Thing 39: Digital Storytelling

I tried both Scrapblog and Smilebox. I liked both programs but found Smilebox easier to use and less complicated. Smilebox, I feel, is used by the layman Scrapbooker. What I mean by this is that it was really easy to manipulate the pictures and though you could change how many pictures you want in each frame; you couldn't change much else like changing the layout of the pictures or how the background looks. Within Scrapblog though you could change anything in the layout. If there was a background picture you didn't like you could erase it. You can change the location and size of any picture or even add pictures or clip art. Also, if you didn't like the background you could change it. These is just so much more to manipulate or change with Scrapblog. I think this would be a fun to use. What I liked about Scrapblog is there was no downloads and it saves your finished blogs. So, you can retrieve information from any computer. Also, in Scrapblog you can input pictures easily from Facebook or Flickr while in Smilebox they only have you upload pictures from your computer. I feel people would really like using these programs and we would have a lot of turn out if we taught a computer class on them. I don't know if I would use this program myself but in all it was really fun and easy to use.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thing 37: Photo Tales

I tried FlickrSlidr because I have sets already created in Flickr but I could never get the pictures to show up. I don’t think I was putting in the right URL. The same happened to Slidoo; I really don’t know what I am doing wrong but it just doesn’t seem to work for me. Oh, well on to something else. I tried Mosaickr which was really interesting but I had to wait for the finished product. What I really like about Mosaickr is that it allowed me to choose what pictures went within the Mosaic however; the original picture that I use was one that I took from Kyoto, Japan. So I used only my pictures from there and other Flickr pictures that were tagged Kyoto. Finally, I signed up on a sight called Animoto. What I liked about this site is that it could retrieve photo from other sites like facebook because I don’t have any photos on my desktop where I am doing More Things On a Stick. I made a short video using my pictures from Kyoto and the featuring the music The Entertainer. The finished video is no on my blog and it is really kick ass. In all I found this Thing to be a lot of fun but I don't know if I would ever use this in the library. Finally, I will put my finished Mosaic on my blog once it is done. Hopefully sometime this year.

Thing 24: New Start

Another year and another list of "Things" to do. I really enjoyed working on the original 23 Things and hope the next 24 Things to be just as interesting. Also, it has really been fun thinking up ways in which to use all that I have learned. From teaching computers classes on Flickr to working with my colleagues in order to create a PB Wiki site from Teen Read Week. So, I really hope to learn a lot and implement what I will learn. It was interesting to refresh my blog because I had not written a new post since 23 Things ended. I did lose all my added elements when I changed my Template and I am still trying to remember how to get them back. So, I hope you like the changes and will tune in for the rest of the More Things on a Stick/24 Things.

Thing 22: Continuing to Blog

I have learned a lot with 23 Things and many aspects I will continue to use throughout my day to day life. Like Google Reader which has me linked to my local paper, fun blogs, interesting librarian blogs, and other news related information. I may continue my Nic23 blog however, I feel like I will start to blog more on Facebook and MySpace instead now that I feel more comfortable with it. I will also be using Flickr more and try to store all my pictures on my page. So, in conclusion there is a lot that I am taking away from 23 Things and a lot that I will continue to use.

Thing 11: Tag and Del.icio.us

Thing 11 was interesting but I don't know how much I will use Del.icio.us. For Tags I have already been entering tag in all my 23 Things and will continue to do so. Also I have used tags before and even on other site with 23 things like Flickr I have added tags. Regarding Del.icio.us it was really easy to set up and install. However, I don't know really when I would use it. Majority of my favorite websites I have already saved to my favorite list and most of them are fanfic sites which unless I have a lot of time on my hands the only time I have in which to read is when I am on my own personal computer. Also, anything else is just basic websites like msn for email or Youtube. I do think that Del.icio.us is great for students especially if they are doing research which is mentioned in Thing 10. While on your own Del.icio.us page it is interesting to look at what other people have said about the websites I had tagged and the amount of people that have tagged them also. In all I find Del.icio.us to be interesting however it is not reasonable for regular reference use because you first have to load your Del.icio.us page then find the certain tag that you need while bookmarks on Mozilla Firefox are more handy and faster so that the patron doesn't have to wait as long for their information.

Thing 8.2: Share

Thing 8 was actually rather fun. I choose to use Picture Trail in order to organize your pictures into what is called Flicks. At first I thought you had to upload pictures right away from your desktop in order to use the slide show, but when I went to use the slide show I found that you could upload your pictures from Myspace or Flickr. However, I wasn't able to get in connect with Myspace were all my pictures were located so I was happy I had downloaded some onto the desktop which I had uploaded onto Picture Trail. The pictures that I choose to use were the one that I took when I went to Berlin, Germany. The trip was a lot of fun and I hope you have fun watching my slide show. I also briefly looked at some of the other sharing activities like Thumbstacks and Zoho where you can make your own slide show which with the versatility of then having this slide show be accessible for all computers would have really helped when I was in school and making power point presentations and hoping that where I had saved it would then upload onto this new computer. It was all very stressful. Also, these slide show creators can be useful for when a person is teaching a class especially if it is a web conference. So, these programs that share are interesting but time consuming.

Thing 5: Flicker Fun

I used spell with flicker to write out my name using pictures from flicker. It was really easy to use; however, it was really had to figure out how you get the picture into your blog. :-( Anyway, I was also looking at Big Huge labels which have a lot of interesting Flickr tools. However, my name didn't turn out as great as I wanted it. Oh Well.

Thing 4: Flickr

This is a photo that I found while looking through the Library of Congress' photos. The photo is called At the Vermont State Fair, Rutland and was shot by Jack Delano in Sept of 1914. The photo itself if interesting but what I would was so great about it was the "add a note" feature people have already used because lsmucker2002 added the note "Puzzled? which way to go..." to the girl with the scrunched up face. As of right now I don't know how to add notes but it seems to be a lot of fun and almost like a hidden message to gets added to your pictures. However, adding pictures and a link to one’s blog was quite a challenge and in all the hardest part of thing 4. It took me forever to realize that I first needed to download the picture to the desktop and then from there upload it to my blog. I did set up my own flickr account, which was relatively easy and painless; however, I still do not know if I would want my photos to be open to the public or only private. Adding photos was easy and in all very fun.