The End! Summary Comments

Wow, I think Playtime 2.0 was really cool and fun - and I learned a lot!
Here are my thoughts - I went by Lynn's suggested points:

• My favorite topics were blogs, rss, social networks, and lifelong learning. I'm not sure if I actually didn't like the others, or if they were confusing topics or just not interesting/applicable to me, but they didn't "do it" for me.
• Playtime helped me feel more comfortable social networking and learning online. I feel like I've explored a lot that I normally wouldn't have, and I have seen a bit of what's out there. That saying "You don't know what you don't know" was very applicable to me in this area - now I at least know that there is a vast cyber-world out there and we've only just touched on the edge of it. I did notice, too, that other libraries are using things like Facebook and Flickr (some keep their photos on Flickr and only link to the site, rather than keeping the photos on their own website).
• Unexpected outcomes? Well, I'm addicted to Facebook - not as much as in the beginning, but I've found that it is an invaluable tool when communicating with friends and family. I always thought that it was just as easy to send an email, but I'm finding that I can post something to my wall and suddenly everyone knows about it. I posted in the morning that Mike's dad passed away (a few weeks ago) and by noon he was getting phone calls from out of state family members who I never would have had time to call to tell, and sometimes writing once to everyone is SO MUCH easier! I've also discovered that I like blogging. How can you not - talking (via typing) with no one to interrupt me, and if someone doesn't want to 'listen' anymore, they can exit the screen and I never have to know! I think I'll continue my blog after playtime, I just don't know if I'll have a theme or just blog about anything I want.
• What could we do differently: I don't know...I enjoyed the format, both working from home and the Library. I didn't care for all of the different incentives - coffee cards are perfect for me, but I didn't do this for the incentives, those were just 'gravy'. I thought it was well thought-out, and we got to explore as little or as much as we wanted based on our interest level. Maybe that scares some people off - maybe some need more specific tasks, like we had on Thing #10, to look up specific info or do a specific task and report on it. Some Things had that, but some were more general in scope.
• Would I participate again? Most definitely. I started this because it was mandatory, so of course I would complete it. But I was excited by the idea and would have done it anyway, especially when given work time to complete the tasks.

I really think this has been helpful. I feel like before Playtime I wouldn't have been able to hold a conversation about any of these topics, and now I think I could help a patron figure out their way around some of these sites or complete some of these tasks based on what I learned. I love the fact that as Library employees I can take classes online for free (I finished the Web Design basics class and even printed a certificate!!) and can just keep taking classes until they tell me to stop!

I'm not sure what we can learn next, but I'm up for it, whatever it is. Thanks!!!

Thing #10: Roselle's Virtual Library

First things first: The Newsbank headline was "Mark Your Calendar Today Thursday 19", which a few sentences in noted the Men's Book Group meeting (but Roselle wasn't listed first in the article). My Heritage Quest search resulted in 2 Abraham Lincolns in Illinois in 1860 - one born in KY and age 51, one born in IL and age 22. Since I know President Abraham Lincoln was not 22 when elected President, was born in KY and lived in Springfield/Sangamon County, President Lincoln was the first choice on the list I was provided.

Other databases I have explored: Grolier Online, World Book Reference, Automotive Repair Maintenance, and NoveList K-8. They were all very easy to use and helpful. Most were to help my kids, either with homework or to find books they might enjoy. I used the Auto Maintenance rather than buying the book for our outdated cars. They were helpful in changing out tail lights, fuses, etc.

For me, the least popular database would be the Thomas Register, although I don't know that I really know what it is. I know my husband used to use the big books, as did purchasing departments in companies I used to work for. Don't know if this is helpful to patrons or not, but personally of no interest to me. The most popular for me, and I would imagine to a large portion of our patrons, would be the educational 'from home' databases, such as Grolier, World Book, NoveList K-8, and Live Homework Help. Hopefully students throughout Roselle know about these databases and use them - and perhaps are taught to use them in the schools (Library outreach?) so that they know about them and can share the knowledge with the parents.

There's nothing our website is lacking to me. However, I DO think that we have too much information and not organized in a clear, concise way. Which is why we're working on a re-design. Personally, I prefer not to have to scroll up and down, and since my monitor settings are even smaller than the average (more can fit on the screen), I can only imagine how much up/down scrolling someone with a 'normal' monitor setting would have to do. I like simple - a few buttons from which to choose, click one, next page, click one, and I'm where I need to be.

