Thing 16

• How might the RPC and the Teacher Guide help you help students plan and manage research projects?
  

I will share this with our special education teachers who have started to work with students on using email for school as a tool to back up and transport. Now an added email reminder...couldn't hurt!

• Can you think of any uses for library projects—could you use it to help manage a timeline for a project of your own?
• I closely examined the materials in the video section since that is the class I teach. I found a script sheet that I like better than what I am using. I was well aware of the project, but hadn't looked at it from the teacher perspective yet only as media specialist. Another item for the remember the milk online list--next English department meeting--RPC. Especially the college level classes...
  

Thing 15

• If you chose Second Life, write a blog post about your findings and thoughts on Second Life. Is there a role for Second Life in libraries?
• Well I created a great name and avatar that unfortunately attracted some sketchy boy avatars. EEEEWWWW. I did enjoy flying and I thought the Info Island had some great ideas. I'm usually on the defense when it comes to most sites but I'd struggle to find enough value in this for use in our media center. I can see how the money side would be very entertaining and also the appeal of the site overall, but am struggling to make a school connection.
  

Thing 14

• How can you use LibraryThing for your library?
• Great for creating collections within a collection. My reading teacher would love a high interest low reading level collection. Add thing 14 LibraryThing as thing to do. Wait add Thing 14 to Thing 13's remember the milk online to do list!
  
• How else do you share booklists, etc. with library patrons? Would LibraryThing offer an alternative?
• This is a needs improvement area for me. Yikes!
• I'd also like to see my bookclub do this with book reviews so we could preview and then have lots of input when we decided which books to read.
  

Thing 13

• Which start page did you choose? Why did that one appeal to you? Will you make it your permanent home page?
• Yahoo. I've had a page there for awhile but neglected it. I designed our school webpage so it seems like its personalized for me already.
  
• iGoogle is also great. I think these sites are wonderful for both novice users--I've helped some family members setup Yahoo pages and they would be lost without it.
  
• Did you find a tool that has some uses for you at the library or at home? Which tool(s) would you recommend to others?
• I love having mapquest right there. My father does not believe in mapquest since it has my brother's house listed on the wrong side of a major freeway so I'd have to recommend a news wire to him instead.
  
• How can the online calendars be useful to you?
• I'm spoiled by a great calendar in my email but I think it could be great for my son who likes to plan out everything.
  
• What about the to-do lists—helpful, too much work…?
• I have so many lists that this may be helpful to have them consolidated but I'm still think the paper version is perhaps easier and so satisfying to cross off. Gosh
  
• Did you try out Backpack? What did you think?
• This is cooool. This would be a great option for a classroom for papers, calendars, etc. Or a group like scouts or youth group. Cool
  
• Did you try any of the other tools in the list? Any good ones we should all try?
• Zamzar was cool. We've use PDF converter and it is a great way to share documents
  

Thing 12

• How do you think you can use these tools in your library or at home?
• They are all blocked by our filtering system. We do leave a few other news forums open like SCtimes, so we need to evaluate these sites for our K-12 sitch.
  
• Do these tools seem to be a productivity enhancer or a productivity detractor?
• I think it would depend upon your frame of reference. Saturday AM in jammies I'd likely be detracted and Monday AM I'd be productive. I'd guess students would be more likely to pull off onto the stranger stories (imho) and "hey look at this" than delve into a heavy world news story
  
• Have you ever read a story/item as a result of seeing it on one of these sites?
• Yes. I check the ratings just to see what's being read and like a lemming often check out the more popular. Weird that those things would matter!
  

Thing 11

• Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?
• Great option for a teacher to setup a quick list of websites. I feel so bad when students and their teachers are struggling to type in a loooonnnnnggggg address. This would not require as much work for the teacher as making updates to a webpage so I think I know right where to start.
• Being able to access bookmarks anywhere also gives us a backup since when a computer craps out we can easily re-establish network services and email but the bookmarks are usually stored locally and can be lost.
  
• I like both options!
  
• How can your library or media center take advantage of tagging and del.icio.us?
  
• We could add links to established lists and also educate students on using them as well. For a large research project, del.icio.us and tagging could be the notecards media savvy students use instead of the paper 3X5....now to get the teachers to agree!
• I think it is interesting to see how often an item has been saved. The libraries' use is very impressive. Dewey would be so proud! I've often commented that the Internet needs a good librarian and del.i.cious used this way is a great start!
  

Thing 10

• What did you find interesting about the wiki concept?
• The number of experts that freely share their knowledge. Tres cool.
  
• What types of applications within libraries and schools might work well with a wiki?
• Classroom discussions perhaps in a classroom. In the library it would be exciting to have a wiki on book recommendations where students would be able to post their recommendations for others.
  
• Many teachers/faculty "ban" Wikipedia as a source for student research. What do you think of the practice of limiting information by format?
• I recommend prudence. I suggest that Wikipedia is a great starting point for background knowledge and to use the sources listed and check them out for further research. I also recommend Wikipedia for ready -reference answers to questions like "how many stomachs does a cow have" but caution caution caution that post-secondary schools will NOT accept wikipedia. I have students look at our schools entry and they all agree that some guy named Tom in Utah should not be the foremost authority on our school and focus only on one terrible event. We also had a very respected history teacher who used Wikipedia until he found a citation on Civil Rights that was peppered with racial slurs. Most students agree after my spiel!
  
• Which wiki did you edit?
• CMLE's 23 things on a stick. Many cool entries. I also have a wikispace for a TIES presentation