Thing 22 Nings

Through the Ning site I looked at nings that sounded interesting, child lit, web 2.0, libraries, service to children, but most of the time they had not been updated since May, they had no discussions, they were "under construction", so on and so forth.  I always came back to the Teacher Librarian ning, and joined that this morning. I am also a member of the Texas School Librarian ning, which provides a smaller scope.  In my view, a ning is another way to network and share ideas with colleagues, but I don't know if it has any advantages over the subject specific list serve other than you can have immediate access to graphics and media.  A list serve usually shares media via links, but the blog can also provide immediate access.  

A ning isn't useful if people do not participate, and I stand accused of not participating in the nings to which I belong.  It seems my list serves stay active all year long, and I participate in them all year. For a lark,  I clicked on the web pages included in the user profiles in Teacher Librarian and Texas Librarian, and in most cases their web sites and blogs were current. The individual simply  hadn't really participated in the ning for some time. What does that mean? Maybe some of us have established a social network via a listserve, and the ning is a duplication, another thing to keep current.  Maybe it is generational, with the younger librarians, having grown up with facebook and myspace and establishing their networks in that platform, finding the ning as a familiar friend/mode.  Maybe the ning provided another way to access a blog or web site. 

Some of my child lit group tinkered with myspace, facebook, etc. this summer, and many of them thought it was faster to use the listserve and the blogs to share and discuss. At this time I prefer the blog, the list serve, and to a certain extent, the wiki. However, I have been known to change my opinion if  I receive "new information."

Thing 21 Pod/vidcast

This "thing" has been intense and it has taken me forever--since July 5th! I studied all the information for several days, and then I began working in earnest Sunday. I have spent 3 full days creating the thoughts, selecting public domain pictures, reading and verifying facts about the subject, and learning how to work in garageband. Over time three or four versions of this podcast were created, and the one I really thought was perfect and was ready to upload to switchpod, began to delete pieces of the audio! I would have had to record the whole thing over! I was horrified, and very discouraged!! Luckily, an earlier version was still saved, and I submitted it to switchpod without all the bells and whistles. Thankfully, the export/import went well, and hopefully this link will take you to this podcast.  I think if I worked on podcasting, I would enjoy using them in the library, but right now I'm exhausted by the whole process.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Thing 20 question

Is there a way to shrink the videos I have chosen to place in my blog, and is it legal to readjust the size? Mine look larger than I would like. I looked for guidance from Blogger and from the YouTubeTeacherTube sites but didn't find any helpful. In the beginning of the html code, there are dimensions. Would it help to readjust them? I tried putting the cursor further into the paragraph, but it didn't help. I considered the possibility that Zamzar would help. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thing 20: YouTube and TeacherTube

Youtube is a virtual repository of media on any topic and created by anyone, expert or novice. I'd love to see their server farm! Teachertube is a little more defined, but many of its offerings are available on YouTube. In a school setting, TeacherTube might be a safer choice.
On Youtube I searched "ed tech" with "Date added" as a qualifier and found a short video titled "Empowering Children Through the Use of Technology". I was really impresssed with the clearly stated presentation of the mantra for the education of our children in the 21st century. It was added to YouTube on July 2, 2008 by FengLynn.



I love Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Star the Fire" and in the past I have suggested it to history teachers as a research topic. Many renditions are available on TeacherTube, but I preferred the layout and photographs used in this one by Scott Allsop.

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