One thing that we learned in a safety class in staff training is that our floorplan shouldn't be posted on our website - it's probably enough to let people know that YS is upstairs, and RASD/Teen/computers and study areas are on the 1st floor.

I didn't realize there was so much information (more than a blurb) on the Foundation, Friends and the Board of Trustees. There is a lot of text, but there are also a lot of pictures. Perhaps friendly graphics would make the site appear warmer, but all in all, it works well, makes items easy to find, and is easy to use once you have a PIN. WE ROCK!!!

Webjunction is Cool!

I just finished my Design Concepts for Websites class on WebJunction. It was free, and I feel like I have a bit better understanding of web design. No specifics yet, and most is common-sense to those who have some logical thinking, but it was helpful to see that my ideas were pretty much on target for how to design a logical website. I passed with a 97% (whoo hoo!!).

Now I have to choose between more advanced web design or Photoshop - ugh, I need to know them both ASAP!!! Decisions, decisions!!

Thing #9: Lifelong Learning

This 'thing' really made me think. I actually even took notes! I enjoyed the article 'Three Hard Things'. There are a lot of things I want to learn (hard thing #1), especially about my job - the graphics programs I have access to but don't know well, web design, library information in general since I don't have that background. I realize I can easily try something new (hard thing #2) by working, working on Playtime, and thinking about when I can make time. Hard thing #3 is REALLY hard - stop doing something. I've done this before, but I usually want to be involved in EVERYTHING so that I know what's going on. Maybe that's one way blogs and RSS feeds can help - I can stay informed without being so physically involved...

I visited the OPAL site, and since I hadn't been there before, I was a bit confused so went to WebJunction where I'm a bit more comfortable. I already use the L2 site to register for DLS Marketing Roundtable meetings, and I get email updates on Marketing issues and general announcements from the DLS site.

I had already used WebJunction to sign up for a photoshop class (FREE!!), and signed up for a free, 3 hour general web design class because that's one of the areas I'd really like to learn more about. I can then sign up for more web design classes, both general concept-type classes and some program-specific, once I know what I would want to use. This is a great opportunity and really counts as an employment benefit by working in an Illinois Library.

I would definitely be up for taking a group class in a meeting room if the class is of interest. We all have so many people doing so many different things that I'm not sure that my interests would be similar to others, but I'm sure out of all the employees, SOMEONE is sure to overlap SOMEONE ELSE. Again, it's a great benefit of where we work!

Thing 8: Online Apps

Wow, this is cool!
I really like the premise of this. I've got a friend who works at Google and set up some apps for our church, since some of us are using Office and some OpenOffice (free software) that never seem to be as compatable as advertised. This obviously won't completely replace Office software, since there isn't a graphics or database program on google (yet). However, for what it has, this is a great way to share documents.

My concerns would be that a) Google's servers are secure, and b) that my computer/internet service are strong enough to let me be online for periods of time, with other applications/sites open and running, to let me create/edit documents. I have never had an internet connection with enough memory that I'm not hanging for a while...my processor on my hard drive (with enough RAM) might be faster.

I think this application might work better for my husband's data/photo sharing issue that I mentioned in Thing 7:Wikis. This might work better - it is probably more secure, and everything could be loaded into a document, downloaded to each computer as needed and deleted if information is no longer needed. I'll have to look in to this more...

As far as the library goes, I think this is a great option for not having to purchase software licenses (at least as things are set up today) and to offer these programs from all internet computers. However, then each computer must be set up for internet access (unless they can ONLY go to the application site, like our catalog computers) and longer time limits may be needed.

I DID play Excit, and got stuck on level 6. Addicting, to be sure...

Thing 7: Wikis

I'm not sure that I'm a huge fan of Wikis, at least how I've seen them used in the past (like Wikipedia). Even though some sites make you take responsibility for your edit, some do not, and I can't tell if the info is accurate or not. I did enjoy the video explanation, however, and thought of some uses for a wiki for my husband with his camping trips with the kids, coordinating so many people and equipment. I'd like to look into that option to make sure that only the people he wants to see it can, especially if he's able to post photos or a link to flickr since it deals with dads and their kids (most wouldn't want their kids pics floating on the web). I'll have to look in to that option.

