Monday, August 27, 2007

Animated pictures

I just used Google image to find a free animated butterfly. I then did a copy and paste of the image. You can also save to a disk then down load off the disk.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Quest 4 - RSS

Ok, I created a Bloglines account. The blogroll is at http://www.bloglines.com/public/Mindwarpsmom . So what? I looked at this in class. I could not see me using it. All though, I do like some of the feeds. I remember learning about RSS in one of my MLIS internet classes. If I want news, I go to CNN or Reuters. Other than that, I do not have time either at work or at home to play on the computer. Besides, I never manage to have an empty computer either at home or work to just play on. Just try to get my geek daughter off our home computer so, that's life.

Quest 3 - IM

I just finished IMing CCPLHELP. I ask about their most unusual patron question. They answered that a patron asked last week if bugs (he meant bacteria) on and in the body were intelligent. He added, like aliens. Ha ha ha. A patron once came up to me and ask for a current map of the Middle East, she wanted to know where the Garden of Eden was located. She wanted to visit. At MTP, the reference desk had a patron say that she could not find the Bible in fiction. She had looked under g for God. Yes, these are real reference questions. This is like a chatroom, which I did at USC.

Tech Trek 2.0 - Lifelong Learning and Blogging

It is not that I am per say opposed to blogging as much as I am not a diarist. I did not keep one as a teenager when it was popular. I am my own thinker, not a sheep that follows the crowd. Just because everyone is joining the bandwagon to MySpace and Blogging does not make it okay. Please be careful with what you write, some may be offended. A few weeks ago I read an article in USA Today about the negative side of Blogging. I then ask my resident geek daughter (Jenn) about it. She told me that TROLLS were old news. Trolls (not the fairytale kind) as defined by Wikipedia:

In the context of internet culture, an internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts messages about sensitive topics constructed to cause controversy in an online community such as an online discussion forum or USENET groups in order to bait users into responding.[1] They may also plant images and data on networks that others may find disturbing in order to cause confrontation.
More specifically a troll is an insult or accusation made against a poster. It would be highly unusual for any internet poster to claim the title of troll[citation needed], rather a community member may try to deflate a post that is controversial or thought provoking by referring to it as a “troll”. In usage troll is more of an insult like "jerk".
To call someone a troll is to say that any dispute over a post is not valid not because the issues raised are not valid, but to claim the intent of the poster invalidates the post. As a speech act the term troll is generally used as an ad hominem argument, attacking the poster rather than the content or issues of the post.

So, Please monitor CCPL’s blogs. Do not rely on Blogspot to do it for you. OK, enough with the lecture.

As for the 7 ½ Habits of Highly Sucessful Lifelong Learners, I am a firm believer. When you stop learning, you shrivel up and become stagnant, and might as well be dead. Age has nothing to do with becoming stagnant and old. I know some young people who are old because they have stopped learning. Conversely, I have known some elderly people who are forever young because their never stop learning. My credo is one is never too old, one will never learn it all or do it all but one should still try. If I did not believe this, I would never have gone back to college at age 46 to get my undergraduate degree, let alone got my MLIS at 51. This philosophy on life is also why I took the Tech Trek classes.

Habit # 1: Set goals. This is what a forward thinking person does. The here and now generation does not know how to delay gratification, which is what happens when you set goals.
Hahit # 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning. This should be a no brainer, but there are those who blame the teacher for their or their child’s failure to learn.
Habit # 3: View problems as challenges. My father once told me that one does not only gain an education in a classroom. Otherwise, life is learning. Only a pessimist does not learn. You know them by their sayings: I am too old, I don’t have the money etc. Even one's failures should be a learning experience. When you were in 1st grade, you answered 1+1=3. The teacher marked you wrong, then corrected you by saying 1+1=2. Hopefully you learned that 1+1=2. That is learning from your mistakes. I find that (hopefully) people learn more from their mistakes and failures then from always getting it right.
Habit # 4: Confidence. Be like the Little Engine that Could. Change negative thinking to positive. There is that silver lining around that black cloud. Think instead of I can’t to I think I can to I CAN.
Habit # 5: Learning toolbox. The best education comes from many sources, inside and outside the classroom. Be a true Renaissance person. Gain a true liberal arts education, experiment, try something new. By the way, this is what makes a good reference librarian.
Habit # 6: Use technology to your advantage. What can I say, my geek daughter says that I (we) are old folks behind the times because blogging, MySpace, etc. are old news. Besides learning old technologies, we need to look to new emerging technologies. Check out PC Magazine or ask a geek.
Habit # 7: Teach. As a Reference Librarian, I do this every day when working with patrons. I also share what I learn from my TLC classes with my fellow employees.
Habit # 7 ½ : Play. I do that on my own time. I only play with work related technology such as databases on work time.