#23 The End?

We'll I guess this is the end for now. This was tough. If any of my friends decide to complete the exercises, I will help them if want me to. This was great because I won't be so intimidated by recent 2.0 technology. I'm not cocky though. Just because I've done all this work does not make me an expert. But I am happy for new opportunities like this. Thank you JPL managers! I would like to give a special thanks to Refman himself. He encouraged the team when we were down in the dumps about the exercises. Thank you Refman!

#22 Audio Books

I love audio books, but I usually use itunes. I like the library's overdrive media also, but I have yet to find anything I want to check out. I'm glad we secured funds to beef up our selection a bit. If we want to compete with itunes, we need to offer customers alot of media-both video and audio.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts

I was happy to complete this easy discovery exercises. I subscribed to a feed called Grammar Girl. The Podcast gives tips on how to be a better writer. To bad I didn't find this program earlier-lol. I have also added the Podcast to my blog (located on the lower right). This technology is already used to give customers information on library events. Podcasts can be used to give spoken book reviews, or even broadcast the latest incident reports.

#20 You Too Can YouTube

I like Youtube as a source of entertainment only. It just isn't reliable as a research tool. Anyone can post, and most of the content seems to be just advertisements. I like video games, so it's good to see the trailers for all the game media. Speaking of media, I came across this Cookie Monster clip, featuring Cookie Monster in the library. I always enjoy watching media conceptions of the perfect librarian. This clip was no exception. Cookie Monster has always been a favorite character of mine-I love cookies too! I'm sad there are no cookies allowed in the library for him. Oh well.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

I recently took a look around the Web 2.0 Tools web page. I found it interesting that many of the tools covered in this training are also featured on the sight. Tools that I do not know about are often ranked lowly by the Web 2.0 Tools page. The five star ranking system is my favorite feature. It's easier to see why one tool did better than another. I like the Amazon.com/social media aspects of the Web 2.0 Tools web page because anyone, it seems, can nominate a tool. Database usage on the library's web page would benefit greatly from this. Customers who get to nominate favorite databases, if any, would be of tremendous help. I would instantly know what databases I should promote with displays, or which databases I could recommend for discarding.

One of my favorite tools is the "Pandora" music player. I love the idea of technology doing for me, what I used to do for myself. "Pandora" can search for and automatically download music for sampling and purchase later on. If you like a song, "Pandora" will find other songs that use similar instruments and have a similar sound.

#18 Zoho Writer

The following is my review concerning a recent movie: "City of Ember". With Zoho Writer, I was able to make changes to my thoughts and add links to the review. I could have done the same with blogger, but Zoho allows me the option to have friends proofread the writing beforehand. I was surprised at how easy it was to post the review to my blog right away. This would have been wonderful during my days in college. I'll definitely keep this technology in mind for future use.

"City of Ember" records the exploits of two children fighting to save their underground community. I like the basic premise of this film. Two children unite in an "X-Files" styled storyline to overcome apathetic adults and repair a broken generator. We learn over and over again that one generator powers the whole community. Character interactions remind us that time is running out. Things are getting worse. There's no turning back. Too much time is wasted trying to teach the viewer what the problems are, and the film's plot sags on and on. The adults do everything abusive to their young people but kill them outright. Small children are left to fend for themselves, and there is virtually no sign of any police. It appears that garbage is simply thrown on the ground and left by the characters. The city itself is filthy. Everyone knew these problems were coming. Why wasn't anyone prepared? Every character seems aware of the problems, yet most of the characters either simply make up stories about everything, or do nothing. There are too many unanswered questions for me to have loved this movie.

#17 JPL Learning 2.0 Wiki

As I was posting my blog to the Favorites Blog Page, I couldn't help but feel like a lemming. I was given written instructions and I simply obeyed. Humans and lemmings have much in common, we form big groups and love to play follow-the-leader. When one person breaks away from the group out of dignity, and especially out of love, he is mocked, chastised, abandoned, and even killed. We just don't support the 'Free to Be You and Me' mantra.