Thing 23 - Take a Short Survey

So the time has come, the time is now, I've done my 23 things and now I can go......take a brief survey! Yeah! It's been tons of fun, NEFLIN. Thanks for all the great memories. I will now venture forth into virtual reality with less trepidation and waaay more confidence. I can't help wondering, though, how many more new things we will need to learn tomorrow, next week, next year, etc.! Oh well, that's what keeps me interested!

Friendly Technology

After assisting several patrons with technology in our public library branch today, I feel both elated and secure.
Elated because there is a growing excitement about new digital resources. A patron who was checking out books on CD was delighted to learn we have downloadable audio books. Another patron e-mailed to say "thanks" for purchasing more than one subscription to downloadable audios and videos. Many patrons logged on to surf the Internet. Many others checked out books, recorded books and/or movies to while away a rainy day in the cozy warmth of their own homes.
Secure because during the same work day I helped other patrons navigate basic library technology, including photocopying, finding an article in Consumer Reports (it's online now but my patron preferred print), and tracking down an interlibrary loan that went astray.
The question of the day today (April 14) was all about income tax -- forms, publications, economic stimulus, AARP, VITA, etc. Next week it will be different, but I am pretty sure that there will always be a question! Public librarians still provide a much needed service: a friendly and (mostly) seamless connection to the world of information.

Reference 2.0

Today I learned that there is still a need for the old fashioned reference librarian. Monday morning brought several patrons to our Library Branch with urgent questions. Where can I find a list of all the social services agencies in Alachua County? What is the range of a rocket propelled grenade? How many African nations are part of the African union? Where can I find free income tax help this week? While a really thorough google search might have yielded answers to all of these questions, our library patrons instead picked up the telephone and called their local library, or came in to ask the librarian on duty. I find this strangely comforting. The thing is, no matter how good technology gets, and how skilled people become in using it, they will still rely upon the oldest, quickest, easiest method of finding out something: ask someone else. And, if you want to make sure the information is reliable, "ask a librarian."

Thing 22 - Staying Current

My very first post on this blog was way back on January 12! That was nearly 3 months ago. I remember wondering why anyone would want to have a blog. Well, now I have a blog. It feels a little like a diary, only this diary is anything but private. Blogs will be a way of life for me now, since I've discovered how easy it is to keep up with my favorite people and places through a travel blog or a grand child blog. My daughter started a recipe blog, and it has come in very handy, too. No more recipe cards filed away in little boxes!
I think that I will continue to use many of the tools I've experimented with in 23 Things. The best part is I will be able to assist patrons who ask questions about them. It's been fun -- sort of like getting a license to play for pay. I have completed all of the 22 things so far on work time. I can still remember the not so old days when surfing the net on work time was frowned upon. Working on 23 Things has successfully removed the shadow of guilt! I think that 21st Century Librarians will need to stay very tuned in to technology, not only to relate to the younger generation, but to be able to help the older generation navigate the Information Highway. To do this I plan to look at the Internet at least once each day (OK, more like 10 or 15 times a day). I will continue to blog; perhaps I will post a daily epiphany. I will continue to view the beautiful flickr photos and those entertaining you tube postings; perhaps I will post a few of my own. I will keep up with all the latest world news with my CNN feed and with all my 23 things bloggers on Google Reader. I will continue to use the biggest and best wiki, Wikipedia, and I will visit Library Thing from time to time to see what's going on in library land. I will revisit each of the 23 things and perhaps add to my blog. After some time passes, I expect I will gain a new perspective, and possibly even learn something new. Above all, I will not be afraid of new technology. I will run headlong into the surf and live in the 21st century.

Thing 21 - Student 2.0 Tools

The Assignment Calculator and the Research Project Calculator are both excellent tools to help students complete a research project on time. Where were they when I was in school? Oh, that's right, we didn't even have PC's back then! No one had ever heard of "e-mail." For today's busy and focused students, however, I believe these tools will be their salvation. I will definitely recommend them when helping students gather the resources they need to research a topic. The student research planning guide, although very basic, could be used as a handout for a teen program on how to do a research paper. The Teacher Guide does not appear to be very useful in the public library setting. My experience is that handouts are not very helpful to students unless the handouts are specific to your library. I would instead attempt to work with the student to determine the parameters of his/her assignment and then to suggest appropriate resources from among the library's holdings.

