My closing thoughts

This is an extremely valuable program for some people to follow. For me, most of this stuff is old hat and I didn't learn as much as I would have liked. I feel pretty hooked into the web and library 2.0 stuff and a bit ahead of the programs in this program.

That said, I do not think I was the intended audience anyway and that's fine. My suggestion for next time is that the incentive match the people that you are trying to reach. I'm excited about the Best Buy or iTunes gift card but that isn't a good motivation for someone who isn't into technology. I know of a library that offered it's employees a day off for completing the program. Now that is motivation!

book and media downloads

I have used both Overdrive and MyLibraryDV in the past and I think they both have pros and cons.

I decided to try TumbleBooks today because I've never used it. I found it to be a very easy to use program and could be fun for a kid to use. I would like to see how well it works on a computer with a slower connection.

podcasts

I absolutely love podcasts. I think that podcasts are the new underground, people-produced radio. We are in a time of corporate controlled radio and this is a fantastic way for the average Joe to express themselves. And now that podcasts are catching on, many corporate shows are available.

And it's all free. Fantastic.

Some of my favorites:

Slate's Political Gabfest
RFF Radio
The Bugle
Anything NPR
To the Best of Our Knowledge
The Splendid Table
KCRW's Good Food

Youtube...

.....is not new to me.

I do have a couple favorite videos:

kitten falling asleep

evolution of dance

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say about YouTube. It's great fun, I think it can be used well by libraries but it brings up some of the same issues as before. Ultimately, YouTube content is owned by Youtube and they decide what is acceptable content. Could make for a sticky situation and bring up some intellectual freedom issues.

Web 2.0 tools

Will the web 2.0 tool I found help me with my job? Probably not. But it will definitely help me enjoy my life outside of work. Cocktail Builder is a site I have been looking for for a long time. Plug in the liquid that you have laying around your house and the site will tell you what drinks you can make.

I love mixing drinks, especially after a long, hard day at the library.

my document created in Google Docs

Here it is!

online docs

Online document creators are wonderful for certain things. I have used Google Docs a few times, primarily when I needed access to docs from a public computer.

But like wikis, there are some major ownership issues that everyone needs to consider. Every document I save in Google Docs is owned by Google. They have access to it, they can see it and if (god forbid) they go out of business, I may lose it.

I don't think it's a huge deal....Google owns all my e-mail too....but it certainly is something to keep in mind.