Twenty-Three Things Smarter

This has been a learning experience!  While at first I thought I'd be familiar with most of the 23 things, I quickly learned I wasn't.  Sites like StumbleUpon and Scoopit were new to me, and I got back into using my Pinterest account, which had been dormant for awhile.  I would have to say my favourite of the 23 Things was learning how to embed video.  Scrolling through TED talks and finding new podcasts was a lot of fun.  How-To videos are awesome!

Pinterest should be used more at work.  While my gardening theme was fun, I can see the different pinboards being useful for tracking reading lists, advertising new books, etc.  I need to start making sites like Twitter and Pinterest live up to their full potential, rather than just for fun.  Fun is good, but there's a lot they can do besides what's easiest.  The biggest thing I learned was that even though I think I know a fair bit about these internet resources, I've only scratched the surface.  I will continue to dig!  (Gardening references to the very end!)

Stumbling Through the Internet

I thought I was pretty internet-savvy, but I'd never heard of StumbleUpon!  While stumbling through interests in "Books", I found an interesting site called "The Book Seer" which provides recommendations of what to read next.  I can see this being very useful for reader's advisory. 

Stumbling through interests in "Garden" led me to a website on companion planting, which has always intrigued me, even since I first heard about the "Three Sisters" in social studies long ago.  I can see a lot of time disappearing on me, stumbling through StumbleUpon!

Apps

I've already been using the Overdrive app on my iPod touch for a year, and was quite familiar with Overdrive on various tablet and e-reader devices due to helping patrons set up their own Overdrive accounts.  I have found some great gardening books in the library's e-book collection!  Now that spring is in sight (on the calendar at least!), I'm trying to start my garden planning in earnest.  I generally download for 7 days, unless I know for certain that I'll need the e-book longer.  It's only fair to other patrons! 

The BiblioNB app is also installed on my iPod.  I love scanning the barcode on a physical book in my hand and then being taken to the catalogue record if we already own it.  The scanner on my iPod isn't always the best, but when it works, it works!  I've seen iPhones scan incredibly well. 

Scoop It!

This week's 23 Things assignment was a little on the addictive side!  It's nearly as much fun looking for articles in Scoop It as it is looking for pins on Pinterest.  There were so many gardening articles, even some with videos!  It was hard to pick just one to follow, but I eventually settled on a topic called Gardening and Horticulture.  It  had some great articles, including one on seven basic things every garden needs.  I'm sure I'll pick up more topics to follow.

I've seen Scoop It a few times before; NBPLS's aboriginal services librarian uses it and I've followed her links on twitter at times.  But as a first-time user, I can see the advantages to being able to collect articles in one place both for your own use and for others, rather than bouncing all over the internet and copying a string of links behind you. 

How-To Videos are the Greatest Thing Ever

I'm only being slightly hyperbolic in my post title. While books are great, I do love the proliferation of YouTube videos that actually show the viewer how something is done. It's incredibly useful, especially for visual learners. The only trick is finding the right video for you amongst the thousands out there. Since my topic is my garden, a quick search for "gardening" on YouTube generates so many hits it's almost overwhelming! So I went to my reliable source, Veseys (love their catalogue!), and found their YouTube channel. From there, it's easier to narrow down what I'm looking for, and find suggestions of similar channels. Here's something I will need to do for my deck this year: refresh the plants in my pots and baskets.

Podcasts are a lot of fun.  Over the past few years, I've watched several TED talks on various subjects, and I have several podcasts I listen to on a semi-regular basis.  They're all geeky!  I found a great TED talk on gardening in your apartment that was very interesting. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/britta_riley_a_garden_in_my_apartment.html

Pin All The Things

Week Four of nb23 brings me back to something I'd let fall by the wayside: my Pinterest account. I first started an account on Pinterest when it was all the rage; the new exciting social media platform that everyone at work was using. I first heard about it from my sister, and soon I was pinning up a storm. But I let my account activity slip away as time went on, which is too bad because Pinterest is very useful. I created a "Garden Wishes" board and have collected several interesting pins of things I would love to do in my garden. Some I will never be able to do in my small yard, but it's fun to dream! One thing I would like to try is a toad house. I like toads, and they're good for your garden. My only worry is that I'd make the little house, and then no toad would actually want to live in it! There are lots of pins on Pinterest with different ways to make one, some much fancier than others! I'm traveling to New York City in the spring, and followed two of New York Public Library's Pinterest boards (they have 31!). One I followed is called "NYPL Gifts", which is full of images of lovely things for book lovers, and the other is "Nature's Pride", which contains images from the NYPL digital collection. I will definitely be stopping into the New York Public Library, to see the famous lions and see their fantastic collection! Between a wonderful library and Central Park in bloom, I think I will have everything I need.

Words Vs. Pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words.  But what if the words were also a picture?  That seems to me to be the case in using the Wordle image generator.  I enjoyed playing with the different layouts for the image, but much preferred the words to be a mix of horizontal and vertical, rather than slanting across the image.  It was easier on my eyes. 

Copyright for images is broken so often that I'm relieved to find sources where it isn't a worry.  (Sites like tumblr have constant problems with people stealing and reposting artwork and photographs, claiming them as their own). 

To tie to my theme, I have a small yard and deck, so I generally go the cottage garden route.  Planters, small shrubs, some bulbs--whatever strikes my fancy. So here's a picture of a cottage garden on this winter day.

This quote is from Marcus Tullius Cicero, the famous Roman philosopher and politician.  Judging by his quote, little has changed since the days of Julius Caesar.  Click on the box below to view!