www.storytlr.com

I remember some of the complaints during our 23 things on a stick project. One that echoed frequently was the lack of time to keep up with all the different web 2.0 apps. Another was how there wasn't just one way to put everything together. Well here may be the solution to all of our problems, or is it more snake oil?

Take a look at this free service called Storytlr where you can route all of your social networks into one hub.

Animoto

I stumbled onto a nifty Web 2.0 tool called Animoto.

You can upload your photos (book covers for example) and Animoto can animate the images for you. You can upload your own music and choose from selections it offers. You can easily post to your google account or save it as a file.

You can go to Teacher Tube to view a snippet on how to get started with Animoto in the Classroom.

Also: go to Animoto for Education Sign-up.

You can see one of my examples at my B.O.B. Blog.

Searchme

Searchme is a new seach engine that has a unique look to it. Results can be viewed like a stack of cards, each card showing the first page of the web page. Searchme isn't as large as Google, but it is one of those search tools that you might like in addition to Google.

I liked having the ability of looking at the first page of each result as a way to decide which web site to investigate further. Searchme also has a feature called "stack." If you see web pages that you like and want to share with others you can use the stack feature. Stacks can be added to your del.icio.us accounts. Give it a try.

(I got this info from InfoTips which is written by Mary Ellen Bates)

My Blogs

Here are my blogs that I've started since I finished 23Things on a Stick:

Video Creations (This is for an enrichment class that I teach in the summer. I do a 3 week video production class for middle school students. The purpose of the blog was to provide information to parents and to also have some of my curriculum available online. I also thought having the information online would provide a way for my students to go back and take a look at some of the things we covered.

BC Book Talk (This is just getting under way. I thought having my booktalks that I do with students during the school year available online could provide others a resource on middle school books, especially those for boys.

Sites

I need to dump some other sites I want to visit here:

Yahoo Pipes - customizing RSS Feeds

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334.html

http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/

http://weblogg-ed.com/


http://www.apture.com/

http://www.aliceinfo.org/blog

Thing 23 : Final Thoughts

I didn't network with so much with others participating in 23Things (I hardly found time to complete the project), but the project did provide me a way to generate some side conversations with my colleagues at school. These conversations are what made the project valuable to me.

There were some modest accomplishments such as setting up a wiki for some of our staff to contribute ongoing ideas for our spring research assignment. There were conversations about starting up a blog as a way to keep in touch with family members across the world. As I invited people to look at my blog, I felt a sense of purpose to it that made the endeavor worthwhile. I guess this just reflects the nature of Web 2.0/Library 2.0 : its about our need to experience the social networking side of the web.

Thing 22 : What did I learn today?

Looking at other 23things blogs I ran into Doug Johnson's site on Professional Fitness. His Professional Fitness site/blog appears to be just getting off the ground, but I think it will be a good place to go back and visit in a few weeks. I like the title. We do have to push ourselves to keep up with Library 2.0-Web 2.0 innovations.

I tend to collect things: Stacks, piles, stickies, to-do-lists. I fear that I've just created another stack of things to do for later that will just sit. I have a distaste for resolutions, so I'll risk not getting my flash drive to say that I've got plenty to go back and look at. I'm not adding any more stuff to my RSS aggregator for the time being.

Thing 21 : Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

Would it be a good idea to have a follow-up workshop for those who participated in 23Things. I think there were some kick-off type workshops when it started.

I plan to go back and look over some of the places we've been, but I think it will be difficult for awhile to sift through it efficiently on my own and hit the important stuff.

Trying to keep up with Web 2.0 on my own will probably make me appreciate the structure, guidance, and expertise the 23Things staff provided.

Thanks.

Thing 20 : Libraries and Social Networks

Meredith Farkas says in "Libraries in Social Networking Software" : "I think there is a big difference between “being where our patrons are” and “being USEFUL to our patrons where they are.” I think some of the libraries in MySpace and Facebook have put a profile up, but they have not tried to make it useful to their patrons at all. Just putting up a profile does not make the library seem cool, nor does it make the library more visible."

What makes a library cool? She says one reason for a library to create a MySpace profile is to gather feedback from teens in a place they feel comfortable.
She also says a library's profile on MySpace might make it easier for its teen patrons to find the library's web page.

