itunes

Having failed miserably with my ipod excursion, I did decide to learn to use itunes. My primary purpose is to burn cds for the car.. I'm one of those people who switches cds at virtually every traffic light, putting in that next 'right' song. Having cds full of songs I like - rather than those on which I like every 3rd or 4th song - would be so wonderful.

Itunes is incredibly easy to use. Songs are downloaded through the computer, and I can check off which ones I want. It's fast - 5 minutes or so, start to finish. The one place I ran into confusion was in trying to rearrange the music: it just wasn't working. I used the 'help' tab (duh!) to discover that I had to make a separate playlist (for example 'smooth study jazz') and then it was as easy as clicking and dragging the music that I wanted. Within the playlist music can be rearranged, and I wasted a lot of time listening to the end of one song meld into the beginning of another to be sure the mix was just right!

I'm going to need better speakers on my computer, because now I click itunes open and pick a playlist anytime I sit down to browse email or play cards. Ambience is everything... :)

About blogs...

I thought I'd take a little time to blog about blogs. (Sounds redundant!)

This is one new technology application I think I can sink my teeth into. It was wonderfully easy to set up, thanks to the host site. The first one I looked at - seedwiki - looked a bit utilitarian and blah. This site seemed a little classier - a bit easier to read. I worked on my profile (as if anyone cares!) and began writing.

What I like, I think, is the free-form approach. While I like to journal, I don't do a lot of it. Journaling with the inkling that someone else might actually read it, though, is a different feeling - I can communicate what's on my mind and just maybe someone will care!

I also get the feeling I get when I am involved in NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org) . For a month every year I write furiously, attempting to complete some semblance of a novel. No one else reads it, but it gives me purpose in writing. The more I write, the better I get with it (gee, eventually practice does make perfect!) and the easier the next bit is to write.

I could imagine blogs being useful for the youth services department - what a way to communicate with today's digital natives! And what kid doesn't like feeling as if they're eavesdropping on someone's diary...

The Rise and Fall of the Library Playstation

The playstation2 has died. Amazingly, it made it through 2.5 years of hard use - probably some kind of record.

We got the PS2 through a grant, along with a large-screen tv. The tv doubled as a movie screen (the library has a movie license) until we got a projector. As predicted, there were mixed reactions to the gaming system at first (this predates my employment here, so I'm going by anectode): apparently many adults who were not connected to younger patrons complained about the noise and simply the presence of the tv. A new location was found, and the general hubbub died down.

The staff generally found the PS2 to be a good thing. It certainly drew kids (and the occasional over-18 patron)into the library who may otherwise have avoided the building completely. It was a great equalizer - kids who couldn't afford (or weren't allowed) a gaming system could come play, letting them join in on the playground conversations about this game over that game, or how hard level 4 of Star Wars was! Perhaps most surprisingly, we noticed a good bit of intergenerational experience happening around the PS2 - grandparents would be amazed at the skill their grandkids showed at the game.

Anyway, it died. We're most noticing that kids who run to the children's desk to sign up for a turn are momentarily disappointed, but not terribly so. They quickly move on to something else. In a week, we haven't had a single request to replace it. It's as if the kids know it was good while it lasted. Will we replace it? We're not sure. Not right away - the budget isn't there. If one were to be donated we'd probably take it.

As a librarian, I would support the presence of a gaming system again. There are far more positives than negatives within the library setting.

*Note - I've never played, nor do I want to. It's easier to say 'don't know how!' to questions than to spend time trying to figure out the problem of the moment!

sdopi:ipods (ipod reflections)

For two months I had an ipod. Not just any ipod - a super deluxe, massive memory capacity fifth generation video-capable ipod. I could have done amazing things with the gadget - watched tv shows I missed the first time around, loaded hundreds of songs from my cd collection, discovered the whole world of downloadable podcasts.

So what did I do? I left it, untouched, in the box. For months. My initial experience with the device had me attempting to switch the instructions from Dutch to English - unsuccessfully, until I handed it to my 16 yr old. Finally forced to use the thing (or so I thought - it turns out the podcast didn't require the ipod!), I enjoyed putting a little music onto it, though the earpieces were terribly uncomfortable.

I have two primary impressions of the ipod now - first, that I think I'd enjoy a shuffle. I like to create my own playlists, and spend so much time reading in my car, waiting on my children, that I can imagine I'd use it then. Secondly, I have more concern than I did before about the amount of time some teens/college kids are spending plugged in. My son wants a shuffle - but I don't think I'd get one for him. (If he gets it for himself, that's a different story!) How many conversations and chirping birds, and how much general awareness about life are kids missing while they're connected? It's hard to teach balance when they have constant input at their fingertips.

Smile!

The one place my digital skills shine through is with the digital camera. I love to shoot pictures, and back in the day of 35mm I'd routinely shoot a roll of film in one sitting, hoping for the two or so 'keeper' pictures on the roll. I gave myself permission to just click away. Enter the digital camera - what freedom! Suddenly I could take a hundred or so pictures in a row, view them instantly, and get rid of the ones I didn't want to keep. Better still, I could modify the keepers... crop them, enhance the image, take out the red-eye... so much fun!

This past year I've learned to use them in conjunction with PowerPoint, making slide shows for fund-raising and other forms of public library marketing. In the library we use a digital camera often to photograph children caught sitting on the floor reading, storytime scenes, or photos for the website. We keep an alphebetized book of signed photo releases and are very careful when it comes to posting pictures of minors, but so far it's gone quite smoothly.

