#7-Blog About Technology

Technology is speeding ahead so fast that it is hard for me to keep up. Nothing makes you feel older than when you have to ask your kids to do something for you (program your cell phone, help you with your i-pod, hook up your new high def tv) and they can do it almost instinctually. I fight this so hard. I want to be able to do it for myself, but sometimes I get stuck and do have to ask. And I work in a library where I am constantly learning about new technologies! We recently went shopping for a new tv. Boy did I ever feel left behind. We talked and asked lots of questions from the salespeople, but very little was cleared up. We decided upon a television, but walked away from that experience feeling like we were just taking a leap of faith instead of making an informed decision. One even told us that the technologies he was showing us, didn't even exist a year ago. So keeping up with change is challenging. Learning something new takes time. It can be very frustrating. If we are to remain fresh and relevant, we must push forward in this area. The library should be a place that is using these new technologies and where you go to learn about them. I'm thankful for this program that is helping me in this area.

#6-More Flickr

After playing around with mashups and 3rd party tools, there were two that stood out to me. I really enjoyed the Flickr Color Pickr. I thought it was awesome how it would group pictures together based on color. I especially enjoyed when I chose the more intense colors. It also helped me realize that I am not much of a photographer. You have to have a certain eye for that. I pretty much snap pictures of people and places I want to remember. The second tool I liked was the Delivr Digital Postcards. You can take a picture on Flickr and use it to send someone an e-card. I like to send e-cards and this really opens up some beautiful pictures to use. I did make a librarian trading card. I had trouble trying to manipulate the photo to get it just so on the card. It was hard to not cut parts off. There weren't many options. I was surprised at how many tools there were (and often wondered why someone would want to use those tools). Interesting stuff.

#5-Discovering Flickr

HPIM0733
Originally uploaded by mhoffma

This is a picture of our dog, Belle. We had to put her down one week ago. She was 14 years old and had a cancerous tumor on her bladder. It has been a difficult week without her.

Now about my experience with Flickr. I was a little overwhelmed at first. I looked through all the information and links at work but had to come home and work with it to feel more comfortable (and to have a picture to post). It really wasn't that hard. Creating my yahoo account was the most difficult. I was having trouble with those squiggly letters-took me about 8 times before I finally got it! I used the blog it feature in Flickr to get this post and photo into my blog. I was a little confused about how to give permission to link the accounts, but obviously pushed through that and got it worked out. I played around with the tags-had to edit them to add the owhatageek tag. Overall I would say that it was a good experience. It wasn't very difficult to figure out or work with and I look forward to posting some more pictures to share with friends and family.

I also explored some library photo sites and also the picasa site (my cousin posted her wedding photos there). This is a pretty cool way to share images.

#4-Register your Blog with the O! What a Geek Team

Well I did register my blog a few days ago and received an e-mail back confirming it, but I do not see my blog posted on the O!What a Geek page yet. I looked through some of the other blogs. We sure do have a interesting group of people here at OPL! I read about restaurants I've never heard about and Wordle. I read about one person's struggle with losing their dog-which really hit home because we had to put our 14 year old dog down yesterday. Mostly I read about how people are interested in learning these new technologies but struggle with the time it takes. I can relate to that also-but it is so exciting to learn new things. Hang in there everyone!!

#3-Get Blogging in 3 Easy Steps

Well obviously, I was successful at setting up my blog. Coming up with the title was the hardest part-I told you I wasn't very creative. So far, I enjoy writing (though I have to do it from home-work has too many distractions).

What does lifelong learning mean to me? Hmmmm..... I suppose I can sum it up in one word, and that would be growth. Last year, I wanted to learn how to knit. I had been toying with it for a few years, but really wanted to learn how to do it right and actually make something. So I decided to take a class. That was what I needed. I was able to finish a scarf for my niece and give it to her for her birthday. Eventually I would like to move on and make prayer shawls with the knitting group at my church. I was given one after my mother's death and was so grateful. It was very comforting to me, and I want to be able to give that gift to others who are in need.

This year I have been focused on losing weight. I have never been successful at that in my life, but I reached a point where I realized I must change. I joined a group at my church. It is not a complicated program-counting calories, no sugar or white flour. I have learned so much about myself, food, and nutrition. I have also been successful-losing 62 lbs so far. Even though I have the basics of the program ingrained into my lifestyle, I now find I am interested in learning even more things that enable me to continue to make healthy choices.

This past year I also took the grief facilitator training at Teddy Bear Hollow. It is something I wanted to do ever since I had been introduced to TBH through the library. On the first day, we went around the room and shared a little bit about ourselves. I felt so out of place. Most of the participants worked in the mental health field. I felt they were much more qualified than I to do this kind of work. All I can say is that this training was one of the best things I have ever done in my life. I really grew!! I am leading my first group this fall. Each situation that comes up is a opportunity for growth. I just hope I am up for the challenge!

What do I expect to get from this program? Learning new things and growth, of course!

#2-Lifelong Learning

Today I sat and watched the tutorial, the Seven 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners.

For myself, I would say it is easiest for me to accept responsibility for my own learning (#2). I have so many things I am interested in and I know if I am to learn about them, I have to seek it out. Sometimes that means reading more about a subject. Sometimes that means seeking out a person and learning from them. Sometimes that means I have to take a class or training. The internet has really opened up the floodgates of information. It is out there, but if I don't look for it and work with it, it really doesn't matter. My life will go on the same-I still won't know how to knit, or understand another culture, or learn a new technology, or grow.

The hardest one for me is to view problems as challenges. I have many problems (I mean challenges) in my life, and sometimes I just feel overwhelmed and want to give up. But I usually pick myself back up and go on (after some chocolate, tears, venting....etc). Learning new things can be difficult and it is a growing experience. Growth is good. It is my life's goal to never become a crabby, crusty, stagnant old woman. I want to always be giving, vibrant, and fresh. You can't be that without lifelong learning.

#1-Learning 2.0

First of all-I would like the Creative MP3 player. It is very motivating to participate when such great rewards are offered! Also, I appreciate that we have been granted work time to complete this program. That is another motivator.

So I read about Library 2.0 on Wickipedia and looked over the Library 2.0 Wiki in 15 minutes a day. I'm familiar with many of these new technologies. I'm interested but agree with the sentence-

"Others are calling for more concrete examples of how libraries can get to Library 2.0."

I've never been endowed with gobs of creativity. I'm more concrete, so show me some examples and let me work with these technologies and then I'll "get it". I expect that is what we will be doing over the course of this program and I'm really looking forward to learning more.