Wiki

Wiki was easy to use, I've experimented with it before on Wikipedia.org. I also had experience with it at a former job, we had a Wiki network to look up things and give information to employees. 
I posted the Wiki restaurant review on Rosati's.

Reflection

I think as social media is expanding and changing almost everyone and everything is getting on board with it as well. Social media makes keeping in touch and staying connected a more integral part of you like and definitely makes things easier. Libraries are using them to keep up with the public, let them know what is going on and let them stay connected.
I mentioned that I think they should be doing podcasting of Storytimes, possibly making 'how-to' videos, and also should have a works cited aid for those that are still in school or making presentations.
I learned about more social media and tools that I can use to simplify my life and help me out. I especially like the convenience of it all and the simplicity it offers.
This was a great program and very interesting and helpful!

User Choice- Noodle Tools

So while I was in college, I wrote numerous papers and did many many projects. While I was researching on the school's library research pages I found Noodle Tools.
This allows you to input information to do an online citation easily. You enter what information it asks for and it generates a works cited page or a bibliography and stores in online on the website. You can actually make a bunch of a bunch of citings and it stores them all so you can re access them and check them out as you please. It also formats it according to MLA or APA and formats it for printing. You can also save it to your computer or print it.
This is a great tool for students or anyone writing papers or making presentations and don't want to worry about plagiarizing.
All you need to do to get started is go to: http://www.noodletools.com/login.php 
and create an account and it takes you step by step throughout the process.
I think this tool would be great to have access to on the library website or on the computers in the library to help people.

Podcasting

I have listened to a few podcasts before that I was interested in. The one I got was a downloaded clip of a recap with a start player after a basketball game. I liked the quality and the fact that you download it and have full access to it so you could play it in the car on the way to work or at home as you please.
More and more I hear of colleges doing this which is cool so they can share the lectures with more students and faculty, but also for whomever wants to listen to it especially those doing research on the given topic.
I think our library would benefit from it by doing podcasts of the Storytimes throughout the day for people that couldn't make it.

Hulu

I have used Hulu before and love it. It gives you access to a bunch of movies, documentaries, and TV shows from a web device. I used to work nights that my favorite TV shows were on so later I would get on Hulu and watch them to stay caught up.
Downside to this is that there are commercials on it every so often and that the library of media is limited but does change from time to time.
I think people will continue to buy or rent videos because they want to have a hard copy of it to watch whenever they want to, but also so that they won't have to rely on internet service and speed.

YouTube

I LOVE YOUTUBE! I find myself spending hours upon hours watching entertaining videos on there. I'm actually on YouTube in a few videos but we really don't need to worry about those. :)
The videos that I watched were pretty interesting and helpful, some more than others.
I think it could be helpful for librarians to make 'how to' videos and post them on YouTube especially for complicated research or referencing things maybe by doing screen shots and talking throughout it. Even citing videos would be really helpful. I've actually heard you can get some money for doing instructional videos like this so it could be a small source for income for the library/librarians as well. Also, it would raise awareness and create publicity for the library. Our library could benefit by maybe posting Storytime videos from time to time on there.

Music Streaming

I have used Pandora for years and love the concept of it. Easy access on the go with iPhone apps and being able to access if from any Internet accessible computer is great. It made me made that they are trying to restrict the amount of music that a user can listen to per month AND how they only allowed to yo skip a few songs an hour, but also that sometimes you can't actually pick the specific song that you wanted to hear. I like that it allows you to make a station based on the genre, artist, song, or album that you like and that it recommends other artists or songs that are similar. I actually have found myself listening to other artists that I have never heard of before. I think that Pandora should allow users to make actual playlists down to the song choice and allow more skipped songs per hour.
I think people will continue to purchase albums, singles, and music when they find something they really like. For example, when my favorite artist comes out with a new album I know I could listen to it online for free but I WANT it so I can put it on my iPod/iPhone and my laptop to enjoy.
The whole idea of this is great and it helps with piracy of music! :) Gotta keep John Mayer fed and making music!

Google Docs

This is a great tool because of the convenience of it. It allows you to make documents on the web, not have to purchase the expensive programs, and allows for you to access it on the web from most computing devices. I think if I would have known about this when I was in college it would have saved my back a lot because I carried my laptop around with me everywhere since I was a smarty and would loose my flash drives so much and the files I made/used were generally too large to email.

Google Maps

I always used to use Mapquest but I really have enjoyed using Google Maps because it pulls up more information and allows searches to be done in the same window. :)
I used Google Maps to go from my old house in Illinois to the public library system there and it was fun playing with the mapped route! I really like how easy it is to use.


My Map

You Send It

OOO How nice?! Now I can send picture files to family and friends much easier and faster. I've tried compressing and sending files but I always managed to mess it up and never got it to work, but this is a great tool!

Tiny URL

I changed:
http://www.thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomain
nameatlonglast.com/wearejustdoingthistobestupidnowsincethisc
angoonforeverandeverandeverbutitstilllookskindaneatinthebrow
sereventhoughitsabigwasteoftimeandenergyandhasnorealpointbut
wehadtodoitanyways.html
to:
http://tinyurl.com/98tkl

I actually Googled 'the longest URL' and that one showed up... It went from 263 characters to 24. That's definitely impressive.

