Lets Diigo!

I saw the term "social bookmarking" and dreaded what was to come, but despite my reservations, Diigo turned out to be a very effective and almost fun:) way to bookmark digital information. I don't have multiple devices so the option of sharing between computers, ipad and phones was not what enticed me. It was the organization, detailed bookmarking, snapshots, highlighting, and (my favorite) sticky notes that hooked me. I spent several hours looking and playing around. It actually took me a few minutes to figure out where my notes had gone after typing them in (look for tack in upper left hand corner:).

I also looked at some the popular book marks to see if there was any interesting topics that had similar tags to what I had been adding. They were great and easy to find. My only complaint is that the comments were mostly garbage, advertising for other sites and putting links to lead people away. So I was not impressed but that is a reflection of the users and not the program (which is awesome!).

What I envision using Diigo for is mostly for organizing myself. Since I'm new to the profession and to education in general, this is great way to keep track of the wonderful information that is out there to help and inspire educators (new and old). It also allows me to connect with others looking for similar ideas and content so I can find what I'm looking for that much sooner.

Do I see myself using it in my library or on my wiki? Not yet but maybe someday as I understand the program better and see a clear use for it in our school library. But until then, I will continue to take advantage of the benefits of organizing a disorganized person...me!

Image Generator UPDATE!

Well, my last picture was pathetic so I did so more tinkering and found out why! I used too small of a picture. So here is my new image and it is MUCH better. If I had only read the information better, I would have learned what the recommended image size was, so let that be a lesson to read all of the instructions before jumping into something new.:) Just FYI, the site I used before has changed its name to www.typoeffects.com.

My Library - Order Rules!

So, do you want to keep track of your books? Get tips from others about books you might like based on your current collection? Have fun building a virtual library while connecting with other book lovers? Then Library Thing is YOUR thing!

I've heard of Good Reads but this is my first introduction to Library Thing. I'm excited to organized and keep tabs of my book collection this way and I can see how useful it would be (and addicting:). I started putting in book titles and couldn't stop. But that's great and speaks to the ease of using this program and easily finding books that you own by doing a quick search.

I can see this being a useful tool for school librarians so that they can encourage their students to read and share the books they enjoy in this way. It could also be a way to promote books by showing students what is in your personal library.

So do you want to see what books I liked so much I bought? Take a peek to the right and check out some of my favorites!

Image Generators

I had fun messing around with some image generators (websites/programs that you can take a picture or text and make something unique). I found one at www.black-text.com . You download a picture and put in a text (I wrote "Come to the Library") and it will convert the picture into words. Mine is not as dynamic as the examples given on the main page of the website and I tried several different pictures, but maybe their is a trick that I haven't figured out. Oh well, here is my image. See if you can guess what the picture is.



Congrats! You got it right if you thought it was a stack of books!