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# 23

My final thing! I thought I would never make it.

Here is the link to my ePortfolio:

https://pathbrite.com/portfolio/P6xvOP0J4/23-things

Enjoy!

Now, for my final thoughts on 23 Things:

What did you most enjoy about the 23 Things program?

I think I enjoyed looking at my coworkers' blogs the most. Now all I need to do is go back and make some comments! It was fun to learn about everyone's interests and reading how each individual's voice came through.

What did you least enjoy about the 23 Things program?

I think what I enjoyed the least was the feeling that I would never catch up with the program. That had nothing to do with the program itself and everything to do with me! Between meetings, library instruction, updating our webpages, and reference desk shifts, 23 Things was just sometimes not at the top of my to do list! But overall it has been a fun project to be a part of.

Name at least one skill or technology resource that you gained from the 23 Things program.

This might not be a skill, but I think that the program helped me to feel more comfortable using my iPad. It now seems more like a necessary tool that I must always have at arm's length, rather than an exotic toy that I don't feel old enough to own!

#thing 23

# 20

I love maps. Geography was my favorite subject as a young child, and I still love to gaze at maps from all over the world. For me, it is like taking a mini vacation. Google Street View is one of my favorite things on the Internet!

With my professed love of maps, you might think that I would prefer paper maps, atlases and the like. However, I feel that digital maps make things even more interesting. The ability to zoom in and out allows you to go from viewing a single neighborhood to an entire state or country without having to turn the page or switch to a different atlas. Best of all, no obnoxious folding! I can't seem to ever fold a highway map correctly.

I prefer the Google Maps experience over the Apple maps, but I suspect this is out of brand loyalty more than anything else. Both are very visually pleasing, and I was able to find my home address on both. Apparently it would take me over an hour to walk to work!

We could use these apps to help patrons who have questions related to campus buildings, though I feel that in this case it is better to show them a paper map. The only other map related question I have gotten at work has been about historical maps, and neither of these products contain any sort of historical info (at least not that I could tell).

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# 19

I'm sitting here looking at Yahoo Answers, and I am shaking my head. It is kind of scary to me to see this sea of un-thought-out questions. "What color should I paint my room?" "What is the funniest comment you've seen on a Youtube video?" Don't these people have friends or family they can ask these questions?

I am afraid to engage with this community of users, for fear of getting flamed or made fun of! Every once and awhile, during a regular Google search on some random topic, I will get a few hits from Yahoo Answers, and they are rarely helpful. Mostly it seems to be comments belittling the questioner. The Internet can be a careless place!

Over at Answers.com, things are a little brighter. I feel safer here, as though my questions might be taken more seriously. "How much does an average African elephant weigh?" "When did the Simpsons first appear on television?" It almost reminds me of a quiz show. My curiosity is piqued, and the layout is much more pleasing to the eye. There are supervisors assigned to each category, which seems to add a level of sanity to what might otherwise become a circus.

In answer to "When did the Simpsons first appear on television?" there is a succinct answer, which includes dates for their first appearance on the Tracey Ullman Show, and the beginning of their own show in 1989. I found these answers to be accurate, so I clicked "yes" at the bottom of the page. I am also given the opportunity to "improve" the answer, but I have nothing to add!

We are looking into a product for the library called LibAnswers, which is provided by the folks at LibGuides. It would allow us to create a Q & A forum specific to the library. This is probably the main professional application I see for this technology.

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#22

If I had the ability to create a new library related app, what would it be? My mind boggles at this question! I would be happy if the library apps that already exist simply worked better (Gale Access My Library for instance).

But, I have to say, this is a really interesting question. I guess I can start out by thinking about what I would want this app to not do. I would not want it to collect any user information at all. It would not require a login to work correctly. A user would be able to pick it up, use it intuitively, and set it aside when they were done. It would probably make use of the camera, and also the microphone. If any data needed to be transferred, the user would have the option of entering an email address, but this info would not be stored.

So, what could possibly meet these specifics? Who would be the target audience? What would the legal implications be?

