Loved It

Project Play was fabulous. Thanks so much to Beth, Jean, Stef, and Joy for making learning fun...

Mashups

First time I heard the term mashup was in the music world in 2004 when DJ Dangermouse combined the music from The Beatle's White Album with the vocals from Jay-Z's Black Album to create The Grey Album. Copyright infringment? You bet! Check out the YouTube video- crazy, huh?

Anyway, the mapbuilder mashup is quite handy- I added the Lakeview Branch of Madison Public Library to the map. Yea! I'm particularly fond of the Cambridge library's Hot Titles Carousel that links to their online catalog - it's so common for people to know a book (not to mention judge a book!) by its cover.

YouTube

How about a YouTube video that shows me how these lovely Parisian goodies were made? You Tube is great- you can find a video on just about anything. Maybe I won't find out how these were made, but there are lots of other great cooking related vids. Here's a clip of one of my favorite cooks, Alice Waters, talking about eating locally and farmers markets.
It's never crossed my mind to use YouTube as a reference tool, but it makes complete sense. We all know how to find the text of JFK's famous inauguration speak, now it's that easy to find the video as well...

Screencasts

I've always been a fan of screenshots when I'm learning how to do something techy for the first time. Screencasts are a nice extension or continuation of screenshots. In todays ultra visual world, it makes sense for libraries to use this technology to create tutorials for their online catalogs. For example, I think a screencast tutorial for using LINKcat at South Central Libraries would be much more useful than the "help" tab.
I'd like to test this idea with Screencast-O-Matic. To be continued...

Podcasts

One of the few project play lessons that I already knew about. I'm a podcast fan- it's so easy with itunes. I particularly like the NPR music podcasts that magically appear in itunes for me. I'm happy to learn about a few library related podcast as well. Perhaps I'll download a few on my ipod before leaving for vacation tomorrow... Then again, taking a vacation means no thinking about work, right?
Silly question: Is there a way for libraries to track their podcast use just as they track use of books, etc? How do we know if people are taking advantage of this technology? These "circulation" stats would not only be interesting but also useful.

Public Library + Social Networking = Community

Yeah, it makes sense for libraries to create a presence in the social networking world of Myspace and Facebook. After all, the public library is as much a community center as it is a place to get information and check out books and movies. I can particularly see the advantage of reaching out to potential teenage users: LaCrosse PL's myspace page is a great example.

A loaf of bread, a stick of butter, and a container of milk

I love the web 2.0 technology that we've learned about and explored throughout project play. I can appreciate the usefulness of Remember the Milk, but I prefer the simpleness of Base Camp and Google Docs. Of course, remember the milk interfaces with google apps, so perhaps I will end up using it with all these work projects/meetings... in the long run, I'll probably stick with the old fashioned pen and paper technique for my own personal lists and tasks!
I haven't had a chance to try Jott yet, but this is seems too good to be true. If I hadn't seen Stef's example, I wouldn't believe it.

Google Docs do indeed rock

Four easy steps to using google docs:
1. Create document in Microsoft Word about ideas for a program at our library
2. Upload document to google docs, publish document
3. Email coworkers to view/edit document
4. Coworker Katie views and edits document

As Katie says, "totally cool, man."

IM - round 2

Yeah- success! I managed to chat (IM) with my coworker Katie. Yes, she was at another computer only 2 feet away from me, but who cares?
I can absolutely see how IM would be (or in some cases already is) useful in libraries: e.g. 24/7 reference.

I figured out how to add the meebo widget to my blog... unfortunately, I was only able to get it at the very bottom. Next step is moving it to a more visible location

IMing- is that even a word?

Hmm- My first attempt at IMing someone? Not so much... I guess I can't expect anyone of my colleagues who aren't at work to be online on a Saturday afternoon. I'll have to give it a try next week. Since I already have a Gmail account, it seems to make the most sense for me to use Goggle Talk. I'm taking the advice of my younger, hipper, co-worker Emily and sticking with Google.