I like her explanation on why we should be involved with social networking. Its more than just going where they are.

Thing 19 : Podcasts

I would have to agree with one of my media specialist colleagues in our districtl that podcasting would seem to have some barriers to cross in order to be applied in the school setting.

However, podcasting could provide a way to link to important events or special topics that could be listened to at home. Also, I don't see why an educational podcast couldn't be played on computers by students at school, especially if provided head-phones.

Thing 18 : YouTube and Online Video

From one of my earlier blogs:

Our staff watched a video called: You Need to Know 2.0. It is posted on YouTube. I think the video ties in well with what 23 Things On a Stick is trying to emphasize. I encourage my fellow 23TOASers to take a look. Just click on the link above.

I'd like to recommend a Saturday Night Live skit by Jerry Seinfeld that people in our building have looked at for the purpose of starting a discussion on classroom management and our school's efforts with positive behavior interventions. An online video resource is definitely a convenient tool to spark discussion.

Thing 17 : ELM Productivity Tools

Do I disqualify myself from truly completing 23things? I was unable to set-up the RSS Feed using our school's subscription to ELM resources. I've done something similar in the past so the idea of a search alert is not a new thing to me. Currently I do not see a need for an RSS feed for our school's research purposes, but it is a good reminder to look for the RSS feature. Oh well.

Thing 16 : Research Project Calculator

The Research Project Calculator has been something I've been meaning to look at and I am glad that 23TOAS had on the list. I would like to recommend to my colleagues that are following my blog to look at the site. It has some good resources and handouts to use with research assignments.

Thing 15 : Libraries and Games

I set up an account in Second Life, but I experienced trouble teleporting to Info Island. I couldn't teleport at all for that matter, so I left my initial experience with Second life a little frustrated.

I listened to part of Sirsi Dynix Institute's podcast on "Teen Second Life: Library Services in a 3D World" with Kelly Czarnecki. Some points from this podcast that stood out to me:

-Adults that want to work with students in Teen Second Lifewhich is separate from the adult Second Life have to have a background check and have to pay a fee.

-3D environments like Teen Second Life can possibly help teens with their developmental needs for building relationships, participating, and creating.

-Claims that Teens monitor other teens behavior in Teen Second Life

Do we need to be involved with Teen Second Life because "that's where the teens are?" I don't know how many of our teens are there (yet). I'm not sure I'm ready to start developing my avatar persona as another way for me to reach out to teens. Besides, aren't they really going there to meet other teens and not adults?

I am impressed that TSL hosted A Festival of Authors on Feb. 2nd and that several authors made appearances (through their avatars). What a terrific opportunity for teenagers to talk to authors!

Thing 14 : LibraryThing

A colleague informed me of a similar site called Shelfari. It seems to have a smaller community and I like the layout/navigation of the site better than LibraryThing. I wasn't that sure how to go about finding members that focus on Middle School lit. with either Shelfari or LibraryThing. Tags may be a way to organize Web 2.0 sites, but I haven't been overly impressed with this system yet. To me, tags seem to lead to more tangents than a quality list of results I was searching for.

I looked at LibraryThing a few weeks ago. Along the 23Things journey I ran into the tidbit about Thomas Jefferson being a member of LibraryThing.

Thing 13 : Online Productivity Tools

I was wondering if I would ever revisit Google Docs and my Google RSS Reader account. With an iGoogle page I can see another way some of these Web 2.0 pieces can fit together. Will my iGoogle page help tame the growing list of accounts and tools we have used? Maybe, but for now I do like the addition of my iGoogle page.

Thing 12 : Do You Digg? (Social Media Sites)

To me it is interesting that all of these sites (Digg, Newsvine, Mixx, Reddit) had the same favorite news story linked today: "Does Anyone Care about Big Brother Anymore? (not the TV Show)."

(The Time article discusses the American public's apparent lack of interest with the issue of our civil liberties being taken away vs. the trade-off of improved national security. With news stories such as possible gov't violations of the terms of the Patriot Act to the stripping of authority of a Whitehouse civilian oversight board, the article laments our lack of concern over the truth about whether or not our civil liberties have been violated.)

