funactivegirl

Thursday, November 15, 2007

# 11 LIBRARY THING

Sunday, November 4, 2007

#10 Play around with image generators

Well Halloween is over, but I liked the concept of this image generator.

Unfortunately I hadn't anticipated it being this small. Andrew helped me save it onto the desk top. I learnt two new things today. Hopefully my next post will be bigger.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

I found the whole process of Bloglines and feeds very informative. I never knew it existed. To receive updated subscriptions to your very own Blogline is certainly a time saver and a great advantage.
Registering my Blogline was easy, however it took me three attempts to save the URL.
The Utube RSS in plain English put things in perspective for me as I was getting a little confused.
There are a couple of informative articles relating to our professions. I found an article about Teen Space caught my eye :
Video games encourage teens to check out library

Teens come to play and might check out other offerings, many say
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 10, 2007
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News jmosier@dallasnews.com
Molière has a new neighbor at the public library: Nintendo's ubiquitous Mario.
As technology transforms libraries, video games such as Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam are finding a home alongside Internet-connected computers, DVDs and audio books.
Fort Worth's Central Library is unveiling Sunday what might be the area's first dedicated library gaming room as part of its efforts to reach teens.
"It's a difficult group to bring to the library," said Ken Hopkins, administrator of Fort Worth's Central Library. "They just have so many things in their lives, all competing for their attention."
The library hopes to level the playing field with a 52-inch LCD television, an Xbox 360 and about a half-dozen of the most popular games. Tournaments using the donated equipment are also planned.
For years, libraries have scheduled story times and events for the elementary school set.
But teen programs have been the fastest-growing segment of youth outreach. Many libraries now stock animé and manga – Japanese animation and graphic novels. Arlington's Central Library has created a teen media lab with a camcorder and digital camera, as well as computers loaded with music and graphics software.
But the hottest trend – and the subject of a July symposium for the American Library Association – is video games. The numbers are still small. A Syracuse University study found that less than half of the libraries surveyed ran gaming programs in 2006, but most of those involved board games. Less than 1 percent had console or PC gaming programs.
Loriene Roy, president of the American Library Association, said some might think video games are the competition for libraries, but this is just another evolutionary step. Just a few decades ago, there were arguments about whether to stock albums and videotapes. Dr. Roy said libraries have embraced progress.
The addition of video games probably started with an April 2005 Library Journal article titled "Meet the Gamers," said Jenny Levine, the library association's Internet development specialist and strategy guide.
The article tried to bury the stereotype of gamers as unthinking couch potatoes. "In short, librarians can't afford to ignore gamers," the authors wrote.
By then, just a few libraries – including Santa Monica, Calif., and Ann Arbor, Mich. – had hosted video game tournaments.
"For almost every middle-schooler in town, there was a stigma associated with going to the library," said Eli Neiburger, technology manager and video game guru for the Ann Arbor District Library.
Choosing popular games and awarding prizes such as Nintendo Wii video game systems broke the coolness barrier, he said. His library's seasonlong tournaments now attract about 300 to 500 people.
Mr. Neiburger said the outreach isn't limited to teens and tweens. The Guitar Hero tournaments attract college students, and the library sometimes awards prizes to the best adult-child teams to get parents involved.
Michelle McLellan, a junior at Plano East High School, counts herself as a fan of this trend. She's played games on the Wii at the Plano library's special events, and the 16-year-old said this is perfect for her classmates who don't already have a video game system at home.
"It's like renting games but for free," she said.
Melanie Killen, a professor of human development at the University of Maryland, said she's distressed to hear that video games are making inroads into libraries. She said a vast majority of the games have negative content and the consequences can be destructive, including increased impulsivity, aggressive behavior and shorter attention spans.
Even if libraries screen out violent games, Dr. Killen said, games take time away from more important activities, such as reading, exercise and homework.
"There is a concern in our society about the preparation of the next workforce in terms of reading and math and science skills," she said. "We should be doing everything we can to facilitate that, and I think that allowing video games to go in libraries is a bad signal."
Library officials said they steer clear of violent games and see a lot more benefits. Mr. Hopkins emphasized this is not mindless fun.
"A lot of the games are stories," he said. "You have to read on the screen, solve puzzles, learn about narrative. It forces you to think. This is not a passive activity."
Judi Collett, children's librarian at the Christopher A. Parr Library in Plano, said her goal is to get video game systems at each library and create tournaments to bring in more young people. She said librarians must be patient, though, because a teen might come to play video games and leave without using any other resources.
"We feel like they may do that 30 times, and the 31st time, they may decide to hang around and go past that wall and see what else is in the library they would enjoy," Ms. Collett said.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

#7 Blog Spot
Technology has certainly come a long way since I graduated from College.
I wish had the technological opportunites with informational retrieval students have today, with everything at their fingertips. Remember those countless ours spent researching periodical articles.
The world wide web has had a positive impact on my life professionally and personally.
I found my greyhound on there, formed new friendships. As a librarian, being able to assist people with their information needs is very rewarding.
Learning 2.0 has it's challenges and although I'm find it a little frusrtrating, I'm deriving a great deal of satisfaction with the end results and learning new skills.
Is this 100 words?

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

#6 MORE FLICR FUN COMPLETED (forgot to add to previous post)

Monday, October 8, 2007

My lame design for a magazine cover on Fickrfun . That explains why I didn't get into graphic design all those years ago. I think we better leave our creative talents with Kelly, Bec and Ada.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Flicr fun is an understatement. I'm afraid I couldn't do it alone. Andrew came to the rescue. Many thanks. The photograph wouldn't paste until I accepted the terms and conditions. Slow progress my end I'm afraid. Three attempts. I'm not deterred. I have wonderful work colleagues who are incredibly patient. Couldn't do it without your help. I learnt a new skill today, I think?
caio Lil