Thing 47! Evaluation

Some Observations about MORE THINGS on 17 June:

1. Some that were the "most fun" were also the "most frustrating" for me. Even though I spent lots of time working on GOOGLE Maps and screencasting, I am not satisfied with my efforts, and want to continue to use those THINGS.

2. Thanks to the Things, I spend much time on Facebook and Twitter now. It is amazing how they change our communication and the way that we spend our time. When I just checked, I found that I have 117 friends on Facebook, and follow 117 on Twitter. What a coincidence!

3. There are many potential library uses for the Things we just completed, and I hope to implement what I have learned professionally as well as personally.

4. I found it easier to do the first 23 Things last summer than I did this round when I started while I was working full time. My preference is to work on one a day rather than a group of them at a time to try to finish by the deadline.

5. RSS is probably the Thing that I use the least, and WebJunction one that I want to use more than I currently do.

6. Some of the Things that I found most fun and useful were the music and photo ones. It was great to learn about sites (like Animoto) that I had not used before.

7. I enjoyed looking at the blogs of other Things participants, especially after "meeting" some of them on the 23 Things Ning and Twitter.

8. Thank you for offering More Things!

Thing 27! Twitter

I had been hearing about Twitter, and thought that it might be in the first 23 Things. A few weeks ago, the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Sunday papers both had stories on Twitter. The Pioneer Press one said that "the median age of Twitter users is 31 compared to 26 on Facebook."

The day that I joined this week, when I was driving to work I heard that WCCO Radio was now on Twitter. In the Mark Halperin site that I follow on my blog, I noticed a Twitter option. When I joined, I became a follower of them first and since have added Minnesota Gopher sports, the Pioneer Press, MPR, Minn Post and other sites to follow. The first night that I was on Twitter, Nightline broadcast a segment on it, so it was fun to follow the comments about it online while I as listening to the TV in the next room.

I spend enough time on Facebook that I do not need to do the same with Twitter. Since joining Twitter, I prefer to do searches on topics rather than find followers. The best use I found so far was to do a search on Minnesota writer Bill Holm yesterday after I knew of his death. It was interesting to read the many comments and see the sources of information about him. I also have checked out comments from the 23 Things folks. The Hibbing Library is a good example of a library using Twitter, and I will be interested to see if more libraries will embrace Twitter.

Now you can follow me on Twitter by finding the link on the sidebar near the bottom right of my blog. After a few weeks of use, I will see if I agree with author Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Work Week) who called Twitter, "Pointless email on steroids."

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-FOUR (and Thing Four!)

24. Eat SOMETHING on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair.

Even though my goal was to finish 23 Things before making our annual trek to the Minnesota State Fair, I still enjoyed consuming Things on a Stick this year. The frozen chocolate covered bananas are my favorites. Key Lime Pie on a stick is good too!

Thanks to dahl for posting the photo on Flickr.

Chocolate Covered Banana On A Stick
Originally uploaded by dahl

THING TWENTY-THREE!!!

23. Complete a survey and comment on 23 Things.

Although the 23 Things have been completed, I am happy to continue a journey that gave me many opportunities to learn about Library 2.0. The most fun was the day I started my blog in May when I did an avatar and added links for Delicious and Shelfari before doing the required Things. I thought, "I can do this". Even though there were delays and frustrations along the way, the self-paced tutorial was a great format for me to follow. Although I am a person who usually likes to do things in order, I found that if I had challenges or spent too much time on any "Thing", it was best to move on and return later. After having problems posting a YouTube video, and asking two people for help, it worked fine when I tried using a different video. Now that I am completing the project, I have had fun going back to do more - like adding letters 358 from More Flickr Fun today.

I already had accounts for some of the Things, but I learned more when exploring each Thing. My favorites to continue working with are the photo ones like Flickr and PictureTrail. At work I also want to do more with the ZOHO site that we started using last spring.

Thank you for offering 23 Things again. Even though I am back at work now, I was glad to be working on it mostly in the summer when it did not matter if I was working at one or two AM. Having a dial-up computer connection at home takes more time than using the wireless that I use when I take my computer elsewhere.

Now I understand the Facebook culture better, and am happy to be a member. It has already been fun to "re-connect" with people, and I will probably use Facebook more than many of the other Things.

One of my favorite parts of 23 Things was to look at the blogs of others. After finishing a Thing, it was fun to read what others had done for it. At first I looked mostly at blogs from our SAMMIE region, but recently have looked at many others from throughout the state. I plan to continue reading them, and look forward to expanding my horizons. I would be interested in another similar experience if offered during the summer.

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.

Thing Four!

4. Explore FLICKR. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaykivi/287714927/ Here is a link to one of many great Prague photos.

In FLICKR I enjoyed exploring a few of the many photos available. I saved some favorites of Prague in my del.ic.ious account. On the first day that I worked on this blog, I linked my del.ic.ious account on the sidebar on the right.

Prague is a wonderful city where I would like to return sometime. I was only there for two days (before digital cameras were available).

The notes that the St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict's Libraries use to label their books is a great use of FLICKR that I first saw at an MLA session last year presented by LeAnn Suchy.

LATER: On 09/07, I posted a photo from FLICKR on this blog as Thing Twenty-four.