Tech Tips & Timely Tidbits

Today’s assignment is all about podcasts.

I’ve been downloading from iTunes (podcasts, music, audiobooks, etc.) long before I ever purchased an iPod. I’ll have to take some time and explore the podcatchers linked in “Thing #3″ in that infamous “free-time” we’re all supposed to have! Of course, I already subscribe to so many podcasts that I don’t have time to listen to/watch them all.

Most of the podcasts I find are found accidentally or were recommended to me by someone who knows my quirky tastes. I’ll be searching iTunes for a person (say an author to see if there are any interviews he/she’s given) or a topic (say technology) and come across other shows that I’ll subscribe to on a lark. If they’re good, I’ll keep them, if not, I unsubscribe. There are a bunch in there now waiting for me to give them a listen.

I’ve written a post before on my favorite podcasts, but here are a couple that I’ve discovered recently and/or didn’t include the first time around.

Nancy J. Keane’s Booktalks Quick and Simple - great short book commercials to pique students’ interest.

Old Time Radio - If you’re interested in listening to old time radio thrillers, comedy, suspense, mysteries, drama, adventure, science fiction, etc. search in iTunes for Old Time Radio and you can find a bunch of old radio broadcasts. When I was younger, I used to listen to them from an AM radio station on my boom box. My favorites were Burns and Allen, Abbott & Costello, and The Shadow! No, I’m not old enough to have listened to them when they originally aired, but that didn’t stop me from finding them fascinating as a teenager. The commercials were (are) sometimes even more interesting than the radio shows!

And of course, don’t forget to check out iTunes U to find educational podcasts from prominent colleges and universities. The University of Southern Florida’s Lit2Go: Audio Files for K-12 is a wonderful resource for free audiobooks. Great for struggling readers - they can listen to the audio and read along with the text. They even have a selection of audio in Spanish.

Thing #2’s assignment is all about RSS feeds: learn about them, subscribe to a feed reader, and add feeds to your reader. After completing those steps, we’re asked to reflect on what we like about RSS/readers and how we might use them in our work and personal life. And, how can libraries use RSS technology?

I’ve been using an RSS reader for quite some time now. I originally used Google Reader (as I love all things Google), but switched to Bloglines earlier this year as some of my feeds weren’t updating properly on Google; however, I’m now having the same problem with Bloglines. <sigh> I guess no service can be perfect all of the time.

One thing I learned quickly, but was just an extension of my need to be organized, was to use folders to group my feeds. Here is a screen shot of my current groupings:

There are certain folders that I make a point of reading daily (SC Blogs, Favorites, and Library Profession) and as many of the others as I can each day. I’ve given up thinking I could keep it cleaned out, especially since I keep adding more feeds than I delete. For most of them I will simply scan the titles and/or scroll through them without truly reading the posts. As you can see, there are quite a few that I’ve marked keepers that I have some form of follow up I want to do: mention them on my blog, comment on, check out the resource(s) mentioned, etc.

I try not to stress over reading all of the posts and will quite frequently mark all as read. I figure that the folks I make a point of reading are reading the same ones as me and they’ll write or share anything important! Both professionally and personally, I’ve found RSS to be a great way to keep up with all of my interests. Of course, it can be a great time saver AND a great time waster.

As for using RSS in libraries, I’d be interested to read how others are utilizing them. I’m leery of getting to excited about using them since most Web 2.0 tools are currently blocked by my school district.

I totally forgot that SLJ was starting their “All Together Now” program.  If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ll see absentmindedness is a fault of mine!  What is even more embarrassing is that I wrote a reminder post on SUNDAY! Go figure. I guess its time for me to start up my scheduler again…the one I stopped using since going on summer vacation.  Anyhow, “Thing #1″ of the program is to set up a blog, write an about me post, and enter the blog address at the community clearinghouse site: http://tametheweb.com/alltogethernowblogs and then explore your new blog. You can find out more about who all is participating at the NetVibes portal, too!

School Library Journal is facilitating a “23 Things” learning opportunity to help folks learn Web 2.0 tools. Based on the program originally on Learning 2.0 blog. Some of the items that will be explored include: Blogs, Podcasts, RSS, Wikis, Flickr, Web Toys, Web 2.0 & Library 2.0, Social Networking Sites, Video Sites, Twitter, Tagging, and Google Apps. The program begins Monday, July 21st. The first topic covered with be blogs.

This is a great way to get an introduction to these tools. As the instructor Michael Stephens says: “Explore. Try things out. Don’t worry about “breaking” anything! Ask questions. There are no dumb questions. AND It’s okay to make mistakes.” As always, I’m here to help, and I will be following along with the program, too!