Week 11 - Last Post: Some Place Cool

With temperatures creeping into the 90s, you may be looking for place to cool your heels. Here are a few ideas:

For just $5, you and up to 7 others in your vehicle can cool off at Wekiwa Springs State Park. There's also canoeing, hiking and camping there.


Looking for a peaceful day with friends or family, visit the beautiful Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales.

All geared up for a day at the theme park, however, the weather is not cooperating? Chill out at DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park. You'll enjoy virtual reality games, bumper cars, design your own roller coaster and even play games from the days of video arcades. All this fun and action for $29-$35 and air conditioning for the WHOLE day!

Have a great summer.

Week 10 - Podcasts and Audio

I will use my mp3 player to listen to music when I go walking, need to focus on a project, or when taking my kitties for a walk in the back yard.
Thank you for this awesome course and great prize.

Week #9 Digital Musical

In my humble opinion, I believe it is completely fair for artists' work to be protected and for people to pay for music and movies rather than pirate them. I favor the pay per use rights, as long as it is a reasonable fee.

I added a widget to my blog of the 5 day forecast for Orlando, to assist people when planning activities. Florida's weather can change so quickly.

Week 8 - Sharing Information

When it comes to online, just the name of this week's lesson makes me nervous. Since my husband was a victim of identity theft several years ago, I am very leery about the information I am willing to share, especially online!
Flickr is a really cool way to share pictures with friends and family. Tom, I like your pictures of Lake Eola. I take it you are a duck hunter by the looks of your boat and your beautiful dog, Beau. I should introduce you to my Pastor - he is a huge hunter, has a lab named Daisy, and a boat like yours! He shares his catch with the members of the church. My Mom says he feeds our church - physically and spiritually.
The Creative Commons info piqued my curiosity - how is this enforced effectively? I found this article on the PlagiarismToday website about Creative Commons violation. I learned that sploggers (spam bloggers)"scrape" blogs for content, sometimes but not always attributing to the original creator, then earning money by surrounding the content with advertisements. This is prompting some bloggers to consider "Full Copyright" instead of using Creative Commons or create their own license.
Learning online has been a convenient process. It has been nice receiving and providing assistance. It's motivational to hear other's experiences.

Week 7 - Fun Stuff

I enjoyed Dogster and Catster. Of course, I created an account on Catster; come see Sassy and Charley.

Blufr was also fun. Test your knowledge on this bluf:
Lightning actually strikes upwards from ground to sky, not downward. Click here to find the answer.

I also created an account on The Puzzle Player. I have wanted to learn how to play Sudoku. I'll probably play more word search - my favorite childhood word game.

For my Adventure from SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Award's website, I used Technorati to find a quilting blog. There were many. I found SimpleArts, who claims to be the "world's first PodCast for quilters."

Week 6 Learn2.0 - Library Thing

I enjoyed the "Why I Love the Library" video by NJ libraries - very heartwarming. Learning about mashups was really neat. I especially liked the http://www.propsmart.com/. By the way, Wikimapia was interesting and a little strange. I enjoyed eXploring the library apps on Learn 2.0. I can't wait to share Library Thing with my father-in-law. He has a huge, uncatalogued collection of books and videos in his home library. I wonder what impact Book Mooch might have on book stores and libraries, if you can simply trade books, why buy or borrow? It's great that OCLS participates with Elf. I know this will be helpful to my busy friend who has 4 library cards in her household, and often has late fees.

This was difficult to decide, however, my favorite Library technology is our Online Databases. It is incredible that our customers are able to access, for free, this much information from the convenience of their home or office at any time; and unlike some websites they would find by googling a topic, the information is from reputable, reliable, and accurate sources. From medical resources to car repair, learning about other countries to learning a new language, researching antiques or stocks, career guidance, test preparation, online typing tutor and help with homework.

My personal favorite is Tumblebooks. I discovered Tumblebooks is much more than an online collection of electronic picture books for children. You can choose to view the website in English, French or Spanish. You can also see stories grouped in the following categories by clicking on the corresponding category bubble:

1) Story Books – narrated, animated picture books.
2) Tumble Readables - electronic books that are “self read.”
3) Life Learning – combination of narrated and “self read” e-books on various life issues – health, social and the all important Internet safety for children. I highly recommend Little Red in Cyberspace.
4) Puzzles and Games – related to the books available at Tumblebooks. Practice spelling, memory and complete puzzles.
5) Language Learning – read or hear the stories in another language.
6) Audiobooks – narrated stories including music and sound effects.

*New feature available* Tumblebook Mailer - send via e-mail (1) a Tumblebook story, (2) an animated Tumblecard, or (3) Record-A-Book – record your voice reading the selected stories. Here is a really cute story Why Libraries Matter: A Story Long Overdue.

Week 5 Learn 2.0 - Share

Week 5 was fun and a great time to catch up - thank you!
On the 3rd floor in DRI we typically do not see a rush of people as in the library shown in the Tuesday Morning Rush video. Although, I heard some of the Branches experience such a rush the morning that new DVDs are expected - STAMPEDE!!!

