program.
4. Have fun! Share your ideas!

To review, WEEK TWO ACTIVITIES are:
Set up your own blog, add your first post, & register for the program.
Get tips for navigating safely online, as posted by Houston Public Library for its IHCPL version of the 2.0 experience.
All activities must be completed by non-exempt staff during in-library, on-duty hours. No overtime will be allowed.
Questions? Please contact your supervisor or a SPL 2.0 committee member.