Thing 20 - Books 2.0

"Future of the Book" does not convey any startling messages. Some people still buy books because they want to underline and write in the margins. Concerning the new print to voice capability of Amazon's Kindle, some people worry that readers will become so lazy they won't even bother learning to sight read. In my humble opinion, the only observation in this article that is worth thinking about is this one:


"Abandon all technology and live in the woods for a week and see if it's your laptop you miss most." Bob Seidensticker, "Future Hype: The Myths Of Technology Change"


The PowerPoint presentation entitled "How Libraries Can Survive in the New Media Ecosystem" did have one surprising message: "Many Americans would just as soon turn their local libraries into museums and recruit retirees to staff them." I do not agree; I believe that libraries give a great return on the tax dollar, and the taxpayers actually appreciate this. As long as we keep returning $6 worth of services for every $1 of taxpayers' money we don't have to fear being turned into a museum that is staffed by retired volunteers. Besides, as one who is approaching retirement age myself, I can tell you that many retirees would not have the physical stamina to staff a public library. We have some pretty dedicated volunteers, but even the most stoic among them limit their volunteering 2 or 3 shifts of 2 to 3 hours each week. To provide the 10 hours a day 40 hours a week 7 days a week service our community is accustomed to getting at their local public library, you're going to have to find some pretty robust retirees. Librarians have been fighting this stereotype for years, though, so it's really no surprise to see it cropping up again, only this time in response to the digital revolution.


I was intrigued with the title, "Fiction Reading Increases for Adults." It's true! The U.S. Census and Dana Gioia, who has headed up the BigRead for the past 6 years, both confirm that Americans are reading more! Even more astounding, the biggest increase has been in the 18-24 age group! Shall we attribute any credit to the advent of the graphic novel? Or the Manga craze? Oh wait, here's a clue: "Internet reading was included in the 2008 data."


This trend was reiterated in the article, "More American Adults Read Literature According to New NEA Study." This writer also notes that the U.S. population now breaks into two almost equally sized groups – readers and non-readers.


"Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?" attempts to distinguish between Internet reading and reading a book. The assertion is that Internet reading is easier, because you can search for your terms and retrieve your information in nuggets rather than read a constant stream of information, some of which will be irrelevant. Those of us who have survived college classes learned the art of retrieving nuggets of information a long time ago. One does not necessarily need to read the ENTIRE book to obtain the pertinent details. So what's new? Nothing, really. Reading is reading is reading.....etc. I personally believe that there is a place for both online information/reading as well as traditional reading from the book. If I'm trying to find out about a new concept I may search online to get the quickest and simplest idea of what it is. If it interests me, then I may opt to read about it in depth. I may even check out a book from my local library!


So next I tried DailyLit and I LOVED IT!!! I've had James Patterson's latest Cross Country on hold since January, and I'm still #15 in line. DailyLit gave me the first 5 pages for free, and it is as good as Patterson gets. Will I ever tire of Alex Cross? Probably not. I can purchase 159 installments (pages) for $9.99. After a little rush of excitement, however, disappointment came with the realization that some of my other favorite authors (Grisham, Connolly, Cornwell, Reichs) were not listed in DailyLit. I found three short stories by Poe in 7 installments for free, and posted this to my Facebook account. Then I took a couple of surveys and learned that my nickname should be PJ and I am lively, charming and usually the center of attention. Haha so you see how serious the Facebook crowd is?

Next I tried "What Should I Read Next?" After typing in Cross Country by James Patterson, I instantly retrieved a list of 10 books. The first on the list however was Janet Evanovich's Plum Spooky. Now I haven't read Plum Spooky, but my guess is that it's funny. James Patterson's books are never funny. Hmmmm. This deserves a closer look. Perhaps I'll read Plum Spooky and see if it's anything at all like Cross Country. To be continued....

