Thing #23: Wrapping Up!

The OCL Web Challenge was all good stuff so it is hard to pick just one favorite. But, if I have to pick, I would have to say my favorite was Flickr. I went to a fish reunion this past week and brought my camera. The very next day I posted the photos on Flickr which really impressed everyone. I could not have done it without the OCL Web Challenge.

Actually, I don’t think there is anything that I liked least about Web 2.0. I liked it all. I think the library should get more involved in the collaborative tools that Web 2.0 offers to get work done more easily and efficiently. This will leave more time for hunting for goldfish crisps and playing with glass pebbles.

Il est fini! It is now time to party in the fishbowl! I raise my fin in a toast to you Web Challenge Committee!

Thing #18; Web Apps

I added my fin-print to "Web Players on Google Docs." It was very similar to Microsoft Word so it was easy. I have already used Google Docs at my branch to order and track materials for our summer teen program. That teen librarian group is a school of smart fish.

Like playing in the Sandbox, Google Docs saves time by allowing one to work on a single version of a document rather than having multiple copies floating around the fishbowl. It especially saves time when you are the chair fish of a project. I have often edited the wrong version of a document. What a waste of time when I could be searching for goldfish crisps, eating aquatic plants, or playing with glass pebbles.

There are several projects that I am working on where I can use Google Docs right away! OK, I am now a convert.

Thing # 17: Play in the Sandbox

This was fun, fun, fun.

So, what are the potential uses of pbwiki for work? Well, for one, Big Goldfish is on a lot of committees so that means getting lots and lots of emails, and organizing lots and lots of emails, and trying to keep it all straight. Plus I am ALWAYS going over my email box size limit. Size is always a challenge for me as a BIG GOLDFISH. Pbwiki seems to be a much more efficient way of communicating with my fellow committee members rather than email.

I also like the easy conversational style and ability to have fun with pbwiki. This is very appealing to us fun-loving and friendly goldfish since we would rather play than organize or search for emails any day of the week. I am going to teach Tom Dewey how to use this pbwiki stuff pronto! Tom is one of those fishy types who would rather email me than swim over to my side of the fishbowl to talk to me in-person, or rather, in-fish. pbwiki will be perfect for him!

Thing #12: Part Deux "WorldCat"

With a little encouragement from K. of the OCL Web Challenge Committee I decided to venture into the world of cats. Yes, I tried the WorldCat database.

I took a look around WorldCat (awful name!) and searched for a recent book title on Goldfish. I entered in the zipcode for the Berkeley Branch 08721 and found a book titled “Pet Goldfish” by Julia Barnes published in 2007.

Pet goldfish
by Julia Barnes
Type: Book; English
Publisher: Milwaukee, WI : Gareth Stevens Pub., ©2007.
Edition: North American ed
ISBN: 0836867785 9780836867787
OCLC: 64511305

Unfortunately the closest library that owns the title is the Mercer County Library (NJ), followed by the Delaware County Library System (Media, PA). I clicked on the tabs such as Details and Subject and found the following information:

Item Details:
Material Type: Juvenile (no specific ages)
Document Type: Book
Description: 32 p. : col. ill. ; 24 cm.
Contents: First goldfish -- Perfect pets -- Goldfish's body -- Goldfish varieties -- Aquarium -- Tank setup -- Right choice -- Feeding goldfish -- Goldfish care -- Goldfish behavior -- Glossary -- More books to read/websites -- Index.
Responsibility Julia Barnes.

Summary/Abstract
Provides instructions and tips for keeping a goldfish as a pet, along with information about the behavior and physical characteristics of fish.

Note that WordCat says that Goldfish are ***Perfect Pets*** Although flattered, I am surprised to hear a compliment come out of a cat. Usually, a cat would come up with a snarky comment such as “Purrfect Pet: For Your Dining Pleasure.”

However, since the nearest title is located in Mercer County then I must fill out "THE FORM." I understand that it is no longer called the ILL Form, but the Request for Materials form. Yes, WorldCat will help me, Big Goldfish, in filling out the form. Not sure if it will help the customers. Oh, maybe it will help a few. There are still some secret codes on the form. For example, I know what an ISBN number is because I live with a librarian. For all you non-goldfish and non-library people an ISBN stands for “International Standard Book Number.” I often tell library customers that the ISBN is similar to the serial number of a car only it is the serial number for a book. They seem to understand that.

Any flaws with WorldCat is not the fault of you, or me, or the library customers. Remember, it was DESIGNED BY CATS! CATS ARE TRICKY! The whole thing would be much better if it was designed by GOLDFISH. Imagine a database called WorldGoldfish. Just imagine....

Waiting to Finish the OCL Web Challenge

Sigh. I am still waiting to finish the OCL Web 2.0 Challenge. I still need to complete Things #17 and #18 but I need the passwords. We tried GOLDFISH and then BIG GOLDFISH, but these were not the correct passwords. Below is a picture of Tom Dewey and me waiting for the passwords from the people-who-control-such-things.

