Week 10 # 23

I will be singing all day long as soon as I finish this blog. It's not that I am hating it, it's just that knowing that I have finished the training and have survived it, I will gain my training hours as planned, and I am wiser :-) makes me really happy!!!

I think that the iHCPL idea was good, the topics were interesting and always useful - if not for everybody, at least for some of the participants, but it lost part of the positive aspect because of the short amount of time available to complete it. This negative side of the training made it look like big trouble sometimes, which interfered with people's mood.

Zoho writer is still my favorite exercise, I found it a really good tool.

I cannot say what else I would like to learn, because I have no idea about what is available out there. As I said a million times, I am not a computer person, so I don't explore its possibilities in my daily routine.

I think I can finish my last exercise thanking all the people who put this training together, but also asking please, please, please, give us more time for the iHCPL to come. Consider not only all the work we have to do daily, but also the fact that we shelvers don't have computers available all the time for us, and that the "computer dummies" need a little (sometimes a lot of) more time to understand and be able to complete an exercise than the people who are computer experts.

See you guys next year!!! Now I have to concentrate on putting some order around the library, and getting ready for my vacation!!!

Week 9 # 22

The variety of HCPL's digital site was surprising to me. That was the first time I had visited the site and I like the way it is organized. If I were to choose one of the three sites I visited during this exercise, it would probably be the HCPL eBranch.

I don't see myself downloading any books in the near future, just because I am not a computer person, and I really enjoy sitting with a book in my hands and relax while I read it. Can't tell this will never change, though.

The music catalog seems to be excellent (as a Tai Chi lover, I listened to "Tai Chi" while I was looking which titles we have there), and it is something that I might use. Regarding the videos, I still don't have an opinion if it is something that I will eventually enjoy or not.

Week 9 # 21

I took a look at Yahoo Podcasts and, on my search for library related podcasts, I found The Library of Congress, which is very interesting. Then, clicking on the podcasts button, I found the Motion Pictures in American Memory option, which is an interesting topic, even though I have to confess that, because of limited amount of time for me to finish this exercise, I couldn't really explore all things they have there. I then added it to my blogline account and started celebrating the fact that I had reached my happy ending for one more iHCPL exercise.

Week 9 # 20

Discovering You Tube was one of the exercises that brought me more guilty feeling for me. It was kind of strange taking time from work to watch You Tube, while some carts were right there, full of books, waiting to be shelved. It was a big test for my responsibility skills too, since I had to avoid the temptation of exploring You Tube a little more than necessary. ;-)

At the library, because of privacy matters, we can not just put images of our patrons on public sites without their permission, which limits what we can do on the website. However, I think using some features of You Tube to divulge library programs and events would be something good and feasible. I am sure we can think of yet other uses for it; all we need is to free our imagination.

Finding videos worth noting as an entry in my blog was not hard; choosing only one was. I saw some videos about working dogs, for example, that were really interesting and I almost put one here. But then I thought "why not choose something that relates to my roots?" That's when I decided to put a Brazilian singer who I really love. And, despite the fact that the video quality is not really good, there will be no doubts that his voice is extremely beautiful.

I chose the video where he sings with James Taylor, just so you guys have a familiar face to look at. Unfortunately, I didn't find a music that they sing both in Portuguese and English, so you could understand the lyrics.

I hope you enjoy it!

Week 8 # 19

Now I can see clearly what is happening in my "relationship" with computers. Every time I think I am starting to understand them, someone creates a new tool and the learning process gets longer.

 

This time I am learning about Zoho. Looks like it's something that many people are going to use. Very practical. I've already told about Zoho to some friends and asked at home if they knew it. My husband, a computer guy, had never heard about it, and I will have the pleasure to show him.

 

Right now, I've decided to put my abilities to test and I am using Zoho's publish options to post to my blog. I hope everything works fine.

 

week 8 #18

Social Networking is the theme for this exercise. This is THE THING that people really love when spending time on their computers. If you think about it, that was a big step on the technology field and one of the most used tools that are available out there. I'm not a computer person, as I have said before, but I must admit that I understand why people are so addicted to Social Networking sites.

You can use them to get in touch with friends, to make new ones and find the ones that were long "lost." You can find communities that share common interests and discuss them anytime you want. You can get ideas, advice, exchange experiences related to jobs, hobbies, everyday needs, and anything you can think about.

What worries me is that people are spending so much time on these online communities, that they will slowly forget how to really interact with each other, ("really" meaning face to face). It's like the world is going to have a bunch of lonely people, pretending that they are not alone.

If I were to join only one of the sites that appeared on exercise #18, it would probably be "Rate My Space".

week 7 #17

Technology... That's one thing that could be totally wonderful, but in my opinion it is not. Are you wondering why I am saying this? Well, what is negative about technology is the addiction it brings. Imagine a room with people talking, making new friends and cherishing old ones. A real pleasant situation, don't you think? Now, put one computer in this same room and turn it on. What happens to all the talking?

Do you remember many years ago, when a family was on a car trip, everybody looking through the window? If you saw something all you had to do was to say: look to the left, or to the right, and a conversation would start.

Well, try it now with your kids. One has his IPOD on, the other one is busy with his Nintendo DS, and I don't need to tell you there is probably a cell phone, a DVD playing, and God knows what else. No one is going to hear you. And that is imagining that you are actually trying to talk to them, because probably what is happening is that you are talking on your cell phone too.

