BookBox

Per the homework assignment I created a bookshelf on BookBox.com. I hadn't heard of this Web site before and found it to be fun, quick, and very easy to do. After typing in the books you want to add to your bookshelf, a widget is created instantly with the code that is available to add to your Web site or blog. I chose to add my bookshelf to the area at the top of my blog so that it can be seen with each login to the blog.

I think this is a great tool to promote reading because cover art usually sparks conversation and knowing what others are reading motivates people to read those titles as well.

Social Bookmarking for Reading Promotion

Social bookmarking is a useful Web 2.0 tool that allows you to tag Web sites that you would like to refer to at other times and from any computer connected to the Internet. You are able to share your tags with other people or subscribe to a specific tag for any new Web sites that others may tag with that name. The following is a list of five Web sites that I tagged in my Delicious account as "student_reading" that I thought were good sites to direct students to for reading enhancement.

Reading Promotion Video

YouTube was were I looked to find a fun video to promote reading... and I found a TERRIFIC video by Ocoee Middle School. The school's principal and reading coach decided to bring the students and technology together while promoting reading at the same time. The result was getting the entire middle school to rewrite the lyrics of the Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" to "Gotta Keep Reading" (with permission from the Black Eyed Peas) and then created a music video to go along with the song.

This URL address will take you to the WESH TV (Orlando, FL) news article that interviewed the Ocoee Middle School staff and students about the inspiration for the project and the making of the music video (12/11/09):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYrkgFpzUjY


Here is the finished product (1/26/10):

Booklover Quote

This embedded widget (http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/booklover-quotes) is a fun item to have on a Web site or blog since it is constantly changing and will give the viewer something new to look at each time they visit your site.

LibraryThing

LibraryThing

This Web site (http://www.librarything.com/) is a great tool for any person interested in books. Users create bookshelves of books that they have read, what they are currently reading, or what they would like to read. It displays your bookshelves with the faces of the books you have added which can then be turned into a widget to embed into a blog, Web site, etc. It is a social networking site that allows users to review, share, rate, tag books, as well as, giving the user the opportunity to look at the lists of others using the same tags to expand choices and knowledge.

Here is an example of some of the books from "My Library" on LibraryThing:

Hello and welcome!

This is my first attempt at creating a blog and how exciting! I created this blog as an assignment for my LIS5270 course (Organizing Information). After reading and following other blogs for the last couple of years, I'm excited to create my own. This blog is all about reading... what I find interesting in the world of literature as well as, ideas to encourage and promote reading.