I'm not surprised that social media sites like Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Reddit have this as one of their top rated articles. Noticing what these sites give attention to compared with my daily print newspaper may make me curious enough to take a glance once in a while. I only say a "glance," however. I can't justify a lot of time devoted to looking at them everyday unlike those who apparently can.

Thing 11 : Tagging & De.li.cious

I would like to encourage those following my blog to go to the following site to take a look at the video about De.li.cious--Video on using De.li.cious-

I think De.li.cious might be a way for me to organize and share my bookmarks easily with others. I never really got into making pathfinders for students to search with on the Internet but this may be a way to accomplish the same thing.

I'll post my de.li.cious page later.

Thing 10 : Wikis

"Email is not good at coordinating a group's input." - Wikis in Plain English at Common Craft

A wiki is a web page that a group can edit and coordinate together. Wikis can be made public, but a group can require a key code reserving the ability to edit to just selected members.

I've set up a wiki at PBwiki.com. It will take awhile to get the wiki going, but I'm including information on some of the resources we've been using for 23Things to start a wiki about Web 2.0 resources our staff might be interested in. I may possibly use it for a future staff dev. class. I've got it set for public viewing and if you would like a key to be able to edit, just post a comment below or get in contact with me. The Beautiful Corner wiki is at: beautifulcorner.pbwiki.com.


Just from passing conversations with my fellow staff members I sense curiosity about Web 2.0 is growing. Our 6th grade is doing research projects on World History for the first time. We thought a wiki might be a good way to update a list of good topics to recommend to our students.

Thing 9 : Collaboration (Google Docs & ZoHo)

Thing 9 is about collaborating with others in creating documents, presentations, spreadsheets online so everyone in the project group can have access and edit the project via the web:

I like the idea of using Google Docs or Zoho for working on a project that requires input from other committee or dept. members. I guess the hard part would be to get everyone on board, but after that it looks pretty easy. I wonder how disagreements on substance and style are settled on.

Middle School Lit. Blogs

I ran across an interesting blog while searching for books on Amazon: Becky's Books.

I've been trying to find a good blog with book reviews about middle school level books but not with much success, so I posted a request for some ideas from Becky at Becky's Books. She responded immediately with a list to start with. The blogs she recommended are listed on the side.

Thanks Becky.

Thing 8 : Share Your Creations

Overload! There's too much to explore again. I sense work avoidance creeping in. At some point I'll just have to pick something to try out. Does anyone else keep running into more Web 2.0 stuff now that we've been doing 23TOAS? Here's one example of late:

The Feb. 2008 issue of School Library Journal has the article: "Widgets to the Rescue," that may be of interest to some. Also in the issue is an article on "machinima" (machine cinema - filmaking by using video games that have in-game recording options enabling filmmakers to capture footage.) Click on a sample project done by students called, "A Child's War." "Imagine the ways young people as well as libraries could promote programs, create stories, and teach engaging skills with this medium (Tsai & Czarnecki)." At some point I would like to look into this a little more and visit the TSL (Teen Second Life) site as a way to make a machinima.

Well, I got to Picturetrail.com Picturetrail seemed pretty easy and I like that it would automatically update any changes I made from the site directly to my blog. This, among the many options out there, seems to offer a good way to publicize library events and programming. I looked at site called RockYou but haven't taken the time to try it out yet. There are way more options to share photos over the Internet than I expected. I kind of stared blankly at Zoho Show and couldn't quite engage myself to try it out yet, but it seems like a good alternative to using PowerPoint. It has the convenience of being able to access a presentation via the web, anytime from anywhere. I would like to check out 50 ways to tell a story at a later time. Has anyone tried Google Presentations found at docs.google.com?

Photos of daughter - GRACIE'S LEMONADE STAND - this past fall:

You Need to Know 2.0

Our staff is watching a video this week called: You Need to Know 2.0. It is posted on YouTube. I think the video ties in well with what 23 Things On a Stick is trying to emphasize. I encourage my fellow 23TOASers to take a look. Just click on the link above.

