I quite enjoyed working with Google maps. Probably the most important thing I learned was that the markers are not necessarily accurate, which I learned from searching my own library -- the marker was off by a couple of miles. Verify the information -- the time trusted reference technique. I claimed my library and was able to correct the information and move the marker.
I most liked being able to switch back and forth from the map, satellite and terrain views for the same area. The satellite view of my house showed my deck and yard, but not what was on the deck, so I couldn't date the satellite image.
For customers, I've used Google maps to get directions, show locations, and even traffic. The street views are great for people planning trips to locations where the street view is available. The personalized or customized maps with photos added to the markers are great for highlighting trips already taken. And now someone looking up my library can find the location and get the hours and website.
Like others without direct access to the library website server, I did not embed a map on the library's website or even link to one. But I can suggest maps that we can add, and possibly even create them.
Thanks for a memorable exercise.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thing 25 Assignment 2 Google Maps
I searched Google Maps for the Polley Music Library. It came up, but the location was way off. I moved the marker, using satellite view, and then checked it with map view. The information was incomplete and inaccurate, so I claimed the listing and edited it. Finally. I validated it. And checked it again. I added the web address, added the street address, corrected the zip code, and added hours. Now people can find the Polley Music Library from Google Maps.
Thing 25 Assignment 1 Google Maps
When I first started the assignment, I was suprised how many of the features I had tried previously, looking for hotels in Naples, vegetarian restaurants in Prague, and libraries and museums in Budapest. I decided to explore the coast of Tobago, the other island of Trinidad and Tobago, and a happy vacation spot of mine. The hardest part was to move and zoom to actually find the island off of a map. I discovered that if one zooms too far, one can bypass the landmarks that one is looking for. I was focused on looking for specific places I'd been. The satellite view worked well in conjunction with the map and terrain views. And there were some photos and a couple of videos available, along with a Wikipedia article. I then went to Phuket and tried the same things with the views, and tried some searching. And finally went back to the assignment and worked through each of the searches, watched the videos, and tried everything with my own part of Lincoln. Unfortunately the street views available for my part of town are only along a major street and show parks and fences.
On to the official assignment. I searched for "1445 K St. 68509" and found the Nebraska State Capitol. While I was able to zoom the satellite view to see cars, I could only tell if they were light, dark, or red. I decided to get directions to the capitol from Bennett Martin Library, and picked the "walking" option, which Google informed me is "in Beta" and may be missing sidewalks, etc. I did find out that I could walk down the street, but it told me I needed to turn on K Street, thus missing the 14th Street entrance.
I've been an avid map user from a very early age. I'm very comfortable with traditional map views and topographic views, as well as aerial views. What I would use would depend on the specific circumstance. Street view would probably be my last choice.
I further explored the exotic places listed in the assignment. Street view is no substitute for being there. I did find a pothole in a street near Osaka. I also checked traffic, and traffic was pretty heavy in Paris this afternoon. I didn't find a kangaroo, but I have pictures of kangaroos and koalas and dingos and Tasmanian devils from my own trip to Australia.
On to the official assignment. I searched for "1445 K St. 68509" and found the Nebraska State Capitol. While I was able to zoom the satellite view to see cars, I could only tell if they were light, dark, or red. I decided to get directions to the capitol from Bennett Martin Library, and picked the "walking" option, which Google informed me is "in Beta" and may be missing sidewalks, etc. I did find out that I could walk down the street, but it told me I needed to turn on K Street, thus missing the 14th Street entrance.
I've been an avid map user from a very early age. I'm very comfortable with traditional map views and topographic views, as well as aerial views. What I would use would depend on the specific circumstance. Street view would probably be my last choice.
I further explored the exotic places listed in the assignment. Street view is no substitute for being there. I did find a pothole in a street near Osaka. I also checked traffic, and traffic was pretty heavy in Paris this afternoon. I didn't find a kangaroo, but I have pictures of kangaroos and koalas and dingos and Tasmanian devils from my own trip to Australia.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thing #24 Looking for My Library
Lesson #24 for the new Nebraska Learns 2.0 program offered a chance to try looking up my library to see what was being said. I first tried Twitter Search. Amazingly enough I discovered that someone had posted a link in a tweet to the very last library blog I had written. It went out to her more than 1200 followers. I tried the link and it worked, taking me to the Polley Music Library blog. I thanked her, but have not had a response.
