Google Docs/Zoho

I can see where Google Docs and Zoho writer would come in handy. Since I have Word 2003 on both my computers, it is hard to open documents if people use a different program (open office or Word 2007). These apps would make it handy if more people would use them. It would not involve an extra step of having to convert them to a different format.

PBwiki

I enjoyed adding my favorites to the Nebraska Learns 2.0 wiki. It was not hard to add the favorite blog site. After reading the instructions, I wasn't sure, but added two blogs with no problems.

Wikis are interest and the posibilities seem endless. We could use them to plan teen activities or they would be great to plan the next extended family vacation. May have to do some more exploring with wikis.

Wikis

Seemed like a normal day at our house. The kids played the new video games Santa brought and I did laundry. We will have Christmas on Sunday. Should be fun. My brother and family are in Nebraska from Florida. My niece and sister-in-law do not understand the snowy/windy/cold Nebraska winter. The last time they were here for Christmas the weather was nice with very little snow.

I had some fun playing with wikis tonight. The video explaining wikis was very informative. I have already figured out several uses for a wiki at the library. They will come in handy next year when we start planning our next fund raiser. They are more reliable than email. Hopefully I can get everybody on board.

I think it would be interesting to do a book review wiki. We tried to do that for the paper once a month or so, but it did not last very long. I find it hard to explain a book in a couple of paragraphs without giving away the end of the book. This would be a way for multiple people to write about the books they are reading. We may have to explore this further.

Web 2.0

Change is good. However not everyone likes change. We have a core group of older people who have never heard or even care about web/library 2.0. Everything is geared towards the "Google Generation". But we in the library world have to take care of the loyal patrons who still like to read a good book. I like technology (as long as it works) as much as the next person, but I still want to hold a book while I read it. I don't want to read or listen to my books on the computer.
Libraries need to find a middle ground for the older patrons who just want to visit and pick out a good book and the "google generation" who want to do everything on the internet. If someone finds that happy medium let me know.

Happy Holidays.

SlideShare

I had fun explore slideshare on a cold, icy, snowy night with visions of no school (or work) dancing in everyone's head. I marked a couple of favorites, added nebraskaccess as a contact and even made a powerpoint presentation and uploaded it.

You can view my slideshare account at http://www.slideshare.net/dmcooper. I used pictures from our recent fundraiser at the library. They are pictures of some Christmas trees from the Tannenbaum Festival. I did not reduce the size of the pictures, therefore you cannot see the whole tree, but I thought it turned out pretty good for my first try.

I am just like the teens with all the mutli-tasking happening on my laptop tonight; writing in my blog, watching the Colts-Jaguars live look ins on nfl.com (no nfl network) with my son (big Colts fan), and watching the NU women's volleyball on ESPN2.

Hope we don't get too much snow tonight. It would be nice to have a day at home, but snowed in with the whole family right before Christmas break, may be a little too much family time. Oh well, we will find some good movies to watch and I made sure to have a couple of books before coming home from the library.