New RSS Feed - Thing #3 Revisited

We learned in our last MILI meeting how to set up RSS feeds from EBSCO and ProQuest. I'm planning on setting up a link to the ALA Washington D.C. blog using Google Reader so I can keep updated on the progress of the SKILLS Act. However, as often happens when exploring new facets of the internet, I noticed the "Photos" link next to the "Reader" link on my Google homepage. Up to this point I'd ignored it because I use Snapfish to hold my photo albums on the web. Someone told me how much they liked using Picasa, a free web-based photo manager, and I discovered that Google Photos uses it. Naturally, Google fan that I am, I downloaded it. I'm just learning to use it, but at first blush it appears to offer many more options than Snapfish. The main advantage? It's free. Mind you, Snapfish only charges around 50 cents a year, but it's still kind of a nuisance to get the e-mail reminders saying that if I don't order something, my account will be canceled. I will have to rename all the pics I downloaded into Google Photos, but that's not the worst thing in the world. The image in this blog entry is my first attempt to use an image from Google Photos. It worked!

Free Images and Sound for Your Website & Blog - Thing #26

I was looking for an image to use on a project and since I'm not at school where I have my cache of copyright-friendly images I purchased (on CDs), I went to my guru's website to see if I could find something, and sure enough, Joyce Valenza came through yet again. She's created a great page called Copyright-Friendly and Copyleft Images and Sound (Mostly!)for Use in Media Projects and Web Pages, Blogs, Wikis, etc.
It's so good, I decided to include it on my Pathways to Websites page and thought you might like to know about it too. I don't know about you, but kids are always on Google images looking for pics (completely oblivious to copyright laws) and often can't find what they're looking for. Also, staff who are concerned about copyright issues ask me where I get the images I use in Urban Planet. I'd love to share mine but can't because the copyright on the image CDs I purchased essentially says: 1) no sharing and 2) no using them for profit. Now I can send people here: http://comosr.spps.org/pics. The shortcut is comosr.spps.org/pics.
(Note: the picture of Joyce was taken by Jim Graham)

Spreadsheets in Google Docs - Thing #11

I've been meaning to move some personal files to a web-based format for a long time so I can access them from anywhere. Now that I'm old, I find I need to strike when the iron is hot when it comes to ideas, or I'll forget them. Jotting them down on paper just doesn't cut it for me. So this morning I decided to tackle the issue. I tried moving a Works spreadsheet doc saved on my home computer to Google Docs, a great place to keep web-based docs, but the Works format wasn't accepted in Google Docs' Xcel program. After many attempts, I found a way: Converting the existing Works info to text & tabs in Notepad and then copying and pasting the info into a Google Docs blank Xcel spreadsheet worked. This will be great. Whenever I remember I need to add something, I can, no matter where I am -- well, make that no matter which computer is in front of me. Cool.

Social Networking - Thing #36

I just watched PBS's Growing Up Online (thank you Steve for lending me your tape and to Leslie Y. for telling us about the show) and was riveted to the screen. It's not that I didn't know all of these things were going on with kids online, it's that I've never seen so many kids interviewed about the topic. The issues have faces now. Many facets of going online were covered including kids' personal computer use, use at school, parents' and teachers' viewpoints, as well as experts' opinions. But what stood out for me was listening to the kids describe what they get from social networking. While there were many sad and frightening aspects of this show, I came away thinking this: If we as parents and teachers teach our kids from the get-go how to handle themselves online, everyone will benefit. Kids will know what to do when they encounter the seedy side of cyberspace, and adults can feel less anxious about what their kids are doing online. I agree with the women who said this is not going away. We need to embrace the positive aspects and teach our kids how to handle the negative aspects. I liked how one women said that she knows her kids are "good kids," but that she's worried her good kids will make maybe even one dramatically bad choice that will adversely affect their entire lives. As a parent of a teen, I know so well what she's talking about. It's difficult trying to balance worry and anxiety about what choices are being made, with pride and excitement about what choices are being made - the coin has two sides and it keeps flipping.
Social networking is here to stay. Personally, I think my daughter has enough sense to wade through the weirdos and get rid of them, to refrain from posting anything that will jeopardize her safety or future, or anything that will harm someone else. She has a good head on her shoulders and she'll use it online just like she does everywhere else.

Wikis - Thing #32

I was glad to learn about wikis in our last session. I can see how they would be great collaborative tools and storage tools for documents that can be easily accessed by a number of people. Wikis are more user friendly and seem to do what Google docs do and more, so I'm wondering what the advantages to using Google docs would be.

Dramatic Chipmunk on You Tube - Thing #21

I belong to MEMO, a state school library media specialists organization. A fellow member recently sent us a link that deals with fair use in video use, which has some good info, but even more important, it introduced me to a cultural phenomenon I hadn't heard about. I may be late to the party, but at least now I know about the 5-second YouTube video called "Dramatic Chipmunk" that has evidently been all the rage for the last 6 months. It's a stitch (be sure you have sound -- you need it for the full effect:):


I also broadened my vocabulary by learning the word "meme" which is defined by Urban Dictionary as "an idea, belief or belief system, or pattern of behavior that spreads throughout a culture either vertically by cultural inheritance (as by parents to children) or horizontally by cultural acquisition (as by peers, information media, and entertainment media.)"
Apparently, "Dramatic Chipmunk" is one of 2007's most famous memes. Here's a 1-minute YouTube video that talks about it:


I know, I know -- I have to get a life......

Using MnLINK and ELM - Thing #16

Whenever I see the ELM homepage, I'm reminded how much I'd love to see our SPPS Reliable Online Resources webpage do the same thing. A pathways system to websites and databases would make searching so much easier for students and staff. I envision an SPPS Pathways homepage for secondary that would include cute icons for topics like Ancient Greece, Mythology, Inventions, Biographies, Civil War, World History, World Religions, Hmong-Related, Spanish-Related, etc., that would lead searchers to individual pages loaded with easy-to-follow links to databases and great websites, all reliable information. Joyce Valenza, Queen of high school librarians, does a good job with her pathfinders webpage. I can only imagine how slick it would be for us to point kids to one easy-to-use webpage for virtually all of their online searching needs. This would eliminate the need to create individual webpages for teachers' projects like I do now. Of course, it would take money to hire someone to do this and sustain it, so I don't see it as a viable option in the near future. However, once schools begin to realize the importance of easy-to-use reliable sites, and once the info lit standards are in place for awhile across the curriculum, it just may happen. I'll be on my lawnchair in Florida by then...No, not Florida -- too humid. Maybe Napa Valley near a gorgeous vineyard...
On another topic, using the MnLINK Gateway is a great way to obtain books my book club is reading if my own library system doesn't have them.
On yet another topic, I'm smiling as I write this because I've reached a milestone: the first 17 things are finished. I know this because I was keeping track on my iGoogle Homepage's To-Do List, which was actually one of my things...life is just so ironic sometimes.
Happy New Year!