Lesson 11 – Video & Podcasts

It is with sadness that I post about this last lesson of Vermont’s 23 Things. On a lighter note, we get to guiltlessly watch videos on YouTube and listen to podcasts.

Week 11: Video & Podcasts
21. Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.
22. Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.
23. Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog.

For those of you who would like continuing education credit for your participation, please e-mail me.

For those of you who aren’t up to Week 11 yet, have no fear, the website isn’t going anywhere and you have plenty of time to finish.

And for all of you, thank you so very much for participating.

Lesson 10: Track Your Library

Do you want to see what people are saying online about your library? In this lesson you will investigate some tools that will help you monitor the web. You will also get to look at any site/tool from the list of Web 2.0 Awards or 2009 Webware 100 winners and write about it.

For this lesson:
19. Track Your Library
20. Explore any site from Web 2.0 awards lists, play with it and write a blog post about your findings.

Lesson 9: Wikis and Online Productivity Tools

Welcome to the wonderful world of wikis! For this lesson we’ll be turning our attention to a great web-based tool for multiple-participant projects. Plus we get to see another Common Craft video!

We’ll also investigate free web-based online productivity applications (word processing, spreadsheets, calendars, presentations, project management, and web conferencing).

For this lesson:

16. Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them.
17. Create a wiki or add an entry to a Vermont’s 23 Things sandbox wiki.
18. Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.

Lesson 8: Tagging & Twitter

This week, we’ll be looking more closely at del.icio.us and Twitter.

Delicious is a Web 2.0 application that takes serious advantage of tagging (we’ve already looked at a few –Flickr, LibraryThing, and blogs all use tags). Tagging allows you to associate keywords with online content – webpages, pictures, posts, etc. It is considered a folksonomy – an unstructured categorization scheme.

Twitter is a relatively new, extremely popular tool used to send and receive short (140 character) messages called Tweets. While it started as a way to update friends, family, and co-workers by answering the question: “what are you doing?” it is now being used to share resources, follow conferences and other events in real-time, and in the library world to update patrons about new materials, get the word out about library programs and events, share tips on finding information online or in your library building, and share posts with links to interesting news stories about libraries and literacy.

We’ll also be reading and blogging about a few perspectives on Library 2.0.

For this week:

13. Learn about tagging and discover Del.icio.us (a social bookmarking site).
14. Try Twitter
15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.

Lesson 7 – Play

Hello all you followers of Vermont’s 23 Things!

I hope you are feeling refreshed after the Catch-up.

Did you enjoy playing with photos and images in Lesson 3? Then you’ll enjoy this lesson’s exploration of more image-related tools with Thing 12: Play around with an online image generator.

Do you love books? Thing 12: Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your books.

For those of you who have just stumbled on this program: it’s still not too late to participate. Spend some time with the first few things, create a blog to record your Vermont’s 23 Things thoughts and adventures, and send me (mara.siegel@state.vt.us) the link to have it added to the still growing list on the Participant Blogs page.

Lesson 6 – Catch up

As you might have noticed, Week 6 has no Things (though it does have a Common Craft video! See below). It’s Catch-up Time! Take some time and breathe a little. Catch-up, revisit an old 2.0 friend you didn’t have enough time with, discover a new one.

Come back ready for Play Week!

By now you’ve probably figured out all how much I love the Common Craft videos. What you might not know is that I love ice cream even more. Here’s a video that combines both!

Lesson 5 – Social Networks

Lesson 5 of Vermont’s 23 Things is all about exploring social networks, including Facebook and MySpace. Thing 10 has you setting up a Facebook or MySpace account. For those of you who would prefer not to, there is an alternate exercise.

Enjoy the lesson!

Lesson 5: Social Networks
9. Explore Social Networks
10. Set up a Facebook or MySpace page

Lesson 4 – RSS

This Vermont’s 23 Things lesson is all about RSS . The lesson is filled with jargon and tech talk and depending on your preferred learning style, you might like watch the videos, jump in and try out an RSS reader (or two), and read about it afterwards. Looking over past 23 Things blogs, this seems to be one of the harder ‘Things’ to conquer. Some have also said it’s the biggest thrill. Judging from your blogs, you will take on Week 4 with curiosity and perseverance!

Lesson 3 – Photos & Images

Lesson 3 of Vermont’s 23 Things is all about photos and images. You’ll explore Flickr and find some tools to spice up your blog, make posters and trading cards, and see what other exciting things you can do with photos!

During the first Vermont’s 23 Things session, a participant created a Vermont’s 23 Things group in Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/657142@N21/

So please join, then we can all enjoy each other’s library pictures in one place. Here’s a link to the instructions for after you join:
http://www.flickr.com/help/groups/#57

Lesson 2 – Blogging

Hey everyone!

It’s time for Lesson 2 of Vermont’s 23 Things. For this lesson you will enter the world of Blogging. You’ll get to create a blog to record your thoughts and experiences as you explore the Things. After you set up your blog, send me (mara.siegel@mail.dol.state.vt.us) the address to have it added to the list on the Participant Blogs page.

Lesson 2: Blogging (December 7-December 20)
3. Set up your own blog & add your first post, & register your blog.
4. Create a blog post about anything technology related that interests you this week.