Thing 12

This Thing threw me for a bit of a loop at first. I'm the first to admit that I suck at making any sort of decision, and now I had to pick a technology to talk about?! Which one? My awesome iPhone I'm so very much in love with? Podcasting, the e-tool I'm both interested in learning more about and yet too nervous to make use of?

In the end I went with Second Life. You won't be able to follow this link at work however - tis blocked. Which isn't overly surprising, but gave me a laugh. See, I first heard about Second Life years ago. I remember 60 Minutes did a piece on it, and while it looked interesting, it wasn't my thing. Recently, it was brought up again at the e-Mentoring workshop I attended - the trainer even uses it as part of her teaching and whatnot...but it is blocked. I only hope she doesn't want to make use of it again in her online workshops! ;-P

Now, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Seeing as you can't follow the link, I'll explain the whole thing a bit - but seriously, you need to have look at the website when you can because I know I won't do it justice.

Second Life is an online 3D virtual world. You create an account and an avatar - which here is a 3D representation of yourself (or fantasy self, as is usually the case), and give yourself a name. You choose your first name, and Second Life generates a list of last names for you to choose from. It's truly that simple - you download the software, log in, and BAM! You're transported to a whole new world.

Now, this place is HUGE! I am not kidding. Second Life is bigger than you can even imagine - it's not just a game, but a life. You can shop, meet people, join book clubs, visit places you can only ever dream about (the Milky Way, for example) and places that maybe you just don't have the chance to visit yet in real life (or as it's known in Second Life, First Life). People literally replicate real places for you to explore - including Mexico, castles in France, and world renowned art galleries. But it's also a world of fantasy and gaming - you can join in futuristic role playing games; or go back in time and visit the Victorian era.

You can buy or rent land so that you can build a home or something else. People actually even work in Second Life. You can purchase "Linden Dollars" to spend within the world, which has a USD equivalent, so people design things for others to buy, and in doing so earn real money. Pretty cool.

Everything Second Life is pretty cool to me - it is both awe inspiring and terrifying! So, after all of this, just how hooked am I? Well, I'm on my way to addicted I think.

My Second Life name is Jinx Celestalis. My avatar has long black hair (for now) and wears a gorgeous black dress (also for now). I don't find it easy to use at all, but I'm getting there. I first explored the place on Saturday night, and met Larry, who took me shopping for the dress, jewellery and hair. Once Jinx was all dolled up, we went dancing! That was beyond fantastic - turns out I'm a great dancer! ;-) According to Larry it takes over a week just to learn the basics of Second Life! Boy, is he right. This morning I ventured out on my own, did some "freebie" shopping (as in for items that don't cost any money), and flew for the first time. Oh, you read that right - in Second Life you can fly, and to get from one place to another you teleport. Which is awesome but scary - last time I teleported I materialised smack bang in front of a huge dude. Freaky! I also met a lovely lady this morning who is part of a vampire/lycan/angel clan, and who has friended me so that she can invite me to future clan events...now you understand why I'm on my way to addicted, right? ;-P

I truly look forward to getting more involved in Second Life - I plan to visit those French castles, and I so look forward to experiencing the Victorian Era!! The only problem is that I am truly terrified by it. Weird, I know. You'd think it'd be easier over the computer, but the whole idea makes me nervous - I can't start conversations, and I actually try to avoid people. But that is just for now. At the moment I'm completely a fish out of water, but I think the more I use it, the better I'll get at it, and feel more in my element. Besides, I've already made 2 friends who have gone out of their way to teach me and make me feel welcome, so I know I'll get there.

Thing 11

Ta da! Check out my very own search engine - So much Supernatural!

I was thinking about doing one on books, or anime/manga, but decided to focus on my other love instead - the tv show Supernatural! It's a Friday, ok? It's on my mind! ;-P

I've never heard of Rollyo before, and the idea is certainly a great one. However, sometimes it was temperamental - it wouldn't connect properly, and kept showing up with a "didn't connect - too many connections" error message. Really frustrating. In all honestly, this is a "Thing" that's really quite simple enough to speed through, but it took much longer than I anticipated.

Also, I used a couple of Wikipedia pages as a source, but it ignored the specific address (if that makes sense!) and when I did a test search it searches ALL of Wikipedia. That's a little disappointing. I deleted them as sources because they were finding irrelevant results.

Just for fun, I also created a search box. Though I almost gave up it took so long to connect!

Select...So much SupernaturalSearch The Web

Thing 10

I've created a profile and catalogue with LibraryThing - you can check out my 'library' here! Note my awesome Warholized profile picture! \o/

There are so many more titles I could add, but when it comes to thinking of them, I draw a blank. So I have Nicholas Sparks under a "Favourite author" collection, and there are a few still "To read" (there are still heaps and heaps to be added here!). A lot of the books are those I've read recently, and youth fiction. I've added my own tags to some, and rated those that I've read.

I absolutely loved Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, and am dying for its sequels, so I went looking for recommendations based on it. I found Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink, which I've heard a bit about - but what has grabbed me is that the audio version is narrated by Eliza Dushku, who is one of my fave actresses (Buffy and Dollhouse, etc). I've added this title to my "Wishlist" and I think I'll track that one down and give it a go. :-D

I've also joined the group Hogwarts Express...fitting, huh? I found another group that looked fantastic - they read a youth book a month and discuss - that I would've loved to join but there hasn't been any comments since about July, so I guess they've stopped. Maybe I can get it re-started, yeah? ;-)

Overall, LibraryThing has been easy to use and somewhat interesting...I look forward to investigating further!

