Week 9: Instant Messaging

I didn't have time to do the IM lesson during the week that it was originally posted and am just now trying to get caught up.  I have IM'd using Facebook, and I just signed up for Meebo and added a Meebo window to this blog.  So far, I am not impressed with what I have seen in Meebo chat rooms, but I haven't chatted yet with any 23Thingsks folks.  I'm sure the conversation would be much more interesting than any of the ones I have seen today while lurking on Meebo.
IM on Facebook has helped me connect with friends/family in new ways (especially some of the younger members of my extended family.)  It still feels odd to me, and I am unsure of IM etiquette, if there is such a thing?!?  Privacy is another concern.

I appreciate the uses listed in the 23things lesson for the week but most do not apply to my work situation in a busy elementary school library\/art room.

Week 7: Microblogging

I started a Twitter account last summer and began to follow some people but didn't tweet after trying it a time or two just to learn how it worked. I really liked it from the beginning, but I didn't know many others using it and I didn't want to just send random thoughts out into the universe unless I really had something of value to say. I like the idea of using it as a tool to gather and share information, photos, and links to resources. Marcia McPhail blogged about using Twitter with Delicious, Diigo and Facebook. (Thanks, Marcia!)  I'm still exploring those options, especially using Facebook and Twitter simultaneously to receive tweets directly on my Facebook page.  That sound like a VERY useful feature.

Two of the best ways I have found to find people on Twitter is to see who others are following and to look at the sites for those who post interesting comments.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I enjoy following author Neil Gaiman. He often tweets links to all kinds of things, including photos, music and videos.

I follow School Library Journal. That has been another way for me to keep up with one of my favorite blogs, A Fuse 8 Production, by Elizabeth Bird. Her posts about the Top 100 Children's Novels have been amazing, full of valuable resources. (I can't believe how many links I am putting in this post! I'm actually starting to get good at it!!)

Catherine Trinkle's bio on Twitter reads "365 tweets! I am going to tweet every day for a year on a book, author, information about literacy, etc.." I have found a number of good ideas and learned about some great books from her tweets. Another fun resource for learning about books is KidderLit. From the bio: "KidderLit is a version of TwitterLit for the younger set: Twittering the first lines of kids' books so you don't have to."

We have a Newsflash feature on our school webpages, but I find it really cumbersome to use. I think would be much quicker and easier to use Twitter to send short updates about what is happening in my library and to share resources with parents.