Thing 43 - On-line TV and Video

I got a chance to join HULU yesterday afternoon. I looked at a little of the Daily Show and also the Office--two of my favorite shows, but I guess everyone else's too. They were readily available. I know that on-line TV is already changing people's habits. I have patrons who come into the library to watch the shows they missed the previous night--like Grey's Anatomy. For some people, going to a movie or even watching one is sort of social, but for others who just want to see the movie--the computer avenue may be the best route. It also could be a good way to find movies that are no longer available through their satellite dish. Television is already becoming more individualized with niche programming, but on-line viewing choices will make tv less of a shared experience. I can see the new way of watching tv affecting my daughters and their eventual children and families, but my husband and I will probably still watch TV together. I might start to catch up with The Daily Show and the Office now that I know how to through HULU though.

Thing 41 and 42 -- Mash up and Music

I am listening to Pandora music--like John Mayer--so far so good. I've liked the first three songs. My daughter Alice has been telling me that I ought to try this site, so now I finally have. I have also put a jazz station widget on my blog--at leat I hope that I have. I have used radio on-line previously. My other daughter, Livia, was a d.j. on a college radio station so I listened to her a few times. It was hit and miss as far as whether I could get her or not, but the last few times I was able to get her through Quicktime--have a Mac at home. I think this on-line radio and music is certainly the wave of the future. Both my daughters have their laptops with them constantly, so that seems to be one of their modes of listening to music, along with their i-pods of course. Not sure how this will affect libraries, except maybe that people will be listening to the radio while they are doing Internet business. Most of the kids who come in request headphones. We've gone through many pairs in the past few years.

I also signed on for Livestream.fm, but not sure how it will affect my life--didn't have too many things to put on it--Twitter, blog, facebook and delicious. I don't know anyone who uses this service, so that will affect my usage also. Trying to rush through the last few things--definitely wanted to try the music and it has been fun, but I could do more experimenting with radio stations.

Mashups--Thing 40

Mashups have been a challenge for me. I tried many, but somehow I just didn't really understand what made them different from other Internet applications. I asked my daughter Alice if she knew what a mashup was and she said no, so that stumped me further. I did find a little icon that shows places to go for lunch (nothing in my zipcode) and I am in the process of joining a twitter sight about books. I made a Warhol picture of my daughter sunning herself with Big Huge Labs. This site is somehow related to flickr. I also made a magazine cover of my friend Jean Francis who comes into the library to read People--put her on the cover of People with lots of innuendo--that seems to be lost in cyberspace. Libraries are always doing programming, so any way to generate more graphics can be an effective way to promote an event. The mashups themselves (at least the Big Huge Lab) was fun to use, but as usual, my postings are hit and miss--I was happy to be able to get my flickr pictures to my blog so easily. I can't say I've gone looking for mashups because I wouldn't know one if I saw one. I did read on Twitter that one of the people that I was following finished all of her Things on a Stick--before the deadline. I let her know I was impressed--not looking like I'll finish, but I'll try a few more things.

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by islelibrary

I've Warholed my daughter Alice sunning in the backyard.

Lunchbox Mashup

Scrapbooking -- Thing 39

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I made my scrapbook using smilebox. I uploaded some pictures to Voice Box, but then I couldn't figure out what to do with them, but oddly enough, when I signed on to smilebox, my pictures were already there. There was no "library program" theme page, but the rock band theme seemed to work okay. I needed lots of pictures so I added in a few extras, including one of Elvis. This was a teen program we had last night with Nintendo Wii--June 11, 2009. I can see posting more pictures from programs on scrapbooking sites.

Thing 38 -- Screencasting

Screencasting is fun and I can see how it could be addictive, especially to former teachers such as myself. I looked at a few different screencasting tools--Jing and Skitch. I tried to download Jing, but it seemed to take forever and I was anxious to get on to the screencasting after I got a feel for what it was. I looked at Skitch, but it was more about copying your screen to a blog or facebook or whatever. I finally settled on Screen-cast-o-matic. It was extremely easy to record--I didn't add any audio because I don't have a mic. All I did was place the screen square around the ECRL catalog and place a hold. I redid it a few times because of some glitches (no holds allowed on this material, already have a hold on this material), but I think it turned out fine. It is 1 minute and 31 seconds long. It was very easy to make, but as usual I had more trouble trying to figure out how to get it onto my blog. I did end up putting a link to my screencast on my blog, but the whole screencast isn't there. I hope that is good enough. It is two clicks to get to the screencast rather than right on the blog, like my slideshow. Not sure if I know how to put it directly onto the blog. I can see lots of uses for screencasts on a library interactive webpage--we get numerous questions about how to place holds or use the databases. This is a perfect tool for showing people how to use library resources.

My Screencasts | Screencast-O-Matic

My Screencasts | Screencast-O-Matic

Thing 37 - Photo Tales

As you can see I used the "Slide" function to make a slide show. I'm very pleased with it and it was very easy. I hate to write this lame blog prompt because the slide show is so cute and I'd prefer to highlight that. All I did was upload my pictures and add a few captions and the program did the rest. I probably had some other choices of presentation, but this one turned out great.
I can see many uses both personally and at the library for the photo sites. I opened a flickr account and ECRL has photos on flickr, but I still have to ask someone at headquarters how to add my pictures.
We just received a Lumix digital camera for our library as part of an LSTA grant, so I am very happy and excited to have the use of that. Mainly we will use it to highlight our programs, but it is fun to take pictures of patrons and Friends of the Library also--Friends meeting starts soon, so gotta go.

Discovery Zoo