Thing Twenty Three - Ding!

This is the end
My only friend, the end...

So this is it, I've finally reached the end of the electronic yellow brick road. It feels like only just 2 months ago I started this, and now it's already over, the humanity! I've learned so much since starting this, but all things must come to an end.

My favorite things I've learned about definitely have to be Facebook, which reunited me with a couple high school friends that I hadn't seen since high school, 38 years ago. I guess that's only one thing, but it's really the only thing I use now that I never intended to use. I've used it quite a bit since I signed up, it was probably worth it just for that.

I worked with a few people doing the 23 things blog at the Duluth Public Library, and a couple of us got together once or twice in person, at work. I also connected with another 23 things user, through email primarily. I would most likely sign up for any future programs of this nature.

Well, it's been fun.

Thing Twenty Two

Almost there...

My 23 Things on a stick blog of eternity, really shouldn't go to waste once I'm finished. Continuing to update my blog will be something I'll have to aim to do. Not sure what else I should be writing here.

Thing Twenty One

Beyond MySpace...

Well it turns out there's more out there then just MySpace and Facebook. I started by joining the 23 things on a stick ning. Starting my profile and updating my pictures was just as straightforward as everything else to this point. I did leave a comment for another user, regarding their slideshow they had posted. I did notice that there wasn't a lot of activity in this specific network, seemed like half the members didn't even have profile pics. Though there were plenty of pictures uploaded to the photo section. I can see why a library might consider using this, to avoid any stigma that may be associated with a myspace or facebook. I also joined another social networking site called flixter, dealing with movies. I started that by taking a quiz about a bunch of movies, rating them and leaving comments, then comparing your results with the results of your friends. They also have movie listings, a forum of sorts, and a horribly addicting movie quiz entitled "The Never Ending Movie Quiz" in which they actually suggest you not play, because of it's addictive properties. Of the social networks listed in this thing, Flixter would probably be about the only thing that would appeal to me in my personal life, as I see many movies.

Thing Twenty

Social networks

I've known about MySpace and Facebook for quite a while, but was never really interested or paid much attention until now. I was familiar with the term social networking, but I didn't really see the big deal about it and MySpace. I had the preconception that they were a breeding ground for stalkers, children and the guys that get caught on Chris Hanson's "Dateline - To Catch a Predator". And most of that's partially true, at least to an extent. Parents definitely should have some measure of control over these social networking sites, for exactly those kinds of reasons. You don't want personal information about your kids available to some of these people out there. But that's enough of the bad stuff. I decided (against my own misconceptions) to start an account, and decided to use Facebook, which seems to skews at least a little bit older then MySpace tweens.

It was pretty straight forward setting up an account with facebook. Starting up afterwards was a little intimidating. I had never used a tool like this in the past, so it was a new experience completely, but with the help of a fellow 23 things blogger I was able to conquer it, for the most part. Added some friends, sent a some messages, I added some applications, got a flower from a friend. There's a lot more to it then I imagined at first. I started playing this game on there called 4 in a row, which is just connect four and it's really addicting. One thing I noticed when I first started using Facebook is just how much time you can waste, without even realizing it. You're able to set up privacy settings to keep stalkers and unwanted guests from viewing your profile and such. I joined a bunch of groups, there was a local one called "Free Hugs" that I seriously contemplated joining, but I decided against it in the end. One of my groups is called "Babies of 1983" for people born in the year 1983. It goes on to list a bunch of things we have in common, such as being able to rap the entire theme to "Fresh Prince of Belair" - Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down...

It is a good point to note that even though Facebook/MySpace would seem to have little use for libraries as it stands now, being knowledgeable on what our younger patrons are accessing on a regular basis, should be at least on our radar.

Photo of Me

Thought I'd just post of a photo of me, after a workout at the YMCA. Do my incredibly buff pecs make my butt look big?

Thing Nineteen

Podcasts, sweet sweet podcasts, nectar of the gods.

I have been listening and watching podcasts, really since the inception of them most likely. I've been a fan podcasts for years now, continuing to listen on a regular (usually weekly) basis. The very first podcasts I started listening to were solely technology based, TWIT (This Week In Tech) is one that comes to mind. As podcasts became more popular I started listening to more an more, so much that I actually didn't have time to listen to them all in a week and I had to stop listening to some. I primarily listen to game podcasts, which are done by professional game enthusiasts/journalists and are done on a weekly basis. Since I began work at the library, any off desk time where I didn't need to really pay attention to others (mending books for example) I would take out my MP3 player and listen to the podcasts. Time really goes by much faster, and makes alone time with kind of thoughtless tasks more enjoyable, at least in my opinion. I really enjoy having these podcasts available to me, and it's hard to imagine myself without them, now that I've gotten used to them. On the sidebar to the right, I put an RSS feed of a gaming site's Podcast releases, one of the reasons why rss is so useful to me. Though I didn't listen to and am not interesting in listening to any library related podcasts, I know for a fact they do exist and there are people out there who would gladly listen to them.

Thing Eighteen - Awwww

Adorable Baby Kitten - Awwww so cute

Well, well, well, we've finally made it to youtube. An incredibly popular site on the internets, made even more apparent by how often my Dad uses it, which is more then myself. I posted a video of an adorable baby kitten drinking a dry milk formula from out of a bottle, just like nature intended. I found it pretty easy to get the video up and working in the site, without using the provided instructions, mostly because I figured I could do it without. Though I can understand if people have difficulty, especially those that aren't as familiar with technology and the web. I chose this particular video, because more then anything, library employees have hearts, and anyone with a heart can't resist a cute baby animal. I'm not exactly sure how our library would be able to use a video site like youtube. Maybe to promote itself, or possible to have video instructions for common questions people have.

Thing Seventeen

Elm Productivity Tools

I hate to admit it, but I actually had a hard time with this. Far more then usual, or what I would have expected myself. Though I've worked full time at the library for over a year now, I'm not a librarian and I haven't had to deal with any of our databases like our librarians do. I went to the ELM website, and was really confused as to where to go to find things. There general layout when you first log on, sorted by categories seems nice if you're just looking around. But looking for something specific, wasn't as easy. I browsed around, and it did seem a little intimidating. I also tried to setup that RSS feed to track the search results, but it didn't work for me. All in all, I'm sure this is pretty useful to those that actually have something they're searching for specifically, or know what they're doing, but I didn't feel totally comfortable just browsing around with no real intent or purpose. Obviously lots of libraries use this on a regular basis, and many people are helped because of it, so I understand why it's one of the 23 things.

Thing Sixteen

Student 2.0 Tools

I checked out the University of Minnesota Assignment Calculator and the Research Project Calendar, both of which I found only slightly useful. They both allow you to input dates and a broad subject choice for assignment. While both give you guidelines on where you should be at according to the time line you entered, they're both just that, guidelines. I think it could be useful in the sense that it could get people in the habit of planning things out a little more thoroughly if nothing else. I don't know how useful it would be with library projects however. A library project can vary wildly from one library to the next, unless there was something made specifically regarding libraries I don't see it as being all that helpful, at least not at my library. I still like the idea, and with the addition of mostly user created projects, it could definitely be useful, if perhaps a supervisor could set up a timeline and deadlines and such.