Final Thing

I was about two-thirds of the way through this course before it started coming together for me. The most helpful tool was Askaway. Actually using a blog in real life helped me to understand the concept better than completing a lesson.

The biggest problem was time!!! I know other people in our branch started Learning 2.0, but had to quit because they didn't have the time to finish. I managed to finish, but some lessons I had to rush through.

The first three lessons on being a lifelong learner I didn't find helpful. I would have preferred more background on the whole idea of creating communities online to provide context for the lessons.

Thanks for providing this opportunity for the staff to learn something new. And thanks for setting up Askaway. That is a great communication tool.

audiobooks

It took me two tries, but I opened an account and looked at some titles. I found "the Spy who came in from the Cold", but no James Thurber. When I get my MP3 player, I will try downloading a few titles.

Podcasts

I'm listening to a Harry Potter Podcast as I write this. It's actually kind of fun listening to some twenty-somethings joke about the security surrounding the realease of the book. I couldn't find my bloglines account to pull this in as a RSS feed -- maybe I've been de-listed? I may come back and try again if I have time.

You Tube

I watched a bit of the Jon Stewart Show. My kids really like this site. My daughter showed me a clip called Kiwi that is very bittersweet.

You Tube

The YouTube site I'd been to before, so this was a little easier for me. I checked out Alec Baldwin's rant to his daughter, watched a clip from a Jon Stewart show and now I'm listening to Joshua Bell play violin, since I missed him when dressed like a street musician and played at a subway stop several weeks ago.

Web 2.0 Tools

This lesson invited us to explore one Web 2.0 site. I checked out facebook, although because I am not a college student, I couldn't do what I really wanted to do which was to read accounts from some students I know at Va. Tech about the tragedy yeasterday. The value of these new information sharing tools really becomes apparent in a situation like that -- it was incredible to me how fast students could connect with one another online to find out what was happening and who was okay.

Web Based Applications

I am creating a document using a web based application.  Hmmm, is there anyone wtih enough time to look at this and edit it, so we get a feel for why this is useful in the real world?  I can't think of anyone, the staff is pretty busy right now.  So I will fo ahead and save and see if I can get back to it later. 

 

Since I use Apple, I look forward to the day when people use this free software to share ideas, so I am not faced with attachments that are in Word that I can't open.  I wonder if the Web based applications are more vulnerable to viruses than applications sstored on my computer at home.  Logically, it seems like they would be.  Someone evil could pretend to be your boss and sneak in and edit all your work!  Still it would be nice to be able to use an application you don't use very often without paying full price for it.  My husband works for IBM and they are trying to develop Web based software you could use for a fee.

 

 

Wiki Sand Box

I liked reading about favorite books. I got some ideas for my fantasy loving son. The favorite restaurants site was less helpful as most of the suggestions were in other cities. I treid to post my blog under "favorite blogs", but it did not appear, so I'll check again tomorrow.

Wiki

Glad to learn what wiki means. A wiki seems like an organized blog -- a place where anyone can add comments, but in the wiki they are organized by subject, whereas a blog is more like a conversation. I visited several of the wikis. The Library Success wiki and the Book Lovers Wiki were interesting because they obviously had input from users. The Bull Run wiki felt more like a website -- lots of information on the library, but I didn't see content posted by users.

Web 2.0

This was a nice break from trying to comprehend a new web tool. I read five of the articles mentioned. The first two did a nice job of putting new approaches in perspective. The next two articles used a lot of jargon and I found them harder to follow. The last article is where I'm at -- no matter how useful all the new technology is, I want a book and a mug of hot chocolate by the fire in the study.

Final thought -- are we ready for Doug as an avatar?????

Technorati

Oh, boy, I am definitely sensing a generation gap here. Most of the blogs I visited were like reading someone's personal diary, except not as interesting. I just don't think I have time for a lot of new e-friends in my life. I really like AskAway, but I don't see myself visiting a lot of random blogs just for fun.

Library Thing

I forgot to blog about Library Thing, so here goes. This site would be good for getting ideas on books I'd like to read. My son likes fantasy, so I put some of his books in and checked for other books he might like.

Delicious seems way beyond what I would use unless I my job involved a lot more research. I wonder if other people in the library system use this service. If I saw it actually being used, I might understand its usefulness better.

Rollyo

I tested the Rollyo site which allows you to create your own search engine. I put two travel sites on my search block ( I can add more later) . The site was easy to use and I didn't have to create a password!

I could save my image to the "My Documents" file,but not to my blog. I'll need to consult with my local gurus and try again.

Feeds for RSS

I checked out some different news feeds. They all seem to bring up information on whatever topic I entered. I have been right clicking on the RSS button and hitting "Copy Shortcut" and then pasting the link in my blogline account. I don't know if there is a more elegant way to do it.

RSS FEEDS

I'm glad this is the hardest module. At least now I know what an RSS is. I've managed to subscribe to 12 feeds, including askaway, but some of the feeds are not that interesting, so I'll modify my account when I have time. This could be useful at home for keeping up with favorite websites.

Thoughts About Technology

I think technology is great except when it's not. It's great when it works, but it drives me crazy when it doesn't. Also I am more more patient with people than I am with my computer. Sometimes it won't do the simplest thing, and when you get frustrated, it just sits there like Tar Baby. My husband works for IBM and when he retires he says he is going to take his computer out in a field and shoot it. In fact he is going to throw a party and let everyone take a shot! But at night when he is not working, he goes on the family computer and surfs the web.

I looked at some mashups and played around with some of the tools.

Jan. 10

I visited Flickr and checked out some pictures on Scotland and other places around the world. This could be handy for planning a trip. This site would also be handy for posting pictures for our Scout troop.

Jan. 8, 2007

I finally got onto my blog interface by going to New Blogger and typing in my complete LCPL email address. Three of us were having trouble getting back in because it was unclear what user name we were supposed to use. I tried my account name, blog name and abbrieviated email address, before we finally got in.