Zoya's Stuff

Addicted to facebook!

2008-07-30T16:36:00.002+10:00

I nearly forgot how to make a new post.. Oh god! the old memory is going.

I have been on facebook for a while now. First I hated it and took myself off but now im back and cant stop using it. Still dont know why.... One thing I like is seeing what my friends are up to. Im a sticky nose!HE he.

Another thing I have been doing is cahtting to people. Strangers from other countries. This freaked me out at first then it got pretty fun I never thought I would enjoy chatting (typing!)to strangers. Its nice to chat to people you may never have the chance of seeing. Would have to travel alot for that.

Now i understand how these teenagers get addicted to chatting to people all day. But I must say I do get over it if i've been on for a while.

Anyway I have been neglecting my blog so I thought I would make a post so it doesnt get deleted. Im still interested in new techno stuff. Now I am looking at sites that offer tutorials on computer stuff like programming so i can understand computers better. It starts to make more sense when i read more about this stuff.

First must get over my addiction to Facebook! Damn!

PS Must admit I have forgotten a lot of what I learnt on Learning 2.0. It would just take a little playing to remember, but why would I do that when I have FACEBOOK! lol

Thing's Im learning!

2008-03-26T10:24:00.002+11:00

Yes I am learning. I have heard about a thing called Snagit. It can cut and paste items from the internet the old version is free. I havent used it yet but I learnt this from my co-worker at my new job. I bet you didnt know about this ANDREW! and you too CHRISTIAN! HEE HEE. I love teasing you guys. Well I do miss working in public libraries. Now I am in a hospital library and it is very different. I do miss interacting with the public and I really miss my old co-workers. Well they're not that old (yes they are).

One thing I cant do at my new job is talk with people for too long because I suppose they are busy with research and trying to find cures and all. THis makes me a little lonely because I am used to harrassing the public with chatter. I think my needs are more important than a little cure. Call me selfish but I like a little chat here and there. Another thing is I am actually feeling a little intimidated when a doctor comes along asking for something. All I have in my head is "I cant believe a doctor is asking me something, Like I can help them!"... "You mean I am talking to the head of emergency surgery" God I hope he doesnt realise how dumb I am"..etc etc..

Then there is always the thought in my head of Im feeling a little sore here can you do something about this. How do you think that would go?...

Also I dont think I'll be snagging me a doctor since they're all younger than me. DAMN. When did professionals start getting so young. You know when your getting old when doctors are getting younger and younger. Must get me an extreme makeover.

Enough rambling from me for now. Have to go lie down. Im actually sick today with tonsilitis, so yes I've started a new job and already I have had to take sickies, how embarassing. Hmmm when a doctor is sick do they give themselves medical certificates, just a thought. need more drugs.

New Job

2008-03-15T16:43:00.002+11:00

So my last day at work was yesterday and I went to dinner with some work mates. I did nor cry but I was sad to be leaving a great bunch of people. I have made some great friends that I will miss seeing but I have a great job that will see me doing more and best of all it is full time so more MONEY.

This new position is not in a public library so I will miss our regulars and working in the community. I said goodbye to a few regulars and they were sweet enough to wish me well and to say they would miss me. I wil still use these libraries as a patron this means I can annoy everyone, one idea that I got from a patron(he is a joker) is to go in 5 minutes before closing and ask some weird questions, such as I'm looking for a red book, its this big and Oh yeah I need to make some photocopies adn I need to use the computer....hee hee. I wonder how long my former co-workers will miss me!

Well I will miss everyone anyway but I look forward to starting my new position.

PS Thank you guys for the wonderful present. It will come in very handy!

Your Minis

2008-02-24T14:54:00.004+11:00

ive tried to use your minis to add it to my desk top but I cant figure out how to do it yet. I think this is great because I would like to have access to technology news on my desktop. Now all I need is to figure this out. I am a very determined person so I'll keep trying. Now I'll go try out Splashup apparently this is similar to Photoshop but FREE. Thanks to webgurl i didnt know this existed. Stay tuned if you care!

