Name of Technology and Explanation: 

I would like to implement a blog or weblog.  A blog or weblog s a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.  (taken from wikipedia)

Explanation of this service and how it will fit into our library system: 

I work for the Southwest Kansas Library.  We serve several public and school libraries in the SW Kansas area.  Our patrons are actually staff members at these libraries.  Every summer most of our public libraries participate in Summer Reading programs.  This is the busiest time throughout the year for most of our libraries.  Our libraries are very good at sharing ideas with one another, usually this is done through our email list.  I think a blog would be perfect for this idea sharing.  Libraries wouldn't have to send or save emails, instead they could just go to our blog and share their ideas or see what other libraries have shared.  This would be a service to our libraries and help out our staff quite a bit, too.  

Maybe the title of this should be me and MySpace, but I think MySpace and Me is much catchier... ;) 

I know that this is somewhat of a repeat of one of the podcasts, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on MySpace. 

I never thought MySpace would be a site I would be interested in.  To me, it was something that was only for younger teenagers.  Then more and more of my friends started using it and then more and more of coworkers.  Now, I don't know what I would do without it.  MySpace has become a priceless networking tool for me not only personally, but also professionally.  I have added many library professionals as friends to my account.  Through these library professionals it helps me keep up with what is going on in the library world.  A lot of them post relevant library articles to their blogs, post library related bulletins, etc.  Just today I was thinking to myself..."I am really going to miss all of this information that is being shared on this blog when this class is over.  How am I going to replace this information resource?"  Well, hopefully MySpace and some other blogs I have stumbled upon through this course will help with that. 

We have created a Wiki, but it's kind of just sitting out there.  Our idea was to use it as a Frequently Asked Question(s)/Information sharing sort of thing.  We really think it will be useful.  However, our staff members all the only ones that have been adding to it.   So in my mind it is not a "true" Wiki.  Does anyone have any success stories they would like to share to get others involved? 

I know this is week 3, but I have a week 2 question.  :)  I am using delicious to share links for a WordPress class I am teaching.  Is there a way to batch edit tags?  I know I have seen this done before... at least I am sure.  What I want to do is retag a set of bookmarks all at the same time. 

Last week was a very busy week and before I knew it the week was over before I got a chance to blog!  I am learning so much in this course.  It's exciting!  It's also going very fast.  I will be sad when it's over.  :(  

I never realized how useful RSS was until last week!  I thought it was mostly just a way to alert you to changes on a web page.  I never realized you could also use it to pull content into your web page.  What a great idea!  I know I and lots of the librarians in my system are always looking for a way to make web pages easier to update!  This will easily fit into that category.   I am currently using an rss feed to pull pics in from flickr and to pull my in my delicious links.  I have been using that for a few months now and never realized I was doing it with RSS.    I was just copying and pasting links... now it all makes a lot more sense.  :)  I am excited to try a lot of the new things I learned last week. 

Here I am blogging on a Friday night.  I hope this blog doesn't get lost in the shuffle...  ;)  But, I had a few thoughts and wanted to write them down before they disappeared. 

After messing around with a few different types of blogging tools, doing some reading, listening to presenters, and reading some of my fellow classmate's blogs I really think the way for me to go is WordPress.   I am really looking forward for a "real" reason to setup a professional blog.  As a trainer I have set up an example WordPress site, but am looking foward to my final project.  I am really hoping I can get other libraries in our system interested in using WordPress more.  A lot of the libraries have been trained on using it, but not many are convinced it's the way to go.  I am hoping to set up a Summer Reading idea-sharing blog here in the next few months.  I am hoping this will get them more comfortable with blogging and see it as an example of how it can actually be used in a library setting.  A lot of our librarians are still stuck in the idea that blogs are all personal.  Which I can understand.  I have been there, too. 

I just got done getting caught up on the new blog posts this morning.  Lots of fellow course participants are posting ideas about what they think makes a blog succesful.  They have really gotten me thinking and I have also come up with some of my own ideas of what I think makes a blog successful.   I know I may be repeating and adding to some of what others have said. 

1.  Keep it short and sweet.  I think it's important to put all relevant information out there, but also to keep it as short as possible.  I know personally, I will sometimes skip over blog posts that are longer.    I know this is something that is particularly hard for me.  I am a rambler...

Hello!  I am Janelle Jarboe and reside in Dodge City, Kansas.  I work as an Assistant Technology Consultant/Trainer for the Southwest Kansas Library System.    I am excited to see some other trainers in the group!   I have been at the system for a year and prior to that worked in a public library for 4 years as a System Administrator.  Most of the libraries we provide support to are in a rural areas. 

I am really excited about this course.  As a Trainer I train libraries in our area on new technologies.  I have had some personal and work experience with blogs, rss aggregators, and wikis, online photo sharing sites, etc.  However, I am looking forward to learning even more.  I am really excited about learning more about these new technologies and passing down the information to the libraries in our system.  This course comes at a perfect time.  We are actually in the midst of training some of our area libraries on using WordPress through the MyKLOW (My Kansas Libraries on the Web) project.  A lot of our librarians are very wary of letting patrons comment on blogs.  I am hoping after this week I can supply them with even more examples of libraries that have used blogs successfully.  Time is also something that is a very sensitive topic since some of these libraries only have 1-3 people staffing them.  Thankfully the ease of use of some blogging tools have helped with that.