Thing 16

I wish I had the Research Project Calculator when I was in college! What a great idea, to help students plan out their time, and to give them a clue about how much time needs to go into a real research project. I think time management is one of the most difficult things for most people to master. Having a tool like this will definitely help!

Thing 15

Second Life is an awesome MMPORPG that has something for everyone. I loved the information island and chatted with several librarians there. Last year, I went to an online Second Life for educators conference (http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/) there, which was very popular and interesting. The only problem they had was some of the streaming video didn't work correctly for everyone in areas, and they had a limit of how many people could be in each area at a time, so you may miss things.

It takes some getting used to the controls for moving around, but I found that once you go through the tutorial it gets easier. I love flying around! My biggest pet-peeve is how commercial everything is. I get tired of all the things for sale, and the sexual nature of many areas. However, if you know where to go, seeing pyramids, castles and fantasy lands all for your exploring is a very exciting idea. I think as the technoloyg gets better, we will be able to use Second Life for more and more seamless educational experiences. It is definitely worth investing some time into.

Thing 14

LibraryThing was great for adding my personal reading list and finding out what others thought about the books. I found the Kitchen Confidential book and the Lord of the Rings had thousands of comments! This would be great for book clubs and documenting what titles you have in your own personal collection.

In the past, book lists were emailed or posted on a web page. It seems to me that this would make things easy for a book club or a group that visits on their own time. Then you could have a virtual book club, where people read and post thier opinions online. Also, reading the reviews can help people decide on new books to read.

Thing 14

This is my LibraryThing widget. I am excited about this and want to add more!

Thing 13

1. For productivity, I created an iGoogle page. I added all my widgets to help make it easy to get needed information without leaving the page, like weather, youtube, and even a digg widget. This was rather fun, but I'm not that used to it yet.
2. Calendars: I love all the Google stuff - everything I need in one place, and I don't need to create another account. I played around with the calendar, and I see that there is a feature I'm going to try tomorrow. I can sync my Outlook calendar with my Google calendar! I can't do this from home, but tomorrow, if I can get that to work, I could have it set up so I can do everything from anywhere! One feature I like is that I would be able to share this calendar, since I am unable to share my calendar with people outside of the library. This can help me combine my work calendar with my personal calendar.
3. Next, I tried the Remember the Milk productivity tool. I already use the calendar, tasks, and reminder tools in Outlook. However, I like how this will email you reminders for anything you set up. I think it is a great idea, although it seems like it would take a lot of time to set up before it begins to be useful. I'm going to experiment more with this in the next few weeks and see if I will really use this or not. I am expecting to just continue using my Outlook, but who knows?
4. Backpack is an awesome idea for having a calendar/file sharing/social networking and everything you need for working with a group online. The only problem is that it is a pay site. I am looking for a free option, so until then, we will have to be happy with what we have now.

Zamzar is a tool I've used online many times to convert files in the library. We had no budget to purchase software to convert these files in a past job, and having this site available meant I could help patrons do what they needed. A great, easy to use site, although sometimes it would take a while to wait for the file to convert so you could download it.

I have to say Lifehacker is one of my all-time favorite websites on making your life better. I have this on my other blog and I am always impressed by the many tips they post every week. Where would we be without Lifehacker?

Thing 12

I explored Digg more today. After creating an account, I read various articles and found that I could spend lots of time catching up on the newest information. It was rather entertaining. I tried my hand at finding an article on Simon Pegg of the Hot Fuzz movie and found that he was planning on making another movie. So I Dugg that article, and found nobody else had posted it yet. So after putting this up, I blogged it to my page below.
I think this page is a real time saver in that it has all the best stories on the internet all in one place. That way you don't have to spend all day looking around for news, and instead find what you are looking for in one place.
I already use this tool at home. My husband and I are constantly sending each other links to Digg pages. As for work, I think in the technology section, you can get cutting edge information quickly.

Thing 12 - Story: Hot Fuzz duo confirm third movie

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have confirmed plans for a third spoof comedy, following hit British movies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

read more | digg story