I would want the app to appeal to library patrons. I am imagining something like a combo of Siri and Google Goggles. You would be able to ask a question, or snap a photo of something, and instead of web results, you would be directed to library resources. The ultimate mobile discovery service! It may give you results from our catalog, or maybe an ebook or journal article. Until we have wireless printing, you would have to be able to email an article or link to yourself. But, like I already stated, you would not be required to create a login, and your email address would not be stored.

#Thing 22

#17

I am going to go out on a limb and talk about Pinterest for thing 17. I think it safely falls into the category of social bookmarking. According to the eBizMBA website, which I had never heard of, pinterest.com is one of the most popular 15 social bookmarking sites.

There is a Pinterest app, which I have downloaded and explored some. First impression: it is a little too streamlined! But, I quickly discovered that a simple finger swipe reveals the menu bar on the left, which is chock full of helpful categories to explore. You can also search for specific tags. I also just noticed that you can have several tabs open within the app at the same time, so you can swipe back and forth between categories. This is very cool.

Here is a link I discovered when I search for information literacy:

http://pinterest.com/pin/83387030573126392/

I think this image provides an interesting visual definition of one person's concept of what information literacy means.

Overall, I think that the links that people share on Pinterest and fun and informative. I was a little disturbed when I was browsing the College section, where many of the posts were dedicated to partying or decorating dorm rooms. When I searched for Libraries, I got a lot of gorgeous images of library interiors. So, this site may be most useful for people searching for graphics and crafty ideas. It would be great for collecting ideas for displays and marketing campaigns.

If I were to compare this site to something like Google Reader (RIP!) I would have to say that I like the human touch that you get. Each of the post are handpicked. But RSS feeds offer much more content, whereas Pinterest offers almost all images.

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#16

Dropbox is a very useful tool that I don't use often enough. I like that it mimics the look and feel of a computer's operating system, with folders and icons. It made it very intuitive to use. Here is a link to the file I shared with Suzanne:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/33yvx1ex0y4y48h/CALA%20table.jpg

In the past, I have used Google Docs as a way to share files. I have also relied heavily on email attachments. Dropbox offers a better solution that sharing files via email, because I am not clogging up anyone's inbox with huge files. I find the interface to be more pleasing than Google Drive, but if I am sharing a file with someone that I am collaborating with, I would probably go with Drive.

I could use Dropbox to share files with myself, as I move between my office computer and the Ref desk. It would be a helpful tool to use when uploading conference files, such as the PowerPoint presentation Monica and I used at TLA. That way, we could easily share it with people who attended our session. Although there are other ways to share such things, such as SlideShare. Just this morning I used Dropbox to share some files from the TEL training. I hope to use it more frequently.

One thing that frustrated me was this: when I tried to move a file that I already uploaded into Dropbox into my CSCC23 folder, I had to download it to the computer and then upload it again. I could not figure out how to move a file from Dropbox into a folder in Dropbox! If anyone has any tips, I would be thankful.

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#18

For this exercise, I used the words Bali Vacation in my search. I ran a search on Google as well as Duck Duck Go. Google had more ads, which was not surprising, but also not as helpful. The first three results were all from the same website, tripadvisor.com. Most of the hits were related to renting lodging. Duck Duck Go had a greater diversity of sites, and only one ad. It contained information on travel warnings and weather, which are both helpful to potential travelers. Google returned images and maps in the results, which was nice. Overall, I would say that both have their strengths. Neither really came out ahead in terms of results, in my opinion. However, the lack of ads on Duck Duck Go was refreshing. They were both very easy to use. The amount of ads on the Google results page gave the page a cluttered look. They have a sneaky way of masquerading their ads to look like regular results. Google also has a way of populating the results list before you are done typing, which is kind of annoying. Duck Duck Go claims to be a search engine that doesn't track user information. They also don't filter your results. This was a new concept to me, but I suppose I had noticed on some level. I am not sure how exactly it works, but apparently Google bases the results you get on your prior search history. It seems very creepy to me! For a more detailed explanation, see: http://dontbubble.us/