Facebook

AHHHHH FACEBOOK! Alright soooo, I've had a Facebook account since 2006 which would have put me as a college freshmen. WHOA, weird how time flies. Anyways, when I first started out you actually had to be in college or had graduated college-- basically you had to have a college email address, which is how it started as, college social networking. I like using Facebook because I can connect with friends and family all over the world. I like that I can personalize my page, share things with friends, see what my friends are up to, follow different things or people, play games, and chat with people on there. However, the more Facebook progresses I get more nervous about my privacy so I've tried to make it almost impossible for people that don't know me at all to find things out about me. I've had creepers follow me and find things out about me so I've definitely made it a point to change that and not allow that to happen. I also think people spend wayyyyy too much time on Facebook. BUT OTHERWISE... Facebook is great!

Linked In

This would be really useful to universities and alumni so they can network with graduates. I think this would have beneficial for me if I had known about it sooner but I'm still going to take advantage of it. It helps you out with trying to obtain a job in this economy because people in the same industry can share tips and even help you out!

LibraryThing

I like this because it allows you to make reading lists and get recommendations from other users that have the same taste in books as you. It also allows for discussions which could lead to... or maybe already has lead to... book club type things on this website. Everyone reads the same books then discussions are held on the various books. It gives you a chance to see what people think and add your own spin on things. I would have loved something like this for when I was in high school or college.

Delicious

Alright this is a second go at this, when I went to post before it deleted everything... BOO!
Anyways, I had never heard of something like this before and am very excited to use this because I use many different computers and it'll be nice to actually have access to all bookmarks at one place. I will be spreading the news with other family and friends because it's just so darn convenient.
I think this is a good tool to use in a library because it would help keep track of things that someone may research or reference, especially for papers or helping patrons.

Tagging

I think tagging is cool because it allows for people to identify with things personally like pictures or books. Using this in the library would be cool because you could see who else may like it, what they think of it, or what they identify it with.

Instant Messaging

I have used numerous instant messaging softwares and I have to say they all are really cool and easy to use. I first used AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, and loved it. I used it to communicate with my friends throughout middle school and high school, as well as during college. It does put some restrictions on things like random people trying to add you, for the most part. It allowed you to personalize it, do file transfers, speak through microphones, and I think even video chat. It has been years since I last used this mainly because Facebook started up their own instant messaging and made it more convenient to talk to all of your friends.
If I'm using any instant messaging service now at all it would be the Facebook chat. I like it because it's in your Facebook browser window and makes it a lot easier to talk to people while you multi-task. One downside to it is that you can't actually personalize it AND if you just don't want to talk to someone you have to go offline of the chat completely instead of just blocking users. Geez, it may have changed since I rarely use that these days.
I also used MSN Messenger and really liked it because you can do more with it in terms of personalizing and multi-tasking. For example, you can play games with people through it, you can send them cute short animations, it detects what music you are listening to, and my favorites, allowing larger, personal pictures as an icon, and sending 'nudges'. Nudges are sent person to person and it shakes the screen like someone nudged you. I didn't use this as much because I didn't have many friends on MSN, most of my Texas friends were on AIM, whereas my friends and family in Illinois were mostly on MSN. With Facebook developing Facebook chat, it eliminated the need for me to use MSN.
The other software I used was Yahoo! Instant Messenger and I used it to talk to one friend then convinced her to get AIM because I was tired of random people trying to message me and add me.
Lastly, I think instant messaging is a very convenient tool for communication even for libraries as it would be easier for librarians to communicate help to patrons from their desk instead of having to leave their desk empty to help someone which could take a while.

Digg

Digg seems a lot like Yahoo! or Google in the sense that it pulls recent news stories and photos but I like that there aren't any editors with it regulating what is posted. I think inappropriate things should be screened, however, to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. For example, when I went to check out the most recent or highly rated things on the home page it brought up a story about porn. That is something that I think shouldn't be on there or it should be filtered for content especially on the first page.
I really like the idea of it just think there should be some tweaking done with it!

Twitter

I already have had a Twitter account for probably a year now. I like being able to post things on your mind in just a short thoughtful sentence AND the best part I think is following other people. I rarely post anything on here BUT I do follow quite a few people, mainly celebrities. I actually created my account literally just to follow <3 John Mayer <3 (my hugest celebrity crush, also my all-time favorite musical artist- I LOVE HIM), but I do follow other people like Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, and J.J. Barea. It just makes them seem like 'real people' and allows you to see inside the excitement of their lives. :)

I think libraries or librarians using Twitter is cool because it allows to get the activity schedule out to the public and especially those who are interested.

Follow me at: ARDonner (I think that's it- haha like I said I hardly ever post, I just like to read)

PS- I REALLY like to emphasize with caps and I really love smiley faces. :)

Picture Sharing

I created a Flickr account, however I haven't uploaded any pictures due to the fact I have no access to them on a work computer, but do not be discouraged, I will be adding some pictures once I get home. I really like this tool and haven't used one of these before mainly because I have a Facebook account already and since you can post pictures on there it just seemed more rational for myself because setting up another account would just be something else to maintain. I like the simplicity of Flickr and how it's kind of like Facebook where you can keep in contact with friends or family.

RSS Feeds

I think RSS Feeds seem pretty useful and would be interested in playing with it more at home on my laptop so I can use some of my favorite websites like NBA.com to see the real benefits. I still need time to play with it so I can fully understand what it's all about. I'm glad to know now what that icon is for, used to drive me crazy trying to figure out what it was. :)

Google Reader

As far as I can see Google Reader would be cool if someone wanted to follow a lot of blogs. It is pretty convenient, but can you only subscribe to blogs? If other things are available to be followed I would definitely start using this more often, although I really like using the different tabs on the web browsers since I already know how to navigate with those well.

Blogging Comenses

Hello everyone,
I guess I am now a blogger? So I hope you will follow me through this learning experience. Enjoy picking my brain. :)