Happy Halloween!!!

So this Halloween, even though class was cancelled, I'm firmly ensconced in schoolwork. Thank goodness I live in the boondocks of Western NY, and there is not a trick-or-treater to be fed. I got my grade back on my Flickr paper, and I couldn't be happier. Sometimes it's good to get the feedback that you really can write a decent paper, and that maybe you are doing this for a reason. I would like to point out that the IPL now has 14 friends on MySpace!!! A few were added and I'm not sure they will be kept, as friends. And that's only because I want the page to be used as a Reference tool more than a method to make cutesy friends. I do have to say that the majority are libraries that have pages geared towards teens. Which are exactly what I want. Other than that, I've emailed Dr. Mon my date to present, which will give me plenty of time to get that ready (especially since it's only 5 minutes of torture :)) and I'm all caught up with this class. I am, however, fast and furiously writing a paper on Dublin Core, which is another torture all on its own....
Melanie the future madame librarian

A hectic week

So I haven't focused too much on this class since handing in the paper last week, but only because I had a paper due yesterday for another class, I will be flying to Savannah to visit my family on Thursday, and I have a big paper due next Friday on Dublin Core.

I managed to send out a few friend requests last night on MySpace for the IPL, and we officially have one friend. The Denver Public Library has a MySpace page that is geared towards teenagers, and is a great example of what I want our MySpace page to be. I'm going to attempt to send out more requests shortly, as I don't have much time to edit this week.

Class was interesting this week, talking about how technology is changing the environments in which we all hope to work. I know I'm not what people imagine when they think of librarian, and maybe it's time to start breaking predetermined notions wherever we can. That reminds me, I have to renew a library book before I get charged for it.


Ohhhh and if anyone out there watches The Office, Dwight is going to be spending some time in SecondLife this week, I'll be on a plane to Georgia so I'll miss it, but I'm still super excited!!!

Melanie

Web 2.0 and an interesting experience

So far, for our web 2.0 paper, I've started writing papers on about 5 different topics. But by the end of the day, one of those will be done. I think I've narrowed in on writing about Flickr and all that it has to offer. I was going to do a paper on MySpace, but I feel like that's all I do, but that it's not all that I'm interested in. So I'm reaching outside of my box, or comfort zone, and exploring a new aspect of the all that is web 2.o. Hopefully it works out for me.

I did want to write about a positive experience that I had for the IPL recently. My best friend teaches 7th grade in a city school in Rochester NY. We were talking about how hard it is to find quality resources for kids that made them do the work to find the source but helped teach them how to search in a meaningful way. I told her to have them give the IPL a shot, and that if they couldn't find answers to their questions that they had a service which would help them answer their questions or get started searching. Friday night, she told me her kids loved the IPL. They really enjoyed how Kidspace was set up and had even asked a question and gotten a response right away. Score one for the IPL :) I'm helping with Outreach in methods I apparently had forgotten about----word of mouth. How old fashioned of me.

The MySpace page is coming along, for the IPL. I really want to get together with Glynis to figure out how we should write the About Me section. I don't want it to come across too Librarianesque, but I don't want it to seem so casual that people don't think that it is really sanctioned by the IPL. So I'll have to work on that as soon as I get the paper done...Wish me lucK!!!!
Melanie

IPL on MySpace

In lieu of class tonite, I'm attempting to work on my MySpace page for the IPL. Visit www.myspace.com/internetpubliclibrary to see how it's coming along. It's a tedious process, getting it to look right, let alone to get started on the print for the page. And then I will start attempting to add friends. I don't want to get to that stage until the page looks professional. Otherwise people might think I'm pranking them.

Rachelville

The story of Rachelville and all that the 'worker's' of Rachelville do amazes me. After class on Wednesday, I've become officially hooked on Second Life and all that it offers. Second Life brings together people of all walks of life, in ways that can't be done without the internet. It's a great education tool, as long as it is used as a method to further good things in society then I am a firm believer that Second Life should be used to educate and interest. When I went in Rachelville earlier today, they've decorated for Halloween. Go on take a look. I love the pumpkins.