Until we get the passwords we will bide our time by mindlessly pushing these glass pebbles around the fish bowl. You watch television when vegging out. We push pebbles around with our noses.

Thing #22: Listen NJ

Big Goldfish has downloaded many books through ListenNJ. The most annoying thing about ListenNJ is that they do not support ipods and they have wait lists. The best thing about Listen NJ is that they have a wide variety of books on topics that interest me and it is MUCH CHEAPER than BUYING books on CD from Barnes & Noble or Amazon. Goldfish are thrifty critters you know!

My latest ListenNJ book is All Fisherman are Liars: True Stories from the Drydock Bar by Linda Greenlaw.

Thing #21: Podcasts

I used Podcast.com to find Animal Radio, America's most-listened to "pet talk" show starring Hal Abrams and Judy Francis and featuring celebrity guests. On episode #443 a listener named Mary Ellen talks about how she trained her 5 persian cats how to swim! Cats swimming! Oh, the horror! See why it is important to learn about podcasts--this is news I definitely need to know. The info on the swimming kitties is about 12 minutes into the podcast.

http://podcast.com/show/27594/

Thing #20: YouTube

I swam around YouTube and found this amazing video Trained Goldfish Performs Amazing Tricks by R2FishSchool.

This fish has got game!

Sigh, if I can only get Tom Dewey to practice his free throws...

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards

Ooooh. I liked this list of Web 2.0 Award Winners! Immediately went to the Sport category. I think I will like using TeamSnap to keep track of my favorite football and baseball teams, the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins, respectively.

Thing #16: Wiki's

Yes, generally I feel wiki's are very useful. Although I didn't see a discussion group for aquarium bound. I dsiliked having to create a sign in but I completely understand the need to protect oneself from sharks, skates and flounders. As for the OCL info on wikipedia, I was most taken with the term OTRS. It all seems so mysterious these OTRS'ers. I imagine they are somewhat James Bondian. OTRS (Pronounced "Otters") dressed in tuxedos and eating clams on the half-shell.

Thing # 15: Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

For obvious reasons, I was immediately drawn to the article "Away From the Icebergs." The analogy of the library profession to a boat in which we are all rowing was delightful. A just in case collection is difficult to maintain within the limited space of a fish bowl so I understand the author's P.O.V. quite well. As for the bit on user education and the barriers that effect training efforts this is certainly true. For example, Tom Dewey is well-educated and trained by me, Big Goldfish. You, dear reader, on the other side of the glass fish bowl, are not. I liked the paragarph about the "come to us" model of service. I cannot easily get to the library because I need to be in water at all times. I also liked the author's analogies to big ships and little boats and applaud his use of the word "zetgeist."

As for what Library 2.0 means to me, a picture is worth a thousand words. And yes, I drew it myself.

A Challenging Morning...

A Challenging Morning

...the cat was here again.

This is NOT a PROBLEM. This is a CHALLENGE. This is not a PROBLEM. This is a CHALLENGE...

Repeat mantra as necessary.

Thing #14: Technorati

I must admit that I have used Technorati before so I wasn't surprised by the results. I use Technorati in much the same way the academic fish, those smartypants dolphins, use citation searching to see how often their work has been cited. One can see how many people have cited your blog or how popular your blog is. The blog that I found while using Technorati that I will probably continued to read is Engadget.

Thing #13: del.icio.us

What I like most about this de.licio.us is that I can take my bookmarks with me wherever I swim. No matter which end of the tank I am at, or which comptuer I use, I can still access my favorite bookmarked websites. Even from the computers at my public aquarium.

Thing #12: NetLibrary

I teach fish how to use NetLibrary all the time. They always want to know why they have to swim over to the library first to sign-up. I tell them that it is like swimming to the library to get a library card. Most of the titles in our NetLibrary are computer and business titles since they get out-dated in print format rather quickly. I don't mind reading e-books but sometimes the glare of the computer screen gets to me. Remember, goldfish don't have eyelids so we can't blink.

Thing #11: LibraryThing

I really like LibraryThing! By far the most popular book in my library is Dr. Seuss's "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" follwed by Neil Gaiman's "Today I traded My Dad for Two Goldfish." As an aside, I wanted Redfish Bluefish to be the name of my blog but due to a typo I got ReFish BlueFish. Hey, typing with fins while underwater is HARD. You try using a keyboard while wearing flippers on your hands the next time you go scuba diving. However, I quite like the mistake because it alludes to my raffish nature. Raffish meaning "jaunty, casual, confident, and stylish." All true goldfish qualities. Did you know that all goldfish are actually carp? However, the Chinese discovered a variant carp that was gold in color and bred us for our color. At one time goldfish were only allowed to be owned by Chinese royalty. Royalty, I say! Bow to me now! Only kidding. Now go to the library and read my books.

Thing #10: Part 2: Technology Blogging

I posted a comment on marketing & pr guru Heather's blog about the Kindle.

