Thing 46! WebJunction

Winnipeg Junction, Minnesota
Originally uploaded by afiler

Thing 46


I will admit that for me WebJunction is one of the least utilized Things. Even though I had used the site before the first 23 Things, I neglect to use it routinely as I do Facebook, the 23 Things Ning and Twitter. After finishing these Things, I hope to explore some of the courses available from the University of North Texas and the Illinois State Library. I enjoyed the librarian spotlight on Kristen Mastel and exploring some of the information in the featured groups. The Calendar of Events is also a useful feature. A MINITEX Messenger EXTRA (June 8, 2009), features a special cover story on WebJunction with valuable information from Bill DeJohn, Ann Walker Smalley, Mary Ann Van Cura, Deanna Sylte and Jennifer Hootman.

Thing 30! More Ways to Use RSS and Delicious

The only RSS feed that I have on my blog is the Google News one, but I have others on my iGoogle page. Being I have widgets for CNN and Politico on my blog, I do not want to clutter it up too much. Thing 30 introducted me to MANY RSS sites, tricks and tips that I did not previously know about. I looked at all of the sites selected for Thing 30, bookmarked some on Delicious, and now have accounts with Tabbloid and Spreed. After setting up the Spreed account, I thought of my mother who was such a speed reader and said that you don't need to read every a, and and the! I looked at the .govFeeds and rssWeather.com. Now I should spend less time on Facebook and Twitter for awhile and concentrate on RSS feeds for a few days. Too many THINGS to read!

I have had a delicious account before I did the 23 Things. When I set up my original blog, I added a link to it before I did any of the "Things". Now I removed that link and added the linkroll to the sidebar so the most recent entries are visible. I want to organize my tags. Now I have an account with 43marks.com and added my bookmarks to Insuggest.

Thing 26! Join the 23 Things Ning

For Thing 26, I have been participating in the new MnSCU group. I have sent a few messages to members, made some comments on photos and posts, and added four of my photos. Being the "Ning Thing" is earlier in this round, I think the use will be much greater than in the first round. There are more applications to explore that I have not used yet. New groups are forming with increased interest and activity. I did check the site after finishing the 23 Things, but look forward to more interaction with More Things than with 23 Things.

I added a 23 Things Ning badge to the sidebar of the blog.

Thing 24! Refresh

Hi again!

Even though I had been using my blog since finishing 23 Things last September, I had not looked at the new "Things" until today. My blog has a new look with a different color scheme. I decided to give the avatar a new background and hairstyle. The blog has been a good place for recording information on conferences (MLA and MnPALS) that I attended. I also have added some links that I like, and check some of them almost every day. With the snow melting this week, I added a countdown clock today with the number of days left until spring.

Thing 20 (Faceback) is one that I surprised myself with by using so much! I now have more than 80 friends, and check the site most days. At first my friends were college students and the children of my friends, but now I have more relatives, classmates and people around my age. TIME magazine had an interesting page by Lev Grossman in the February 23rd issue, "Facebook is for Old People," about the baby boomers now "hijacking" Facebook.

From the "increased traffic" on the 23 Things Ning, I knew that a lot of people have "taken off' with the new Things. There are many photos posted since my sunflower was the last one. This week I was happy to find a group for MnSCU librarians, and became the third member.

Thing Twenty-One, 23 Things on A Stick Ning

Visit 23 Things on a Stick
21. Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks.

Before beginning Thing 21, I was invited by a colleague to join the 23 Things Ning. I was familiar with Ning, but had just briefly looked, and not been a member. Now I have posted photos and sent comments to other members. Photos are easy to add, and the variety on the site with videos and other media is good. The 23 Things site is a great networking tool. I added the 23 Things Ning to my Facebook page. Last year I joined WebJunction. It is a good site that I should check more frequently.

Thing Twenty-Two!

22. Staying Current. Ways to keep learning.

WOW! I am almost through with the 23 Things, and am finding out how much more there is to learn about 2.0. During the political conventions, I kept hearing about Twitter which is not even one of the sites that I used here . . . I just added links to Opal and Library Stuff which I learned about in Thing Twenty-Two. Having the links on my blog will help as I am already using the Newsvine and Mark Halperin Page sites more since adding them.

I have really enjoyed looking at the blogs from around the state, and was happy to locate a few people that I know. I plan to keep checking the blogs as well as updating mine when I attend conferences or have something new to add.

The 23 Things Ning is a great resource for networking with others in Minnesota. Yesterday when opening someone else's blog, I was amazed when my photos that I had recently posted were displayed on the 23 Things Ning link that she had added to her page. It is great to be able to share ideas as well as photos. Being the other librarians from our college have already completed 23 Things, I hope that we can keep sharing and using what we have recently learned. I linked their blogs from mine.