Thing 7 : Web 2.0 Tools

I've noticed a trend in the last 2-3 years in our school library. The number of face-to-face interactions with students and staff has declined. We have the same number of classes coming in, but we have fewer students coming to the library during down times. The fact is, students don't have much down time anymore. Testing days have increased. Teachers are pressed to accomplish the same work with fewer actual teaching days. Students are not given passes to the library to check out books as frequently. Down times have been eliminated, for better or for worse. So, how can we improve access for our students?

Can we replace this decrease in face-to-face interaction with virtual interaction? Is this where Web 2.0 Tools come to save the day? I think there is potential in them, but I'm conflicted. Is IM appropriate in a school environment? Staff email me frequently with questions and requests, but students can't. I can see the value of a Web 2.0 tool if a student stranded on the other side of our building can still have access to our library staff even if it is via the web.

Thing 6 : Online Image Generators

I went to a site recommended by impromptu: Generatorblog . I chose the Bar-B-Q Sign generator.

There seem to be numerous image generators to choose from to make blogs or websites more visually interesting, but I think I'd rather move on to the next stick.

Blogs from the Dead?

NBC Nightly News (Friday, Feb. 8) ended with a story of a blog being published from the transcripts of letters written by William Henry Bonser Lamin, a soldier in the first World War. To quote the blog: "The letters will be posted exactly 90 years after they were written. To find out Harry's fate, follow the blog!" Visit the blog at: http://wwar1.blogspot.com/.

This seems to me a pretty interesting use of blogs. It makes me think that blogs could be used by teachers for creative journaling projects. For example: students could construct fictitious characters yet have the story set in a specific time period in history. Characters created by classmates could interact with each other from the viewpoint of their character.

Thing 5 : More Fun with Flickr

I went to BigHugeLabs and played around with the trading card mashup. This might be a fun way to promote different authors to kids. I'm not sure if I would use this over creating my own layout in Photoshop, but I liked the idea.

Popular Books in CLMS Library

Popular Books in CLMS Library
Originally uploaded by schoen_m

Thing 4 : Using Flickr

This has been the most difficult task for me so far and I have experienced some frustrations. I have been trying to keep a consistent name/password, but I've signed up for so many things now (Blogger, Google Reader, Flickr, Picnik) I'm getting goofed up. I had a little trouble posting a picture from flickr directly into my blog. I needed to go back to the flickr help page a few times: www.flickr.com/help/blogging/. Navigating through Flickr wasn't that intuitive to me for some reason. I'll keep at it. I stumbled on to the "badge" feature from Flickr at the help page. If you look to the right you'll see a rectangle with pictures from my Flickr account.

The appearance of my blog is getting a little busy. Hopefully I can figure out a way to organize it better. I find it useful to put links that relate to each task on the side, but now this list is getting cumbersome.

I tried to copy the idea of the Clemens and Alcuin libraries of putting a picture of some popular books and using the add-a-note feature in Flickr. The picture is posted above. Just click on it and it should take you to the photo in my Flickr account. Put your mouse over the book cover and the note should appear. I added a link to this on our media center site.

I tried out Picnik. You can connect to your pictures in Flickr and then edit them with Picnik. You then save the edited picture back into your Flickr account.

Side note: I put an RSS feed from a site recommended by a friend called slickdeals.net. Coupons and discounts on various items show up on this site. There was a coupon for TGI Fridays today. Look for this feed on the right side of the screen. Thanks, Al.

Thing 3 : RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

Well our youngest got up in the middle of the night and dad can't sleep now, so I guess the bright side is I found time to work on the next task.

I'm still enthusiastic about doing the 23TOAS, but where do we find the time? I think the guy on the video (stick #2) made the 15-minutes-a-day-is-all-this-would-take sound like a snap.

I created my Google Reader Aggregator (say that fast a few times) and setting up an RSS feed to it does seem pretty simple. How does one create their own RSS feed?

The hard part for me seems to be finding RSS feeds that I'm interested in checking everyday. I put the Star Tribune feed in. I put a "word of the day" in I suppose so I could pad my list. There were a couple others that I thought looked interesting:

There was a library blog for teens that seemed worth a look. Worthington Libraries (Ohio, not MN)seem to have a good blog design: (How do you make a blog like that?)


