BILLBOARD IMAGE PROMOTES TEEN PROGRAMS

Image generator, Big Hugh Labs, is great for the graphically challenged and quick for creating posters, fliers and other handouts. Just think how you could publicize teen programs with this billboard on the main drag! Next best -- It can go up in the main hall at the high school.
Image generators would be a step out from Workflows programs and more fun for our teen Library Intern to learn to create promotional materials.

New tools for old games Flickr Puzzle

Created at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/jigsaw.php

Mashups are fun because the applications are so varied. There are combined applications that make the first application useful to artists, teachers, players, and general learners. Since my first Flickr posts were professional, the mashups I chose were for that use also. Among other uses, I can see that Flickr Speller, Color, and Puzzles could be used for display and games for youth programs. The photos displayed here are a few from the Hawthorne Branch Library Summer Reading Program 2008. The kids are World Wide Readers who had their photos taken in the photo board after reading ten books. A puzzle picture would make a great incentive or we could enlarge and display with the caption "where are you?" Flickr Speller would make great captions.

Note to self: Try a mosaic. Learn how to eliminate glare.

Silent Protest

UPDATE 2/25/09 Erik requested payment (rightly I believe.) Old Library photo removed.

Downloaded in a fit of nostalgia and desire for a lost country. A bit deluded since I never reached the destination.

I notified Erik for use of the photo, suggested he notify me if there was a problem, and then went ahead and posted. He is now aware of "23 things", NEFLIN and Mecklenburg/Carlotte Public Library, through that communication; therefore, adding to that strand of information in the web.

At Flicker I have also posted Hawthorne Library Summer Reading Program photos from 2008, tagged Worldwide Readers and Hawthorne Library and reading.

RSS Feed

RSS Feed is set up with partial success. I feel like an amateur newspaper clerk -- learning to receive a wire of news. The equipment (or program) looks simple, but I am not completely successful in acquiring the news I desire. So, although this post is going out, Thing 4 must be revisited because RSS Feed is worth the effort, rather like receiving the local and world news on your front porch but getting getting other special reading goodies there too.

Questions still to be answered include: Why does it look like I subscribe because the link is listed, but for some no news is forthcoming (updates do not appear?) Why do I think I've subscribed, but the link does not appear on Bloglines. Can I make the feeds show on 23 Wings blog links. Right now they are static, not giving daily updates.

Aside: At first I rejected Bloglines because I was offended by the informality and poor grammar of the welcome. Then I threw that consideration aside and returned because it has simplicity and is easy to use. So, in this case, I am quite content to select the service for expediency.
Note to self: Save formality and good grammar for the gan you will never write. (because you let f and gg be stumbling blocks?)

Compare and Contrast 2.0

Characteristics of Technorati, with an adequate blog search format, lead to a wide variety of news and information and fair results, while characterisics of Google Blog, with an excellent search format, result in links to excellent and relevant blogs. The intention of a blog search will determine the blog search engine to be used.

Technorati is a fully constructed news and information delivery tool that includes a recognizable searching format for information produced in blogs. Search tags do not match my experience of key search terms, but will take practice to find; meaning that the search tools look like library world search tools, but I have not yet made a transition real world tags. This produced an impatient struggle to get blogs on my subject to appear. The searches seem literal, not cross referenced; I have been spoiled and need more practice.

Although I am not ready to research popular culture products and buzz through blogs, I can appreciate the opportunity that Technorati offers to do just that in "one stop shopping". Animated ads, like infomercials, are still distracting. When did I stop "seeing" specific blocks of print in newspapers, selectively sighting the most desired articles, picking up key words in headings and reading them also, but blocking ads and unwanted news and information? When will I learn to do it online?

Others: I briefly investigated several other blog search engines, including Bloglines, Sphere and LJ, to no satisfaction. That is, although I recognized their good links and news opportunities, I was not able to achieve easy access to the blog search. In the case of Sphere, the site seemed to be circular; primarily containing articles about Sphere.

So, I fell back on Google Blog. As with Technorati, Google Blog has recognizable and fairly comprehensive blog search tools, which gave me a short learning curve. As a plus, the page is clean, with no pop-up or animated ads, and the link selections and directory are discreetly placed. I felt no pressure to perform or grasp, but could focus on my intended search and received good results with links to sound blogs.

Note: For the elegant use of tools, intention determines the tool to be used. Skill comes through practice but ease comes from understanding the appropriate use and tool to be used.