23 Things to Know about Web 2.0

Week1 -Thing 2 Life-Long Learning
The hardest thing for me to do as a life-long learner is to find the time to learn. As a commuter, I spend about 1 1/2 hours each day on the road going back and forth to work. At work, I feel guilty about spending time on learning new things & at home I feel guilty about not giving my family my complete attention. I'm overcoming this obstacle by setting aside a set time every day to work on the 23 things. I know the knowledge I gain here will ultimately help my students and so I will not let myself feel guilty about spending 45 minutes a day learning.

Week2 - Things 2&3 - Blogging
So far, setting up the blog was easy. Getting ideas for posting may be harder, however I liked the idea from the Rancho Cucamonga T.L. about starting a school wide blog which includes news from all areas of the school, including the library. Adding the avatar was difficult. The Layout HTML section kept saying that I had a code error. So I finally uploaded it in my profile. Good enough.

Week3-Thing 7 - Anything Techy
I loved exploring Flickr. It offers so much content and it is a great space in which to organize and share your photos. The idea of creative commons is fascinating. This is definitey something that I need to include as part of my research lesson. When you can use others' creations and when you can't. Technology is changing the world so fast; it's a bit scary. Our whole mode of communication is changing & within my lifetime it will have evolved into something I won't even be able to understand. Just this week, I was helping a senior write up his annotated bibliography & I had to remind him when to use a capital letter. Like many in his class, he doesn't use caps alot when he texts and doesn't think to use them when he writes an English paper. Then, this morning at breakfast, my finance told me he had read a news story on the internet that said that many kindegartners and 1st graders aren't learning to print or write cursive, instead, they are learning to keyboard. As much as I love books, I think I see the beginning of the end for ink and paper, and I mourn.

Week 4-Thing 8 RSS Feeds
So far, figuring out RSS feeds has been the most difficult for me. I understand the basic principle but didn't know how to incorporate the information in one central location. I finally get it. The major advantage to RSS feeds is the ability it gives me to be current of advances and events in the library relm without spending a lot of time searching for it. I plan on using it as part of my own professional development. For students, I plan on adding a RSS component to the school's library page, so students can keep current on the things that interest them.

Week 4 - Thing 9 Finding Feeds
The best search web site was definitely Google Blog Search. When I put in search terms like "library", "grants", "education", and "technology", it returned sites that were on topic and informative. One site actually had a place where I could add their link as a widget. Way cool.
The other search sites were confusing and although they had a lot of general topics, had nothing specific to what I wanted. In fact, when I typed in "education" in the Topix.net site, I got back a posting about Kathy Ireland being kicked off Dancing with the Stars. What I've learned through this exercise is that there is just too much information out there. There's no way any one person can keep up with it all, so it's best to clearly choose your goals and focus on what you need.

Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month began on Sept. 16th (Mexican Independence Day) and ends on Oct. 15th. The LRC is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by showcasing the work of Hispanic authors and artists. Come visit the LRC and try to answer the question of the day. If you get it right, we'll give you a prize!