Thing 23 - Wrapping Up

Well, I have to say the 23 Things was quite challenging. My favorite part of the Web 2.0 Challenge was learning about podcasts and putting one on my blog. That was fun. My least favorite thing to learn about was Technorati. I found it not too user friendly and I'm not that into the "blogosphere" of public opinion. I'd rather have the hard facts.
I think the employees of the library would benefit from using wikis and web applications, especially for committee-type projects. Having so many branches, some quite far from others, would not be an obstacle when communication of ideas can be shared online as easily as if the people involved were all in the same room.
The Web 2.0 services that I shared with my friends and family were the ones that were fun and entertaining - Flickr, Scanning pictures, YouTube, and Podcasts (Odeo). Adding pictures and sound is more enjoyable than looking at words when it comes to learning something new. I think you are more apt to remember something when multiple senses are involved at the time the incident takes place or new learning material is introduced.

Thing 22 - ListenNJ

My experience with ListenNJ was very positive. I chose the children's book, "Tikki Tikki Tembo" by Arlene Mosel. The narrator was Peter Thomas. It took about ten minutes to install Over-drive audio book software and download the book. I decided to do this task on my home computer because others from my branch were encountering problems on our workroom computers and had not been able to successfully download an audio book. I enjoyed listening to the story and its background music that added to its appeal. I hope to download more books, hopefully to an MP3 player (hint, hint).

Thing 21 - Finding & Listening to Podcasts

ODEO is the way to go! With a little help, I found Odeo to be much easier to use than Podcast.com to select my "Happy Music" podcast. This adds a new dimension to my blog - sound!

Thing 20 - You Tube

My favorite video clip on YouTube is Mom Singing to William Tell Overture.
This reminds me so much of my mother. YouTube is a riot. I did enjoy searching this site.

Thing 19 - Web 2.0 Awards

My favorite Web 2.0 Award was in the Health Category. Peertrainer is a great service for losing weight by finding a support group and a wealth of information for helping you to reach your goal. What I like best about it is it's free. I really enjoyed searching this website and hope to use it myself in the near future.

Thing 18 - Web Apps

It's great that you can get free office applications software online through Google Docs and Zoho and even better that these allow you to work together with others on the same project. At the Lacey Branch I help coordinate the librarians' input for the monthly brochure. Now that all program types (adult, children, teen, etc.) have been blended to display chronologically, using a Google Docs word processing software would save me time. Instead of the librarians giving me separate input, they could enter their programs in date order into an online document that we send to P&G.

Thing 17 - Playing in the Sandbox

The Sandbox was a fun place to be. Editing the OCL wiki was easier than I thought it would be. Using a wiki would work great for committees at work, especially when the members are from different branches.