Thing 23: Final Survey

Survey completed...mission accomplished!

Scary Pipl!

Okay, I’ve already learned a new thing from Lifehacker.  Pipl.  Have you seen this?  It’s really pretty scary.  Try searching for yourself or someone you know on this site that does what it calls a “deep search” of the web.  It’s just a little too creepy for me.

Thing 22: Staying Current

I just went back and reviewed old blog posts to remember what I’ve learned during the course of this project.  While I thought some things were pretty useless, there were plenty more that I thought were great.  Some of them I’ll even use again.  I love Google Reader and Facebook!  Both are things that I use daily now and will continue to do so.  I also think I’ll use some of the photo sharing tools again.  I would like to use Library Thing more, but I just can’t find the time.  Maybe when I’m retired I can.

Keeping up...RSS feeds and Google Reader will certainly help with the ability to keep up.  I also liked Lifehacker, and I’ll make an effort to take a look at it every now and then to see what’s new.  I read library literature on a regular basis, so that will help keep up with new trends relating specifically to libraries.  It’s hard to find the time, but I’ll make an effort.  And I’ll continue to post to my blog when I learn new and interesting things.

Thanks to NEFLIN for the experience.  I certainly know more now than when I started, and that’s a good thing.  And now that I’m starting to sound like Martha Stewart, I’ll take this opportunity to end!

Thing 21: Student 2.0 Tools

These tools could be really helpful to students if students are willing to use them.  I don’t know if I would have used a tool like this when I was a student.  I, like I think many students do, often enjoyed the “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” approach to class assignments, and the longer I was in school, the more I found myself working feverishly to complete an assignment on the night before it was due. 

I really liked the features on the Assignment Calculator that suggested reliable, subject specific resources.  I created a timeline for an imaginary entomology project, and found a couple of really nice websites that I bookmarked for future use.  So even if students used this for nothing more than to help them locate good, reliable sources, it would certainly be a valuable tool.

The Research Project Calculator was more geared to younger students and seemed like it provided more in-depth information on the process.  I looked at the Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator, and found several handouts that could be used in the Library (Boolean Basics, Improve Your Google Search Tip Sheet, 10 Questions for Evaluating Web Sites). 

All in all, I think these are good sites to suggest to students, but whether or not they will take advantage of them is up to the individual.  You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

Thing 20: Books 2.0

Okay, briefly, here’s what I checked out:

I looked at DailyLit and signed up for a little bit of daily poetry. I liked that you can ask for more right now if you can’t stand to wait until tomorrow. So far, so good.

I looked at Book Stumpers. While it was interesting, I found the site difficult to navigate. I had a hard time knowing what I should click on to get to where I wanted to go.

I looked at Target’s Bookmarked site, and I liked the Club Picks section, but you couldn’t see the book club features without creating an account. One more account is one more thing I don’t need.

I looked at BookVidoes.tv and Reading Group Guides. I’m in a book club, so I tried looking for some of the titles we’ve read. I found lots on Reading Group Guides, but none on BookVideos.tv. I like the idea of BookVidoes.tv, though, so I’ll probably keep checking to see if my book club ever hits on anything that they have video for.

Librivox was pretty neat. It’s definitely something you could suggest to desperate students when they come in to find that all of the copies of tomorrow’s assigned reading have been checked out. I might even use this myself.

I looked at Book Browse, but I’ve already forgotten what that one did. I think it only alterted you to “worthy” literature, which is all well and good as long as your idea of what’s “worthy” lines up with that of the selectors.

BookSwim was a great idea, and I would definitely recommend it to students as an alternative to purchasing expensive textbooks.

The Books application on Facebook is similar in concept to Library Thing, but I actually like it much better than the Library Thing application on Facebook. I entered a few of my favorite titles along with what I’m currently reading. Now I just have to get my friends to use it, too, to make it even more interesting.