Thing 21: Other Social Networks

Nearly at the end of all of these Things!

Joined the 23 Things on a Stick Ning group, sent a message to one of my colleagues; added a picture to my profile, and uploaded a bunch of photos to my page -- would have been easier if I could have done it directly from Picasa, but "sharing" a photo from a Picasa web album creates a mess with photo titles -- so I simply saved the photos to my computer and added photos from there. Nothing too exciting -- unless you want to look at some of my flower arrangements :)

Tried looking for NING friends from my AOL address book and gave up after the search went on...and on...and on...

Finally found the directions for adding a Ning badge to my blog.

Used Google to locate a florist's social networking site (on Chatter-media) and joined it -- but is sure doesn't look as if there's much activity there; British-based as well -- Think I'll look let that idea go, or look elsewhere.

Many Ning features are very similar to those on Facebook; not sure how many of these social networks I really need (or can possibly keep up with) -- I've even been neglecting my Facebook account for lack of time.

Thing 20: Facebook

I've had a Facebook account for a good while now, and thoroughly enjoy using the network.

When I first signed up, I used the utility that allows you to upload your email address book and match it with other Facebook users. My AOL address book happened to include the contact information for the son of a dear friend of mine. I extended to him the invitation to "befriend" me on Facebook; he accepted -- giving me access to his list of friends...which turned out to include my own son (they've been buddies for years) -- using an email addy I had not know at all! And yes, my son was willing to be my friend...

For the purpose of this exercise, I've joined a couple of new groups -- FacebookAppsforLibraries and Library 2.0 Interest Groups. Lots of interesting reads -- more to keep up with.

Profile is still pretty bare-bones yet...bit by bit.

Thing 19: Podcasts

Using the link to Minnesota Public Radio's podcasts and exploring from there, I found a very pleasant 2-minute gardening podcast, hosted by NPR member station WFIU, featuring master gardener Moya Andrews. Most apropos, since the gardening season is finally upon us.

For some reason, publishing the link as a link in this blog is a challenge -- the "insert link" function does not create a viewable link, so, should you want to listen, here's the URL for the podcast:

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510179

Thing 18: YouTube and Other Online Video

I had a lot of fun exploring the video possibilities on YouTube; students are always looking for video resources relevant to their projects--this is one good source that I have learned to use for that purpose. Another good source (for YouTube and other internet video sources) is the video search engine www.blinx.com.

My current favorite YouTube offering (after starting to get series about my own pre-Passover cleaning) lightens up my mood. I think I need young helpers again.

Thing 17: ELM Productivity Tools

I've been using ELM for a very long time. Still,ELM offers many tools to explore of which I had been previously unaware.

Unfortunately, at least for me, much of what I explored felt incredibly time-consuming. An example: the idea of creating a webpage that serves as a pathfinder for a subject search is attractive; the pages I created thru ELM (I tried several) were not, and, to add insult to injury, took much too much time to develop.

For me, the most useful feature of ELM remains the article access, with the ability to save into a folder and share that folder a close second.

Thing 16: Student 2.0 Tools

I liked these Things so well I shared the links with a local private high school principal who is part of my home community. I'm hoping we will add them as useful education links, and I plan to show them (especially the Research Project Calculator)to interested students during my reference interviews.

Great tools!

Thing 15: Libraries and Gaming

I'm no stranger to online gaming, although I've been more interested in Scrabble and other word games than role-playing; creating a character and moving through a fantasy world using skills built while playing the game or solving a puzzle are tasks that appeal to me, but...I simply don't have the time I'd need to do a good job of this.

I did create a character on Puzzle Pirates, looked a bit at the instructions available, and abandoned the effort after that.

Libraries that want to appeal to teens by offering this service, or a virtual presence on something like Second Life, are going to need folks with more time and skill than I have now or am likely to develop in the near future.