PS I used splashup and its great. i am playing around at the moment so I dont know exactly how to use it very well but its fun. ill be telling my neice about this as shes wanted something like this for a while. She wants to play around with all the pictures she has of herself and her friends on my space. She'll be having a lot of fun with this.

Its been a while

2008-02-24T13:32:00.002+11:00

So i actually miss blogger. Ive been having a break from all this learning and now Im back! I have been using facebook and I just dont like it. The only thing I see good about it is you can find friends you havent seen in a while as some people seem to be doing, not me. I havent tried to find school friends, since its been a WHILE since ive been to school I have no interest in contacting anyone. If I wanted to stay in contact I would have called them yes I know telephones are soooo old fashioned but its better than this typing business. Actually I dont really know anyone who uses the interent to stay in contact.

Back to facebook, it seems like an advertisers dream. There are all these quizes I keep getting I try to do them but I need to add a ceertain amount of friends to be able to do it. then of course which ever company does these then gets the emails of all my friends cause my email can be seen on facebook also my full name whcih I do not like. Since ive joined facebook I have had many shocking emails from all kinds of businesses of course they are rude pornographic things. You see im not interested in meeting people for intimate evenings whether they are the same sex or groups of. I was also getting many pop ups that my ant virus software was not picking up I finally managed to get rid od them by going to Tools, Manage add ons then blocking it from there. I had to figure this out on my own after I called big pond thinking they could help me and they said I'd have to take my computer back to dell to have a system clean up. WHAT CRAP. Why didnt they tell me to just do what i did. All these problems started happening when I joined face book so GOODBYE FACEBOOK I am going to take my profile off as soon as I can figure this out.

Its back to Blogger for me and learning more about technology at least then I can feel like there is a point to all of this.

The other day I had a patron say how they use Wikipedia with helping their child with their homework, in the past I would have been a bit iffy about this but after doing Learning 2.0 I was confident that this was a good idea and said so. At work they are looking at integrating many of the things we learnt into our web site such as RSS feeds etc. thanks to 2.0 I know what they are talking about and cant wait to see what they come up with.

So BLOGGER RULES!

Starting Again!

2007-12-19T22:40:00.000+11:00

So I got my template back but I lost all the fun stuff and of course my links. What a pain in the b#@. Now I have to do it all over again.GREAT!

HELP!

2007-12-18T11:20:00.000+11:00

OK so I've stuffed up my blog. I was trying to put a Christmas template on, then I didn't like it and I tried to put teh original which I saved on my computer like it told me too. guess what couldn't do it could I! Now I have lost all my links. Oh great I guess I need ANDREW again. Must find him!

FUN

2007-12-14T15:55:00.000+11:00

So there goes the diet. I havent even been back to the site but I still think its good for serious health fanatics. Now Ive found Meez this is a site to have fun with my favourite thing! You can create your own animation and put it on your blog. It took a while to load though and I thought it wasn't working so I ended up posting it twice. Oh well at least it worked. if your interested go to the link. Im getting this stuff from Learning 2.1.

More things

2007-12-07T21:32:00.000+11:00

Ive been looking at NutriDiary just to see what it was about of course. It was actually pretty good. Its for people wanting to lose weight. It tells you all the information you need you log your daily food intake and daily exercise. If you want to lose weight it gives you the information you need such as how much you are eating of course and the calories you have taken daily. So far (today) i have not gone over the daily amount I should be having to lose weight. Maybe I cheated and didnt tell them the truth. I like lying to myself it feels great. I new I wasnt overweight I think the mirror has been lying to me! If I was serious about losing weight this site is pretty good, When it starts telling me I have gone over my daily allowance I think I'll give it up. With the Weightloss industry being so rich Im surprised this site is free to use. Of course you can sign up for the deluxe version and pay but I want need that of course! Anyway Ill see how long I can be botherd with this.

Learning 2.1. There's More!