Next I explored an online book club, Unbound Reader and BookGlutton. You can read a book online by yourself or along with others. You can make comments as you read the book, which can then be kept private or published and shared with others. If you choose to share your thoughts, others can comment back. Sound pretty interesting. I am interested in the comments option. But who will serve the cucumber sandwiches?

Next I tried BookVideos.tv and I also LOVED this one! I've always enjoyed meeting authors. This is the next best thing to meeting them in person. If my computer was able to play the entire video without stalling, that would be nice, too. Lucky for me I always have a book near the PC to read in case the program stalls. I learned this trick during a webinar that I took for library training. After spending the better part of an hour gazing at the frozen talking head of the workshop presenter, hoping the video would start rolling again, I decided never to put myself through that again. It's back up books for me!

The next thing I tried was Open Culture. Again, I LOVED it! There are free online courses here from prestigious universities like Yale, UC Berkeley and MIT. This is such a good deal, I posted it to my Facebook page. Hopefully some young friends will take advantage of this opportunity. There are also another 1/2 dozen more free Italian podcasts to be listened to. I will definitely be visiting this again. Remember, I'm still working on my Italian skills.

So just when I thought things couldn't possibly get any better, I find Bookbrowse! Readers' reviews and ratings, along with a short synopsis and thumbs up/down from the critics make this a wonderful source of reader's advisory. I've already placed two holds as a result of my short visit to this site. This should definitely be listed in the hotlinks from the library's webpage. Although I hesitate to give up my best reader's advisory friend NoveList, I am wondering if Bookbrowse is a worthy competitor!

I've been adding my own book reviews to MySpace for some time now. I feel very isolated, like maybe I'm the only one of the millions on this site who likes to read. So imagine how delighted I was to discover that Facebook has "Books We Read" for the readers among us. Awesome! I've signed up and listed 5 or 6 of my favorite books. We'll see where this leads.

Storyline is great!!! Real actors read children's books in streaming video. I have only just begun to explore this site. If it is as good as it appears to be, I will recommend it to my children and grandchildren, since I seem to recall that there are never enough adults around to read to kids when they are little!

Thing 19 - Other Social Networks

I read the article about Gather trying to become the MySpace for books, and I'm not so sure this will work. Who would go willingly into a new site where the stated objective is marketing? What's in it for the average (non author) user? I know MySpace was originally intended to be a place for musicians to market their work, but look what it has become. Sure, music is still a part of it, but not, by far, the biggest part. Next I looked at some of the other sites. I'd already used WebJunction, for some library training in the past. So I checked out Gather, but, as I've already explained, was not too excited about their mission. Next I tried Ning, and was pleasantly surprised to rediscover that I'm already a Ning user, having joined the James Patterson Community some time back--I even have one friend. I've been a fan of Patterson for while now--Alex Cross is one of my favorite good guys. The chat on Ning's James Patterson Community so far hasn't been riveting, but maybe it will get better. And I get an occasional email update about new releases. This must be one of the reasons Patterson is such a popular author among the young adult crowd--he knows where to find them (online).

Thing 18 - Facebook and MySpace

I set up an account on MySpace a couple of years ago, at the invitation of my daughter. A complete novice at social networking, I neglected to fill in the details on my profile, so in the space after the question, "children?" the default response was "no." Of course this sent my daughters into peals of laughter. I think they said they were lol or something like that. As soon as I figured out how to edit my profile, I changed it to "proud parent." For quite a while I used MySpace as a way to "network" with my own family. When they didn't answer the phone for example, I checked their MySpace page for updates and the latest photos. MySpace has been a lot of fun, and has allowed me to explore some things I did not know how to do. It was here that I learned how to "blog." I started blogging book reviews, in the hope that I might connect with other readers. And here that I learned how to upload photos, and I even created a slide show. Once you try it you'll be hooked. And don't worry about safety issues. It isn't that hard to become your child's friend on MySpace. The one thing that I do not like about MySpace is the commercialism that crops up -- I know that nothing is free, and the ads probably pay for the site maintenance. But I'm talking about the so-called "friends" who seek you out and then, once you've accepted them as a friend, they try to sell you some Omaha Steaks! I really don't need to purchase food on a social networking site, so these friends will be deleted.
Here's a recent photo of my little granddaughter, Grace, hamming it up with a pair of sunglasses. Her Aunt Leah took the photo, uploaded it to MySpace, and I was able to see it, save a copy, and print it immediately. How cool is that???