I'm not really sure about the point of a wiki, though, when it comes to a large or 'secure' entity, like Wikipedia (the information is often not correct when dealing with biographies) or our library. I would think that the information about the library is 'static', and that we would want control of the facts/information circulating. To me, the conversational tone of a wiki is best served in a chat room about a topic or even a blog, if you want a one-sided conversation, like this is (heehee!).

Thing #6: IM

I'm not a fan of IM in general. I like it in Facebook and when talking to people about quick stuff, but I tend to be wordy and don't like to abbreviate (see my 25Things on Facebook!), so texting and IM'ing are really not my cup of tea.

As far as the Library is concerned, I like the idea about asking reference/homework questions and it's more immediate. However, in the article link, some libraries specified patrons were asking circulation questions, which I think is just teaching people to be lazy. It's very simple, if you're already on a computer or other texting device, to go online and check circulation information for your account, search for titles, authors, etc., without calling or texting and asking someone else to do it for you. It just seems like in this age of immediate gratification, someone is on the loosing end - namely library employees, so they will be doing all of the work. Maybe that's petty, but as we're educating people about technology, if the answer is in the computer somewhere, teaching them to find it on their own makes more sense than teaching them to IM someone who then finds the information for them.

That said, I did set up an account with Google Talk, and am not happy with it. Granted, I don't have anyone elses email addresses to add to the system, which makes it difficult. I IM'd with Lynn via the Playtime blog using Meebo, and since that works with everything I set up an account there. It's something I doubt I'll ever use on my own, but if a site/blog has an IM area to IM the reference desk or someone with a question, I'm sure I would use that.

See? Too wordy for IM or texting!!

Thing #5: Podcasting & VideoSharing

Wow, this one took a while...
I completed this a few weeks ago, but realized I didn't really understand the difference between an RSS and a podcast...still don't, but I'm guessing that an RSS is a stream on your computer, while a podcast can be a stream to the computer or received/loaded to your mp3 player.

YouTube is so overwhelming that unless I'm looking for something specific or someone sends me a link, I'm just lost. So I clicked on the "dumb blonde at the library" link and liked that one, so I posted it on my Facebook page. I'm also currently, as I write, watching Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie on Hulu. The resolution and sound are surprisingly good, except for the speed of our internet, which is probably related to the fact that it's a network and not a direct line from my computer.

I found a podcast called Tranquility du Jour and subscribed to the RSS feed through Google Reader instead of Bloglines - I've found that accessing everything we're doing (blogger, RSS reader, email, etc) through one access point is much easier and I'm more likely to use the accounts after Playtime is over.

As far as Library usage...creating cool videos, like the one the teens did for our library, could be cool so links to YouTube make sense. But for our library to create a podcast doesn't make sense to me simply due to the size/capabilities/offerings of our library. However, to offer a podcast we subscribe to, like our databases, makes sense, if this is an option...like an emailed book list, we could direct people to podcasts of book reviews, research info, etc.

Here's my YouTube link - it's the blonde joke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xYkiN4-gl8, and here are two ice skating videos that I never tire of watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRyaaU9LuZc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI0cdc9tqCs

Playtime has Begun!

Wow, Playtime is cool!
I have a TEAM, and almost all have begun with their blogs. I'm following them automatically, which is really cool!

I'm drinking my Getting Started gift as I write this, and thinking about all I'm learning. Next up is Podcasting. I've gone over it once, but really need to re-do it before I blog about it. I think a refresher would be a good idea, since I don't really remember Bloglines and such, never check it or GMail, so maybe I need to figure out a system...

Thing 4: Flickr

Here's my link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21150936@N08/3163181351/



Flickr is kinda cool. Honestly, I've been spending more personal time on Facebook, so the need for Flickr seems redundant. Being able to post photos on a page about me, rather than just posting pics, seems more meaningful to what our jobs are and the point of use for our Library.

That said, the applications are cool. I like the trading card app, but I would think that we would be able to do something like that on Facebook as well. I wonder how many different sites we should be on? How many can we maintain well? Just curious. Again, I think it's helpful we know about all of these sights to be helpful to people, and Flickr is more relevant to people who just want to post pics, but I'm not sure how many sites we as a library really need to or should be on.