Week 9 Thing 20 You Tube

I first became acquainted with Straight No Chaser last year. They are phenomenal. Of all of their performances I still like the 12 Days of Christmas the most. I didn't know how to embed a video so I found this other video and thought someone may be able to use it. It worked!

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I like You Tube because of it ease in using it and the endless variety of videos you can choose from. I don't like it because of its lack of restriction of its contents; too much garbage.

I did find out that even though You Tube is restricted in school I could view videos on other sites. I wouldn't depend on them to use in lessons, though. I looked up book trailers and found a lot of them that were pretty neat. One of my favorites is " The Recess Queen."

Week 8 Thing 19 Web 2.0 Award List

The selections on this awards list was a lot of fun to look at. The first thing I clicked on was the widgets and the snow globe popped up. You ask the globe any question and it comes up with a generic answer that would fit any question. Stupid, but fun. Then I clicked on I don't know what and up came this radio station. I noticed I could copy them so I tried to do so and it worked. That is why they are in the blog.
I looked at a lot of the items on the list. Some were more interesting than others. I used Picnik to edit pictures for an AEP project. It's easy to use. I looked at the SpanishPod and it looks like something I can use, but I didn't want to get in to it now because of the time factor. There are free lessons so I want to go back to this site. A lot of the sites were interesting.
I liked the way the sites were given first, second, third, and honorable mention status. Not that I would give total credence to these ratings, but it does give me an idea of the quality of the sites.

Week 8 Thing 18 Online Productivity Tools

I explored both Zoho and Google Docs and found both of them interesting and fun to use. I have two primary concerns about online documents, though. The first one is that if the server goes down you are without access to your documents. Because of this I would probably back up my work anyway. The other concern is how secure are the materials online. How easy is it for someone else to access the work. Do I really need to worry about this? I don't know.
I looked at the presentation tools on Google Docs. There is a nice selection of templates to choose from to work on different projects. I began a baby album for my sister's first grandchild. It is easy to use and is fascinating how all of the elements on the pages can be moved around or deleted if you do not want them. I copied pictures of the baby from my sister's baby blog, added text, then arranged them on the pages. I then added my sister as a collaborator, then e-mailed the album to her. Now she can add add any pictures and can continue to create the online album. Neat! Can't wait to explore further when I have more time.

Week 7 Thing 17 SandBox wiki.

Well, I finally was able to post my blog on the favorite blogs page. It should have been so simple but figuring out how to do it was not so simple. The Point and Click edit feature did not work so well for me. Once I figured out how to do it, though, it is easy. The directions could have been more explicit. That would have saved me quite a bit of time. I was also able to create a new wiki page. That was neat, once I figured out how to do it. Time is of the essence and I sure seem to consume a lot of time doing these excercises.

Week 7 Thing 16 Wikis

Well, I have explored the world of wikis and the world is pretty neat. Lots of neat ways to use them. I read how teachers are using them to communicate with their students and are replacing class handouts by using wikis. I explored a literature wiki and found a topic that interested me, Chic Lit. (For those times when you are brain dead and can't handle anything more than that.) I looked at the one about New Orleans conference and that was pretty neat how info was collected about the conference events and also about things that were happening in the area and places to go. I'm sure that the people who were natives of the area were a great asset in sharing info. Wikis are a neat way to organize events without having to constantly e-mail each other. Can't wait to set one up for this purpose.
I went to Technorati and researched the videos about wikis. Watched several about how to set up and use wikis. These videos made it seem easy. I hope this is so when I set one up.

Week 6 Thing 15 Perspective on Web / Library 2.0

It suddenly dawned on me when I was reading these articles what a huge responsibility librarians will have in the future assisting patrons. The library as we know it now will no longer exist. Wow!
The article I chose to comment on is "Away from the Icebergs". In this article Rick Anderson states that there are three "icebergs" that pose threats to the future success of libraries.The first one is the "just in case" iceberg. Libraries retained a comprehensive collection of materials "just in case" a patron requested it and when they did ask for it, it took time to get the materials. But it is not necessary now or in the future to keep collections because everything is accessible on the Web and patrons can get anything they need online. Do we need to even have collections now?
The next "iceberg" is reliance on user education. Anderson states that libraries do not have the capabilities to be teaching due to poorly equipped libraries and insufficient staffing. Therefore services have to be simple for the patrons to use without training, and if this is not possible than the services need to be fixed.
The final "iceberg" is the "come to us" model of library services. Before if you wanted access to something special you had to go to the library. You no longer need to do this because of the internet so the libraries must figure out ways to bring services to the patrons, rather than insisting they come to the library. Anderson says that libraries need to integrate their services into the daily fabric of life; work study, play.
Anderson finishes his article stating that there are two directions that professions can go when changes come about: they can toss out everything including the good stuff or fail to acknowledge and accept the changes that are occurring. He says that libraries tend to follow the latter path and it is necessary to change this direction.
All of the changes that are coming about with library services in relationship to the web are fascinating... scary, too. Trying to keep up is daunting. I agree with the author that we really need to look at where our libraries are going and what the role of the librarian will be.

