Week 10: #23 THE END!!!!!

Well, I ran the gamut of emotions with this exercise. I was excited about the prospect of learning new technologies - anticipation was high! The reality of some of the discovery exercises plunged me into the depths of despair - I was technologically impaired, there was no hope for me, I had become my mother!

I would have to say that overall I enjoyed this program of "discovery", although I know that I'd have given up on some if I hadn't needed to complete all for the training hours. Some of these I will never use again, but I will not swear to that. I learned my lesson with children, to never swear, "I would never do (use) that!"

Zoho writer has been useful already, but I can't wait to delete my bloglines account, or Library Elf. There have been way too many user names and passwords to remember. I think Mike has a program that keeps track of them for you - perhaps that should be one of the sites we learn about next!

I do think we should continue this as a training opportunity, but with changes. After listening to the staff, here are a few suggestions that perhaps should be incorporated into the exercise.

• Start earlier in the year.
• Let each exercise last 1 month, with only one new activity introduced each week that builds upon the original concept - that way there is a better climate for really learning the exercise.
• Let each exercise be independent of the others, if staff want to do one but not another, let them accrue training hours for the ones they actually did.

Bling is not really necessary - the training hours should be enough incentive. Or else it should be sooooo spectacular that everyone wants to complete all the exercises in order to get bling (perhaps WMA player to go along with Overdrive - or better yet, you complete the exercises and your name goes into a drawing for a chance as one of 5 winners of a WMA player). Maybe flash drives could be the bling for completing all the exercises along with the training hours. Those who only complete selected exercises, only get the training hours. Fair.

Week 9 # 22 Overdrive

I have an Overdrive account and have downloaded books and language programs. My problem is that my WMA device is not recognized by Overdrive, so I don't use it as much as I could. I did download onto CDs some language programs when we thought William would be going to Germany. It is really an excellent addition to the library's offerings as more people are requesting books in audio format. They use them in commuting, exercising, working around the house, and in many other ways. The demand for this format will only grow.

I tried LibriVox and, of course, the major difference is that the items available are in the public domain, while most items requested are best sellers or older titles by current authors. There are some classics available from Overdrive that are also found on LibriVox.

WOWIO, a Houston based company, has more current items available, although I didn't see the popular authors, such as Nora Roberts, John Grisham, etc. Although it wasn't easy to search as you couldn't specify an author search. Many of the titles seemed to be non-fiction. I wonder how much of the fiction is originally published on the web? I didn't like this as well, but perhaps I didn't give it enough of an effort.

Week 9: # 21 Podcasts

Well, I added Meet the Press as my podcast to my bloglines; however, I never got to actually hear it. Don't know if it was the equipment I was using or a problem with the podcast itself. I wasn't at my desk when I tried listening, so maybe it was the computer. With electronics, one never knows for sure.
I will try again later to see if I can actually hear it.

Week 9: #20 Youtube

This one I enjoy! I would imagine most everyone has used youtube, but perhaps they haven't realized it. So many emails are sent around with a link to a youtube site that is is almost a regular part of emails. This one, "Mother's Day", is my favorite - I see my brothers and then my sons in this video.

Week 8: # 19+ Zoho Update

This was the most marvelous program!!!! We were on a cruise and Mike needed to complete a word document for his work. One of those "Need this yesteday; can't wait until you are back" items. The ship's internet cafe didn't have Word, but we were able to use Zoho and export his document, he could fill it out, send it to his home email (to get rid of my user names, etc.), then send it on from there to his work email and forward it on to his boss! What a deal. I'm so glad we had learned about Zoho and I actually remembered how to use it. Plus we exported a document that had already been created, filled it out as needed, and sent it back as Word. A miracle program!!!! I'm a believer.