For my Outreach project, I'm going to be creating a MySpace page as a promotional tool for the IPL. I have to iron out a lot of the behind the scenes riff raff, i.e. what email address to use when I sign up, password, what kind of information the IPL wants on the page. I don't want to step on any toes or do anything that the IPL doesn't deem as important or necessary. I want this to turn into something that helps them out and I can't wait to get started. I've spent lots of time locating as many of the libraries on MySpace that I can, and I have plans of creating a Group for the IPL and inviting people to join. So I have to email Dr. Mon to see if she knows who I should contact about logistics, and then time to have fun :)

I wanted to write that normal chat lectures irritate me because I find myself not being...well me. I don't speak up in chat classes, where in a normal lecture, I'm usually the one to answer all the questions. I have afear that all these people will see what I'm typing and deem me unimportant or unworthy of their attention. Which, of course, logically would not be the case. But, in Second Life I felt a little more comfortable being me, or mellyrosie. Even when I wasn't looking at what other people where looking at (which is totally me in real life as well, I have a huge problem focusing) I still felt more, well, more a part of things than I do in the BlackBoard chat rooms. I dont feel involved enough, even throughout the whole degree program, and for learners like me I dont know that I would recommend the online route. I try to make a conscious effort, at least in group discussions to not be the silent member. I attempt to make my voice heard. But it is frustrating for someone who is usually so vocal to feel almost as though they have lost their voice. Lost all means to communicate what they are feeling. I hope other professors try to explore other options, like Second Life, because it is certainly a valid form of communication.

I want a simple life like that

We met this week in Second Life. It was such fun. Well, except for the fact that I couldn't seem to stop running into people no matter what I did. I guess, just like in real life, I need to learn to hang back until I'm sure of what I'm doing, so I don't hurt anyone :) It was fun too, to be able to take a class picture of all of our avatars ... I hope I'll have more of a chance to explore Second Life in the future. I'm hoping to bring my mom into the world of Second life....I think she'll really like talking and hanging out with me on the Internet....

I was reading some articles this week on Second Life and other online social network/gaming type sources of entertainment. And it was mentioned in class that there are people who look at SecondLife as a form of their real life, which seems slightly disturbing. I've always been slightly disturbed that people can take the Internet and use it to substitute normal human interaction. Don't get me wrong, I think the Internet is an amazing and wonderful thing, but it is almost like a drug. And drugs form addictions. They need to be used in moderation. Drugs kill Brain Cells :)

So....


So many things to talk about float about care about, that I don't know where to start. This class is fast becoming the only one I seem to care about!!! Hurray for Dr. Mon. Boo for me and my GPA. There are so many things that I want to do for my project, so many directions. I can't focus.

But...Team Outreach
Patricia and I met last night. We're such a small team (hopefully one more strong member) so we must keep ourselves to projects that are attainable. And not take off more than we can chew or however the adage goes. The two ideas we're trying to narrow down are

1.) Creating pages on social networking sites to promote the IPL. Sites such as MySpace, Face Book etc that can appeal to YA's and perhaps get them more interested into what the IPL has to offer. This idea might be more realistic due to the size of our group. But, having MySpace and Facebook, I realize that these might not be too difficult to set up. I might be able to do a solid job in a couple rainy afternoons.

2.) Creating either a little search window, or a link, that public libraries can put on their websites that will swoosh their users right on over to the IPL and all its fabulousness. This, alas, seems very daunting. I know next to nothing about html ( I can edit a wiki and that's it) and then all the contact we'd have to have with librarians. We'd never get this all the way done. Maybe we could just concentrate on a set number of libraries---maybe links in major libraries in major cities? What does the IPL think about this? Do they want us to do this?


WE had questions about the parameters. Where we're allowed to go exactly. Hopefully, we can get going though. It's going to be lots of work :)

love in reading,
melanie