Thing #10: Part 1: Technology Blogging

Many people think the life of a goldfish is akin to that of a slacker. This is not so. Goldfish just like to have fun. Remember, my "True Color" is "Orange!" That is why one of my favorite blogs is Lifehacker : Tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done. It is an award winning blog that helps people, and goldfish, get things done faster and more efficiently.

Thing #9: Finding RSS Feeds

Since this goldfish lives with a librarian he found the Bloglines Search Tool for RSS feeds to be less than perfect with regards to authoritative sources. However, I did go to my favorite website, Discovery.com and discovered that they had a feed that will keep me updated on such important news as "Humpback Whales Make Huge Comeback."

Unfortunately the Cousteau Society did not have a feed so I couldn't add it to Bloglines. Jacques Cousteau. Now there was a guy who was going green before the going green movement had a name. The Cousteau Society website is in both English and French. Since this poisson rouge can read French it is pas de problème. Plus the Google Translate tool helps me get through the rough spots.

Thing #8: RSS

This was fun especially since I am a news and magazine fin-atic. I easily created my 10 newsfeeds. Most of my feeds are on animals and nature such as National Geographic, which features great underwater photography. Of course, there are the book reviews and comedy feeds too. I subscribed to 1) The New York Times Book Review to be a well-read goldfish, 2) Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider to be an entertainingly in-the-know goldfish, and 3) the OCLWebthings blog to be a tech-savvy goldfish.

Thing #7: Scanning

Here is where the OCL Webchallenge really helped me. I can be a bit lazy at times. Hey, after all I am a fish. This means that I don't always take the time to try new things with technology. Of course, at the same time I am always confident that I can figure technology out the moment I need it. I call it just in time learning.

So I have this scanner that does a lot of things. Well, when I went to use it, it wouldn't scan. I kept pressing the scan button with my fins and got nothing. Nadda. No scan. This led to a little exploration on the HP website where I discovered that the scan button does not function when the printer is connected to Windows Vista. At this news I did my best impression of The Daily Show's John Stewart shaking his fist in the air and shouting "Darn you Windows Vista!" albeit in my case it was with fins.

The work-around to this is to scan using Paint in accessories or to scan using Windows Fax and Scan. I used Paint to scan this picture of something near and dear to my heart: Aquasafe. This is the stuff that makes tap water safe for me to swim in.

Thank you OCL Webchallenge for teaching this Big Goldfish a new trick.

Thing #6: Party In the Library

Party In the Library
Originally uploaded by teacup_4P

Did you know that the Library's laptop station can also be used as a buffet table for parties? This is a photo from the "Welcome Summer Party: Featuring the Chandler Travis Philharmonic" The music was outstanding. It was like Mardi Gras in the library on a Friday night. I am pleased to report that fish was NOT SERVED as an entree at the buffet.

Thing #5: Flickr

I signed up for a Flickr account and although there were some very nice pictures there nothing caught my fancy. Instead, I decided to upload a picture of my buddy Thomas Dewey and me.

Look how much bigger I am than him in our masthead photo at the top of this page! I am Big Goldfish!

But back to the work at hand. Flickr and Blogger were a bit clunky interacting with each other but I managed to make it work. Since Flickr is a Yahoo! product and Blogger is a Google product and they are competitors I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Competition is something I don't understand. According to a book the librarian read goldfish are friendly and welcoming to each other and are not competitive or aggressive in the least.

Oh, once in a while a big goldfish may eat a smaller goldfish but it is always accidental. Something to do with the size of the goldfish's mouth and how it gulps down food at mealtimes. I am always careful at breakfast and dinner so Tom Dewey has nothing to worry about.

Things #1 -- #4: Attitude is Everything

One of the 7-1/2 attributes of lifelong learning is that "attitude is everything." I was once a small goldfish in a small bowl in a Founder's Day street fair booth on Washington Street in Toms River. But I was a determined fish. Determined that I would have a better life. I viewed my situtation not as a problem but as a challenge. My ticket out of the bowl was to get into the bag. The plastic bag, that is. The one they put you in so someone could take you home to make you their pet fish. But how?

I had to begin with the end in mind and then develop a plan to achieve my goal. First, I needed to get someone to toss the ping pong ball into my bowl. I visualized the white ping pong ball floating in the water of my bowl. They say that if you can dream it, you can do it. I concentrated with all my fishy might on the ping pong ball.

And then it happened.

This librarian walking by the booth tossed a ping pong ball into the air. She didn't think the ball would land in my bowl. The odds against it were enormous. But she had never encountered a small goldfish with a big plan before. Plop! It happened. Before the librarian could say, "Huh?" I was in the bag and on my way back to the Ocean County Library. Now I am a Big Goldfish in a spacious aquarium with plenty of goldfish crisps to eat, rocks and plants to play with, and a nightlight.

What is the most difficult thing about the 7-1/2 Steps of Lifelong Learning for me? Maybe it is the mentoring part. I am somewhat confined by my circumstances so travelling long distances by car or train to tutor someone is out of the question and cell phones don't work well underwater.