Lately we've put the camera into the hands of the children more often. Seeing the world through their eyes (inspired by Born Into Brothels) is opening up another view of the library.

Reflections on distance learning

Here I sit, 110 miles from the institution of higher education from which I'll - hopefully, eventually - earn my Master's degree. I'm following in the footsteps of my mother who, at 40, returned to school. She drove over an hour each way daily after dropping me at a babysitter's and got her second bachelor's degree despite the constraints of 4 children and traffic.

Of the 4 classes I've taken so far, 3 have been web-based. What a change, almost 40 years after my mother's experience. A friend's husband is earning a doctorate from a university in New Mexico - he'll visit twice during his program of study. Gone, I think, are the days when 'distance education' meant second rate, buy-your-degree programs. Now we have this nearly instantaneous mode of communication that allows relationships between instructor/student and between student groups.

So why not do it all online? There are such programs, and they offer several advantages: flexibility of time and savings in gas being two of the biggest. I've noticed, though - and this may just be my preference - that I miss the face to face relationships. While I appreciate the flexibility at this stage of my life - I don't know how else I could work full time, parent 3 teens, have any sort of life, and take classes - I miss sitting at the proverbial feet of instructors. Sometimes the gems are found when we're not looking for them... in those lingering conversations in the hall, over a cup of coffee between classes, walking to the parking deck. Online learning is certainly more efficient, but I'm glad the entire program isn't done this way.

Disclaimer: I may have a different opinion next semester, when I travel a day a week and have to work every other Saturday to compensate for the time!

Wiki world

I'm still not clear about wikis - I think wikipedia has clouded my viewpoint - but an article in the current issue of School Library Journal caught my eye. Called 'Never Ending Story', it describes the efforts of a group of 8 writers (including a teen) who are team-writing a children's book on a wiki.

Team writing is not a new concept, but by doing so with a wiki everyone can contribute on equal footing: there's no 'leader', no one in charge. Anyone can change anyone else's contribution (sounds tenuous!).

This would be - could be - an excellent project to try within my library NaNoWriMo (www.nanowrimo.org) group. As long as ground rules are laid out clearly at the front of the project, it seems like it could work with teen writers. AND something I can handle!

www.amillionpenguins.com
www.witchesandwiki.com/pmwiki

Adventure

Yesterday I conquered the world of podcasting. OK, conquered might be a bit of an overstatement, but I succeeded in a first attempt. Thanks to many articles, all of which said the same thing, I felt secure sitting down at the computer and recording my script on Audacity. The adventure, the quickening heartbeat, the moment of sheer excitement came when the computer said that the file couldn't be converted to MP3 mode.

I was sitting at my boss' computer, after hours. My instinct was to find someone - anyone - to help me. At home it would be my husband or son, at work one of the younger librarians or teens. No one was available, and I was limited with time. Deep breath, you can do this.

Long story short, I did - I found, loaded, unzipped "lame" (who comes up with these file names?) and got the Audacity file exported through MP3. I *think* I even managed to send it to the course documents folder on Blackboard. Finally, I figured out how to load the podcast to my loaner ipod.

A digital native will have no appreciation of the sense of conquest I feel this morning. I can do this - I can learn this stuff. The computer didn't blow up, the world did not end. It's steps like these that make me confident that eventually my 'accent' will fade and I'll be blogging and Wiki-ing and Podcasting with the best of them!

Sites I found helpful:
www.uncc.edu (Thanks, Daniel!) Link to Podcast, then Create A Podcast
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/beginners-guide-to-podcast-creation/
(Beginner's Guide To Podcasting)

A Foot In Each World

My father's immigrant family lived and died in their Polish Connecticut neighborhood. With a foot in both worlds, they navigated familiar shops and streets, rarely venturing beyond to the unknown. While on one hand they were able to make the huge transition from the old country to the new, they also missed out on so much that the new world had to offer.

In the same way I find myself fighting a current of transition. I've learned to navigate a few newer technologies: in college, computer use meant typing in lines of code to unlock word processing capabilities. Successfully downloading images from the digital camera made me feel like a technology guru (until I then had to figure out how to erase the images!). My latest conquest has been powerpoint, though I haven't attempted to add music yet.

Like my immigrant ancestors I'll have to make myself learn more. It would be easy to get stuck in this comfort zone, but blogs, wikis, and podcasts beckon. One step at a time, I'll eventually put both feet in that world.

Confessions of a digital immigrant

Let's get this out of the way: I am no digital native. Marc Prensky's 2001 article "Digital Immigrant, Digital Native" resonated deeply with me: I discovered what a heavy accent I have. Suddenly I understood why my three teens laugh when I print a Word document for editing or call someone to come look at my computer screen rather than link the site to their computer.

To be fair, the fact that I'm even willing to explore the world of technology should win me a few points: I bake bread, milk goats, wear no make-up. I'm still afraid to own a microwave and our family gets what television will reach our mountain valley antenna (usually two channels, sometimes three in the winter). Naturally wired I am not.

In this blog I will explore how I am learning to use - nay, to embrace - technology. To use it for the greater good of the services I can offer as a youth services librarian and to help transition our library into an era of 'wired-ness'. My hope is to inspire, support, or commiserate with others who, like myself, don't find this transition particularly natural or easy.