#23 Summarize your thoughts about this program and learn more about where to go from here

Wow, I did it. What a great experience. I am so fortunate to work for the Harford County Public Library and to have the opportunity to complete my 23 Things. There is so much technology out in the world that it is impossible to keep track. Having the opportunity to complete this self paced learning program has opened many new doors for me. I feel more confident and aware of the technologies that are available.

The sites that I will probably use most will be the ebooks, and it has been at my fingertips through our website. I have been wanting to explore these for a while, but didn't take the time to learn. With my new MP3 player, and yes, this was a great incentive for me to do this, I will be able to listen to books while I walk the dog or exercise. I will also be able to provide patrons with first hand knowledge for it's use.

I also enjoyed Flickr. When and if (we live in the country and woods) we ever get cable, DSL, etc., I will upload photos to share with my family and friends.

Knowledge really is power, and learning so many wonderful things gives me confidence in helping others in the Library. I can't wait to see what comes next. As technology progresses, as it does daily, there will have to be 23 more things soon. I'll definitely participate and be glad for the opportunity.

Sincerely, Kathy Galbreath

#22 Learn about Audiobooks

Today to watched the tutorial for both NetLibrary and Overdrive. Using a portable device and listening to books while I exercise is something I have wanted to do. Currently I use audio books on CD while I exercise. When I get my new MP3 device, I will definately use it. It will be much smaller to use than a CD player.

It seems rather easy to do. Unfortunately, I still have a dial up connection at home, so using my home PC will be very time consuming with downloading, so I'm not going to attempt it today.

Watching the tutorial for Overdrive and NetLibrary was extremely useful, as I have not done it in the past, and I can see that this technology will be used more and more. I will need to know how to do this to assist patrons in the library. It is amazing to see the variety of items downloaded from the Project Gutenburg site and the top 100 downloads. Very different from the Overdrive and NetLibrary sites.

#21 Discover some useful tools for locating podcasts

Today I looked at Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts. Yahoo Podcasts will be disappearing on October 31st, so I spent very little time reviewing it. I was totally unaware of the quantity and popularity of Podcasts. I have heard of new programs, etc talking about having podcasts available for listening and viewing, but never took the time to really look at what is available. What a great way to listen to a show whenever and where ever is convenient. I also found quite a lot of junk on the sites. It was be easy to spend hours just browsing through what is available.I don't think this is a technology that I would use very often, but is a good to be aware of it. I did add a podcast to my bloglines page, just to see if I could. I needed to refer back to Maryland Libraries Learning 2.0 page for a refresher, so this was a good exercise to redo an item. Here is the link to my bloglines account. http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs

Where's the Beef

#20 Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow you to upload video

You Tube has such a wide variety of videos, one could spend all day just surfing around. When I heard that there were old 70s commercials included, I tried to find a favorite "Where's the Beef". I found it and here it is.

#19 Discover any site from the Web 2.0 awards list

I spent time reviewing the Farecast website under the Travel category: http://farecast.com/ . This site was awarded the first place in it's category. It is a site that allows you to compare prices of airline tickets from a variety of sources. It forcasts the probability that the tickets with remain about the same price or change and suggests whether you should buy your tickets now. I need to book a flight to Denver in November, so I put the dates and it gave me prices of flights from a variety of sources. I liked the fact that all the links were there to click on, it made the process quick and easy to navigate. The site told me to buy now. If the site is wrong, they will, supposedly provide a refund if they are wrong (only on specific airlines). This is a very usefull site. It made the search process very easy and quick.

My next spot to visit was Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/ . This is the site that won first place in the City Guide and Review section. I looked at Denver and Baltimore. This is site that gives a variety of information from shopping, dining, museums, etc. There are reviews that give you an idea whether you want to patronize the establishment or not. What a wealth of information !!!

#18 Take a look at some online productivity tools

ZOHO Writer

Today is Monday, September 17th, and I am learning to use the ZOHO Writer. This look very familiar, it seems to be modeled after Microsoft Office. Let's try a few things:

With a chill in the air, but a very sunny day, falls is creeping along.

1. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, use it well.
2. Tomorrow will be a new day to do something that means something.
3. Yesterday is for memories, let's hope they make you smile
   

Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.

Brendan Gill

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

Billy Wilder
US (Austrian-born) movie director (1906 - 2002)

This is a great way to work on a computer with out the use of Microsoft Office. It works very similar and I like how easy it was to post to my blog. I can see may applications for this type of program. With the microsoft products being so very expensive, this works quite well.