THING 47: Evaluation

This was another great round of "Things" that we learned about. I enjoyed the process of learning something new. I also enjoyed working on some of the things with my coworkers. It was nice to have someone to discuss the things that weren't working quite right or that I didn't understand. Together we were usually able to figure things out. There was also a little of the competition thing going on which helped us to stay motivated. I sincerely hope that more things are added in the future. My favorite things were probably digital photography and music online.
My least favorite was RSS feeds! Thanks again for a great learning experience.

THING 46: WJMN

I registered on WebJunction Minnesota. I also found a friend and I'm waiting to hear from that person. I checked out the Community Calendar of Events. The most useful items to me would probably be the courses available online. It's not always possible to get to all the courses or workshops that you would like to attend.
I checked the two discussion groups, but didn't find anything I wanted to join in.
Some of the discussions are school related, of course, and not as much of interest
to a public librarian. I will recommend WebJunction to a friend who has just become a school librarian. She has to learn the barcoding software this summer. She may find help on WebJunction.

THING 45: Cloud Computing

I investigated many of the sites listed to learn about cloud computing. Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are some of the major cloud computing service providers.
Everyone who uses the internet probably uses these providers for something. It was interesting for me to read that the term cloud computing probably originated in the telecom industry with the term telecom cloud. I'll have to ask my husband about this as he works in the telephone industry. Some days he wishes all the problems would float away in a cloud!
I think the idea of accessing your personalized desktop from anywhere should be of great interest to a lot of people. They could access their information from anywhere that they happened to be. Backing up data is always important and no method seems to be foolproof. Maybe it's not the methods but the humans that can't be made foolproof.
Sometimes it seems scarey that all this information is out there for anyone who finds a way to access it.

THING 44: The Economy

This "Thing" is very timely. I explored many of the sites including Feed the Pig(humorous), fuel economy.gov (my car is not very fuel efficient!), erideshare.com (no rides available in our rural area), and Frugal Dad (No. 56 says to rediscover a local library!).
I decided to dig a little deeper into Craigslist and Minnesota Gardening. Craigslist seems to be my son's favorite site. He lives in Minneapolis and uses it all the time. He has bought and sold many items on this site, including a great leather sofa that he just purchased. He has also rented out his duplex by posting it on this site. In exploring Craigslist, it became evident that you need to explore metro areas to find anything. I explored the St. Cloud area and found many items for sale. I didn't explore the relationship area of Craigslist. The news seems to highlight any crimes connected to Craigslist and there have been some shocking ones!
I enjoyed the Minnesota gardening site and signed up on the garden web - Twitter.
It's nice to explore a gardening site that is specifically for Minnesota. Now I know more about the grubs that are killing our lawn! I also looked into perennials which I keep saying I need more of so I don't buy so many annuals every year.

THING 43: Online TV and Video

Online TV and Video was another very fun thing to explore. I was already familiar with Hulu so had done some viewing on it before. I did try Joost also, but think I prefer Hulu. I watched several things - a trailer for the new movie, Taken; Paula's Home Cooking show (only clips available, not the whole show)and some episodes on the Home and Garden channel. I created a log-in on Hulu and set up a queue of items for viewing at a later date. The queue was for TV shows and I tried to add a movie in the queue but couldn't figure out how to do that. I recommended a movie through the link to Facebook (Romancing the Stone).
These were fun sites to explore, but I don't think it will change my viewing habits much. There aren't many shows on TV that I follow on a weekly basis. I much prefer to READ in my free time. The TV is usually on but my husband controls the remote!
As far as watching movies, I don't like to watch them on the computer screen. I like going to movies at the theater or checking them out from my library! I know the younger generation is used to doing everything online and I watch my sons watching shows online. This could cause an economic problem for broadcast and cable TV. Everyone is looking for ways to do things for free!

THING 42: Music 2.0

Internet Radio is fabulous! I loved Pandora! You could select any artist and create a playlist with their music and similar music. I created several different radio stations (Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, The Association, Celine Dion and Reba McIntyre). I used radio-locator to find stations in my area. Our local stations were not available to listen to on-line, so I checked Minneapolis and found many to listen to. I listened to public radio, Christian Contemporary and Hip Hop!
I then added a widget from 365live. Thanks for introducing me to Internet Radio!

THING 42: Music 2.0