An introduction to social media, with more to come

Last week I got to teach a class on social media at our favorite library. My most recent teaching experience has been teaching religion to fifth- and sixth-graders, so talking about a subject to a group who actually wants to learn about it was a nice change. Whether or not you took the class, you're welcome to download a copy of the presentation I used.

Last week's class was the first in a series of four. The second session, Thursday, March 10, will be Getting Started in Blogging. Most of our time will be spent on learning Blogger, but probably with a quick look at WordPress, too. Then we'll go to Getting Started with Facebook on March 17 and Getting Started with Twitter on March 24. Follow those links to register for each class.

The social networking series will be followed by three classes on using Microsoft Office applications: Getting Started with Microsoft Word 2010 will be on March 31; Getting Started with Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 on April 7, and Getting Started with Microsoft Excel 2010 on April 14.

If you have any questions about social media or Microsoft Office, or if you have suggestions for what we should cover in a class, just post a comment below and I'll respond.

Thinking about a Kindle? Think again.

I hope I'm not too late in telling you this: Think twice before buying a Kindle for Christmas.

I was just thinking about getting an ebook reader as a Christmas present for my mom. Maybe a Kindle? I realized that would be a bad choice. Mom borrows books from the Brownsburg Public Library. You can't use a Kindle to read an ebook from that library. In general, you cannot use a Kindle to read an ebook borrowed from any library, including our favorite library.

Ebook and audiobook downloads offered by Hussey-Mayfield come from a company called OverDrive. OverDrive and Amazon (the source of the Kindle) haven't agreed on terms that would permit OverDrive to offer Kindle-compatible ebooks.

Fortunately, there are many e-reader devices -- including the iPad, iPhone and Android devices -- that you can use to read ebooks from libraries.

Or save your money and keep life simple by reading your ebooks on your PC. I use my 4-year-old IBM Lenovo laptop to read ebooks from Hussey-Mayfield AND ebooks from Amazon. Kindle-formatted ebooks from amazon.com will work on almost any PC. You just need the free Kindle for PC software, which you download from amazon.com. To read Hussey-Mayfield ebooks on your PC, you just need free software from OverDrive. I use them both.

Have a merry Christmas and a New Year full of happy e-reading!