Power to the point

I thought I was totally awesome at PowerPoint. I had made heaps of presentations at my last library job. Little did I know I was just scratching the surface of all the capabilities that this program offers.

First, I had neglected to realize that all the book covers that I was using as images on previous presentations were possible copyright violations. Whoops! I never even considered the implications before ... I thought "we own the books, so it's no problem." Copyright issues are something that I will always have to be mindful of in the future.

I'm totally impressed with being able to link to websites and back and forth between slides. I was always using PowerPoint at it's most basic level and now I know that it can do so much more ... even photo editing. I'd like to add a video clip also, but I haven't figured out that yet.





Speaking of photo editing - I was so impressed with the Picasa photo editing program, but then I was so depressed when I realized that it's not compatible with a Mac. I post all my pics to Picasa and use a nifty photo uploader. Yet, I can't believe they don't offer a cross platform application. For goodness sake - it's Google we're talking about here! They continue to offer everything under the sun, but ignore the Mac users. It's a shame. Otherwise, I use the Image Tricks program for Macs for basic photo editing. It pales in comparison to what Picasa offers.

Found this site: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp

This program goes beyond the typical screen shot used in PowerPoint. Camtasia Studio is a video screen recorder, complete with the ability to add audio tracks. So, you can create a video presentation showing patrons how to apply for an E-card, guiding through the process with both video and an audio track describing the process.

Adventures in patience and web sites

When I decided to take this course, I figured that what I learned in it would be applicable when I enter the job field of librarianship. I've always been interested in marketing the library, it's resources, and programming. Since, my only experience in libraries so far has been with children and teens, I've realized that they best way to reach them, regarding the use of instructional media, is digitally! But ... oh! the strange world of the Internet ... at times I feellike I could never live without it ... and at other times I feel like it is total chaos and I can never fully grasp its potential!

So I enter this class with the hopes of increasing my knowledge beyond knowing how to navigate through MySpace,Facebook, and Flickr ….. and being able to utilize these resources (and more!) in a library setting. I also would like to teach information literacy to children in innovative ways. It's awesome to actually see children able to find resources that they need and not view the library as a building ruled by evil trolls.

However, as I work on the first assignment I am starting to realize how much time goes into the construction of a website. All we are doing is building a basic homepage and I can't believe the intricacies involved in this simple task! It's definitely a learning process, based on trial and error, and then shouting "woohooo!!" when you finally get everything right. I admit that I have total respect for web designers, especially those that work on library websites and have to deal with the design processes of the OPAC and keeping up with a large library system. I especially admire those libraries that are taking the extra steps to integrate Web 2.0 applications on their library homepages.

If anything this class will force me to step outside the safety of this little technology box I'm in right now. I'm thankful that we are granted a certain amount of creative freedom to incorporate any ideas we have into our portfolio projects. Currently, I'm working on dedicating more time to the assignments in this class. I'm realizing that it's more time-consuming than expected. But, I feel like it's worth it, because I was already able to introduce a co-worker to some of the WYSIWYG sites we explored. And I'm so thrilled that I have an awesome friend in class who knows way more about these assisgnments than he thinks, and is extremely patient when helping me.