Web According to Google #88: Wave, Buzz, and Mobile

Exercise 1.

We could use Google Wave at our CEC meetings. Web conferencing or writing feedback would be useful at those meetings that staff members could not be at physically. Or, we could do without the meetings and use web conferencing only. It would save on travel time and travel reimbursements in this time of budget cutting.

With the writing feedback, I really liked the drag and post capabilities it offers. You can drag info into your blog or other sites.

Google Buzz was very interesting. I don't use my gmail, but if I did, I would use this site for the calendar and sharing photos.

Exercise 2.

The Google Mobile apps offer a lot to those who have web capabilities on their phones. If I did, I would use the maps and igoogle apps. My son as web services and I am going to show him the Google Mobile apps. I think he will use them.

Web According to Google #87: Google Reader

Exercise 1.

I took the tour of Google Reader. I have feeds on my blog site with HCPL. I use: cbsnews.com; global incident map; weather channel; and Flickr flowers. Right now I use my blog for work related activities only.

I probably wouldn't use Google Reader as a feed on my cell phone. I use my phone for calls and texting only.

Exercise 2.

My favorite sites do have feeds: CNN, facebook, weather channel; myspace. I don't have feeds to facebook and myspace; but, hope to work on that in the future.

Web According to Google #86: Calendar/Documents

Exercise 1.

I used the Google Calendar and set it up with my son's baseball games, church activites and work schedule. It was great! I had never thought about it before. It is so helpful. I will continue to use it. I like being able to access it from work and from other computers when I'm away from home. I think it would be useful to share it with family members. It would keep them up to date on my son's game schedules; as well as, birthdays. In regards to work; it would be helpful in making the monthly schedule. You could use it to keep up with vacations, workshops, etc.

Exercise 2.

I created a file using Google Docs using some photos of my granddaughter. I sent them in a document using google mail to some family members. It worked great. I think using Google Docs is a good idea because you don't have to keep up with a jumpdrive or any hardware. It is out there in cyperspace anywhere you go.

Web According to Google #85: Resistance is Futile

Exercise 1.

Google has a lot of products I use: gmail; blogger; youtube; google books; google earth. All of these are easy to access, with easy to follow instructions on how to use their sites. I find they have the best results and were more accurate than others. Especially, google maps versus mapquest.

Exercise 2.

I went to google labs. I used the city tours site. It allowed me to find walking tours of major cities. I also went to flu trends. I found out where the most flu activity was occuring in the United States.

Exercise 3.

Using google books I looked for Mrs. Pollifax Series. They did offer these books. An example of how this can be used in the library; a customer has a book checked out and can't remember what the book looks like. Using this site we can show them the book. It will help jar their memory of what they are looking for at home. It is also helpful when a customer doesn't know the name of the next book in that series they want to read.

Publishing Evolution #84: Write Communities

Exercise 1.

I have contacted my favorite author: Ann B. Ross. She has a website, www.misjulia.com. I am on a e-mail list that sends me updates on her. You can contact her at aross@missjulia.com and she will respond. I love her series: Miss Julia. I enjoy learning about her background. She doesn't have a way to interact via web.

Exercise 2.

I don't think it matters if a book is voted on by popularity. I like to use my own judgement on books. I read The Shack and loved it. I have had customers who didn't like the book and wouldn't recommend it. Everyone has their likes and dislikes. I do think it's a shame that some books wouldn't be published for lack of popular vote. Those writers may not be given a fair chance. The book could touch some in ways it couldn't others.

Publishing Evolution #83: Paper to Pixels

Exercise 1.

I prefer paper versus pixels. I use a computer all day and would rather have a book in my hand sitting outside or in my bed reading. "Have book, will travel." No worries in regards to electricity or outlets or internet connection.

Exercise 2.

The price of a book does affect my decision to purchase it or not. I don't spend a lot on books now that I work at the library. I do have my favorites. If it is one I really have to have, I will pay for it not matter what the costs. Example: Gone With the Wind, Titantic, The Shack

Exercise 3.

iFiction is a useful website. I think it is an advantage to listening partially to something before you pay for it. It is like reading the back cover of a book, a preview of sorts. I would use this site.

