Thing 11. Tagging and Del.icio.us

Started exploring this one a few days ago, but just got back to it ...

This is my first time trying del.icio.us. I've always been a little apprehensive. It's actually a pretty cool tool! I set up an account and tagged some standards and patent sites that I use all the time. Also networked with minn23. What I would love to do is set up a site for our users like the colleges & universities have set up. But can I make it private for only a certain group of users? Or is it either private, or public? That would make a difference in how I tagged some of the sites (ie competitors, customers).

I also tagged some of my blog entries. How would this be helpful again? Maybe if the blog goes back years and years then it helps in finding things. ??

Thing 10. Wikis

I must say, I don't understand wikis. They are so messy and unclear. A group I am in has started using one to keep up communication, and I find it difficult to navigate.

BUT now that I watched the video and added a note to the 23 Things wiki, it's starting to click. Here's what I said:

4-7-08 I'm so happy I'm not the only one on Thing 10. The video was good. It finally clicked that the big draw of wikis is that everyone can edit ... kw

So this is really good because I've been tasked with creating a wiki for work. Going to sign up at PBWiki. Will give progress update on that later.

Thing 9. Online Collaboration Tools

This "thing" is driving me crazy.

I sent an email to be invited to Zoho, but is hasn't come through. Wasn't able to edit the Declaration in GoogleDocs either. However I did set up a GoogleDocs account, sent it to my other email, edited it, and then viewed changes back in GoogleDocs. Again this has similar features to SharePoint but is a free tool so would be very useful working on a team project. Wish I would've had (and learned how to use) something like this during group projects in library school ...

For now I will move on from this to preserve my sanity.

Thing 8. Share Your Creations

I tried out Lazybase and thought it would be a fun tool for our book club to use. I guess I should've created my own forms though because I couldn't easily import my current list into the tool. So I just entered a few recent titles to try it out. http://lazybase.com/woodsbooks This tool reminds me of SharePoint. Would it work as a catalog tool? Maybe a new books list?

I also looked briefly at eFolio. I'd like to try that one when I have more time - the examples are pretty cool. I have a LinkedIn account that I thought would work as a sort of career history, but it is actually more of a social tool.

Thing 7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

Wow! A lot of components to this one. Took a while to get through it all.

Regarding email productivity hints, I had shut off my auto notification a few months ago and it has really helped. I just can't resist the curiosity when I see that little envelope pop up. So now that I don't see it, I check email between other tasks instead of in the middle of something.

I like all the YouTube videos. I am more and more curious about them and about creating one.

Tried IMing with my boss, but we got this message:

The Web Site you are trying to access:
http://www.google.com/talk/
Is listed in a category of sites which are not generally used for business.
If you feel you need access to this site, please Email the Help Desk.

I do use texting, although infrequently as I'm not very proficient with my cell-typing and also pay .15 per msg. I've done a lot of web conferencing, but was happy to be introduced to OPAL and (reminded of) Web Junction. The only issue I have is that every different program requires so many downloads and now I feel like I have tons of junk on my computer.

I watched the LOC Armchair Travel webinar from OPAL. Well, part of it. Will go back to this for other resources.

Did not have an invitation to join the 23 Things Google group, but I found them and put in a request to join.

Thing 6. Online Image Generators

This is a fun one! We are just thinking about something different to do for National Library Week this year ... maybe we can do some fun sort of sign. I like ImageChef a lot. Not a big fan of the trading cards. Are there any copyright concerns with any of this stuff???

Thing 5. More Flickr Fun

Check out my cool header of a small part of our collection that I made with a Flickr mashup. Was easy to do, but then I had to change the font and size of my blog title so you could still read it. That took me longer to figure out.

I also tried the bead tool from Big Huge Labs and posted that image here. It's a little dark.

Not sure how we could use this in our library ... I'll have to think more on that. Definitely could come back to this and spend a lot more time.

Here's how even EPA is using Flickr for their photo contest.

(And now I just learned to add a link to a blog post!)