Thing #4----Eureka

J'Zara_m52
Originally uploaded by swordandsigil

It's really EASY to upload photos to your blog from Flickr once you are a member. I wish I had signed up earlier, and I would have saved myself a lot of frustration!

Thing #4 Still working on It

photo by jackpotfbd

photo by pchorsedoc

photo on the right is by chocolatequiltmom

Well, I finally was able to get pictures from Flickr, with expert help from my daughter the techno-wizard. I 'm still frustrated with not being able to control the layout of the pictures and text in my blog. I'm used to my PrintShop program, which lets me move anything anywhere, resize images, etc. Oh, well this IS supposed to be a learning experience!

Images are from http://www.flickr.com/

Thing #4 Photosharing with Flickr

Flickr is a site where you can store and organize your digital pictures and share them online with others. Sites like this can be great. When our daughter was in Europe a couple years ago, she uploaded her pictures to a site similar to this, and we were able to follow her on her travels. I have been trying unsuccessfully to upload images from Flickr to my blog for over an hour. IT JUST ISN'T WORKING! I click the button, it tells me my picture has been loaded, but it's not there.

Just Playing Around

There was beautiful spring-like

weather on Sunday afternoon, so

I took a walk down

by St. Anthony Falls.It was

36 degrees and sunny. I took a couple pictures to add to my blog for practice. We crossed over the river twice , over both of these bridges, and saw the progress being made on the construction of the new 35W bridge. Adding images from my computer files to my blog was easier that I thought it would be, so expect more pictures to come! But--if I can add pictures just using Blogger, why do I need Flickr?? I guess it's time to start Thing #4 and find out!

Thing #3 RSS Account and Feeds

I decided to use Google Reader for my RSS account, because others had mentioned in their blogs that Bloglines was confusing, frustrating, and difficult to set up. I had no problems at all with Google Reader. All I did was log in and it was there and ready to go. I subscribed to a few 23 things blogs, and to several other interesting sites (Who can live without The Daily Kitten?)

I like Google Reader. It has a great "Discover and Search" page where you can subscribe to pre-packaged Feed bundles on different topics, such as News, Sports, Technology, etc. Or, you can search a topic of your own and receive a list of sites with RSS feeds. It is easy to preview the sites before you decide to subscribe, and if you change your mind, a click of the mouse will delete the site from your list.

Thing #2 What is Library 2.0?

Library 2.0 is a term used to describe a new set of concepts for developing and delivering library services. There was a lot of reading involved in this "thing". I liked the statement from Blyberg's blog that said "The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives." There are a lot more things out there competing with libraries for the public's time and attention than there used to be!

I was amused the other day by a poster from the Bakken Museum that said something like "Imagine a World Without Cell Phones, Microwaves, or the Internet!" Oh, dear..........That really made me feel like an antique! I grew up in the 60's--there were no cell phones, microwaves, computers, videos, DVDs, etc. There were only 5 TV channels! The library was a place where you went to check out books, and do research for school assignments. My, how things have changed! One of the reasons I am participating in this program is to familiarize myself with some of the changing technologies that the younger generation has embraced so effortlessly.

Last year we upgraded from dial-up to DSL at home, and I have found that I use the internet a lot more than I used to. It's so fast and easy to look up information on-line. I will probably be doing my 23 things from home, as things are usually too busy at work to spend a lot of time at the computer.

I liked the video from Stephen Abrams (hard to watch at first--load 30 seconds, play 30 seconds, load 30 seconds, play 30 seconds..........) Finally I just ignored it until the end when it was all loaded and "rewound the tape" to listen. Two things stood out to me--that hands-on experience is essential to understand and learn how the various web tools work, and that as adults, we not only have to "do" the things, we also need to stop and reflect on what we have done in order for it to "sink in" and complete the learning process. Blogging seems to help with the "reflecting" part.

Still Waiting.......

Well, I registered my blog with the "23 Things on a Stick" team on Friday Jan 25, and it STILL has not shown up on the Metronet list. I'm beginning to wonder if I am really registered or not. If it doesn't show up by tomorrow, I'll try submitting it again. That "Survey Monkey" screen that popped up after I clicked on the "submit" button is really unnerving--makes me think I might have done something wrong.........

Thing #1---Set up your Blog

OK--one down, only twenty-two to go! This "thing" was really fun. The directions were easy to follow, and I had no problems setting up my basic blog. I'll probably be tweaking it and adding a few more features as I go.The Yahoo Avatars were fun to play around with, kind of like virtual paper-dolls! I was a little disappointed that the animation did not transfer to my blog when I exported the avatar from Yahoo--anyone out there know why not?

Although I use the computer a lot at work, I'm still not very familiar with all of the new tools and technology out there on the web. This exercise was a real confidence builder.

Just Getting Started

So much to learn! So far I have spent time reading blogs from some of the other 23 things participants (for inspiration), and have just now created my very first web log! I'm looking forward to experimenting with the different web tools.