Thing 23

I do feel more confident now when I encounter something new. My daughter gave me a digital camera for Christmas and showed me how to post my pictures on FB. Just this past weekend I was able to post pics from my sisters' visit without any help! She is still my technical adviser, but I am more willing to try something on my own. I have also shared things I have learned with her, so now it is a two way street. My mother is determined to learn how to use her laptop and after many failed attempts she now has a great tutor. I am so proud of her and see how she is not letting it intimidate her. I hope she gets a FB account soon, but I think she will mostly use it for shopping and getting information. Thanks for the lessons, I will try to keep exploring.

Thing 21

I would start by showing them something that is easy and addictive. I loved looking at and sharing pictures in flikr.com. It would be very easy to scroll through all of those beautiful pictures for hours! Then I might do something fun, like elfyourself.com. I think the staff here had the most fun with that assignment and even if it is not the Holiday season it people will get a kick out of it and see something concrete that they "created". For a new person in town (this is a very transient area) I would show them meetup.com, where they can see local people with similar interests and meet up with them in real life (not just online). Dictionary.com is a staple for me because I love words and word origins, but I can't spell! To me it is easier to see the definition and know I have the right word than to use spell check. I think Kidshealth.com is a great resource for first time (or anytime) parents. I would have loved this source when I was raising my children. I will encourage them to use it as they start their own families. For another fun site I would choose Thesartorialist.com to see pictures of everyday people (in Paris, Milan, NYC etc) looking fab. Much more interesting than fashion magazines because it shows how clothes are put together in the "real" world.

Thing 20 -Better late than never!

 Under Communicate, I looked at Knol (beta site) This is set up for people to share what they know on different topics. It is somewhat similar to Wikipedia. Under Search, I looked at Patents (also a beta site) that lists and gives details for over 7 million patents. This site would be very useful for people who have an idea for an invention to see if someone already has a patent.

I set up an iGoogle page and selected Entertainment (TVguide.com), Music (Concert listings/songs/music feed) and Humor (Calvin & Hobbs comics). It was very easy to set up and I did save it, because you can never get enough Calvin & Hobbs!

Thing 23

I've actually used some of the things that we have learned. I made the mistake of walking past the computers and got sucked into the blackhole of needy patrons. Where it starts with just one wanting help and then four more want help, and you were just going to quickly grab a book and run back to the answer center.
I hope I can just retain what I've learned. I've had fun with most of it and some frustration a few times.
Thank you Tammy, Diane,Pattie, Elizabeth, Tammie and everyone else who answered my whiney cries for HELP.

Thing 22 Survey

Did the survey.

Thing 21

My favorite sites that we used were:
Cardkarma-It was great for Christmas! We recieved a lot of e-cards this year, they were so cute!
Elfing- I LOVED that! It was so fun elfing the dogs and the kids.
Photobucket-So I could use the above apts I needed photobucket and it is also friendly with facebook.
Shelfit-I really love this site,it's fun to play with and keep track of what I've read,or had to send back. I have the memory of a nat.
Google doc- I like this because it's user friendly and practical. I'm recommending it to the knights they really need it. They are always updating documents and meeting minutes.
Podbean.net-I liked this because it had old time radio shows and some shows that I had missed. It would also be a place where you could post your show from there. My cousin is a preacher in the UP, I thought this would be a great way for him to still get his sermon out on Sundays that they are snowed in.
Webjunction-I liked this site for all of the unlimited info geared to librarians. It has everything you can imagine including a lot of advice on how to deal with difficult patrons. A lot!

Thing 20

For Thing 20 I did Google Calendar. I signed up acouple of friends hoping that they also have a calendar account, that way maybe it will make it easier for us to get our schedules figured out so we can go to breakfast. I had a hard time trying to get pictures to upload and find gadgets.
Then I made an IGoogle account, once Tammy got me started I got a little carried away. I plan on keeping it as my (page?). There is fluff and nonsense on both but there are also apts that I use when I'm at the answer center, like unit converter with currency exchange, Hubble telescope so I can see the alien invasion (the green kind) of the planet. Two weather apts one will tell you the weather here and where ever else you would like, and the other is Doppler Radar with alerts. My husband uses both of those at work. I stopped after page 26 of apts. Alot were games and vertial pets but there was also just as many useful and educational apts also.
The only one I had a hard time on was trying to get the Guide dog blog to actually show up instead of the vegetarian site. I think Yvonne wants that site, she was trying to convince me that jelly beans are a food group.
Just before she shanked me. Anybody have any bond money?

Thing 23

Even though there have been some frustrating times trying to figure out how to make things work, it has actually been fun and very informative. I had no idea what all is out there. I know I won't use everything that I learned, but there are some areas that I can't wait to explore more thoroughly.

This might be a good class for some patrons wanting to learn more about the internet and what it has to offer. But I think it would have to be small classes where they will be able to give more one on one help.

Thanks Tammy and Diane for putting this together! And thanks Patty for being our group leader.

Thing 23

I knew that it seemed like this project was going on "forever", but I was surprised in looking back that we had been doing this since November. I had no idea it had been that long! lol.

Eventhough I consider myself somewhat computer literate, I have been awakened to a vast knowledge and entertainment base that I was mostly unaware of. There is a never ending cyberworld out there if you only take the time to find it.

Thanks Tammy and Diane for getting us started and please keep the "23 Things Blog" active so when I have more time I can still go back and fully explore some of the sites that you have recommended. You know, may you should use that as a template for our patrons to get them started as well.

Thing 22

Survey completed

Thing 21

For Newbies:

Use I Google for your home page. Very easy to set up and navigate through.

For group collaborations use Google Docs. This is a site I would have loved to have been able to have had available for my past job. Everyone in your group contributes their own info and I really liked the comments section where you could explained the reasoning behind your entry.

For music use Pandora for the ease of use and that they pick "like" artists to add to your channel.

Searching use Google.com. and also use Google Chrome as your search engine. Both work well together. Chrome doesn't load a bunch of unnecessary background stuff that you don't need and only slows up the uploading and downloading.

For pictures use Photobucket. It takes a little while to set up, but after that it is a breeze.

For social networks use Facebook. This is a great tool to keep in touch with you friends and family. I very rarely check my email anymore.