TASLA Session #2 Peggy Rudd TSLAC / Second Life

This crazy picture will not move right now...it is part of the Second life discussion below...do you know who it is ? Answer below!! :-)

TSLAC Report:

Peggy is giving us the annual report ...the state of libraries speech so to speak!

Legislature info/results

increased funding for K12 databases...keep what we have and expand

state-wide catalog plan...share our info..as librarians do naturally

Not successful!

thought we had 2.5 million dollars but did not move forward

people are still plugging away to bring about success.

creative budgeting (federal $) should protect the databases for now.

may have to scale back on support and training part which are important, but it may have to happen. 

more training comes more comfort

technology pupil allotment will help in some ways.

TEA, Higher-Ed got lots of stimulus $. wish some could have come our way.

maybe some resources from TEA could go into the database budget.

eligibility for k12 has not changed. can't expand to private schools..that did not happen.

they will continue to have to work thru service center program to get best price.

in 2010...TexShare database, k12 database bid will occur

since $ resources did not increase, probably won't increase database resources

k12 databases and teacher prep

this was the 2n

d most requested wish after funding

trying to get info to decision makers in the schools..they need to be aware of the importance of the database

online course...State library site

services to librarians tab

Everyone Wins When School and Public Libraries Work Together

she talked about the state Library of Texas....some can't connect because of district restrictions. maybe larger k12 libraries could add their records

NEW TOPIC

SECOND LIFE  http://www.secondlife.com

we saw A Starry, Starry Night presentation..actually saw the site being built...that was pretty cool! (o btw, she just said it is not there anymore!!)  there is a video of it.

Look who is here in Second Life at the ALA site...Barry BigBoots  (sorry, I shook as I took the picture)

Othe virtual worlds for kids

Habbo Hotel..teen

Webkinz..little kids

Gaia Online ..teens

Ty girlz 10-15 girls

machinima...machine + cinema; filming inworld

Why Second Life?

ALA has an island

another event

The Bookbinder's Ball...annual event

book discussions go on all the time...in the Reader's Garden

a book she talked about Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

global collaboration

California Library Assoc has had some

used Animoto to show us a virtual tour of one the events...good way to show it off (as youknow, I love Animoto!!)

virtual classrooms

feel the sense you are in the room with others at the same time!

the land of Lincoln...the details of the school room

sandboxes are available in SL for learning

she tried to show us around but of course, technology did its usually trick! but I will link ot her presentation later and you can see lots of "stuff"

p.S. forgot to mention..we still have those important breaks called ...eating !!

we back channeled this conversation at http://todaysmeet.com/TASLA

we hope to have an archived copy if it later...cross your fingers!

371.33 Blog Anniversary: Two Years and Counting...

This blog is two years old this holiday weekend. I am fast running out of time to meet the anny deadline, but I am getting it started and will write on it a bit all day as I shoe-horn it in between life in general and the list I set for myself over this long weekend!

I am proud that it exists and that it is two years and counting. In the past I was not comfortable with my writing and very little exits, but this does...mostly because I could write down thoughts to be "used" by others. In my mind that makes it possible to accomplish because it is (hopefully) for the benefit of others.

There is very little original thought here. I simply report what I find or that others share with me (and thousands of others.) One of the BEST things about the online world...the possibility of sharing!

This second year has been a busy one. My team and I came across the 23 Things phenomena that has been making the rounds so we created our own version and have conducted it twice...so far! The first go-round of Library2Play included about half of our campus librarians, a few district teachers, an administrator, and a few brave souls from around the state who heard about it thru the Internet grapevine. THEN we repeated it in the summer...where we were joined by 300 district librarians, teachers, and several administrators along with educators from a wider state circle and 3 other states! What a terrific experience these encounters were and continue to be...several participants have kept their blogs active and share their online adventures with all of us.

I got to attend NECC this year, basically because it was right down I-10 in San Antonio and I went to the EduBloggers' thing the Saturday before the official conference began. I got to be in the same room with SO many of the bloggers who I have admired from afar...it was a BLAST!! It was THE highpoint of this two-year experience. And the rest of the conference was an adventure itself!

And yes, I do consider myself a part (a tiny part, but a part nevertheless) of the revolution in learning!

And of course, there was that little event in December which gave me an opportunity to visit a bit in Second Life...all of it... from the "surprise" beginning to the virtual world visit was so surreal.

I have gotten to meet so many wonderful people thru the blog...first establishing a relationship online and then thru events like TLA Conference, NECC and staff development trainings, I have had opportunities for face-to-face encounters. Several have become long-distance friends now. The blog will also be the vehicle to keep up with one special friend who been transplanted east...WAY east. I will get to see her sing and dance and watch her grow! O, yeah and keep up with her mom, too! :-)

Animoto remains my favorite tool...not necessarily the most effective or efficient tool in my toolbox, but it is so fun...and gets better and better! I couldn't live without my Reader, my various wikis that I have created to park various bits of info and Google Docs. Most of it all relates back to my blogging experiences in some form or fashion.