Publishing Evolution #82: Print on Demand

Exercise 1.

I visited Lulu, Xlibris, Author House, iUniverse and Createspace.

Lulu wouldn't let me get prices on publishing books without putting in a working title and author.

Xlibris had a variety of packages for publishing books. It was easy to follow, with guidelines along the way. Guarantee right up front. Prices and information was easy accessible.

Author House site was down for "servicing and maintenace".

iUniverse site was down to "enhance our site".

Createspace offered lots of services. Information was easy accessbile. Pricing guideines were easy to follow.

As far as prices being higher or lower, I'm not sure since I didn't have anything to compare to. I had not read any of the books that I saw up front on the sites. Naked Truth by Courtney and Marvelyn Brown was an e-book I would purchase for 9.95 if I did. I do get most of my reading materials from the library. It's free and easy accessible since I work here.

Exercise 2

As a reader, it does not matter to me how the book was published. I enjoy reading. If I were a writer, I would was the financial backing of a traditional publisher.

The Future of Media #81: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

Exercise 1.

I know the movie 'Avatar' was big, especially with the younger generation. I have not seen it, nor will I. It's not the genre of movie I watch. Although, I would like to see a movice in 3D technology. Maybe 'Toy Story' or 'Lion King'.

I have recently been introduced to HD. I love it. I watched the Winter Olympics at a friends house that had a 52 inch TV with HD. It was great! It gave me the feeling of actually being there. With the size of the tv, I really felt like I was there.

As far as the streaming goes, I don't know that it will be as popular as others because not all families will have access to these games units.

Exercise 2.

I am not an adopter of new gadgets. I have a hard time figuring out which remote goes with what device. I have very fond memories of things from the past. I miss my 8 track tape player. I actually still have the original Nintendo player. We still play on it. It works like a charm and my family really enjoys those old games. I hope it keeps on working. I think we've had it for 18 years. WOW They don't make them like that anymore. It gives us great enjoyment during family get togethers.

The new gadget that I think I will keep using is the DVR. I like being able to record and watch later, then zoom through the commercials. I have a busy lifestyle and this allows me to use my time wisely. If you can say that watching TV is using your time wisely.

The Future of Media #80: Movies

Exercise 1.

I went to Auteurs and found a free film called Dry Summer. It was a turkey film made in 1964 with subtitles in English. I only watched a few minutesof this film on the computer. I would prefer watching my DVDs on TV. Just bigger screen and you can get more comfortable.

Exercise 2.

I used Blockbuster to find the trailer on The Time Traveler's Wife. I wanted to see this movie. This gave me an insight to the movie. I will continue to use this site to get a preview of movies I would like to see.

Exercise 3.

I use Redbox on a regular basis. It is easy access; you can find it at my local Krogers and Valero. You can return the dvds at any Redbox. They are inexpensive and if you decide to keep it an extra day, they charge you for that day only. They have newly releases as well as old ones. I use to use Blockbuster. I don't anymore because it is not as convienent and I think there prices are too high.

Future of Media #79: Television

Exercise 1

I visited Hulu and tv.com and searched for the following shows: Numb3rs, Gilmore Girls, Friends, and Boston Legal. Neither site offered all seasons of these shows. Friends had the most seasons available. You were able to watch full episodes.

Exercise 2

I have never watched TV on my cell phone. My son has. I don't think I would be interested in it. My eyesight is not what it used to be and that would cause problems. I like the big screen TV.

Exercise 3

I have never watched a streaming program. I have never posted videos to a site either. I do have friends who use YouTube to update the growth of their baby daughter. It allows family and friends who live far away to keep up with her progress. This is exiciting and helps keep the families/friends in touch. I have posted music videos on my myspace; changing them as my interests change.

Searching #78: Video

Exercise 1.

