Safely back on shore - on the other side of the stream

It's a huge relief to get to the end of the programme more-or-less on time. At first I thought, "of course I can do it," but quickly found myself treading water - out of my comfort zone and into unknown realms. So, doing the programme has been like medicine - necessary to get better - but also a journey into new territory where the vistas change constantly, the horizon is always a long way off and it's exciting!

I enjoyed Image generator, Wikis, Flickrvision and will go back to RSS feeds and podcasts to better understand them. I may use them in the library.

The Facebook and Bebo exercise was helpful as I will use these basic skills in the future with my volunteer work and family. I am pleased to have enrolled for the course and to finish it - thanks for the opportunity.

Exercise "22" - a familiar number at Shore LIbraries

Social networking is very much a thing of the moment. Observing my wider family, it doesnt seem such a great thing from the point of view of sustaining good relationships in the home. Let's face it, if you are on a computer you cant be holding a good conversation with your partner, can you?
I find I get a bit cross about the amount of time I need to spend in front of a screen at home in order to find information, answer the emails, keep up with my interests. I would rather be in the garden and would like to better organise my time so that the computer doesn't take such a big role.
At work in the library it I can see that social networking may be an inevitable step to keep libraries used and relevant. It is a pity that this will mean librarians spend more time in front of a screen, but for the moment there seems to be a good balance of direct interaction with library users and working on line. This is possible because of the hourly roster rotation where I work. I couldn't imagine working all day at a desk as I really enjoy being on my feet at the desk, back and forward to the shelves, etc.
Change is inevitable and I am sure we will rise to it as it comes.

Twenty one today - Exercise 21

Bebo was quite easy to join up and I managed to find the Auckland Ciy Libraries entry but not the Rotorua Public Libraries. Perhaps it was having an off day.
Myspace involved a very short visit from my slow home computer, I then found that I could not paste images into this Blog as the Compose window has lost its toolbar with the import images option. Will try for time at work tomorrow to have another go.
Then finally to Facebook, which I have been invited to join several times by others. I have joined up and found my son on the site, who is now my friend (at last), and someone from work. Thanks both!.
I have run out of time to explore further, which is a bit frustrating. Hope to get back to it tomorrow at work.

Twentyone today

All in a pickle

Podcastpickle.com was such a fascinating site. Together my helping hand (much needed at this stage) and I found a travel podcast and chose something interesting to listen to. With lots of help I managed to add the RSS feed to my Bloglines account. Phew. Going back to Bloglines was also really useful at this late stage, to remind myself what it is there for.
I think going back after the race-for-the-finish-line will be a key component of making this course work.
Thanks so much to my great helping hand for this one!!

Youtube

Youtube is a revelation when using it on broadband as previous efforts have been on dial up and very, very slow. I chose a brief video about libraries to view, but found that what first appeared to be one minute plus was actually one hour plus. This enabled me to see that entire lectures and presentations could be viewed using YOutube, as well as brief clips for promotion and training.
Viewing a quality video in this way is almost like being there. The possibilities for library websites seem endless and would make for exciting viewing. Those who cannot attend an author presentation might find it very helpful to be able to see it later on line.

Exercise 20

Using glutenburg.org I quickly found Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with 7 formats available for free downloading of the book. I was surprised to find the large number of listed books and papers written by Charles Dickens that I had not heard of, and a quick look at other authors revealed the extensive list of books available on this site. It's huge.

SAYINGS

PERSISTENCE

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins – not through strength, but through persistence.

OPPORTUNITY

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

COURAGE

You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

ATTITUDE

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows

PASSION

There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart – pursue those.

GOALS

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you fail to focus on your goals.

CHALLENGES

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

Exploring Google docs

I used Google docs for this exercise and found it easy to import a piece of writing into a new page. I will try importing it into this blog and see what happens - here goes, cross fingers xxx

Revolution

This is the first blog written at home using dial-up, Firefox and precious evening time. There are notable differences as you can imagine - so slow! And no obvious way to format this blog. Never mind.
For exercise 17 I chose the award winning site, www.revolutionhealth.com, and it has simple tools such as BMI and Daily calorie need calculators and another to estimate the money spent on smoking per year to further scare those who haven't given up yet. There are health tracker tools as well.
The site was full of news headlines and more solid articles, with specific health conditions linked to the home page. The learning centres are backed by respected health organisations such as the Mayo Clinic.
The tools I tried were simple and easy to use, and helped to thus speed me on my way.