2007-11-28T21:41:00.000+11:00

Ive been looking at more stuff. There's LOLCat which was ok but I'm not into cats, then theres zamzar which is excellent for converting files. I just hope I'll remember this when I need it! Then theres making a newsletter at Letterpop which had nice Christmassy newsletters. This is good if you don't want to or dont have the time to create your own template.

There'll be a list of links for people interested in this extra stuff. the best part of all this is its FREE! The bad part is I'm spending way too much time playing!

Technology Compatibility

2007-11-27T12:22:00.000+11:00

Why why why isn't all tehcnology compatible? Its driving me crazy. As i've been ranting on Christians blog I am getting veeeerrrryyyy frustrated with this stuff. I bought a new mobile phone with bluetooth. I wanted to connect this to my computer so I bought a bluetooth dongle (I love saying that funny word!) OF course nothing works. I feel like I need to be a computer programmer to figure out this stuff. Im a simple girl with simple needs. I have a new computer with Vista. I got Vista so I wouldn''t have to upgrade in a years time (which seems to be what you have to do these days to keep up). Now I've already had a problem I had to spend 1 1/2 hours on the phone with a dell technician to fix this. It worked but the things he took me through on the computer I didn't even know existed. This was all because I installed a program. I thought thats what computers were for!

Now I am hesitant to install anything I worry everytime, will it stuff things up this time. Surely technology is supposed to make things easier not more complicated. I thought having a new computer would be better. My old one didn't stuff up so much.

I have spent so much time on the internet trying to figure out things, I have actually been looking at alot of wikipedia sights, they are very helpful and I actually trust it. ( who would have thought I would use this learning 2.0 stuff!)

I will be looking at Learning 2.1 as Webgurl mentioned. I need to learn as much as I can. I have also been looking at doing an IT course. This is so I can learn what is going on with these computers. One day I will build my own(Oops that was just me dreaming)

Enough rambling from me.

Star Signs

2007-11-22T10:59:00.000+11:00

Well there goes my theory, as shown by the poll. I thought there were many Virgos working in libraries, we being anal and all. Though where I work there are many virgos, but no we are not anal, well maybe a little....Ok its just me!

Fun Generator's

2007-11-19T21:46:00.000+11:00

Here is a link to the generator I used for my Hollywood sign for the people interested. There are many more fun things to do on this.

http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/

More on Library Changes

2007-11-07T20:54:00.000+11:00

Thank you very much everyone who has expressed their opinions. It is very interesting to hear others views on this topic.

I have been noticing that the staff who actually deal with the public and are experiencing these changes are weary of these changes taking place, namely training the public in serving themselves. As we are dealing with the public daily we are seeing the possible impact this could have on our image as a customer service friendly environment. It is very difficult to approach people and direct them in serving themselves when this has been our job up to now. I do appreciate others who have expressed their opinions but I must say that if you are not in customer service then it is hard for you to understand the difficulty in implementing these changes and therefore seeing these changes in a positive light.

I would recommend others who have not tried this new approach in customer sevice spend a week doing this. I do not mean this in a negative way but to give everyone the oportunity to try this approach, then we could have many more opinions and maybe many more ideas in implementing these changes.

I feel this particular topic is very important because if all libraries are to consider these changes, a change I consider to be very BIG and very important on the impact it could have on libraries then as much research and thought needs to go into these changes. I feel customer service and our approach to customers is our main duty, therefore we need to get this right in order to go forward in a positive way.

More opinions please!

Change in the workplace

2007-11-06T11:33:00.000+11:00

I love the uniform idea Christian, but I don't know about pink I dont want to blind people!

Now I would like to talk about change in the workplace. Things are changing in the library industry which is a good thing. I always thought I was not the typical person who feared change. As i get bored pretty easily I thought I would welcome change. Lately I have been thinking about this and I have realised I havent given these current changes a chance. It has only been a couple of weeks that these changes have been implemented and I am already looking at the negatives. Initially I was wiling to try these changes as I welcomed something different but then I slowly started to question things. Questioning is a good thing but I think I need to give it at least a few months before I can have an opinion on these changes.