I searched Truveo for videos of the Winter Olympics. I was searching for JR Celski's short track race and the accident on ice he had before the olympics. I first went through most popular and could not find it. Then I went through the regular search and found him. It have a bio of him and had lots of photos, videos and news about him, as well as the olympics.

I then searched Blinkx for the same thing. It reminded me of YouTube. I didn't care for it. It was too busy and didn't have the extras Truveo had.

Exercise 2.

I went to HCPL's YouTube channel and browsed around. I think that adding videos to this site would introduce a different type of genre to the public. It would give more awareness to the communities that there are libraries out there that offer more than just books. We could promote all our programs this way. Everyone knows about YouTube.

Searching #77: Images

Exercise 1: I used AllFreeClipart and it took me 11 clicks to get to a color Santa that I thought didn't look a troll. Most of them did. What happened to the traditional Santa Clause?

Exercise 2: After reading the article, I researched fotogenica.net, freephotosbank.com and morguefile.com.

Fotogenica was too complicated to undestand. I never could figure out how to get photos. They offered plenty of merchandise.

Freephotosbank.com was very easy to maneauver around in. I searched hummingbirds and found lots of photos. There is a charge to download these photos after you have registered. You can even sell your photos on this site.

Morguefile.com had the most unusual name. I enjoyed this site and was able to find an abundance of photos of hummingbirds. It was easy to search and download photos on here.

Exercise 3: I found two illustrations on HCPL under the clip art program. I searched for black history month artwork.

Under "black history month", I found item #2024848 to use on a banner to put above our book display. Under "black history", I found item #62546521 to possibly put on a flyer to pass out to customers making them aware of Black History Month here at our library. These both are to be credited to @jupiterimages.

Searching #76: Sound Effects

Exercise 1

I used FindSounds to find the following animal sounds:

frog.............http://www.worldtune.com/audio/frog.au
elephant.........http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/feature/data/elephant-I.aiff
chipmunk.........http://naturebits.org/NonAvian/mp3/ChipmunkChip

I had a lot of trouble posting these sounds on my blog. The computer would freeze up. I could hear the sounds on the website, but it wouldn't allow me to send a link from my blog.

Exercise 2

I chose waves: http://simplythebest.net/sounds/WAV
waterfalls: http://simplythebest.net/sounds/other_formats/AIFF
rain: http://simplythebest.net/sounds/MP3/sound_effects_MP3

This was a hard exercise for me. I was at work. I would like to have worked on this at home and tried putting these on my MP3 player. I still may attempt this at some time

Searching #75: Google and Beyond

Exercise 1:

Using Blindsearch, I searched for the following items. Below is my searches along with the winning vote.

hummingbird wedding cakes - google
hummingbird invitations - bing
receptions/spring, tx - yahoo

My favorite search engine is google. I really had a hard time choosing between the three columns. I was suprised that it only came out on top once.

Exercise 2.

When looking at the Hitwise website, www.google.com was the #1 searche engine for the week ending January 2. I was suprised that yahoo, its competitor was so low. Google stood at 72.25% and yahoo stood at 14.83%.

Exercise 3.

I chose to look at Bing. I have never used this site before. Something new and useful was the entertainment search to look for movies and top iphone apps. These were both useful and helpful.

I guess we get use to the familiar and I always use google or dogpile; which I did not see listed on the Hitwise list of search engines being used.

Genealogy #67: Genealogy Genesis

I haven't done an indepth genealogy study of my past. In middle school I was an aide in the library. We had to do a family tree and give a report on an interview with one of our grandparents. I still have that report. It was interesting. My grandmother has long since past away; over 20 years ago. I am glad I held on to that. I have that to pass on to my children and other family members.

I have a second cousin that does genealogy for our family. She will occasionally send the family information she has found on our family. She also passed on information from my great grandparents that she collected before they passed on.

As far as steps leading to researching my genealogy; first I would interview the oldest family members. See if I could get wedding photos, obituaries from newspapers, etc. I would document this information and make it available to others in the family. I would use the software progam from Legacy Family Tree and work my way back in time. It would be a good idea to start with things I know personally; while it is fresh on my mind. I would like to go to the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research.

