THING 26. NING

I haven't looked at Ning since last Fall. I thought I had several friends. When I checked my page, I was down to one. Does Ning take away your friends if you don't post any comments for awhile? I have been adding friends and comments. I joined the Ning for Ramsey County Librarians working on Things on a Stick. I added the CNN gadget and a video to my page. Both those were easy. I tried several times to add the large Ning badge to my blog, but it didn't work.

I am more likely to use email or IM to contact others in the library.

THING 25. MORE TROUBLES ON A STICK, OR, BLOGGERS' TOOLKIT

Are we having fun yet? I was until I tried adding gadgets to the layout page. I tried several different ones, but was not able to add any. Worse, for several days I couldn't scroll through my blog or sign in. I was trying to add the gadget for the Wall St. Journal when this happened. When I previewed the blog, a message came up saying Internet Explorer can't upen the blog URL (even though I had just been in it). When I clicked on OK or Close to get rid of the message, the white screen with "This screen cannot be displayed" came up. Shutting down the PC and starting up again didn't help. A different PC didn't help. Today I tried logging in through Blogger instead of my Favorites bookmark or a Google search. That took me to the Dashboard. I deleted the Wall Street Journal gadget (does anything on or about Wall St. work these days?). Then I could see my blog.

The Typealyzer needs more tweaking. A lot more tweaking. When I tried to find out my blog's type, the message came back "Detected language Vietnamese. The only supported languages are English and Swedish." My blog is in English.

THING 24. REFRESH YOUR BLOG

It's been more than two months since I've posted to my blog. I changed some of the colors on my blog. Not a big change. I tried changing the background color, but I couldn't find a way to do that with the fonts and colors tab. I've added to my profile. When I tried adding Blogger Gadgets for the NY Times, the BBC and the Wall St. Journal, the links wouldn't work. I was able to add Google News as a gadget at the bottom of my blog. I never created an avatar for Thing 1. When I got to Thing 23, I had fun creating a dancing avatar on meez.com. I like what you can do with meez, but after reading through all their legal stuff, I decided not to keep the avatar.

THING 23. FINAL THOUGHTS

I started my blog on Feb. 21, 2008. I missed the deadlines for both rounds 1 and 2. It's now Nov. 21. I thought this day would never come. I have such a feeling of accomplishment!

I had trouble with many of the Things. I found them frustrating, tedious and timeconsuming. People actually sit in front of a computer for hours doing this stuff? I needed help, lots of help. I talked to coworkers (and commiserated with them) about the 23 Things. It was useful to read others' blogs. Somewhere along the line, I became more comfortable trying the Things. I kept telling myself this was a golden opportunity to learn Web 2.0 tools on the job.

I am glad I stuck with it. I feel bolder about trying web tools I wouldn't have tried before or wouldn't even have known about. I edited the code on one of my Ning badges. I didn't know the code was there or you could edit it until one of my coworkers showed me. Now that I am done, I am more willing to try new web tools. I'll get that chance in January 2009 when More Things on a Stick debuts.

What would I change? I know I'm in the minority here, but there was too much Flickr. Thing #7 with email and instant messaging could have been earlier. They were easy to write about, and more people have experience with them. Facebook and Ning could have come sooner.

What are my favorite Things? I like YouTube. I was excited when I got it to post to my blog on the first try. I also like Delicious, Google Reader, and podcasts. Facebook is a regular part of my day now.

Thank you to the creators of the 23 Things on a Stick website. I appreciate all the time and effort that went into it. I am ready for More Things!

THING 22. WHAT DID I LEARN TODAY?

Here's something I learned recently. A friend of mine is using Skype to make free computer-to-computer calls to her sister in Australia and her dad in California. I had read about Skype before (through the 23 Things), but somehow the value of it didn't sink in until she explained how her family is using it. She bought a webcam for $30 to use on her computer with Skype.

I now have 9 friends on Facebook. This is in contrast to the 3,129,606 (as of this writing) supporters Obama has on his Facebook page.

I will continue talking to coworkers and friends about web 2.0 tools. I will probably attend webinars in the future.

I looked through the list of possible websites to add to my aggregator. So far I have added LibraryBytes and Library Stuff to my Google Reader.

How many accounts do I have as a result of the 23 Things? I made a list on Ta Da of all the accounts I have opened. The total is 16, but I think there are more. I am going back through my notes to see if there are others.

Ann Walker Smalley gave a presentation at our Inservice Day on Nov. 11 that included a preview of More Things on a Stick. That's coming in January of 2009. There will be new tools as well as more on some of the original 23. I can keep up with web 2.0 tools by working through More Things. Uh oh, more accounts...

THING 21. NING

I joined 23 Things on a Stick on Ning. I am member #405. I've left comments for other members. I read the Webjunction and Gather articles. On the Gather website I read posts in their Money, Health, and Food sections. What I found really interesting is that Gather has Gather Points. You somehow accumulate Gather Points and are rewarded with a gift card from Amazon.com, Starbucks, Target and others, or you can get cash. Gather also has Stefanie Plum. Not Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but a real person who is on the Gather Partner Team and has her group Gather Giveaways.

I have looked at several other social networking sites, but haven't signed up. Facebook and Ning are enough for me right now.







Visit 23 Things on a Stick

THING 20. FACEBOOK

I can't believe I now have a Facebook account. I value my privacy. I don't want people finding me on the Internet. But it's there. I started with 2 friends. Now I have 8. I write on friends' walls and they write on mine. Facebook has altered my routine. After checking email, I check Facebook. I have to admit it's fun looking at my friends' Facebook pages. But I can see how frequently updating my site and checking others' can eat up the time.

This is the first Thing I've signed up for that has ads on my page. You can choose your friends but not the ads.