• 23 Things On a Stick now has 1,040 registered participants . A few more may slip in, but registration "officially" closed on February 15.

• 8 people have finished all of the 23 Things On a Stick. Congratulations!
  

• Check your blog on the mother blog. There are still some mystery blogs out there that are hard to identify (no title and/or no posts). We want to comment on your progress and reflections, but it is hard without your participation, too.

• If you re-registered or changed your blog name, be sure to check the mother blog under both names you registered and let us know if one should be deleted/updated.

• Keep posting! Label the posts with the Thing number and title, so we can easily track your progress.

• Be sure to allow comments, but maybe not anonymous comments. If you don't allow comments, no one can respond to your posts. In Blogger, go to the Settings Tab then Comments in the Menu bar under the Tabs. Make a choice under Who Can Comment. While you are on that page, set the time to Central Standard time so posts are time stamped accurately.

• Consider adding some information to your Blogger profile. It doesn't have to identify you by name, but gives the reader some sense of who you are (type of library, location, interests, some books or movies you like, gender, zodiac sign -- whatever). In Blogger, you edit your profile from the Dashboard. Click Edit Profile at the top of the right sidebar and fill in the fields. Note that this is where you can change your Display Name (the name you post under), too.

One of the things has made Flickr so successful is the number of toys that people have built using it. Plugging into your account and manipulating your pictures is a piece of cake (usually!).

With close to 300 Flickr mashups, it is not possible to read about all of them, let alone try them out. The point of including some mashup tools in 23 Things On a Stick is to show the vast level of creativity and imagination that Web 2.0 allows its users. The Flickr mashups are a great example of not only user-generated content, but the ability of users to create and publicize programs that then let other users create new content-and on and on.

Mashups go far beyond Flickr. A mashup is a web application that operates by combining information from two or more pre-existing applications. Google Maps that combine addresses of businesses with the map of the location is a common mashup.

And while some mashups may be silly , others offer the chance to display your photos in interesting and unusual ways, display a changing array of photos , create "art" with your photos, and much, much more.

Looking for a real challenge? Have an idea for a cool Flickr mashup?  Develop your own! That might be more than most of us are ready for, but here are some resources, just in case you want to try. Be sure to share anything you create.

You can keep up with photo mashups in general by searching Flickr one or more of these sites. Add the Flickr Blog to your RSS account to learn what's new.

• Mashable (all sorts of social networking news; search Flickr to see what's new)
• Programmable Web
• Flickr Blog

Like books? Here's a useful one: Flickr Hacks: Tips & Tools for Sharing Photos Online By Paul Bausch, Jim Bumgardner. Order from the publisher (O'Reilly), other online retailers, or search MnLink to see which Minnesota libraries own it.

Creativity, imagination, sharing-all hallmarks of Flickr and Web 2.0. And the absence of the "e" is another hallmark of Flickr tools!

Posted by Ann WS

"I  almost burned the banana bread because I was playing with photos rather than paying attention to the timer."  Based on comments like this, it seems the online image generators are not contributing to productivity. Participants are finding them a lot of fun, however!

Online image generators have many uses in libraries and media centers. They are quick and easy to use to create images for bookmarks, posters, Web sites, and more. Since most of us are not artists, online image generators make it possible to use illustrations. Think of it as the new version of clip art, but customizable without a lot of copying and pasting.

Need more ways to play? The Generator Blog recommended by Impromptu Librarian has 927 generators posted that go beyond just images, although there are plenty of those, too. There are crossword generators , a cross stitch generator, font image generator, and if you need a bold new look for winter, a hair style generator, and many, many more. Some are useful and some  are not!

Add the Generator Blog to your RSS account to keep up with new generators.

So have fun; just don't blame us if the banana bread burns!

Posted by Ann WS