I then went to Bloglines. First I tried a "Polley Music Library" search in each of the various types of searches. Under "Posts", I got 9 results, 5 misses and 4 that really referred to my library. Of the good ones, 2 were my recent blog posts, one was a bookguide post of a listening list I had created, and the final one was an NPR post that mentioned the 20th anniversary celebration a couple of years ago. I found nothing in "Feeds". There were lots of hits under "Web". When I tried the "Citation" search, there was only one from an old post on the Polley blog. I tried limiting that search as described in the lesson and lost even that one result. Being curious, I decided to expand the searches and looked for "Polley Music" without the term "library". I got many many hits, but with even less accuracy, as there are quite a few people with the last name of Polley who are in the same blog post as a mention of music. I did subscribe via RSS, but there has been no additional activity.
I actually get comment about my library and its services (real and virtual) and collections (real and virtual) in person, by phone and even by e-mail. For example, this morning I got a "two thumbs up" about the links section of the Polley webpage in an e-mail.
I'm jazzed that the link to the Polley blog post was sent out to so many people by someone else. The best PR comes from our customers (real and virtual). And I'm finally starting to see that Twitter could really have some uses.
My library didn't gather much comment in this exercise, but if it had and I was aware of it, I could use these tools to either enhance it if the comment was good, or mitigate it if it was not so good. It doesn't hurt to know what the public is saying about your institution. But in my case, this week I heard that it was a "treasure" -- second hand. That's networking in the real world. This exercise was about networking in the virtual world. And we have to do both these days.
I will be setting up a Flickr account at sometime in the near future. Now I know why I should should subscribe to the comments.
I then went to Bloglines. First I tried a "Polley Music Library" search in each of the various types of searches. Under "Posts", I got 9 results, 5 misses and 4 that really referred to my library. Of the good ones, 2 were my recent blog posts, one was a bookguide post of a listening list I had created, and the final one was an NPR post that mentioned the 20th anniversary celebration a couple of years ago. I found nothing in "Feeds". There were lots of hits under "Web". When I tried the "Citation" search, there was only one from an old post on the Polley blog. I tried limiting that search as described in the lesson and lost even that one result. Being curious, I decided to expand the searches and looked for "Polley Music" without the term "library". I got many many hits, but with even less accuracy, as there are quite a few people with the last name of Polley who are in the same blog post as a mention of music. I did subscribe via RSS, but there has been no additional activity.
I actually get comment about my library and its services (real and virtual) and collections (real and virtual) in person, by phone and even by e-mail. For example, this morning I got a "two thumbs up" about the links section of the Polley webpage in an e-mail.
I'm jazzed that the link to the Polley blog post was sent out to so many people by someone else. The best PR comes from our customers (real and virtual). And I'm finally starting to see that Twitter could really have some uses.
My library didn't gather much comment in this exercise, but if it had and I was aware of it, I could use these tools to either enhance it if the comment was good, or mitigate it if it was not so good. It doesn't hurt to know what the public is saying about your institution. But in my case, this week I heard that it was a "treasure" -- second hand. That's networking in the real world. This exercise was about networking in the virtual world. And we have to do both these days.
I will be setting up a Flickr account at sometime in the near future. Now I know why I should should subscribe to the comments.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Another session of Nebraska Learns is Starting
Well, I signed up for the new session of Nebraska Learns this morning. I've already got the blog and did the "prerequisites" last session, so all it took was an e-mail with a few pieces of information. And a month to do each "thing" or lesson sounds wonderful.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Looking Back at Nebraska Learns 2.0
Yesterday, at the Lincoln City Libraries In Service Day, some questions came up about Nebraska Learns 2.0. I thought I'd post my responses on my Nebraska Learns 2.0 blog.
I learned a tremendous amount in NL2.0, but what I learned depended on the time and effort I put into each "thing." It also helped to follow the instructions for each "thing."
I did hit roadblocks. Some of them were psychological -- like my aversion to the weeks with 3 things instead of 2. Some were the result of computer glitches or the sites/tools we were to be using being not fully functional at the time I was trying to use them. And some were just my not being in the frame of mind to concentrate at the time I had set aside to work on NL2.0.
I successfully got around the roadblocks. For the computer problems, I tried another day or used a different e-mail account (my Gmail) to get the confirmation message I had to reply to. I broke down the "things" into little steps and always started with the resources. Sometimes I had to print off the instructions. And I did skip over things, moving on to the next, but making sure I did eventually get back to what I had skipped. It also helped to have a buddy or two within the building to talk about what we were doing before we blogged about it.
