streaming and podcasting

I used iTunes to subscribe to two podcasts: the Post-Gazette's Pittsburgh Hear and Now: Rated PG and NPR's WFIU Featured Classical Recordings. I will enjoy being able to use iTunes to listen to music podcasts free of charge. I'm also glad to know the difference between streaming, downloading, and subscribing to a podcast - helpful, useful information.

firefox

I installed Firefox on my computer at home, added several tabs, and installed Adblock Plus and Fire.fm. I learned about control +/- for both IE and Firefox. The tabs are already very helpful, and Fire.fm should be fun to use. I learned about Firefox from the videos and then from Firefox's help and instructions, and I would direct patrons to read, read, read about what they are trying to do as they experiment with it.

Flickr and YouTube

Interest in Great Britain prompted me to choose that photo and video.

I was surprised to see the number of photos on Flickr, and impressed by the quality of those I browsed. YouTube's widely varying video quality was interesting, as was the music chosen to accompany some of the videos. Both Flickr and YouTube could be used to highlight libraries' old and new resources and programs.

I was able to embed the Flickr photo after downloading it to my computer, and
finally completed our assignment by following YouTube's instructions for embedding video into a blog. This assignment was a little more difficult and time-consuming for me than previous ones.

photo upload

social networking

I read three articles: "Working the social: Twitter and Friendfeed," from Library Journal,
"The coming end of YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook socialism," from
Advertising Age, and
"Ten things you need to know about Twitter," from Information Today.

I have not done much reading about social networking in the past, so most of this information was new to me. The articles from LJ and Information Today were particularly interesting and will be helpful in the future. LJ's article included, "20 ways for librarians to use Twitter."

I think it is wise for us to remember that although the Web 2.0 tools are cutting-edge, interesting, and fun, we still spend a lot of time interacting with our patrons and co-workers face-to-face and on the telephone. I believe that we need to be just as skilled with those interactions as we are with our computers and hand-held devices.

I have been reading blogs for quite a while, but had no idea creating a simple one was this easy. I am pleased with my 23 things experience so far, and have been able to do the assignments with no difficulty. On to number 3....