This is what I think! (# 26-27)

I liked it, I really did. Even though sometimes I felt resistant to what I viewed as tech "trends" or "fads", I'm still glad I was exposed to them so that I at least am aware of their existence. I can honestly say that I never would have heard of most of the topics we covered had it not been for this program...and that's really a good thing that 27things has provided. Lots of patrons use this stuff and it makes it really hard to help them when we as staff have never heard of what they're talking about. This training has value.

I would totally participate in similar future programs at KCLS.

I think a lot of people were stressed out by the whole ordeal and were very intimidated about learning new things (especially since they were "tech" things). Many felt they did not have enough time at work to get through some of the lessons. A few of those "things" could be very time consuming. The WKED branch had a really good idea of offering a "cram jam" where staff could show up for 2 hours and work together on finishing up lessons without the pesky distractions of doing our real jobs! This was a great idea and very helpful in getting through those more complex lessons.

I think the implementation was super for the most part. Many of the "advocates" turned out to need more help than the regular participants however. But I think this program has identified those who are tech savvy so that for the next time they can help those who need it. One thing I was kind of confused about (and I hope it does not cause a problem for my completion status) was how each time we logged our progress on the intranet there was always only one place to put our blog URL for that week, even though we often would have more than one blog entry for said week. I was not sure if you wanted the URL for just one entry or the URL for our entire blog. I figured you wanted the specific entry URL, which confused me since it would only bring you to one entry for the week even though there was more than one. So, perhaps make that more clear next time...that's it.

All in all, I liked it, I really did.

And now, what I've learned....





PS - Now, as far as what's next, the 27th thing...heck you guys tell me! Okay, okay. Hmmm, how about, I don't know, remote desktop programs! I had to think of something...

ebooks, here I come! (# 25)

I have used Overdrive Catalog in the past. When I first started working at KCLS I downloaded the Overdrive software and checked out an Imax movie. Very cool stuff. I can't wait to try out an audio book on the mp3 player!

Podcastaway (# 24)

Podcast.net - needs Quicktime which many KCLS computers don't seem to have
Podcastalley.com - only gives you the RSS URL and requires that you have a podcast aggregate already installed. It's also a hella slow site.
Yahoo Podcasts - Seems hit and miss in terms of which ones will actually play without having to download something.

All in all, a very frustrating exercise.

MyTube (# 23)

This is the beauty of YouTube

Love it!

...and the Web 2.0 award goes to... (# 22)

So I checked out the Web 2.0 Award list and found a category which addresses a problem I've had ever since working at KCLS...being able to make appointments amidst my complex, rotating schedule. "Personal Organization" caught my eye! In this category are HipCal and Planzo, both online calendars (and more) which I could use to keep track of all my various goings on without having to carry around an organizer or some other cumbersome device. Perhaps not ground breaking innovations, but useful in my mind, which is enough to warrant acknowledgement.

What Google's got cooking (BETA) (# 21)

Google Labs...an interesting idea. A good one for Google at least since they get free BETA testing for their new products.

Google Trends was interesting, novel at least. Google Mars was neat, and again, novel. Google Page Creator would have been neat to try, but it requires a Gmail account, and I didn't feel like signing up for one.

But yes, I do like the idea of having access to products in development...just as long as I don't have to rely on them for anything important since they make "break" at any time!

Google strikes again, Doc (# 20)

Hey, now we're getting somewhere. All these patrons trying to make resumes without a floppy will be hearing about Google Docs from me. This is a good idea...a little too good I think. I can just see a subscription fee being tacked on to this in the future. But the future is what I think this represents...no more installing software onto a hard drive...web based applications will rule the tech world I think. No more formatting problems or saving problems or broken storage devices. All you would have to worry about is the servers going down and the world stopping in its tracks as a result!