Thing 17.2 ELM Productivity Tools EBSCO

This is such a great Thing. The Challenges are a slow brain-battering struggle (coffee is cold again...) but I am having some success. I made a folder and clicked on "web pages" and then on to "page composer". I made an extremely simple page, included an EBSCO search box, previewed it and saved the file. Then I couldn't find it! I searched using the general search and found several savings -- OK, I tried the save/save as several times... I found the list, moved it to a file on my desktop where it resides now. But where is it really? I found it later at work when I logged in to EBSCO. So it lives there. I guess. I also emailed it to myself -- the page arrives as an attachment which opens into a functioning page. Still in EBSCO I created a search alert and a journal alert.

Thing 14.1 LibraryThing Blog Prompts

LibraryThing is basic, like bread and books. Stay alive and read. And connect. If you have access to the internet and are a reader -- this is a fit. Simple and grand. This is the booklist we've all tried to share forever. LibraryThing makes it easy. Invite patrons to join. Share the wealth. Bon Appetit!!

Thing 13.3 Online Productivity Tools What is the Intent of a Tool User?

After many hours with Thing 13, I am thinking and focusing on the meaning of productivity and tools. Both are outcomes of chosen actions toward a purpose. For me it is essential to move intentionally forward in these Things.
The dictionary (phrasing mine) helps again:
Tool: a device used to carry out a particular function, a thing used in an occupation or pursuit, software that creates...anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose,
machinery designed for performing a particular job
So as I finish Thing 13 I have two library 2.0 applications alongside me on the desk -- ways that I can personally contribute to the mission and daily routine of the successful 2.0 library. At home I am enjoying the change of my homepage from the MSN default to my own iGoogle.

Thing 13.1 Online Productivity Tools

The immediate task of investigating the productivity tools seemed - at moments - to be the opposite of productivity. The monkey mind thrives on this kind of exploration! I remind myself that this is the reading portion of the syllabus -- the textbook for the course as it were. The assignment is the blog -- the readings and research are these guided/unguided forays.... The meaning for today and tomorrow at the job site with the community is what is chosen for its practical use and planning possibilities. So far I am using Bloglines, Del.icio.us, iGoogle, Flickr (inspiration!) StumbleUpon -- just to mention a few. I have three blogs going on Blogger. I have two definite applications in mind for my home library. I had philosophical issues with the Countdown tool/gadget. I used a countdown gadget I found on iGoogle -- I could only bear to countdown to tomorrow, yesterday and today -- that is my capacity now. The now. The intentional now. I told you it was philosophical... Not that I don't keep a calendar. I have TWO, at home. On paper. The online possibilities are excellent but not for me right now. I made a Ta da list. There's another list on my iGoogle. I made an account in Backpack too.

Thing 13 Online Productivity Tools

productivity
I looked it up from my new iGoogle home page where I placed a gadget from Dictionary.com. Edited blips follow -- these words and phrases made cogent the 2 hours --so far -- that I have invested in Thing 13. Italics indicate Dictionary.com. Bold is my emphasis for Thing 13.
pro·duc·tive
-- having the power of producing; generative; creative: a productive effort.
-- producing readily or abundantly; fertile.
-- Economics. producing or tending to produce goods and services having exchange value.
pro·duc·tiv·i·ty
—Synonyms 2. fecund. Productive, fertile, fruitful, prolific apply to the generative aspect of something. Productive refers to a generative source of continuing activity: productive soil; a productive influence. Fertile applies to that in which seeds, literal or figurative, take root: fertile soil; a fertile imagination. Fruitful refers to that which has already produced and is capable of further production: fruitful soil, discovery, theory. Prolific means highly productive: a prolific farm, writer.
—Antonyms 2. sterile.