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#15

I am annoyed with SlideShare already. When I created my account, the first thing I saw when I logged in was a message that said "Taken any photos lately? Upload them and show your friends" or something like that. I thought to myself, "oh good, I can just upload some photos without having to create a presentation!" Wrong! I tried a couple of different photos, and even changed the file type. But I wasn't able to actually upload the photos to share with my friends! As a SlideShare newbie, this message was confusing. Now I am trying to upload a PowerPoint presentation that I made for TLA, and it won't let me do that either. But I think that has more to do with FireFox that SlideShare. That is what I get for using a browser that shields me from the prying eyes of the NSA! So, once I activated the Adobe Flash plugin for Firefox, I was ready to upload my slides. One of them didn't load correctly, but otherwise it looks great. Here is the link: http://www.slideshare.net/andrewfoskey/apps-fake-or-real I also revisited Prezi for this exercise. I haven't yet been able to create a presentation on my iPad using the app, but I have been able to review presentations that way. Here is the link to my Prezi that I created today: http://prezi.com/otgln_ewtlrw/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy Overall, I don't prefer one over the other. They are both different and have their own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Prezi is not good if you are working with a pre-made PowerPoint, and SlideShare is not good unless you already have a pre-made PowerPoint! I would suggest that the library staff try the Google Drive presentation creator. It is very simple to use and easy to share with others. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Prezi, but it does allow you to upload PowerPoint slides like SlideShare. In my professional life, I see very many uses for these tools. I have presented to Nursing students using Prezi, and have accessed slides from conferneces via SlideShare. I could see both being useful as a sort of eportfolio to share my achievements with others. It would also be fun to share personal photos with friends using Prezi. If I could change anything, you would be able to upload more types of files to SlideShare, such as photos. I would also like for the Prezi app to be more user-friendly, so that I could more easily create new content directly from my iPad.

#thing 15

Looking myself up on Pipl was a little eerie. Apparently there are several other Andy/Andrew Foskeys around the country. I have never met any of them. Several of the links were not active, such as my old Myspace profile and an Amazon wishlist. I think that maybe you need to be logged into to those sites in order to see the pages. I didn't investigate further.

I also found a link my MERLOT profile. Apparently when I started this job, I created an account and then never logged in again! Maybe that is something I should go back and check on...

I also found a dead link to our old library page. And I came across a link to a profile on PeopleFinder, which lists me as living in Atlanta, and says that I am 33 years old (not until November... sorry PeopleFinder!). PeopleFinder and Pipl are similar, but the former wants you to pay to see any real results. It did include the names of my immediate family, which is totally creepy.

Here is the link to my birthday portfolio on Pathbrite:

https://pathbrite.com/portfolio/P6xvuPx7I/november-28-1980

I like the way you instantly have something to look at, simply by creating an account. It kind of hooks you in and makes you want to come back for more! I could see Pathbrite being very useful for our yearly evaluations. We could showcase a few projects from the past year that we were most proud of, or use it to set goals for the future. You can really make a portfolio for just about anything.

#thing 8

Facebook, oh Facebook. I remember way back, when I was an undergrad, we had Friendster, then Myspace. Facebook wasn't yet born, and it took me quite a few years to sign up. When I was in grad school, one of my professors encouraged us all to join. Little did I know what I was getting into, or what Facebook would quickly become. It has been a great way to catch up with old friends or connect with new colleagues. It has also caused some anxiety, especially around national elections.

For this exercise, I "liked" the page called Literary Tattoos. It was on the very bottom of the list that Monica posted on the Libguide. It has some great pictures of very interesting tattoos related to books and reading. I have seen some pretty elaborate library-themed tattoos floating around the interwebs over the years. I told myself I would get one after I was done with grad school. but I have yet to actually make that happen.

I also went ahead and liked the Tennessee State Library and Archives page. It wasn't on the list, but I think it is a pretty neat page. They features lots of state-related items, old photos and documents and other cool things like that.

