Reflect and Relax

Well, this topic is quite a misnomer, in that the drive to get the assignments completed was anything but relaxing. That being said, I think the series itself has been very important, both personally and professionally.



There are a few of us, I suppose, who are techno-geeks, and will seek out new opportunities to find their way in the rapidly changing world of technology. I'm guessing, though, that most of us in library land are not inclined this way by nature. Therefore, having a mandatory assignment has been a way for me to be dragged into the fray. I've benefitted from it from a personal perspective, particularly with regard to Overdrive, which I use to download books.

I think the real value will be demonstrated in the future if customers need help with aspects of technology, such as setting up a WIKI. Time will tell on this.

As far as what the team can do for trainings in the future, my suggestions giving more advance notice that training is coming up and what the expectations will be so that we can better prepare our time, and also in my opinion there should be at least some human interaction along the way for those of us who fall behind due to lack of understanding. In our branch, we were able to fumble along, like the blind leading the blind, but it didn't always seem like the most efficient way to learn. There were times that each of us struggled with the same things independently; we could have saved time and avoided frustration if we had a better way to merge thoughts, ideas, and strategies as we went along.

Thank you for all the hard work you endured to get us all through the Web 2.0 training. It was definitely worth the effort, and I look forward to more training in the future.

Gaming

I'm not much of gamer myself, but I can see that the next generations really are, so I understand the value, or rather, interest the library system would have in having some familiarity with the gaming world. Also, our reality is that the Internet is a wide-open medium, so trying to keep someone from playing games on a library computer would be like spitting into the wind, even if we had such an interest. The idea that we would try to monitor what people are viewing on the Internet also goes against one of our fundamental values as a library system. Therefore, it behooves us 'old folks' to have some familiarity with gaming. Besides, if approached with an open mind, it can be fun, at least for some.

I practiced with Yahoo games; I chose the Mah Jong puzzle. It was mildly entertaining, but I was glad it only took five minutes. I like the idea that a person can try out games to see if they like it or not before they purchase. I am a puzzler myself (shout out to Will Shorts, the Puzzle Master), but not everyone likes puzzles. That's what makes the trials a nice way to approach gaming.

I also practiced with one of the children's games from funbrain so that I can help families choose sites they may like for trying educational puzzles. I didn't get the gist of the particular game I tried; I think I need to get my grandson to help me with that one. My experience is that many children find technology to be much more intuitive than I. So my grandson is often my technological tutor. I encourage everyone to find a youngster to help them navigate the changing world of technology.

Google Earth: Mapping

I actually experimented with earth.google.com a few weeks ago, and even before we received this assignment. My experience with SILS computers is that they were not really fast enough to explore Walt Disney World in google earth in 3D. However, it just so happens that a new computer magically appeared at my house one day this summer, and it's a fast little hummer. We've had lots of fun looking at all things WDW in preparation for our upcoming trip.

Google earth is just fine when searching for a street, etc, but when you want to search for something as sophisticated as 3D imaging, my advice would be to make sure you have one powerful pc.

Also, we were a little stunned to find just how much information one can get to specific US military installations, both here and abroad. Hmmm...

AVATARS

Today's lesson was on creating an avatar, which I was able to do successfully on my second try. On the first computer I used, I had some trouble reading their security word to their satisfaction. The 'they' I'm referring to is, of course, http://www.doppleme.com/.

http://www.doppleme.com/userarea/ this is the link to my avatar.

I'm not sure when I will ever use an avatar, but there you go. At least I know how to do it if I have to help someone else who wants to make one.

Maps and Geomapping

Okay, so maybe this one wasn't so much for me. Or maybe it's made for super-fast computers; maybe it's the 64-bit, 32 bit issue. But this was s-l-o-w and cumbersome for me.

I have used google maps before. Before we went to Disneyland last year, we got a street shot of what was on the road between our house and the park.

I did download Google earth to the particular computer I was using; no problem so far. But when I got to Google earth, the place to click to 'fly' somewhere was not evident at all. I finally figured it out, though I'm not sure I really know how I did it.

I guess I picked the wrong place to fly to, which was Walt Disney World. They've been touting that you can go right down Main Street, USA, though I never figured out how to do that, either from the offical Disney website or Google earth. They say you can see 3D images, but I didn't really see that, either, unless they are considering a photo of a resort '3D'. It took FOREVER to get from one place to another, too. Maybe it was because WDW has lots of graphics, etc.

So, I went to my house, which I found fairly easily, but when we got to my street, we got pretty fuzzy. They say you can 'swoop' down the street, but I didn't have much luck with that. I think I'm going to have to spend some time on the tutorial.

When I tried to print my house, what I got was a black rectangle on the sheet about three inches high and 7 1/2 inches across.

I guess it just wasn't my day.

Online Apps & Tools

I had used the google spreadsheet before to make a shared document for a football pool.

I tried the Zoho, which has lots more features, which is good, but it can be a bit overwhelming. Therefore, I would say that I would choose one or the other for my football pool depending who was playing with me and how savvy they are.

This afternoon I learned about search engines. I think most people stop at google.com and yahoo.com, so it was good to learn of a couple others.

I was most impressed with Mamma. I chose a topic to search with which I am somewhat familiar. The words I used were 'Disney cruise line vacation'. On Mamma, several sites appeared that I knew gave good information and had lots of resources available. I will plan to use Mamma the next time I'm planning a vacation! :-)