Week 6 Thing 14 Technorati

I like Technorati. When I first looked at it there was so much info available it was overwhelming. But that is also a good thing. There is so much, you can find something on just about anything you are looking for.
After doing keyword searches for “Learning 2.0” I did find a difference in the results. In tags there were 28 results, in blogs 62 results, and 1,239 hits in the directory. I guess this changes all the time, though.
I got hooked looking at the videos. There were so many that I can use, either as tutorials for myself or with my classes or for personal use.
I searched "North Captiva Island" and found so much info that was interesting. It gave factual info such as the layout of the island and rental/ buying prices (HO, Ho!) to posts with photos and comments on how much someone enjoyed the island, an actual connection with real people. I read to find out if anything was written that was familiar to me that I could connect with.
Technorati is a great tool for searching for blogs that interest you and I 'll be using it a lot for all sorts of things.

Week 6 Thing 13 Del.icio.us

I like this program. It's nice to be able to access your bookmarks no matter at which computer you are working. I opened an account. It was easy to do so and easy to bookmark sites. This is something I will use and continue to add to.

Week 5 Thing 12 Rollyo

It was not difficult creating an account for Rollyo or to create a searchroll. This would be good to have easy access to so many websites that you know you could use without having to look at lots and lots of sites. Having so many searchrolls to look at that others created will cut down on the time that it takes to select good sites.

Week 5 Thing 11 Library Thing

I am not really interested in Library Thing. I don't have the need or desire to know what others are reading to the extent of the information that Library Thing offers. Nor do I have the need to keep track of the books I have read. Maybe upon further exploration I will find this program of more interest and value to me.
http://www.librarything.com/widget.php?shareID=wcb6dff95ed092e7b96dbbf23a4efc9c8&sharefrom=LeanCuisine

Week 5 Thing 10 On line image Generators

China Girl
Originally uploaded by lean cuisine

Well, I tried to create my Avitar, and I think I am successful. This is my Avitar on the Great Wall of China. It was fun creating this, and once again I'm looking forward to playing with this to create more Avitars. Neat!

Week 5 thing 10 Online Image Generator

My creation
Originally uploaded by lean cuisine

This is pretty cool. I used the Mosaic tool to create this picture. I really like being able to do different things with the pictures of Captiva Island. Can't wait until I have more time to play around with so many of the other image generators. What neat things to do with your photos!

Week 5 Thing 10 Online Image Generaor

Matted captiva WATER
Originally uploaded by lean cuisine

I used the Mat tool to create this framing of the water at Captiva Island in Florida. Really neat! I liked playing with this.

Week 5 Thing 10 Image Generator

Puzzle Captiva Sunset
Originally uploaded by lean cuisine

This is one of those puzzles that either drives you crazy or is the ultimate challenge to complete. I remember trying to put together a puzzle like this in the middle of the night when I was nine plus months pregnant and couldn't sleep.

Week 4 Thing 9 Merlin

I could not get on Feedster. The message came up that the link was broken. I liked using Technorati because of its format. It was easy to find feeds for blogs through the search tool and it offered a selection of so many topics that I would never have thought to look at. I did like looking at the videos also. I will definitely refer to them for a variety of things. One video I looked at gave instructions on how to make a dress. Another one was on exercising. When I wanted to look specifically for information on multiple sclerosis I was able to access blogs through the search tool. Other videos I looked at were demos on using Photo Story 3. There were several of them and I wanted to see if there was anything on them that would give me more information on how to use this program. I did get a few more tips. I wish I would have seen these videos before I started using this with my students.
I also liked using Topix.net. One of the biggest reasons is that when I clicked on the tab for local news I typed in my zip code and had the current news right there in front of me. It makes me wonder why I am still subscribing to the newspaper. I guess this is why so many newspapers are closing. I don't know, though. There is just something about sitting down with a newspaper in front of me and reading it rather than reading it on the computer.
I did not care for Syndic8.com. Just looking at the format discouraged me from using it. Later, when I have more time I will go back to it and explore its merits further.