I helped Terri create the library's Facebook page, and I think we still haven't hit our stride with it yet. I feel like we do a better job sometimes that others, and I think that is okay. I would like to post to it more than I do, to be honest. Becca has done a marvelous job promoting our books on Facebook!!!!!

One last word about Facebook. The app.... I do not really like it. The features are limited, and I feel like I get more random pages popping up that have nothing to do with what I have "liked" but I see this happening more on the regular version as well. I do not like this development.

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# 6

Summer has arrived at the library, and what better way to mark the occasion by catching up on my 23 things blog? I have used my iPad to take many pictures, but rarely do I go and edit them. Truth be told, I have actually downloaded photos from my iPad and then edited them on my computer. Sometimes my brain doesn't want to catch up with technology! Anyway, I had downloaded the (free!) Photoshop Express app. Sadly, some of the fun things I wanted to do with the photo required paying for the full version of the app. I was still able to take a photo of my dad's famous bourbon chocolate pecan pie that I had in my photo library and give it a makeover. First I softened the focus and then picked out a fun border. I was able to change the color of the border with a simple swipe of my finger! The final effect looks kind of like a giant eye. The app was very easy to use, and even fun! I liked the ability to edit the photos with a finger swipe. I would have enjoyed the paid version of the app even more, but for now I think the free version suits most of my needs.

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#21

MOOCS! When I first heard someone say this, I had no idea what he was saying. Mukes? Mooks? It was during a meeting to discuss technology on campus, and I sort of nodded and pretended to know what he meant. It was only later, when I saw it written down, that the light went off in my head!

I signed up for a MOOC upon the suggestion of a friend who lives in California. She was enrolling in "A Crash Course In Creativity" at Stanford's Venture Lab. It lasts for a little over a month, and coincides perfectly with my month off from work. I took several online classes as part of my graduate degree work, and I have to say this MOOC is designed much better than any of those. I also feel less pressure because this class is free, and I am not being graded on it!

If Cleveland State developed a MOOC, or several, the library would hopefully play an integral part. We could even create our own MOOC. In a way, 23 Things is a MOOC itself! We would want to make sure that the library had appropriate materials to support the MOOC, and we would want to have links to our library pages linked to the MOOC. We could even create a MOOC Libguide! I am not 100% sold on MOOCs counting towards a degree. I still see them as being something you do for personal enrichment or continuing ed. But as they grow in popularity, I think my opinion may change.

#thing 21

All TBR libraries going digital by 2015?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (March 31, 2013) — The Tennessee Board of Regents has decided that all campus library collections will become completely digital by the 2015-2016 academic year ... continue reading here

#april fools

Korea 2005 on Flickr.

Here is a photo I took while hiking in the northern suburbs of Seoul, Korea in 2005. This grouping of Buddha statues caught my eye while climbing a mountain. Each one was slightly different than the next. One great thing about Seoul is that you can take the subway to a national park!

#thing 5

Mountain Mardi Gras on Flickr.

I have finally gone back to work on Thing # 5, which is Flickr and Photos. Please enjoy this picture I took of one of the floats at the Asheville Mardi Gras parade!

#thing 5

Friday haiku

Friday afternoon

everything is so quiet

where is everyone?

#14

This one is near and dear to my heart. I use Google Drive all the time, though I am used to thinking of it as Google Docs. I freaked out when they changed the name, because I logged on to find a document I had been working on, and couldn't find where it had gone! I simply missed the memo that it had changed names to Google Drive. I didn't understand the new name for awhile, since i was associating the word "drive" with a car. But now I see that it refers to a computer drive, like as in hard drive. But I digress...

I have had some issues with Google Drive, sometimes it can be frustrating because I will upload something and not pay attention to how I am doing that, and end up with a document that I am unable to edit. However, I have found that if I start to create a document within Google Drive, I have more control. Sometimes I will cut and paste from Word into a fresh document in Drive, and that seems to work well for me.

I have used Google Drive in my personal life as well as professional life. I've used it for presentations, for sharing files, and even helping my brother review his CV. We use it to share documents at the library amongst staff, as many of you who are reading this will already know!

#thing 14

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