During this Play Week, I eXplored new blogs and new RSS feeds. I used Grokker in place of Google for searching topics. And, I searched YouTube for a video project at my church.
Creating the Meez was SO MUCH FUN!!! I enjoyed exchanging ideas and information with co-workers about the Meez process. Do you think it is possible people are living vicariously through their Meez? Hmmm...

Have a blast this weekend

Looking for things to do over the long holiday weekend?

Hope you come to the Staff Picnic on Sunday at 1 p.m.

I also recommend a trip to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It's a short drive from Orlando toward the east coast of Florida. KSC is a fun interactive day for all ages. Check out the new Shuttle Launch Experience or have Lunch with an astronaut. Maybe you are looking for a summer camp for your children or an exciting day of Astronaut Training Experience for group of friends, click on the Youth / Education Programs button at the bottom of the KSC homepage.

There is so much to see there. It is amazing to think that we live so close to where rockets and manned shuttles are launched into space! Visit the Kennedy Space Center's website http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/index.asp for information about exhibits, directions and for tickets. Don't forget to try the freeze dried ice cream from the gift shop...well, can you imagine eating a double scoop of chocolate ice cream in zero gravity? Have a blast!

Week 4 Web 2.0 - Share

The collaboration concepts emerging from Web 2.0 are awesome. So far, my favorite applications in Web 2.0 are the video sharing of YouTube and the videoblogging of the Video Ninja. Because I like to laugh and am easily entertained, I have found what you have shared from YouTube and the Video Ninja very amusing. I have already shared the "Free Hugs" with my family; and I definitely plan to share the Video Ninja with them - it is so funny! At the same time, some other video clips available on YouTube make me cringe; that's when we close out YouTube for the day!


I knew we had the Teen and Game MySpace pages; however, I had not yet seen the "Super Teens Programs for Summer" video http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2029404663 - very impressive. We have awesome Children's/Club Central staff working with our community's children and teens! I am pleasantly surprised to see OCLS on YouTube. It's exciting that we are getting our name, and in this case our faces, out there.


I liked the Web 2.0 video. Very nice presentation of what Web 2.0 is and what it does. I defintely understand more about Web 2.0 since this week's course work.

No Place Like Home

Monday, I flew in from visiting family. As the plane left their home state, I marvelled at the beautiful hills covered with thick green trees, fields cleared for crops and animals, and lush areas surrounding the streams that meandered from the river. That feeling could not compare to what I felt when out the window I saw the Florida coastline! My heart actually skipped a beat. I love living in Florida - it is my home. And, we all know - there's no place like home.

Week 3 - Share

When I searched Grokker for National Historic Landmarks in Florida I unselected Wikipedia in the Search Options box. This surprisingly increased the total results, and led me to websites that I consider more reputable than wikipedia. Not to be an information snob, I feel a little more comfortable relying on sites that end in .gov and .org. Initially, I preferred the Outline View because my learning style preference is Auditory; therefore the Map View seemed overwhelming and cluttered.

Then I discovered in Map View how pointing to the various icons I could view details about the link and add links to a Working List that I e-mailed to myself! I found the Grokker’s grouping of search results was helpful. I found several great sites that will become topics of future blog postings! More than that, I found a search tool more versatile than Google. Thank you.

Is Learn 2.0 working with or against my learning preference? Reading (visual learning) Learn 2.0 Course work requires a little extra attention on my part; however, including the auditory components - podcasts, videos and tutorials (voice narrated) - in the Learn 2.0 program has stimulated my interest.

Changes

I subscribe to RSS feeds from Library Garden. Sunday's feed was titled Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2007/05/change-is-inevitable-growth-is-optional.html
From here I came across an interesting video called Shift Happens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q

Next post will be on a lighter subject...

Beach Memories

Summer is almost here; so, the question to answer is "Which Florida beach to visit first?" Check out the AAA article to make your list and discover why seven of Florida's beaches made it on the Travel Channel's list of the best beaches. http://www.aaasouth.com/current_issue/feat_florida2_mj07.asp

When I was a child my family camped in Jetty Park at Cape Canaveral. It was an incredible experience to see moonlight sparkling on the receding tide, to be the first person on the beach in the morning to greet the gulls and sand pipers, and to catch flounder and pig fish with my grandmother, mother and sister. I hope you will make some great beach memories this summer - just remember your sunscreen.

Hello from Florida

I am a native Floridian, and cannot imagine living anywhere else. There are so many beautiful things to see here - sunrises and sunsets, beaches and springs, wildlife and woods, and people that wave when you pass. And, there are so many exciting places to explore - Bok Tower Gardens, Honeymoon Island, Kennedy Space Center (NASA), and even the myriad of theme parks. Florida is a diverse and amazing place. I hope to share some topics that will inspire you to get out and discover our little piece of paradise called Florida.