What do teens think about...?

Good post today on dana boyd's Apophenia blog. Answers Twitterers' (Tweeters'?) suggestions for what to ask teens about their usage of SNS (social network services) such as Facebook. Also delves into teens' perceptions of knowledge acquisition practices. I found this post insightful.

In the news: pilot reads library book

I'm always keeping an eye out for news bites that mention library use. Here's a good one:
"Hero pilot Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger sweats lost book" Read more about it!

NPR library has new blog

"As a Matter of Fact" is the National Public Radio library's blog. Looks like the blog has been around since November 2008. At least, that was the first entry.

According the NPR site:
"As A Matter of Fact is a blog by and for the audio-loving, fact-finding, truth-seeking, pop-culture-fiending, news-addicted librarians of the world. Of course, you don't need to be a librarian to read it. But we're pretty sure you may secretly want to be one after you do."

Are you audio-loving? Fact-finding? Truth-seeking? Pop-culture-fiending? News-addicted? Then, this might be the blog for you!

Celebrate Your Library Workers

Happy National Library Workers Day!!!

Librarians at work (probably book binding) in the Newburyport Free Library.
Location: Newburyport, MA, US
Date taken: 1943
Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt
Size: 1280 x 1055 pixels (17.8 x 14.7 inches)
© Time Inc. For personal non-commercial use only Source

636.7

You know this number, don't you? Well, here's a new spin on the classification system:


This blog can be followed here.

Día de los niños / Día de los libros - Children's Day / Book Day

A compendium of resources to celebrate children and bilingual literacy on April 30th and every day:

Web site and resources for El día de los niños / El día de los libros - hosted by ALSC and ALA; very thorough; register your event

Founder and advocate Pat Mora's site - great resources, helpful background info on Día; email her...she might send your library a personal message!

Celebration information - Colorín Colorado - more great resources, ideas, activities

Día activities and resources - Presented by REFORMA

Join ALSC and REFORMA in celebrating Día 2009 - press release by ALA


I apologize in advance if any of these link addresses change before I have a chance to correct them.

Oh, the things a librarian can do!

Dorothy and Herb lived off of her librarian salary and used his postal clerk salary to amass an amazing art collection. Now, that's lifetime achievement! Read somebody else's blog with more information.

Thing 23: El Fin

Again, I'm not much of a "blogger" so I'll answer the questions that were posed in the order they appeared.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I had the most fun with image generators and RSS feeds. They were of use to me immediately on a personal and professional level. I check my RSS feeds every morning, which surprises me, since I really didn't think I would develop a habit like that.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I've learned to be brave, explore, and attempt. A couple of recent studies on teen culture and the Web 2.0 (see my blog post) have shown me that those growing up with console and online gaming, Internet, and mobile phones from birth are much more ready for trial-and-error.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
After researching digital media and teen culture, I decided to blog on it in the form of a short bibliography. Even if no one else reads it, I will have it in a place to reference to.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Each hyperlink included in the blogs takes the user away from the 23 Things site. It was frustrating because then I had to keep pulling it up to see what to do next in the instructions, or to post at the end. Of course, I did finally get in the habit of right-clicking on hyperlinks to open them in new windows or tabs.

And last but not least…

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again choose to participate?
You bet. Bring it on. I'm ready.

Thing 22 Podcast Discovery

It took me a while to think of a topic to search for. I did start with the NPR website, and I also looked it up in my iGoogle search for gadgets.

On my iGoogle I added the Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! podcast. I also tried to add a learn Spanish podcast, but it was a premium site which I was unwilling to subscribe to.

I went to podcast.com and looked up the weekly radio broadcast issued by our President. I also found a couple of podcasts to learn Spanish.

I was very unimpressed with PodcastAlley, whose "five featured podcasts" were titles which would be unprofessional of me to repeat here.

As I chose not to join Bloglines, I instead added the RSS feeds in Internet Explorer of Learn Spanish with Coffee Break Spanish (great for beginners!) and Show Time Spanish (better for advanced Spanish-speakers). A sidenote: They are speaking castellano (Castilian Spanish), the dialect you hear from Spain. The Coffee Break Spanish lessons also address dialects and pronunciation from other countries.

