Friday, July 25, 2008
Online Image Generators
I really like the Image Chef website. The templates they offer are great! I came up with a few signs that I might use on my library web site. This website makes it easy to be creative and liven things up.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
More Flickr Fun
I had a great time learning about these tools. I created a mosaic of pictures and made a puzzle out of one photo. I also collected the letters to spell the word READ in photos. I think these tools are a great way to create signs/posters for the library. I could also envision posting photos of book covers (not sure about copyright, but if I take the photos myself it would probably be ok, right?) and having students post comments on the books they've read. I'm glad I took a closer look at all of the photos available through Flickr and the useful tools that are out there! I don't mind sharing photos as long as they're scenic and don't include shots of myself or my family.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Flickr
I created an account with Flickr and uploaded a photo, added a tag to it and marked it as public. Then I sent it to my blog to be posted there. The directions are really clear and walked me through each step. It's not too difficult!!!! And I feel like I did something cool.
How can I use Flickr in the library at my school? The only thing I can think of is to post pictures of the library and/or of books. I could take a picture of several book covers and create a group of these pictures on Flickr. Then I could link the book cover pictures to my media center website and students could look at those photos to help them select a book to check out. Perhaps students could even comment on the books they've read!?!
I also have used Picasa and Shutterfly to create web albums and share photos with friends and family. Each photo sharing website has a few unique features, but basically they are similar.
Hmmm.... I may have to look into this idea of using Flickr to promote books to students!!!
How can I use Flickr in the library at my school? The only thing I can think of is to post pictures of the library and/or of books. I could take a picture of several book covers and create a group of these pictures on Flickr. Then I could link the book cover pictures to my media center website and students could look at those photos to help them select a book to check out. Perhaps students could even comment on the books they've read!?!
I also have used Picasa and Shutterfly to create web albums and share photos with friends and family. Each photo sharing website has a few unique features, but basically they are similar.
Hmmm.... I may have to look into this idea of using Flickr to promote books to students!!!
Monday, July 14, 2008
RSS Feeds
I really like this invention! I have heard of RSS feeds before but never bothered trying them out. So I opened an account with Google Reader and I have already added several feeds on news, school library info, and cooking (for fun!). I liked the tool in Google Reader that allows you to add a subscription by typing in a few words about the blog. It searches and pulls up blogs with those search terms in it and you can click to add the blogs you want. It's very easy to organize your feeds into different folders too.
This technology will help me to stay up to date on the news in my profession and save me time. I will be reading blogs more often now that I have them all compiled in one place. And I can just quickly skim the new additions on each blog without taking a lot of time.
Doug Johnson has a list of blogs that he reads so I checked that list out. I selected a few good school library blogs from his list. This was a great resource to help me narrow down my choices. You can find this list at doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blogsiread.
This technology will help me to stay up to date on the news in my profession and save me time. I will be reading blogs more often now that I have them all compiled in one place. And I can just quickly skim the new additions on each blog without taking a lot of time.
Doug Johnson has a list of blogs that he reads so I checked that list out. I selected a few good school library blogs from his list. This was a great resource to help me narrow down my choices. You can find this list at doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blogsiread.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Library 2.0 - Thing 2
Reading the blog about the 11 reasons why Library 2.o exists and matters, woke me up to the fact that I need to start thinking creatively about how my school library can change to incorporate more of these elements. The three main things about Library 2.o that I can start focusing on are from Sarah Houghton's quote: "making your library's space more interactive, collaborative, driven by community needs".
In the article from Library Technology Reports, "The Ongoing Web Revolution", a definition of Library 2.o created by Darlene Fichter was given. She defines Library 2.o as: (books 'n stuff + people + radical trust) x participation. Trust and participation really go hand in hand. As a school librarian contemplating how to best incorporate Web 2.o tools in my library, I am considering how the concept of trust plays into that. How much should I/can I trust my students when having an interactive communication portal that is affiliated with the school? I want to try having a blog and letting students post comments or questions but I'm not sure if it would come back to bite me (if, for example, a student posts a wildly inappropriate comment). But I think I'll need to be willing to take a few risks if I want to drive change and bring more interaction into our school media center.
It helps to see examples of ways that libraries (particularly school libraries) are using Web 2.o. Practical examples help to jumpstart creative thoughts and ideas that I can apply to my school's library.
In the article from Library Technology Reports, "The Ongoing Web Revolution", a definition of Library 2.o created by Darlene Fichter was given. She defines Library 2.o as: (books 'n stuff + people + radical trust) x participation. Trust and participation really go hand in hand. As a school librarian contemplating how to best incorporate Web 2.o tools in my library, I am considering how the concept of trust plays into that. How much should I/can I trust my students when having an interactive communication portal that is affiliated with the school? I want to try having a blog and letting students post comments or questions but I'm not sure if it would come back to bite me (if, for example, a student posts a wildly inappropriate comment). But I think I'll need to be willing to take a few risks if I want to drive change and bring more interaction into our school media center.
It helps to see examples of ways that libraries (particularly school libraries) are using Web 2.o. Practical examples help to jumpstart creative thoughts and ideas that I can apply to my school's library.
Starting the 23 things
I am finally getting around to working on my 23 things on a stick. Setting up this blog wasn't really that hard. The hardest part was deciding what Avatar I wanted to use. I'm glad that this is one of the things we're learning how to do (blogging) because otherwise I may never try it. Doing it myself is going to be much more worthwhile than just reading about how to do it.
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