Facebook came next. I don't understand why it is so popular, really. It's about the same as MySpace, but it is easier to find people you once knew. Not for me, because many of the folks in my age group are not into social networking. But the software apparently looks at your friends' friends and gives you suggestions on who you might want to add as a friend. I'm not too fond of this feature, but must admit that I've added some friends as a result of it. Of course, most of my friends here are also related to me. We've even added a family reunion group just for us, that cannot be viewed by the public. So far the only ones to sign up for it beside myself are under 40! Come on, all you baby boomers, get with the program and set up your own social networking page! You can be my friend!

Thing 17 - Podcasts

The "Podcasting in Plain English" was short, but very informative. I was not impressed with the podcast.com selections, because they took so loooong to load and play. CNN radio is pretty useful, and right up to the minute. On the morning after Obama's interview on the Tonight Show, they already had a podcast about it. I found a podcast for one of my favorite TV shows, 24. It was voice only, and consisted of two people discussing characters and plots. They talked about the results of a survey on the most popular villain, the least favorite scenes, etc. Interesting, but not something I would ordinarily choose to spend my free time on.
My favorite podcast remains Radio Arlecchino. This was created by the University of Texas at Austin, and offers a variety of different ways to learn Italian. Each podcast covers a particular aspect of Italian grammar, and it can also be downloaded in pdf format and printed. Users have the ability to send questions in by email. The podcast can be delivered to your iPod through iTunes. This is by far the most effective (and least expensive) Italian lesson I've ever found. And I've been trying to learn Italian for nearly 2 years now. Here's the site in case you'd like to take a look at it yourself.
http://tltc.la.utexas.edu/ra

Thing 16 - You Tube

You Tube is, by far, my absolute most favorite of all the 23 Things. Who could have predicted this phenomenon? The world has certainly become a smaller place since You Tube. We can now share our happy moments, our sad ones, even our silly ones, with everyone else in the entire world. What a blessing this is. I found a great clip of a young girl performing a flaminco dance that I would like to share with you now. Take a look at it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAUwCEbPhA8

Or for those among you with more sophisticated tastes, here is a clip of Elvis singing
"Amazing Grace:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDyXLnarP7Y

And another live recording of Elvis singing "I Can't Help Falling in Love" that has been viewed more than 800,000 times since it was posted, about a year and a half ago. I wonder what Elvis would have thought about YouTube???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7VG4I_b2Fk


One day soon I'll have the courage to add a video of my own. Wait for it with measured anticipation.

Thing 15 - Rollyo

I've just added a Rollyo search box to my blog, so I think this is what Rollyo does--it gives you a way to search all of the relevant websites for your term. You can list some of your favorite or recommended websites to search, so the results would be a better (more reliable) list of hits to peruse. This might be a better way to present the Great Links on the library's webpage. As it is now one must first know that they are listed under "Look it Up," and then "Great Links." There are some really great websites there, but I wonder how many patrons actually find them. If we used Rollyo for these, they could be grouped into the same categories they are now.