By these examples what I mean is: technology should be something that is here to help us improve the quality of our lives, to help us achieve more things, but instead is taking the quality of our relationship with family and friends away from us, because people are always by themselves involved with some electronic gadget, or taking home their work with them.

week 7 # 16

One more thing done. Reading and learning about wikis was good. My kids had introduced me to Wikipedia some time ago, so I had some idea about it already. I have added my blog to the favorites on the iHCPL page. Wikis are a good source of information although not totally reliable. I don't see a really good use for them in libraries.

week 6 # 15

Well, I've read the information about Library 2.0 and it was really interesting, altough a little too much reading for just one "sitingandlearning" moment. :-)
The perspective "To a temporary place in time", was the one that I less enjoyed. I was just discovering about Library 2.0 and there it was, talking about Library 3.0 and 4.0. I prefer to live the present for a while, dig more, find more about, and experience more of what is happening now before I start wondering how things are going to be in the future.
The reading that I most enjoyed was "Into a new world of librarianship". Michael Stephens explores well the most important traits of Library 2.0, showing how useful it can be for everyone.
I think that when he says

"Librarian 2.0 also listens to staff and users when planning, tells the stories of successes and failures, learns from both, celebrates those successes, allows staff time to play and learn, and never stops dreaming about the best library services."

he shows an important value of the Library 2.0.

week 6 # 14

What to say? Technorati is another tool to help us use other tools? Would it be a correct definition? I am sure it's good and useful for many people out there, everywhere in this big planet. For me, it's going to be just another step on the 23 Things training. I'm not planning on signing up for everything that I see on the Internet. I will stick to the basic and enjoy my simple life.

week 6 # 13

This was not the best exercise for me. I felt kind of dizzy after having to read all that information while worrying about my time. It's really hard to concentrate in what you are reading (especially when all definitions, names and explanations are totally new for you and part of something that you really don't care about - computers in my case) while hearing all the patrons walking around the library, bringing hundreds books back, and knowing that the carts are been filled up. I tried hard to concentrate and tell myself that this training is part of my job, but at the same time, there was this voice telling me: "you're a shelver, and shelvers should be shelving, not sitting in front of a computer for a long period of time."
Other problem I had with this exercise was watching the tutorial video. Just wasn't working.
Well, problems aside, I think tagging is a really valuable tool for people who need computers for work, for students who rely on computers as big helpers or for those who are just computers fanatics.
Is tagging an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed anywhere? YES
Can I see the potential of this tool for research assistance? YES

week 5 # 12

I didn't really care about Library Elf. I understand the idea behind it, but I think if we started to use all that is avalable on the internet, things would get confusing. Can you imagine the amount of emails, reminders and notices that we would recive? What about time? Do people really have time to read all emails coming from all the places, read everything that comes from Bloglines, Feedster, etc.? If I had time for all of this, I would feel like someone that doesn't have a life. I don't have time and I don't have the desire to turn my life into just hours spent in front of computers. I prefer to control my library card myself and exercise my responsibility a little bit. :-)

week 5 #11

Really interesting to get to know about LibraryThing. I had no idea about the existence of this website. This is something I will certainly take advantage if someday I start to use computers more. My only problem right now is that I am a huge book lover, but don't love computers at all. I kind of hate then to tell the truth - so, the time I spend on computers is just for things I really can't scape (IHCPL training for example) :-)

I've been amazed by the variety of tools available on the internet. Some are really slick and useful; others, no so much...

Here is my link to the LibraryThing.

week5 #10

It's finaly ready!!! It took a looooong time to finish this exercise. Really interesting all this process of discovering all the possibilities available when you want to do things on computer.
It was fun, but took me longer than I expected and I almost died wanting my lunch, but couldn't stop what I was doing.

week4 #9

Finding feeds for this exercise was not a problem for me. It's good to find an easy exercise from time to time. Looking at Feedster, I liked the idea that we can have our widget styled to match our blog or personal website. Comparing some of the the tools that we can use to find feeds, I think that Topix is the one that I would use the most.

week 4 #8

This exercise was not hard, but it was a little confusing to follow all the steps. If you are always looking for news, etc on the internet, I think that Bloglines is a good way to keep informed. I will check to see the news I get, but don't know for how long I will do it.

week 3 #7

This is where I spent my 2005/2006 holidays. Needless to say, the weather was very nice. It was fun to play with the photo editor, but not as fun as spending time at this beach...

I've changed the contrast, saturation and sharpness of the picture, and at the end, I decided to have a black & white version too.

week 3 #6

Very interesting all the tools we have available. The one that caught my attention was trippermap. The idea of graphing your trip on a map with tagged photos is really interesting.It makes showing your vacation to your friends a more pleasant moment. The question is: am I going to be able to use all this staff? I hope so! But this is a case to be solved on the next steps...

online safety

I forgot to post something about week 2 #4. Everybody around me was talking about pictures, flickr etc, that I had to go to the next step to see what was all that.
I think online safety is something that we should really care about. If you think you have been carefull enough, think again. Someone is always trying to find a way to take advantage of other people's distraction. I am always telling my kids and sisters not to take any chances, because that's when you put yourself at risk.

many tubs

many tubs
Originally uploaded by leila_mra

Having a hard time to understand everything, but surviving. Sometimes it' s hard to ignore all the books that have to be shelved and sit here to start blogging. This makes the learning process a little harder.

creating

creating a blog was something totally new for me. I hope I will succeed in this 23 thing training. I will have to learn to be more patient with computers, because Idon't really appreciate spending time in front of them.

training

my first posting!!! i will try to survive!