I will be open again to see how things turn out, then I will give an opinion! (Must have an opinion!)

I have realised that I am like many others who fear change to a degree. I need to remember that this is normal and as I question things this too is ok as long as I remain open minded. There will be differences of opinion and a bit of confusion in the beginning but this is normal and expected. I must remember my training and put this to use. I have found talking to my coworkers and finding out their views is opening my mind up again to the possibilities. I still think that everyone should have their opinions and should be able to voice these in an open manner. This of course is being done but I think some people fear voicing their opinions. THis is what i am enjoying about this blog I can voice my opinion and get feedback from others. Hmmm I wonder if we can use this format in the workplace somehow so others can voice their opinions when change comes about.

So bring on the Pink Uniform!

More Library Issues

2007-11-05T13:50:00.000+11:00

Thanks for your comments guys, even though I like everyone to always agree with me(joking) I appreciate your feedback.

One problem with this method of walking around is it sounds great in theory but very difficult to put into practise. Do I stand near the self check out to help patrons or do I walk around. I cant be in two places at once. Patrons would have to run around looking for me while I'm walking around chatting to everyone. If I was at the desk they know where I am and what I'm there for (for them!).

I understand what you guys have in mind but it isn't feeling right at the moment, there's something that just isn't working.(Maybe it's just me)

I don't think libraries should work as a business, we are not sales assistants trying to flog a product and that is what it's feeling like at the moment. One thing I would love done is to survey the public and see what they think of this.

Remember Web 4.0 back to the good old library where people go to get away from all this impersonal technology.

PS Yes Harriet the Bank analogy is appropriate. Who likes banks? The worst image problem ever!

Some thoughts on Technology and maybe a little controversy!

2007-11-03T21:33:00.000+11:00

Now I have been thinking a lot about technology in Libraries and in particular Public Libraries. First of all I would like to say I do like technology and I believe it has a place in public libraries. With all the new stuff out there I think libraries should have all we can get. That said I have been reading others blogs and I have thought about the impact this technology can have on libraries. Good and Bad.

Good - If public libraries can stay updated with new techno stuff then the public will know we are a place to go to for help and guidance. We can be the place to be!

Bad/not so good - I think as someone said (cant remember who) that just because the technology is there doesn't mean we should use it. I agree with this. I work in a public library that has more computers than books (it is a library that is focusing on technology) now I was really excited to be a part of this new library. I think its a great place and we have had very positive feed back from the public.We also have self checkout machines.

Now my worry is if public libraries are supposed to be community meeting places(with that personal touch) how do we balance the two, that being technology which is impersonal (you can't deny that), and staff who are supposed to be serving the community(with self checkouts they do this themselves)Now I know staff are still there to help the public but if we are not doing the basics by checking their books out and in the process getting to know them and having a little chat then can this be considered community serving.

I have been finding lately that I am not interacting as much with the public as I did which is sad as this is the part of the job I love (I'm a library officer). The patrons are becoming self sufficient which is great but I feel we are losing the personal touch. Sure we can offer services but haven't libraries always been more than that. I hope we do not go too far with this technology and lose the best part of libraries, the community feel. We are about people and serving and that should always be our aim. Technology is great but it should not replace the interaction the staff and public have with each other. Just because everything is becoming automated doesn't mean we need to nessecerily do the same. Society is becoming very impersonal as it is with this automated stuff do we really need to follow and become another impersonal place where you go and do your stuff and then leave without much interaction.

An example of this is with our regulars. Now I enjoy seeing them and serving them and having a chat but now I have been just passing through as I practically wave a greating as they check out their books.

Libraries have always had their unique character which people have always relied on. I hope we can continue to move forward but still retain our unique flavour. I myself have gotten a little caught up in this technology and thought we needed to keep up but now I am wondering if this is really needed. I never for one moment thought I would feel this way, as I said I like technology. But seeing people come and go from the library without a hello or goodbye is sad and strange. Maybe I'm just feeling lonely myself and miss the interaction even with the cheeky ones who were very challenging!(yes this was a big surprise but they made the day very interesting!). But this is why I wanted to work in libraries, for the personal touch we could give.