Thing 14 -- Online Productivity Tools

There are so many gadgets (or is it widgets) that you can put on your blog or your website. I don't really see the need for most of them, although I must admit to forgetting an important appointment recently. Perhaps I do need a gadget! One that will stun me into consciousness and make me remember where I am supposed to be and at what time! My old fashioned hand written date book works just fine, when I remember to use it. And I can carry it around with me wherever I go. What could be better than that? Ah, well, but the assignment is to examine online productivity tools. So I will start with a definition. What are they? I found a list among the online resources provided by NEFLIN. They include things like Zoho, 30 Boxes, Google Docs, Bloglines, and Pageflakes. I've seen or tried most of these, so I think my focus for this exercise will be the online calendar. The name "30 Boxes" sounds fun, so I have set up another online account with yet another user name and password. Now I have my schedule for the month of March online. I can have "buddies" who could have access to my calendar. The calendar will be available to me when I am not in the office. And the calendar will also be on my blog!

Thing 13 -- Library Thing

OK, this one I really love! It's like MySpace or Facebook for librarians and other booklovers! I've been putting my own book reviews on MySpace (yes, I know, it's like spitting in the wind). Now I think I'll just put them into Library Thing. You can instantly connect with others who have read the same book. After you've entered enough titles, you will probably begin to see a few people whose reading tastes are similar enough to yours and you may want to join a discussion group. The Library Thing tour was short and sweet. The sign up was very easy. I now have 5 books in my "library." My books on the whole are pretty popular. I've read some other reviews. I've added a Library Thing gadget on this blog. How? From the Library Thing account, go to add a widget, copy the html code, then go back to your 23 things blog. Go to Layout, then click on Add a Gadget, then choose Add html. Here you will paste the code you copied from Library Thing. Tada, you now have a search box on your 23 things blog that allows your viewers to type in the title of a book they might be interested in reading and quickly see a review. I'm still investigating discussions and local events. To be continued....
Well, now, it seems there is a fly in the ointment. Unfortunately Library Thing has a commercial side that is not apparent at first glance. Upon clicking deeper and deeper into the information, I found this statement:
"Enter 200 books for free, as many as you like for $10 (year) or $25 (life)."
All of the book covers must also provide a link back to Amazon, it seems. So this Library Thing is not exactly free. I'm a little disappointed. Mainly because I plan to read way more than 200 books and will not be paying anyone to talk about them online. Guess I'll stick with the freebees, MySpace and Staff Intranet.

Thing 12 -- Wikis

I am an easy convert to wikis, because I've been using Wikipedia for some time now, and find it to be a great resource. As if that weren't enough, one of my colleagues recently established a Zoho wiki for the purpose of managing our floating collection. So I'm already convinced that wikis are useful. The thing I would love to see in a wiki format is the ACLD Circulation Manual. It has always been an enormous document. Right now it resides on the staff server and can be accessed from any staff computer, but it's still just a long unwieldy document. And it has been very slow to be updated as new technology has come along that changed everything circulation, such as RFID. Wouldn't it be grand if we could put this huge but important manual into a wiki that could be key-word searched, and updated immediately, as soon as we figure out new and better ways of doing things? Yes.
I did also enjoy the Common Craft Video on Wikis. The guy who produced these must be some kind of training genius. I also looked at Princeton's Booklover's Wiki. I liked it, but it seems the reviews are written by staff? Could we have a booklover's wiki that would allow patrons to log in and add a review? To be continued.....
Next I took a look at Neflin's Wiki. I signed up for another account (aargh) and then I added a page (Sharon's Page) to this wiki, with work schedules for myself and two other Millhopper staff. You will see it listed on the right "side bar" of the front page. I also tried to edit the front page, but it doesn't appear to have changed the background color to purple as I requested.

