Week 10 #23 Reflections/Summary

A couple of my favorite discoveries were Del.icio.us and online productivity sites. Del.icio.us will allow me to have all my bookmarks/favorites in one spot where they can be accessed from anywhere. The same goes for online productivity. Not having to worry about a disk or flash to save or transport data is great. I will pass this information on to many of our customers.

I think this program has been most beneficial. It is obvious that learning is lifelong and continuous. With so much emerging technology, as an information specialist I must keep up with the changes in order to better serve my clientele. Learning is ONGOING!! I was a little surprised to see how many new technologies that are out that I wasn't aware of. Some I will never use but am glad to have the opportunity to explore them so that I can share with those needing them. A few I will definitely use.

Harris County Public Library can use many of the technologies. First of all, having staff to learn these technologies the staff can better serve our customers. We are already using De.licio.us and Flicker.

I learned a lots from the program. I think the time to complete this program was underestimated. It took much more time than expected. When you have to listen to videos and then visit and explore several sites it can be quite time consuming. When you work in a library that is busy busy, you often find yourself putting the exercises to the side to complete other assignments. Also, not all of the assignments were clear as to what exactly needed to be done. Thank goodness my supervisor set aside 'uninterrupted block of time' for the staff to complete the program. We also have a couple of individuals who are really knowledgeable of the technologies and were willing to assist those of us who were not so familiar. If you have this program again, I like the idea of having group training in the training lab where information can be shared. This worked best in my setting.

Week 9 #22 Downloadable Media

I took the opportunity to explore the HCPL eBranch. I actually downloaded Say A Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris to a MP3 player. I found the whole process to be fairly easy. Of course, it is important to READ...all of the information needed is on the site. HCPL has a diverse collection of eaudio books, music and videos. I also looked at LibriVox. It contains free audiobooks from the public domain. It was easy to use and can be great for getting the classics and older materials but of course it isn't going to help you if you are looking for newer material. Wowio has free copyrighted audiobooks. I didn't see hardly any popular titles but noticed quite a few financial, resume, and business material. I think both sites can be useful depending on your needs.

Week 9 #21 Podcasts

I explored podcast.net and podcastalley.com. I found both sites to be similar and easy to use. I didn't care for the search options. I wish the sites had advance search options for more specific search results. I chose 'Meet the Author' podcast from podcastalley.com and added the RSS feed to my blogline. I think podcasts can be helpful to libraries. There are so many library related podcasts available.

Week 9 # 20 Discover YouTube

I had fun exploring YouTube!! Wow...there are so many videos! I viewed videos in each of the catagories. The site was easy to use and many of the videos were informative and helpful. On the other hand, there were just as many videos that were just trash. YouTube videos were used in the ihcpl exercises and were quite helpful. So I think the site can be beneficial to libraries. I just finished reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne which inspired me to choose the video "Inspirational Quotes for Success". The video is a relaxed collection of quotes to inspire and motivate. The Secret talks about positive thought for positive results so I wanted something on that same thought process.






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Week 8 #19 Web-based Apps

Zoho is great! How many times have you been somewhere and needed your disc or flash drive for your information or maybe your document is too large to save to your storage devise. Zoho to the rescue. I like it. I found it very easy to use and many of the features are similar to Word and other word processing programs. I will be using this one!!!!!

Week 8 #18 Social Networking

I was only aware of three or four of the social networking sites listed. I really don't care for social networking sites. I think networking can be most beneficial to those who have an interest. Like most things, there are dangers associated with social networking. We often hear of the dangers involving online predators or individuals who claim to be someone that they are not. Although danger does exist with networking online, it also exists with networking out in the real world, too. For those socialites out there, just use common sense and listen to your inner voice and be real careful. I found Rate My Space and Threadless T-Shirts sites to be most interesting. I think I will be visiting these two sites again. They were a little different than the norm.

Week 7 # 17 Technology

After the Horizon crash, what can I say....we have become too dependent on technology to say the least!!! It can be a pain at times but no matter how we complain we definitely are dependent on technology and are thrown completely off course without it. I think people as a whole have a love hate relationship with technology. When it is up and running and making our lives easier we love it, but when it is not working properly we hate it!!!!