Thing 9

Pop Kim
Originally uploaded by randybaggins

Online generators! \o/ I've wanted to Warholize myself ever since I saw that I could. It's a little faded looking because the photo wasn't great, but I love it!! If you go to my Flickr photostream, you'll see that I also turned myself into a trading card, and I am now officially a museum work of art! Wee!

I found these generators fun and easy to use, and I especially liked that they linked to Flickr. This way I didn't have to re-upload photos but could select from my photostream, and easily upload the finished product. I'm impressed and my mind is already tinkering with ways these could work with the teens and our monthly events...

Thing 8

I love mashups! So, so much fun...which is very bad, because like I've said, I'm a procrastinator, and I could waste a lot of time playing with these!

I played with the Montagr mashup, which was cool. It took me a moment to realise that even the photos that made up the chosen image were tagged the same. Depending on what the image was though, not all were very clear.

I also went through the Mashup Award winners for Flickr, and there is some interesting stuff there. So much to do with Twitter though, which I don't use.

My favourite mashup however was Flickr Memari - a Flickr memory game! LOVE IT. I've always been endlessly amused playing that game, and it was awesome with photos. If I create my own photo set on Flickr with over 18 photos, I can play using them, and that's even better!

Thing 7 (part 2)

Youth
Originally uploaded by randybaggins

I created my very first account with Flickr, which was easy - but I didn't really like that you also had to sign up with Yahoo. I used to have a Yahoo account a very long time ago, and it's not a huge bother, but I don't know, it's just one more thing, you know?

For this 'thing', taking the photos was more of a challenge! I tried being creative, but I don't think I have an eye for photography. I also don't think many of these photos would actually be good to use as promotional material for the library, but I had fun!

The one I've chosen for here is a shot of part of the youth collection. I like it, though I think there's a little too much of that accidentally on purpose strategically placed sign in the corner. Still, I also got the very new "Youth Fiction" sign in, so yay me!

Uploading the photos was also very simple - nice and easy step by steps, just a few clicks of some buttons. I realised after I'd uploaded a couple that I hadn't rotated them first, and thought I'd have to start all over, but Flickr has a rotate button that worked like a charm! Love it.

I think I'm going to have even more fun with the next couple of Things! :-D

Thing 7 (part 1)

I've always known about Flickr, but have only ever browsed photos briefly. There are SO many! I liked having a better look this time around - I never realised there were groups, or that you could edit photos! That is really cool. I also loved the idea of interestingness, it was fun to browse them. So many beautiful photos...most of which were copyrighted, so no link to them here. In the end I decided to go to the Creative Commons page and searched for "eiffel tower" (of course!), and I found the photo Eiffel Tower at night by Alarzy which is an awesome shot...kind of looks like a bit from a sci-fi film! Tags are certainly helpful for searching, but it's still pretty time consuming browsing through the thousands (or more) it locates. The more keywords you use, the more sepcific you are, might have better luck...but only if the person who uploaded the photos tagged it the same way you think, I guess.

Thing 6

So I've been busy adding feeds to my Google Reader, and it's been fun. I've added some authors like Stephenie Meyer and Sarah Dessen, as well as youth fiction blogs and a couple of anime related feeds. I found searching through the Google Reader to be somewhat time consuming, as searching for a keyword(s) would find if it had been used at some point rather than a feed devoted to it. Much like a normal Google search then! Even the browsing by categories was way too general. In the end I much preferred just visiting websites and blogs I had in the past, and subscribing to them if they had feeds.

I don't know if I have my head fully wrapped around RSS quite yet though. Sure, I understand the concept, but more in terms of how I do it. I don't know if I'd be able to fully explain it to someone else! I'm not really sure how it affects the way I find information on the internet...other than how I don't have to check multiple sites for updates anymore.

I've noticed that libraries use RSS on their websites and blogs, and it's certainly a useful tool. Being able to keep people updated with the smallest amount of effort on their part is great. They might even be more likely to keep better informed that way. But they'd have to know about feeds, and I'm not sure how many do. Wicked! can be added to a feed reader for instance, but I doubt any of the teens we try to target are aware of RSS.

I don't have a weirdest feed, and I didn't really see one in my searching, but my favourite at the moment is the Hey! Teenager of the Year blog. Pretty impressive!

Thing 5

So, I've tackled RSS and I've added the Nhulunbuy Library Learning blog to my Google Reader, as well as the blogs of other learners! I find it easy to use, as I have the practice from using the desktop FeedReader application described in the PaliNet tutorial. I've been using that at home for over 6 months now to follow things like ComicCon updates and the Reading Rants blog.

Now I'm off to search for other RSS feeds and complete Thing 6!

7 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits

Oh, the 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learners. They certainly make sense.

• Begin with the end in mind - This is easy. I know my goals...it's the reaching them that can be hard!
• Accept responsibility for your own learning - At first I thought this is easy, and I guess on the surface it is. Still, sometimes I have a lot of excuses for why I haven't or can't, and so maybe it isn't that easy.
• View problems as challenges - This one is harder for me. Problems can frustrate me, and then they can become one of my excuses.
• Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner - Yeah, this one might just be the hardest. I guess I just don't? At least not always.
• Create your own learning toolbox - This is easy.
• Use technology to your advantage - This can be easy. I like technology, and I can use it...but I'm not sure if I always know the best way to use it to my advantage.
• Teach/mentor others - This is easy. If I can help, I love to, and I think it's true that you learn as you teach.
• PLAY! - EEEAAAAASSSSSYYYY! Until I start procrastinating... ;-P

Thing 3

Hello, and welcome to my first post! Here I'll be working through the 23 Things! This right now is Thing 3! So stick around and see how I go! ;-P