Oh well enough rambling from me, for now anyway!

I would love others to blog about their views it would be very intersting to read.

PS And no I haven't been drinking, maybe I should!

PSS Ive just realised something else. Now when I am serving people it is usually when there is a problem. Will the public then associate staff/problems in their minds in a negative way, as in oh no I have to see a staff member theres a problem again! What do you think?

IIIIII'mmmmm Baaaaaack!

2007-11-02T22:00:00.001+11:00

I am going to blog about new web applications I have found. Yes riveting stuff but I figured I still want to learn more so since I have this blog I will use it as an excuse to learn more about technology and I hope Andrew and Christian will continue to read my blog and offer suggestions.

Christian I fon't know waht you mean about that picture thing or were you just joking. Anyway I have found one thing I like its Google Suggest. This is like normal google but when you type something it will give you options. eg. type in 'blog' and it will give you a list such as blogger, blogspot etc. this is just as good as 'Did you mean'. So are you impressed Andrew!

Stay tuned for more if your interested.

# 23 The End/ The Beginning

2007-10-26T20:40:00.000+10:00

So I've come to the end. Or is this the beginning. This program has opened my eyes to the many tools available on the Internet. First of all I will mention my favourite things:

1. Creating my blog was exciting. It was scary also because I was afraid of putting anything personal or being known by others (funny since my blog has my name in it!) but I saw too many Oprah shows exploring the abuse that can happen on the net. I didn't realise it could be fun too. I wanted to do this program because I knew things were changing constantly and that I needed to keep up. I also wanted to show my teenage nieces and nephews that I knew things too. Also if I wanted to continue working in the library industry I needed to learn the new stuff out there.

2. I of course loved putting pictures and funny stuff on my blog. It was fun seeing how I could play around with this stuff.

3. The best one was the web applications and tools (widgets!). This was the easiest and there were more options. Funny how I just love the fun stuff but I was also learning.

4. Just learning what was out there on offer and for free such as the web applications, library stuff(Library Thing), rollyo (very convenient for someone doing many searches). Knowing the many options available to the public has opened my eyes to the many possibilities for the future. This is why I know I will need to continue to keep my eyes open and my brain ready for more stuff to come.

Another thing this program has pushed me to do is buy a new computer so I could stay updated. I did have an old one and I thougtht this would do me but since I wanted to do this course I realised I needed to upgrade not just for this but for future needs. No more staying in the dark ages for me. Next I may even get broadband. Right now shock, horror I am using pre-paid dial up. I thought I could control my usage this way but its not working. I am spending more than if I were to use Broadband. Oh well we live, we learn.

Because of this program I have actually started reading computer books. I never thought I would see myself doing this, They're not exactly riveting reading! I can't ever recall doing this before unless I had to for whatever course I was doing. Now I am interested in learning more. I do not want to be someone that just accepts that it is beyond me or past my time. This program has shown me that I can learn these things, it might just take a little longer to get my brain around things, but I do eventually grasp these concepts and anyone else can too.

This program has reminded me to aways look for new learning experiences whether work related or otherwise.

An improvement on this progeam might be to add more instructions on the more difficult parts such as Flickr and Rss feeds, though I suppose helping each other was also part of the training. Actually because my co-workers needed my help sometimes it did make me go over the stuff I had already completed and made me think more about it. The rest was great.

Lastly I would like to thank the learning 2.0 people (especially Lynette)for offering me this opportunity. I can't imagine any other place that could show us all these different tools in one place. The large workload must feel overwhelming to these poor ladies having to check all this stuff. I hope you know this has been an invaluable experience for me. And it was FREE! It can't get better than that.

Three Cheers to Life Long Learning!

Can't Wait for Learning 3.0 SIGN ME UP!