Thing 11 -- Social Media

Social media??? OK how many accounts with user names and passwords am I going to have by the time I get to thing 23? The words in this post do appeal to me, however. It's the idea that library services can be user driven, not librarian driven, that I find intriguing.
The description of Reddit states, "we want to democratize the traditional model by giving editorial control to the people who use the site, not those who run it.” This I find is much to my liking. We have been searching for a way to get candid feedback from library users and non-users for years, perhaps decades, perhaps longer. I think we may have it now. If library users can rate library services in much the same way they rate movies or products online, we will finally have the information we have been vainly seeking by collecting dry and boring statistics. How many books we checked out last month is not nearly so interesting to me as hearing from the readers of those books, who can tell us why they liked them and how their lives were impacted as a result of reading them. Noble words, but unfortunately the Reddit site did not score so high on usability.
Next I tried Digg, and found it to be much more user friendly. I set up an account and recommended a website that I like to use for learning Italian, called Radio Arlecchino. Will check on it in a few days to see if anyone else likes...or rather, Diggs it, too.
As suggested by NEFLIN I looked at the New York Times online and found an article about the end of analog television, then recommended this news article on Digg. It was very easy to do. After reading the article, I clicked on the "share" button. This offered me a variety of options, such as FaceBook, Yahoo Buzz and Digg. I chose Digg. The Digg site first checked to see whether or not another user had already recommended it. When it found no matches, I had an option to select a graphic to go along with the post. I chose a simple drawing of a television set. Then I was asked to log into my Digg account (yes, another user name and password to remember). And then, tada, it was posted. I'll check back in a few days to see how popular this article is among Digg parcipants.
3/18/09 Update: So it appears that no one else in the world is interested in Radio Arlecchino, and only one other person looked at my fascinating article on the end of analog TV. OK, I can take a little rejection, and am willing to try again. (Sigh)
I read an interesting article recently in American Libraries online about the Nebraska state auditor's objection to the purchase and use of gaming equipment by state library employees. Apparently a concerned taxpayer saw a video clip on You Tube showing state library staff setting up a Wii game they purchased for the purpose of luring more teens into the public libraries, and the auditor and news reporters are now asking "is this an appropriate use of taxpayer's money?" At least one taxpayer thinks it is not. Possibly they have not heard about the Library 2.0 revolution. See the article for yourself by clicking on the link below, or better yet, go to http://www.digg.com/ and search for it!
http://www.action3news.com/Global/story.asp?S=9900719&nav=menu550_2

Thing 10 -- Tagging and Delicious

Social bookmarking is one of those phrases that makes me stop to think--what does it mean? After watching the video and reading the comments on NEFLIN's blog, it appears to be an easy way to keep up with your favorite websites, to organize them according to indexing terms you assign, and to share them with others. It sounds like it would be a great way to organize websites for library users. Hopefully our library patrons will find the new library website so useful they will bookmark it! Tagging makes the concept of bookmarking even more appealing. The ability to organize websites using terms you come up with yourself could be very useful. Beyond that, the ability to see what websites other people are bookmarking and tagging would be a very powerful resource....especially if you find a user with similar tastes.
Next I looked at del.icio.us to see what all the excitement is about. This is another Yahoo product which does make it easy for one who already has a Yahoo account. I already had some sites bookmarked as a result of a NEFLIN workshop I attended in the fall of 2006, called Social Software in Libraries. It was a hoot to see Unshelved pop up on my list of bookmarks. I had forgotten all about this. Haha. Today I added another, more important and serious bookmark -- Medpedia. I only hope that I remember to use it! I also added a gadget to my 23 things blog that will allow anyone to bookmark my blog using Delicious. It was pretty easy to do, since they have the answer to this question in their help file: "How do I add a "Bookmark on Delicious" button to my website or blog?" It's a matter of copying and pasting the html code for bookmark on delicious into your blog. After you sign in you click on dashboard, then on layout, then on add a gadget. The next screen is where you will paste the code you have copied. Then save it and tada! you have succeeded.

Thing 9 -- Sharing - slides, photos, databases

Sharing information comes naturally to librarians, so this should be an easy thing. I think that it will be useful as a way to promote library materials. Maybe we could create a slide show that shows the work in progress as they work to expand and renovate our building. A photo mosaic of a library program might be fun. Of course, we all love databases! I can see it now: staff picks loaded into a database that our patrons can view!

The Mosaic above was created using Big Huge Labs. I was able to link to my flickr account and select the photos I wanted in the mosaic. Then I clicked a button to create the mosaic. Now comes the tricky part. At first I attempted to copy and paste the html code into my blog. But I kept getting an error message, then the blog closed.

