Beyond Method 7

Copy of Dan Brown Author on Prezi

I chose to use Prezi because it looked so radically different from Power Point.  I used Power Point in graduate school and found it very easy to use but there was a sameness to it no matter what subject you chose.  I love using Prezi.  It was fun.  Although I only added a few fields to my presentation, I felt that I learned the basics.  I really liked the simplicity of Prezi; one page to arrange your presentation on and multi use tools like the transformation zebra to change the text or graphics.  I can see when doing a presentation with a lot of information that you would have to be very careful in how you arrange your information and limit the number of zooms so that the audience doesn't get motion sickness.  Before this course, I was not aware of any of the other presentation tools except the one in Google Docs.  Google Docs is very effective for presentations dealing with charts and graphs as they can all be created in the google suite.
The other presentation tools presented, except Slideshare look like various versions of a super power point with the advantage of being in the cloud and accessible wherever there is Internet.
I can see using these tools especially Prezi and Sliderocket on the library website.  I feel that I could help someone coming into the library and looking for an alternative presentation tool.

Beyond Method 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4276
I had no idea that there were so many formats and accessibility issues with e-readers.  In helping out patrons (who are already asking about ebooks when we closed our library for renovation) there is a definite learning curve that we as librarians have to master as nothing is standardised.  As we know, e-readers like Kindle and Nook were not developed for libraries but for purchases off of Amazon and Barnes and Noble so standardization is probably not in the future.  I find Project Gutenberg very easy to use if you are going to download it to a computer, however, downloading to the various devises is something else.  Here, in this time of transition, librarians are needed to be media techs.  After our library re-opens in January, we will be purchasing several kinds of e-readers so that we can serve as teachers to our patrons especially those retirees that just received an e-reader from a younger relatives. After practicing, I'm sure we will be up to the task of helping them download from Project Gutenberg when the owner of Kindles, Nooks, and other devises come in asking for help.

Beyond Method 5

I loved Goodreads at first sight although I enjoyed reading some reviews in LibraryThing.  I would like to have a class for our older ladies and gentlemen who are avid readers on how to use Goodreads as I feel it is easier to use.  So many of our patrons read series fiction and finding the next book in the series is easy on Goodreads as well as finding like authors that the patrons will enjoy.  I think that patrons would like to review books on a virtual book club on our library website.  They could find friends from our library or the San Antonio Library who are reviewing on Goodreads.  Teens would enjoy this as well.  The tags are so much easier to create and use than library subject headings.   We have a fair amount of suggestions for purchase and Interlibrary Loans but I think that this would add to it as patrons would be continually finding books that they want to read.

Beyond Method 4

As many other libraries at this time, we have people coming in who have not used a computer and are being told by employers that they must apply online.  Our library does not have a computer training program so the websites that are available are a big help for us.  I was not aware of the Goodwill site and I feel that even someone who hasn't used a computer before would find it helpful.  The Texas Workforce site, twdl.org is also most helpful.  I hope they keep getting the funding for this site.  Looking at Visual CV, I wonder what company would be interested in receiving resumes with so much information in them when usually they want one page only.  I guess you could pack more information in a youtube video.  This kind of resume would work well for people interested in getting a job in advertising or sales and would help the person who hires in eliminating people based on their youtube presentation,  podcasts, or their charts and graphs.  I like Linkdin, in that it seems more professional than Facebook in networking for a job.  All these websites are going on the reference computer so that we can refer our patrons to them.  I'm sure it will help them learn computer skills, find jobs electronically and apply for those jobs.

Beyond Method 3

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

This link will take you to the general area, click my places, then Hunt Walking Tour.

I love Google Maps.  They have done a lot with it in the last few years with street views and satellite views.  However, I find  creating a map full of problems.  When I wanted to put in a description, the increase/decrease bar was in the way and could not be moved so I didn't put in as many descriptions as I wanted to.  I have no idea how I managed to put in the ones I did.  Whenever I was able to use the line tool (very difficult) it would change the positioning of my map after I tyed in the box for the heading and I would have to go back and reposition the map.  If I clicked too close to a landmark on my Richmond map, it would pop up a google description box of that landmark so I gave up on that one.  Too many extranious boxes where popping up every time I clicked.  There should be some way of disabling the description boxes when you are trying to create a map.  

Beyond Method 2

Netvibes versus iGoogle
I have used iGoogle before and like it's clean lines but it can't be used on our 18 public computers.  Netvibes on the other hand seems to have everything and it shows in it's cluttered appearance.  iGoogle would work as a staff page but we would need Netvibes for the public computers.  I like the idea of everything on the opening page but it should be designed so that people are not confused by the clutter.  There are multiple tabs that can be used with Netvibes but I feel that is defeating the purpose of a single opening page.  Netvibes could be used as a sort of super webpage including the things that we know our patron access on their own.  Newspapers, Texas Workforce, games, news, and entertainment, library activities, and maybe a youtube video imported for a new book that we have just received are just a few of the things that could be included.

Method 1 "Beyond Two Steppin'"

 I'm about to start the course "Beyond Two Steppin.'"  I hope to get a little more creative on this part of the blog for this course.