Now we are trying to experience FAceBook from an educator's point of view and how we can help students use it properly and safely. I'm a bit behind the circle with this particular social networking tool because it's just a tad too much for me...tends to be too "up close and personal," but I have put it on my list...and yes, that includes going thru the long list of friends-in-waiting!

And games... we are trying to show how games of all kinds belong in the library and the educational plans of our kids today. I love the Wii...bowling is my favorite right now, but gosh, every time I turn around TV shows us something new! I spent a fun afternoon recently watching kids fool around with Guitar Hero...how fun it was! Card games, board games, online games...they all belong. Watch...I'll be writing about some as time goes by.

Both personal and professional things took time away from my blogging fun. I hope to get things back on track and keep up a little better and a little more regularly. Looking forward to what awaits. Hope you will continue to check in and keep the conversation going.

Here's to Three!

793.932 Another Second Life Adventure

Because of my membership in ISTE due to my planned attendance at NECC this summer, I got an email from one of my favorite bloggers, Blue Skunk Doug Johnson about a talk he was going to give this evening on ISTE Island in Second Life. (nope not open in district)

It was going to start in 15 minutes. Plenty of time I thought...and an opportunity to "hear" someone I had been reading for some time now! I also needed a reason to get back into Second Life and experience it again.

Ha! 45 minutes later I got in and only caught the last part of the talk.

When I opened Second Life, I was notified that I need to download an update or I would not be able to use the site. My possessed computer took FOREVER connecting to the download and then I had to wait for it to do its thing.

Ok, ok..only 10 minutes into the program. I clicked the transport address from the email and landed on the right island...with absolutely NO clue what to do next. I looked around and around and saw no one. Then I started hearing voices...barely. Dug up my headphones. Eureka, I was at least hearing the talk.

And as always, someone showed up and asked if he could help. Sorry, I did not get his name...but I think he is a "docent" for the island. He was great at explaining what I needed to do and was VERY PATIENT when I explained I moved slowly! BTW...he had a cool vehicle...forgot to "screen shot" it. Anyway, I walked carefully, managed to stay out from UNDER any buildings thistime, flew a little and crashed only once.
So I finally show up at the location...the screen is full of Blue Skunk's cartoons and they are talking away...and there is not one single person in the audience, but I see all kinds of names on the screen. There was 25 minutes left of the program so I just quietly listened and watched the typed comments on the screen.

Some points from the talk:
1. Human vs. machine
content filtering done by a machine cancels out the human's ability to discriminate what is appropriate for what situation...not a good practice, but "we" all do it!

2. Self-empowered or self-discovery type staff development...a good thing! Score one for my circle! We are doing that again this summer with our 23 Things...opportunity for educators to learn on their own with help/support, but the self-discovery of knowledge is a key component of the experience!

3. Blue Skunk reminded us of one of his favorite statements...# of kids in the library is in reverse proportion to the importance of the next visitor. Boy, that has been the truth for me in SO many cases!

4. Sometimes technology can be over used. If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail! His analogy...going online and finally finding the population of Bolivia from a 1995 CIA Fact Book vs. thumbing thru the current World Almanac that is probably sitting relatively close to the computer. not sure I know a lot of libraries that have a current World Almanac anymore, but I definitely understood his message. The right tool for the right job at the the right time!

Gosh, I wish I had heard the whole thing.
O, also ...You can download his book Machines are the Easy Part, People are the Hard Part: technology in the Schools for free here.

P.S. I loved his voice (my first time to hear him)...sounded just like what I had imagined from reading his posts!

And I KNOW inquiring minds are waiting...........................

patiently............................................

NO............................................

I did not sit down because I could not remember how!

For the uninformed...it's ok. You hadda be there to understand!
Just know that this Second Life thing is never gonna be a strong suit for me...I will keep trying, I know I will...it will just be continue to be pitiful. I just know it will.

770.79 Photography Exhibition 2. 0 Version

I have neglected some of my fun spots I like to visit every once and awhile and so I did some catching up and came across a photography competition over at jokaydia.com. Ok, I hear you...no big deal...contests are all over the place...

This one was (it's already over--I told you I was behind!) run by Jo Kay of Wollongong, Australia, the creator of Jokaydia Island in Second Life. You could choose your shot....but it had to be made ON Jokaydia Island. Yup, you had to go into the virtual world and shoot a favorite scene.

Jokaydia Sunrise
Uploaded to flickr on March 25, 2008by teachandlearn

Of the photos with Creative Commons rights, this is one of the several that I like. There are some other photos, but their rights are reserved so I could not post them here.