If I did the program again, I would keep a list of my user names and passwords in an organized fashion, rather than the pile of p-slips I currently have stashed away. I would print out more of the instructions in order to help break down the "things" into tiny steps I could do throughout the day and week, since it's hard to get that big block of uninterrupted time on public service, or even off the desk. And, I would try the extra credit ideas. I would also sign up for accounts in some of the tools we could just browse for NL2.0.
I would try to incorporate more of what I was learning directly into my library work. Last time, I started the blog Polley Music Library's Cadenza as a direct result of NL2.0. What's next?
I would highly recommend Nebraska Learns 2.0 to library staffers, if nothing else, to become familiar with other people are doing even if you don't care to do it yourself. Go ahead. Sign up for the next session.
And for the Nebraska Library Commission: When will be be getting Nebraska Learns 3.0?
I learned a tremendous amount in NL2.0, but what I learned depended on the time and effort I put into each "thing." It also helped to follow the instructions for each "thing."
I did hit roadblocks. Some of them were psychological -- like my aversion to the weeks with 3 things instead of 2. Some were the result of computer glitches or the sites/tools we were to be using being not fully functional at the time I was trying to use them. And some were just my not being in the frame of mind to concentrate at the time I had set aside to work on NL2.0.
I successfully got around the roadblocks. For the computer problems, I tried another day or used a different e-mail account (my Gmail) to get the confirmation message I had to reply to. I broke down the "things" into little steps and always started with the resources. Sometimes I had to print off the instructions. And I did skip over things, moving on to the next, but making sure I did eventually get back to what I had skipped. It also helped to have a buddy or two within the building to talk about what we were doing before we blogged about it.
If I did the program again, I would keep a list of my user names and passwords in an organized fashion, rather than the pile of p-slips I currently have stashed away. I would print out more of the instructions in order to help break down the "things" into tiny steps I could do throughout the day and week, since it's hard to get that big block of uninterrupted time on public service, or even off the desk. And, I would try the extra credit ideas. I would also sign up for accounts in some of the tools we could just browse for NL2.0.
I would try to incorporate more of what I was learning directly into my library work. Last time, I started the blog Polley Music Library's Cadenza as a direct result of NL2.0. What's next?
I would highly recommend Nebraska Learns 2.0 to library staffers, if nothing else, to become familiar with other people are doing even if you don't care to do it yourself. Go ahead. Sign up for the next session.
And for the Nebraska Library Commission: When will be be getting Nebraska Learns 3.0?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
End or Beginning
For much of the last 13 weeks, I didn't think that I would finish Nebraska Learns 2.0. But here it is a week early and this is my last post. I've learned quite a few things unexpectedly, including that my old online home computer will only let me blog in "edit html" rather than "compose"; now that I know, it's not really a problem.
I think I got as much or more out of the exercises where I was already a little bit familiar with the tools being examined. Having a purpose made the journey of exploration more memorable than just seeing somebody demo something at a conference or training session.
I'm taking away an exposure to a variety of 2.0 tools and a knowledge that as the tools change (soon we'll be having 3.0 symantic web tool), I'll be able to play with them enough to make decisions as to appropriateness and usability for whatever my needs (and my customers' needs) are.
I also learned that my tolerance for different passwords is very low, so I really appreciate what I can do through a single Google account.
If I could do anything differently, I'd make sure that no week had three things to do -- that was a mental block for me (and many of the colleagues I've talked to). And I would do a self-paced program like this again.
As an actual result (and early on in Nebraska Learns 2.0), I did create a blog for my music library. I also recorded part of a podcast, which is now available. I will be using additional tools when they are the right tool.
And I will continue my lifelong voyage of exploration.
I think I got as much or more out of the exercises where I was already a little bit familiar with the tools being examined. Having a purpose made the journey of exploration more memorable than just seeing somebody demo something at a conference or training session.
I'm taking away an exposure to a variety of 2.0 tools and a knowledge that as the tools change (soon we'll be having 3.0 symantic web tool), I'll be able to play with them enough to make decisions as to appropriateness and usability for whatever my needs (and my customers' needs) are.
I also learned that my tolerance for different passwords is very low, so I really appreciate what I can do through a single Google account.
If I could do anything differently, I'd make sure that no week had three things to do -- that was a mental block for me (and many of the colleagues I've talked to). And I would do a self-paced program like this again.
As an actual result (and early on in Nebraska Learns 2.0), I did create a blog for my music library. I also recorded part of a podcast, which is now available. I will be using additional tools when they are the right tool.
And I will continue my lifelong voyage of exploration.
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