Finally I simply saved the mosaic onto my hard drive and was then able to load the mosaic the same way you load any other photo from your computer, by clicking the browse button, then locating the picture you want and clicking upload. Whew! I'm hoping it gets easier as I go along.


Below is a link to a slide show of photos that I took in Cedar Key in November 2007. It was pretty easy to get this into my blog. First I opened another window, then logged into my flickr account, clicked on one of my favorite photos, and then clicked "view as a slide show." Once the slide show came up I clicked on "share." There I "grabbed the URL," and copied it to the clipboard. Then I came back to my 23 things blog and pasted the url into my blog. Simple enough. If you get organized and keep your photos in albums, then your slide shows will have a theme. I will definitely recommend flickr to patrons who are looking for a way to organize and share their digital photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16407621@N03/sets/72157603228924401/show/with/2043976390/

Next I took a look at Picture Trail. It was pretty easy to create another free account. I did have to "skip" the free offer. But then I was able to upload some photos of the Millhopper Branch in its temporary location, on the 2nd floor of the Bank of America building, at 2627 NW 43rd St. I'm pretty sure I followed the directions correctly, but the html code does not translate into a photo slide show as expected. Could it be because I don't have the latest version of flash???

Well, anyway, here is a photo of the Bank of America building where Millhopper Branch Library is temporarily located, at 2627 NW 43rd St. Take the elevator to the 2nd floor, you will see the library on your left as you exit the elevator.

Thing 8 -- Communication - Web 2.0 Style

I've always wondered about IM'ing. It looks pretty cool, and apparently if you have a web cam you can also do a video chat, or leave a voice mail, if the person is not available. I invited 3 other google users to chat with me. We'll see how it goes.
Several days later: So far nada on the google chat scene. So I took advantage of the widget offered by the cool folks at NEFLIN (Meebo) and installed it on my blog dashboard! So come on all you bloggers, Chat with Sharon!
Several days later, a slender ray of understanding slipped into my consciousness. To sum it up, here is a quote from Howstuffworks describing instant messaging:
"Send notes back and forth with a friend who is online." Tada! If your friend is not online, there will be no messaging. Aargh.
3/28/09 News Flash!!!!
I received my very first IM this morning, from my son who lives in Atlanta. He happened to be online at the same time as me and sent me a hello how are you message! Wow that was exciting. It's kind of like a phone call without sound. Anyway, I felt compelled to share this new experience with someone. Why not here, in 23 things?

Thing 7 -- Online Image Generators

This is so cool! You can use your own photos to create art! Here's a warholized image of sweet baby Grace:

Thing 6 -- Flickr Mashups

I already had a flickr account, established during a NEFLIN workshop on Digital Cameras back in the Spring of 2005. I've not used it much since then, but here's a recent photo that I took of a quilt I just finished making. It is called a Nine-Patch Scrap Quilt. I made it from scraps of fabric that I've been collecting over the last 30 years or so.

This is a picture I took at sunset in Cedar Key in the fall of 2007. Can you believe we have this beautiful natural treasure just 50 miles from Gainesville?

I also looked at a "mashup" from Flickr. It wasn't very hard to get to it. After clicking on the link for "spell with flickr," I typed my name, then photos popped up from the millions that are stored in Flickr. I had the option to change one by clicking on the letter. Once I got the photo letters I liked, I copied and pasted the html code into this post. That's all there was to it. I was able to view the photo letters once briefly during preview, but after publishing all I can see are those little red x's that say here's a picture but you can't see it. What gives????
I'm not one to give up easily, so I let this rest for a while and then came back for another look. On 2/12, checked in on my google reader, where I am receiving rss feeds from several other Millhopper staff bloggers. Two of them had successfully spelled something using mashup!!! Lucky for me, one of them included instructions. So now you can see my name spelled out with flickr photos. Hurray!
Here's my attempt to use splashr:

My Presentation