The photos are on display at a new Gallery that is open on Jokaydia Island. Did I see them there? Well, no, for couple of reasons...I couldn't remember or at the moment find my sign on info...and since I really have not been in Second Life since about November, I wasn't sure I'd be able to maneuver around well enough to find the gallery this evening. (Remember, I walk under buildings and have to practice sitting)

So I did the next best thing and went to Flickr where participants were encouraged to post their photos and tag them with jokaydiaphotocomp08. so you can enjoy their creative results there. Which will be your only alternative anyway if you are looking at this in district.

Anyway, if you want to visit the virtual world, you can go to Second Life, join and then transport to Jokaydia Island and visit the gallery. I will, too...one of these days!

006.7 More Edublogs Awards (and Second Life) Reactions

The teacher winner of the Edublog Awards Betchablog has an entertaining description of the awards ceremony in Second Life. Enjoyable reading especially since he was a fairly new in-world visitor like me!

...What did intrigue me though was the notice I received to say that the awards ceremony would be held on Jokaydia Island. “Cool!” I thought, I get to fly off to some tropical resort on some exotic island somewhere to attend the ceremony. Well, it’s true, I did fly off, and it was an exotic island, but it existed only in the virtual world of Second Life. Yes, the Edublogs Award ceremony was to be held in a virtual 3D space - a space existing only as a collection of bits, bytes and packets inside my computer, arranged into an amazing 3D environment by the creativity of the people who build these virtual spaces...

He also has some more pictures that show some event highlights. And lots of other good stuff as well that I will be working my way thru!

Another view of the whole awards process including graphs (that I am not totally sure I understand) was put out by James Farmer, brains behind the Edublogs thing itself and a major player in the awards and its super ceremony, (and a right nice friendly, helpful guy when I was having fits at my Edublogs blog.)

...The process was split into three stages, nominations of blogs for the awards over a few weeks (we received over 500 via an email contact form...nice barrier!), voting over a couple of weeks and then the announcement of the winners...

I am so in awe of all these creative people that I get to learn from!

006.7 Edublogs Awards: A Surreal Adventure

The Edublog Award winners were announced Saturday at a multimedia, video streamed event held in Second Life (SL) and through other audio connections.


I created an Avatar and went to the ceremony on Jokaydia Island. It was fun and frustrating, interesting and intimidating, cool and confusing. Having only spent about five hours total in the virtual world of SL prior to the event, I was struggling to operate outside of my comfort zone and still take in all the excitement around me.
Click on the picture and you can see a few screen shots I took to give you an idea of everything that was going on. You can see other pictures as they are collected on Flickr.

JUST like at the Academy Awards, I really did not think my little blog entry would "win" against the heavy hitters that were in the category and so when the blog was called, I really had nothing prepared to say! It was ok tho' because others were waiting to speak at the end due to all the technical issues (yes...even in something this BIG!). I tried at the end to use my headset and my 15 minutes of knowledge of the set-up to try and say thanks...I "screeched" so badly that attendees begged to pull my plug so I did! Newbies with new toys should not try to "play" with the big boys and girls!

There were several people who were so kind to me as I tried learning how to maneuver around...walking, sitting...flying! I spent more time in the bushes and UNDER structures. And as far as the flying goes...well, those of you who have seen me operate in the real world...let's just say it wasn't a pretty picture. But Jokay, the island owner, spent precious time the day before helping me while she should have been tending to more important details, and Ruby Imako and Sandbox Builder Leah Planer gave me several pointers during the ceremony itself.

It was S-U-R-R-E-A-L!

And now I must try to adequately say thanks to everyone who was responsible for this nice thing happening to me.

I started this blog a little over a year ago to do something that looked like a fun way to share bits and pieces of information I find with people who might want to read what I had to offer. I have a great group of colleagues and friends who follow my ramblings fairly regularly and, on occasion, would share their thoughts with me and others about the topic. I also know I have a lot of them lurking...they will talk to me about the posts, but won't write. My goal this year...more commentors, less lurkers!!

No way did I think ANYTHING I wrote about would attract attention outside my little circle of influence. But the structure of blogging allows for others to find my words when they match up with their words! And that is just plain cool! to see something I thought about quoted in someone else's post...o wow!

I feel very honored to have been nominated and selected as a finalist because there are so many good things going on out there in the library blogging world. And to have had friends and colleagues put out the efforts needed for me to be the "winner"...I appreciate all their efforts and time...and more importantly, their confidence in and support of me.

I want this honor to reflect ALL the good things we have going on in our libraries, but especially with respect to the "new" ways of doings things. Many of us have been fighting an uphill battle for many years to prove our worthiness to others. It's a win for all of us.

I will work hard to earn the respect connected with "winning" something like this by continuing to have lots of fun learning and sharing...and I will do my best to pay it forward.

THANK YOU!