Reflection

As the winter term comes to an end I've been doing some reflecting over what I've been doing over the past few months. As I'm mostly doing training I went though all my records and found that my training fell into these categories:

eBooks and Audiobooks
37.5%

Computer Basics (using a mouse and keyboard, windows, desktop, internet, email, etc.)
32.5%

Facebook, Twitter, Blogging
15%

Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations
7.5%

Other
7.5%

It seems that eBooks and Audiobooks and Basics took up most of my time. Basics training has always been popular at our branch and the eBooks popularity seems to be due to the recent surge in eReader popularity during Christmas. I was surprised that Facebook training wasn't more popular. However, the people I have seen for Facebook training did not originally want anything to do with it, but felt forced into it. It seems people are still skeptical about Facebook due to privacy issues.

What did you guys find yourselves mostly doing during your internship?

HarperCollins and Overdrive

For those in library settings, here is major issue currently facing the eBook format that you may or may not have heard about already.

The future of hard-copy books?

Here at Woodlawn over half of my training sessions are for the eReaders and eBooks. I teach a lot of seniors and although a lot of them are skeptical about using this new technology for reading, they quickly see the benefits of having an eReader versus buying/borrowing physical copies of books. Because of this recent shift towards digital reading, it makes me wonder about the future of physical books - especially in retail environments. For example, Borders has already filed for bankruptcy protection and is reporting large decreases in revenue. Your thoughts on this shift?

Picnik for Seniors

Here's my submission for the challenge - first attempt at video-editing! I've had some questions here about photo-editing so I decided to make something for Picnik going over some common functions like red eye, cropping etc. It's directed more towards seniors but anyone who isn't familiar with more advanced programs like Photoshop or GIMP may find it useful.

First Creation with Sketch-up

Here is my first creation with sketch-up. It's my junior high school that I went to. I would have done my CAP site but street view was done when the old Empire Theatres was here so it looks very different. Maybe someday I'll take my own photos of the building and try to sketch it that way. It took me a couple hours to get used to the tools and make this. It wasn't too bad since it was only a couple rectangles and minor push and pull. This is addicting though - I'll think I'll definitely be doing more in the future (hopefully much better looking when I get practice!).

A 'Feel-Good' Success Story

Here’s a feel-good story to end off the week. I’ve shared this story on Cognitive Edge but I just had to share it with everyone else because it is very inspiring!

There is a lady who I’ve been training who is legally blind. By that I mean she can still see somewhat, but her vision is getting worse every day. She came to me because she wanted to learn how to use email to keep in touch with her grandchildren. We met and I started explaining to her what an email address is and the components of one. By this point I could tell by the look on her face that she was entirely lost; she looked frightened by what I just explained to her. Further probing told me that the closest thing to a computer she has ever used was a typewriter. I realized then that we needed to back up and start from the bare basics. As she was a very proficient piano player when she was younger I explained to her that before we can learn a song, we need to learn where the notes are; a comparison I made between email and using the mouse and keyboard.

I proceeded to start with the basics when we ran out of time. I gave her a handout to take home that would cover all the basics we were going to learn in the future and she was so determined to learn how to use computers that she said she was going to study that handout at home and practice everyday in hopes that she would impress me next time. The next time we met she was indeed better at using computers. She even explained to me what a desktop was when we didn’t even go over it! I told her we would learn to use the keyboard and to my surprise she proceeded to read off every letter on the first line off the top of her head; apparently she used the typewriter a lot when she was in the workforce.

She still has a long way to go before we come back to email but her drive is very inspiring. She is losing her vision more and more everyday and has a very hard time seeing the screen and keys, but that does not hold her back one bit. She is currently in the process of having a computer installed in her home that will allow it to ‘speak’ to her. I was afraid she was going to cry from being overwhelmed the first time we met but by learning things one step at a time she is now much more confident in her abilities and this technology is not so abstract to her anymore.

Dartmouth-Cole Harbour Weekly

Our one-on-one computer training sessions have just started here at Woodlawn. I did one this morning helping a lady get audiobooks from the library onto her iPod. They're pretty popular so far - I have 7 sessions scheduled for next week. To generate some advertising for the sessions we have contacted the Dartmouth-Cole Harbour Weekly News and they're gonna come do a story on the training. I'm pretty sure it's the newspaper that comes with all the flyers so for those in the Dartmouth-Cole Harbour area, keep a look out for us in there!

Woodlawn Public Library C@P Site

Since this library is relatively new we have a lot of great stuff here!

These are our main public use computers. In this section are 11 Lenovo All-In-One computers featuring 20” screens, Windows 7, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor @ 2.10Ghz, and 4GB of ram. This section also includes a scanner.

These computers contain a variety of software applications including GIMP Photo Editor, Office 2003, Skype, OverDrive Media, Adobe Digital Editions, Mobipocket Reader, and various teaching and learning software.










































Off to the side of this section is an accessible computer that is defaulted to large font sizes on screen and includes a keyboard that feature larger characters on the keys. This computer also includes a scanner.














The Media Centre has three Sony VAIO All-In-One computers featuring a 24” Touch Screen, and a Blu-Ray player capable of 1080p HD. It launches Windows Media Centre upon Startup in which patrons can view photos, videos, and play movies.














The Teen section contains 10 Lenovo computers. Also in this section are two 20” screens each hooked up to a PS3.