Thing 23 - Final Thoughts

This project has been fantastic. I learned so much because I had committed to spend the time on these Web 2.0 tools. I feel that now that I have reached the end of the project, I want more content to explore.
The timing of this project was great. The MEMO board did some goal setting last summer. One of the goals was to explore Web 2.0 applications. Thank you for providing us with the tool to do this.
I would definitely be interested in continuing to explore more applications and tools. Also, I would support repeating this project for others to jump aboard.
Great project! Thanks!

Thing 22 - What Did I Learn Today?

Probably the best way for me to keep up with the available Web 2.0 tools is to set a time at work and home each week to explore. I found out that using my lunch time does not work. So, I would schedule a block in my calendar each week to work on 23 Things on a Stick. I found the time that I spent watching a sporting event or news on the weekend could be utilized by multi-tasking this viewing with working on this project. I will need to continue these practices to keep up with the available web applications.
I believe that my role within the school district will assist me in staying committed to this exploration. By supervising the media specialists, I will need to guide the group to available tools. By supervising the district support staff, I will need to work with the staff in ensuring the needed tools are available for staff. I also began presenting one Web 2.0 application at each curriculum team meeting. I believe that it is essential that we have our curriculum leaders in the know when it comes to available and emerging Web 2.0 applications.
I suspect that it will take a little more time to explore Web 2.0 tools once I have completed 23 Things on a Stick. The layout and format of this project has made it very easy for participants to move though the project.

Thing 21 - Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

We have been developing a ning site for MEMO members to explore as an attempt to enhance the MEMO web presence. So far, we have 35 members signed up and about a half a dozen active participants. Over the next few weeks, we are making a push for MEMO members to participate in the development of this site. If you are reading this post and interested in participating, the site can be found at http://memotech.ning.com.
I attempted to explore gather.com. However, I never received the confirmation email to fully utilize the site. I did finally spend some quality time with webjunction. I was very impressed with the resourse and features available. I plan on working with our district media specialists to encourage use of this valuable resource.
I believe that there is definitely a place for social networking within our profession. Too often media specialists and media support staff feel isolated in their day to day tasks. Social networking is a vehicle to provide needed support.

Thing 20 - Libraries and Social Networks

Let me begin by professing that I am proud of my liberal views. However, when it comes to MySpace and Facebook, my liberal views seem to take a back seat. My experience with these two sites has been as a father and through my role as overseeing district wide media. Fortunately, my experiences as a father have been positive. I discussed both apps with my daughter and we set up the accounts together. She becomes a little frustrated as I view her accounts. As she is approaching the age of 18, it will be soon up to her to continue making responsible decisions. On the work side, my experiences with these apps has not been as positive. Often I work with police on activity that could be criminal or on students that have set up factious accounts to discredit a teacher.
I understand the value of social networking. However, I truly believe that there are other tools or applications that will serve this purpose better than these two applications. Personally, I hesitate communicating through these vehicles due to the abuses that I have seen first hand. Maybe I have to remember the good interaction that my daughter has experienced and have to find my liberal hat and get back into this century.

Thing 19 - Podcasts

I use iTunes for picking up podcasts. I really don't follow any particular podcast on a regular basis. I listen to David Warlick quite often and also pick up quite a few podcasts related to golf. I have also picked up podcasts from sessions that I could not attend at conferences. Podcasts are most benefitial for me when I am traveling for work. I also find that I am more apt to download a podcast when I am behind in my professional reading.

Thing 18 - You Tube

Thing 17 - ELM Productivity Tools

I have been a long time supporter of the ELM resources. Over the years, I have lobbied for the funding of these tools because I have seen the value of the resources day to day. This is the second time that I have looked at the web development portion of the ELM tools. I guess that I am having trouble seeing the application of these productivity tools. With the other tools that we have for web page development, I do not really see the application of this aspect of the ELM resources. We have experienced so many Web 2.0 tools through this project that I believe are quite useful. I believe that I will use the ELM resources as resources and use other tools for web page development. If anyone reading this post can enlighten me on the usefulness of the web development piece of this application, I would welcome your thoughts.

Thing 16 - Student 2.0 Tools

I have been interested in these planning tools for students for quite some time. When Leslie and Jane were working on this project, I was impressed by the features that were included. I especially like the humor added for students working on a last minute project.
Periodically, I teach a research class at SCSU. I have found these type of calculators to be extremely useful for some students in managing their work load. These tools are so useful, I have included time in the course schedule to present the concept during class time.

Thing 15 - Online Games in Libraries

I began to download 2nd Life when I realized it involved a very large file. I intend to download the file on a computer at work so that I can test our filtering rules with the application. I am also interested in the information that Doug Johnson has provided regarding 2nd Life.
I had a difficult time navigating through the pirate games. I am not one to read directions and this probably explains my difficulties with this application.

Thing 14 - LibraryThing

I have been having a lot of fun working with librarything today. I have added a search to my blog and have been busy adding professional and personal resources. I see quite a bit of potential with this application. I only hope that I am being logical with my tags so that I can retrieve my entries in the future.

Thing 13 - Online Productivity Tools

I chose to set up an iGoogle page. Although I like the features available, I am not fond of how iGoogle has taken control of my Google prompt. Each time I go to the Google URL, I am redirected to the iGoogle that I set up. I prefer to have a choice in my Google interface. I also set up a count down timer on another blog. I could not get the count down to activate until I chose 2009 instead of 2008. Maybe it is a time change glitch. Once I got it going, it served the intended purpose. I found the file converters very useful and easy to use.

Thing 12 - Do You Digg?

I have found this "thing" to be very interesting. I have been revisiting these sites over the past few days to get a feel for this concept. This is an intriguing delivery of current events. The end user drives the content. Of all of the sites, I would probably utilize Digg within the school setting. Although some of the content could be inappropriate for instruction, out of all of these sites, Digg would probably have the least inappropriate content.

Thing 11 - Tagging and Del.icio.us

This is the first time that I explored Del.icio.us. I see many applications for this concept within the school district. We have struggled for years with having the end users bookmarks/favorites follow them from work station to work station. This solution would provide this transport within the district, as well as, outside of the district. I have been struggling with managing all of the sites that I have come across while working on 23 Things on a Stick. I began tagging the sites within Del.icio.us as 23ThingsOnAStick. Feel free to search it and add your own sites.

Thing 10 - Wikis

As I work more and more with staff from various districts around the state, I find that I am utilizing wikis more and more. Within MEMO, the use of a wiki was very valuable in following up on the work of the summer leadership conference. Participants were able to continue discussions following the conference. I have also been involved in the use of wikis while working on committees at the Minnesota Department of Education, while working within multi district grants, the MEMO Tech SID, and in the development of the MEMO legislative platform. I believe that my use of wikis will continue to grow.

Thing 9 - Online Collaboration Tools

Within the district, we are exploring the use of applications such as Google Docs and Zoho. We see potential with these online tools. Currently, a wrestling team from one of our high schools uses Google Docs to track meet and match information. The coaches like the ease of file sharing and the accessibility of the data. We do not foresee dropping all desktop publishing licenses in the near future. However, we see the possibility of purchasing fewer licenses as students progress through their K-12 experience and teaching word processsing, presentations, and spreadsheets as an attitude vs. an application.