I put a few of the CMLE blogs into my aggregator/reader. These are more meaningful to me since I guess there is a sense of community-we're all in this together type of thing. I work with teens at our school and life revolves around their friends. I can see how RSS could be a big deal to them, but does it beat IM? If I were a classroom teacher brave enough to have students create their own blogs, an RSS feed would be a good way to keep tabs on what students are discussing. Blogs and RSS would be a good way to work on writing skills. For me I'm starting to get more interested in setting up a summer book club. We have book clubs at our school and I can envision blogs/RSS as a way to keep our conversations about books going through the summer.

Thing 2: Does Web 2.0 = Library 2.0? Is there enough trust to change?

What is Web 2.0? What is Library 2.0? I thought Sarah Houghton's definition of Library 2.0 was helpful:

"Library 2.0 simply means making your library's space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. Examples of where to start include blogs, gaming nights for teens, and collaborative photo sites. The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives..to make the library a destination and not an afterthought."

I read an interesting article from one of the "Top 25 Librarian Blogs" link on the 23TOAS site Krafty Librarian: Jan. 29 posting: Librarians' sport of choice: Teaching information literacy through fantasy football. The article was about Librarians at the University of Dubuque who saw the potential in fantasy football as a way to reach incoming students by connecting their fantasy sports skills to information literacy. I think the article points to the need for all librarians to know their clientel and to take into account that their clientel is familiar with Web 2.0 (social online networking) applications.

I don't think it is just a matter of keeping pace with our students (I'm way behind already), but I do think the more we keep abreast of what they are doing can only help us in trying to meet their information needs. We may need to change our patterns of thinking as they change their modes of communicating. What's the alternative? It's like being a good parent to our teenagers. We need to be interested in what they are interested in. They even might let us into their conversations.

Last night I was talking to a friend about my blog. He wondered what was the point of having a blog. He surmised it was just a form of entertainment for people with too much time on their hands. He also thought blogging seemed an impersonal way to relate to other people. I've had similar thoughts about blogging, but his comments also made me think about pulling my head out of the sand a little and give it a chance as a new way for people to communicate. Would I have found that interesting article about teaching information literacy by using fantasy football if I hadn't read someone else's blog? Networking with others seems to be a big reason to keep an open mind about blogging.

"Trust drives change." I ran across this quote somewhere along my haphazard way through the 2nd stick task. I believe there is a stigma of mistrust regarding social networking over the Internet, including blogs. Do some teachers view blogs and other forms of social networking as a way for students to put down their classmates or teachers? I personally don't know any early adopters to blogs. I would like to start using blogs with some of the student groups I work with, but security is an issue. Can we trust our students to be responsible with school blogs? Our school is looking at getting a service called SchoolCenter which can enable a teacher to control what gets posted to a classroom blog. However, unless the feeling of mistrust subsides, I don't think there will be an immediate influx of blogging in our school environment.

Thing 1 : Setting up a blog

I decided to take the plunge and do 23 Things On A Stick. I think it will motivate me to incorporate some Web. 2.0 applications into our school's library media program. Recently we had a staff technology day. I wish I had started 23TOAS sooner; I might have designed a class around some of the ideas listed. I definitely have a potential set of ideas for future staff dev. classes.

When I went to blogger.com to set up my blog I discovered I already had an account set up, but had never used it. I must have learned about Blogger when I attended a TIES conference or other workshop but didn't take the time to follow through. I am hopeful about the 23TOAS initiative. Maybe 23TOAS will push me to try some new things.

I created a weak looking Avatar. I probably should have went with an alter-ego type of get-up. Maybe I'll create a new one and go for a Tarzan look.

During the registration process for 23 TOAS my browser took me to Survey Monkey. I thought I had inadvertently jumped ahead on the 23TOAS list. I hadn't checked the rest of the TOAS list yet, so I thought this site was stick #2. It wasn't, but I created an online survey for my 6th graders with it anyways. Survey Monkey seems like an easy way to get some curriculum planning data from our students! I plan to bring this tool up at our next media department meeting in Feb.

Beautiful Corner : 23 things on a stick