Please allow me to re-introduce myself...

My name is Stacy Alesi and I'm a biblioholic.

I'm re-introducing myself because I'm also known as the BookBitch. I had to create a blog for some Web 2.0 training at work (you can check out the archives for an idea of what we did and how you can do it too) and the blog has been sitting here, unused and unloved, ever since.

Until now.

I'm thinking I will use this blog to post book reviews in conjunction with my BookBitch website. Not doing away with that; just adding this. This will be where I will spout about books that I'm excited about, books I can't wait to read, and books that I've read and loved. Or hated. Or had some feeling about beyond ambivalence.

This is my attempt at going mainstream. How am I doing so far?

So back to the bibliophile thing.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, I'm basically addicted to books. Everyone has their vice; some people smoke, some people drink, some people gamble. I read. All the time. I'm the lady in the car next to you at a traffic light with her nose buried in a book. I read while waiting for the movie to start. I never mind the doctor's waiting room, book in hand. You get the idea.

I'm also very opinionated, and while a lot of people are, a lot of people are also uncomfortable sharing their opinions. Or are unable to articulate why they have their opinions. I'm not one of those people. I am outspoken in my likes and dislikes, and able to express why. And I'm happy to do it. In fact, nothing makes me happier than having people reading the books I love and letting me know that they love them too. And if they don't love them, I like to know that too.

Please tell me what you think, here or via email at booksavant@gmail.com or at bookbitch@yahoo.com.

And now...the end is near...

Q & A

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
My favorite was learning abuot wikis. It was something I was already interested in learning about, and this sort of forced the issue for me.


How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I've always been a lifelong learner, and this was just another interesting course on that road.


Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I've gone Wiki-Wild! A few years ago I started a Readers' Advisory committee at my branch at SWC. We haven't done much with it, but I had a project in mind that I wanted to do - I wanted to create a website of some sort about Florida authors. We started the project originally thinking about using Google Docs and Excel to collaborate and collect information. But after learning how easy it is to use wikis, we went that route instead. It's been very easy to do, and so accessible. All the committee members are happy with it and it looks like it will be a very successful project that we hope to have linked to the county website in the near future. Check it out:
FLORIDA AUTHORS

It also came in handy for school. I'm taking a class called Medical and Consumer Health Sources. One of our projects was to create a tutorial as either a PowerPoint presentation or a website, teaching others how to use a particular medical or consumer health database. After Rachel Mick did a presentation on the Community Health Information Service, I asked my professor if I could do my tutorial on that, and she agreed. It's not done yet but I've started it:
PBCLS COMMUNITY HEALTH TUTORIAL


What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Perhaps some scheduled voluntary meetings with either the branch coordinator or someone who was comfortable with the technology to answer questions and encourage participation, especially from those who are somewhat technologically challenged or computer-phobic.


And last but not least…
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?
Definitely! It was fun and incredibly useful, and how often do you get to say that?

Overdrive

It's really a shame that Apple hasn't seen the light and gotten on board with these downloadable audiobooks. Since they have approximately 75% of the market, they are disenfranchising their customers.

I am not a big audiobook fan, my mind wanders too much but my husband likes them. We got a small Sandisk MP3 player just for books for him.

Podcasts

One of my favorite podcasts is NPR's Books.

"NPR book reviews, news and author interviews -- for people who love to read. The best of Morning Edition, All Things Considered and other award-winning NPR programs."

NPR Books Podcast

YouTube and PowerPoint

For anyone who's ever had to do a PowerPoint presentation, or had to sit through a really bad one...

Web 2.0 "awards"

The very first award I looked at was the one under the "books" category (what did you expect??) and I was very surprised and disappointed to see it was a website for self-publishing. I know it is gaining in popularity, and maybe the site is fantastic, but to have a site like that beat out Worldcat (which got an honorable mention!) told me a lot about these awards. To me, they lost all credibility with that one award. It led me to wonder if these awards are bought and paid for. I have no way of knowing that, but I can't help but be suspicious.

ZOHO-HO-HO

ZOHO-HO-HO

 

Never heard of this before 23 things but I'm very happy I know about it now.  I've been working on a cookbook for my kids of all their favorite recipes.  My son lives in Tampa and I've got a Word file on my computer that I tried to share out with him via Google Docs - but Google Docs severely limits the size of Word documents that you can upload, and the document I want to share is over 200 pages long.  I had no trouble uploading an experimental document of 199 pages to Zoho Writer, although I haven't figured out yet how to delete it!  But at least I now have a way to share my son's favorite recipes with him via Zoho Writer.  And my daughter will be going off to college in a couple of years...