# 22 E Books

2007-10-26T19:48:00.000+10:00

I have been looking at Worldebookfair. It is very interesting. These books seem old, I'm assuming this is because the copyright has expired. I don't see current authors allowing their books on there which is a pity. Though these boolks would be hard to get a hold of and the yearly membership is low. Great idea! I can see using the mp3 format will be the future for talking books. What a great way to listen to a book. I myself prefer the paper version but when I am too old to see properly I hope this form is available. By then I will be able to use an mp3 player.

Imagine in your old age being able to buy a book online and put it on your mp3. No large cd players to handle just a small device. With shopping at your fingertips and having many books to choose from without having to trek long distances to your local library. I wouldn't have to leave the house for much. I may turn into an eccentric, cat loving lady but I would have my books and that would make me happy. And all just a click away. The older generation would benefit enourmously with this technology. I can see using this format and podcast(in mp3 format) for teachers also. They could put their lectures on them and lazy students that don't go to lectures could listen to them on their mp3's.

I'll have to keep up with new technology to prepare for my old age!

# 21 Podcasts

2007-10-26T14:44:00.001+10:00

I put a podcast on my bloglines account, its just a pity I havent been able to listen to it. I thought I could do this at work but the work computers are just as bad as my home one. How frustrating. I couldn't look at any videos because it took forever and forget about podcasts (didn't work at all). That said I think podccasts would be great for training purposes. If we had online tutorials for the public to use such as computer training, email training, they could do this at their own pace. Just wack some headphones on them and away they go.

Of course the internet would have to work properly for this as we would have people throwing the computers around which is what I would like to do with them right now.

#20 You Tube cont.

2007-10-25T23:54:00.000+10:00

Well I didn't know you could do that. Put html in a new post that is. You Tube would be fun if I could view the video's better, it kept stopping which was really frustrating, I nearly gave up. I assume it's my internet connection. I chose Conan the Librarian because it was funny and it was easier to view. I suppose thats because it was a small file, the other videos were larger and I didn't have the patients to wait for it. I also looked at google and yahoo video which I didn't know existed. You Tube seems to have more videos to look at. I know it is more well known and has been around longer even the politicians are using it (weird).

This would be good for libraries because we could show funny stuff like this to show the public we have a sense of humor. We could also advertise our services in a different way. It might catch the public's attention. I just wish my computer would view videos better because I would be looking at more funny videos. Its amazing that people would put themselves on there. I guess everyone whats their 15 minutes of fame.

#20 You Tube - Conan The Librarian

2007-10-25T22:52:00.000+10:00

#19 Online Applications and Tools (and FUN!)

2007-10-25T21:02:00.000+10:00

From the many tools available I chose a fun widget( before this training I didn't even know what a widget was). You can get all kinds of things to put on your blog or website. Since so many are too serious for me, by that I mean they are good for work purposes but I wanted to have fun as usual. I chose Einstein quotes, I don't even know if they are real but they sounded good.

It was easy to do I just had to copy the html code. I must be learning something because I would never have said the word easy before when trying to put something on my blog. I think these tools are made to be easily accessible for the public (thank god). As for the library setting there are so many tools and they are free I wouldn't begin to know which ones to use for a library. One idea is to put a list of the free tools on library websites for the public to choose from. I'm sure there are many people out there who have no idea of whats out there freely available on the Internet. If libraries made this information available I think we would look pretty cool and knowledgeable as a source of freebies!

I may even use some more fun widgets!

#18 Web-based Applications

2007-10-24T21:16:00.000+10:00

I've tried zoho and I guess its good for people doing a lot of paper work and presentations who are on the move a lot. This way if they have their stuff on zoho and they forget something at the office on their way to an important meeting then they can access it. As for replacing Microsoft office and not having the problem of software compatibility I'm all for that!

It was a bit confusing especially since I didn't know which item to use. I chose a presentation which I had to make public in order to put it on my blog. That was a bit embarrassing but I may have stoped it from becoming completely public. I have no idea. Anyway the more web applications the better. If we can have everything at our fingertips the better.