#63: Digital Scrapbooking

Exercise 1. I took the 5 min video tutorial on Scrapblog.com. I made my layout using the free program. I used photos from my photobucket account. I had fun doing this. It was very easy. It is also easy to go back and modify layouts.

Exercise 2. I enjoyed using the website. I think I will continue to use it. I did have problems putting my free layout on this blog site. I actually thought I had done this, but it didn't take the first time. I will continue to try.

Exercise 3. I tried posting my layout on here a second time, and it actually worked. Evidently, you have to make sure your setting are NOT set to private

#66: Knitting and Crocheting

Exercise 1. I looked up the website About.com: Knitting. This was very informative. I have never knitted; but, I have crocheted when I was young. My mother taught me some basic stitches. I made a small baby blanket. I have recently joined a crochet club that meets at Starbuck. I am relearning how to crochet. I chose a pillow pattern with maroon and white (Gig 'Em Aggies) for my daughters room at college. It has not been easy. I don't have as much time as I would like to work on it. As well as the fact that my eyes are not what they use to be. I would like to learn how to make chemos hats. I think that would be a very beneficial thing to do to help others. That will be my next project. I don't think I will learn to knit. It seems harder than crocheting. Too many pots on the fire!

Exercise 2. Our library branch does not have a knitting group that meets here. It would be nice to have one though. We could advertise. Possibly talk to those who check out books on knitting about their thoughts on that.

I do enjoy reading fiction books that pertain to knitting, sewing, or quilting. I have read several of Debbie Macombers books, as well as, Beth Patillo and the Sweet Gum Knit Lit Society.

#62: Decoupage

I had never done decoupage before this training. I've always wanted to try, so this gave me the incentive to attempt it. I'm not able to come up with ideas for crafts on my own, but I love to craft as long as someone gives me the instructions.

I looked searched Flickr for decoupage and LOVED this! I am going to yard/garage sale hunt and find a couple of old suitcases and attempt this. I save old post cards from places I've visited and hope this will work. That would be such a cool keepsake.

The poster chairs found on the google search for decoupage are really neat. They would look cool in my daughter's apartment.

I chose to decoupage a glass vase for my project. I love hummingbirds, so, I searched on Flickr for photos and chose several. That is what I used to cover the vase. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I did have a co-worker assist until I got the hang of it.

Using this technique would be great in making homemade items for birthday and Christmas presents.

Crafts & Hobbies #61: Craftspiration!

I checked out the Pimpstitch website and really liked this site. It was easy to search for patterns. It had a variety of craft patterns. All of which I enjoy: working with felt, crocheting, embroidery, sewing. I chose the Blanket-Stitched Felt Stocking. It gave you a list of supplies and very easy to follow instructions.

I browsed the Etsy's YouTube channel and the CraftsChannel site. I liked the CraftsChannel site. I am going to make the Pop-up Box. They gave easy to follow instructions. I liked being able to see the instructions and well as having them written. I hope to make these for my nieces and nephews for Christmas and fill with candy.

With the holidays coming up all of these sites will be useful in saving money as well as having fun making home-made gifts for family members and friends.

Recession Busters #60: Food, Fun & Frugality

I enjoyed the video of Clara and her recipe for a Poorman's meal. She was very intertaining and the recipe looked good. I added this video to my blog

I have read about several recession busters this past year:
=When shopping for Christmas, start early and use layaway plans instead of using
high interest rated credit cards.
=Refinance your home to get a reduced mortgage rate
=Use consignment shops to purchase items. You can sale your things and turn around
and use the proceeds from that to purchase things.
=Use coupons: groceries, entertainment, car services, etc.
=Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses

Tips for saving money:
=recycle grocery bags by using them for garbage can liners.
=use recycling bins
=check books, movies, magazine out from the libaries instead of purchasing them
=coupon cutting and coupon swapping with friends