I think my new Blackberry phone supports MP3 audio, so my next step will be to see what I can get on my mobile phone.

Thing 21 YouTuber-rific

Who needs TV when you have YouTube? It's entertaining, informational, inspirational, escape-worthy, time-warping.

Below is a video I've come to know well through my work. It's professional and hip and worth a look.



And here's another I discovered and think is pretty funny:

Children's book inspires class to make a thousand origami cranes

Read the Lincoln Journal Star article here.

Now that I follow blogs...

The bunnies have made the big time!

Here they are on Disapproving Rabbits. I submitted their photo, and it was accepted!

Gaming in the library: bibliography

I'm working on a newsletter submission, and I am reviewing several studies and other articles:

Teens, Video Games, and Civics, a September 2008 report by the Pew Internet Project

The Civic Potential of Video Games, an occasional paper of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Program

Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project, a November 2008 white paper from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning

Gaming and Libraries Update: Broadening the Intersections, the April 2008 issue of Library Technology Reports, edited by Jenny Levine.

Library Games, a blog "investigating the worlds of gaming and libraries since at least last week"

Games in the Library, a blog post from GameSpot @ ComicCon 2008

Kindred Gamers: NY Public Library as Video Parlor, a blog entry at CultureGrrl, Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary.

Gaming @ your library, an article from the Midwinter issue of American Libraries

News about Games and Gaming, a blog from ALA

Get Your Game On: Video Gaming at the Library, a Fall 2007 Southwest Florida Library Network workshop presentation by Beth Gallaway

Research Quest, a blog of "educational applications for video games and gaming strategies. My quest for learning... with a few library stops along the way"

National Gaming Day @ your library, from I Love Libraries

Libraries Lure with Video Games, an April 21, 2008, article published in the Omaha World-Herald

Why Games Belong in Libraries, a Library Gamer blog entry

Libraries Got Game, from the School Library System of Genesee Valley BOCES

Games and Gaming Resources, the ALA gaming resources wiki

Teen Tech Week - Teen Tech Week encourages teens to use libraries' nonprint resources for education and recreation, and to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals in the field of information technology.

Youth and Library Use Study, a June 2007 ALA study conducted by Harris Interactive

The Librarian's Guide to Gaming, an Online Toolkit, sponsored by ALA and Verizon

Feel free to read up and comment back to me what you think.

My own thing

Well, I stumbled upon my own 2.0 app today, and I like it. It's called Wordle. Here's Barak Obama's 2009 Inaugural speech:

Thing 20: Hype vs. help

After browsing through the list of Web 2.0 Awards, I must say, it's a bit overwhelming for the Internet user to find what's useful and I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be for a site host to capture their niche market.

I took a good look at BuzzDash. According to their site, "BuzzDash is a site and tool for gauging popular opinion on a wide range of topics - from sports, movies and politics to relationships and philosophy." It looks like TIME magazine even solicits their help. But, from a researcher's point of view, I'm not encouraged by the responses. Many of these polls have very few responses, making the results less than reliable.

Perhaps these are the up-and-coming 2.0 sites. When I looked at views of videos on various winners' sites, even the greatest numbers seemed low.

Thing 19: Web-based apps

Aha. I am now writing in Google Docs. I was relieved to see that I did not need to create yet another account to use the web-based applications available out there. I did visit Zoho, but will pass on that for now. I see Zoho offers polls, and will look at what Google Docs has to offer later.

It's very easy to get sidetracked on the Web. While going through this exercise, I came across a Zoho polls blog that referred me to a blog about Zoho polls (two different things here). Also, along the way, I sought out the Common Craft video Google Docs in Plain English. Couldn't help myself. They're fun to watch.

Google Docs will indeed come in handy when collaborating with individuals outside my work zone. Also a good tool to promote to library patrons who use the computer labs.

(I did come in after bringing this over from Google Docs and clean it up. It had 2 lines between paragraphs, so the html carried over differently than I anticipated)