As part of this week's discovery, I went to Technorati. I had a difficult time doing a key word search in Blog posts, in tags, and in the Blog directory. I could only find the Blog directory and a general search box at the top of the page. I watched the tutorial but it was small and the speaker went very quickly over the information without showing the entire page that she was talking about. The tutorial did not even match the home page I was looking at. In short, I was underwhelmed by Technorati. It would not be a tool that I would use. I set up an account thinking that would take me to a more user-friendly page, but that wasn't the case. I couldn't even find where to end my membership. I would not use this in the library.
As far as tagging, it is useful for finding items that have the tags you are looking for, but if a blog hasn't been tagged it won't be easy to find with a tag search. Tags are general tools to help with searches but the librarian in me says the casualness of the structure of the tagging is going to become a problem at some time in the near future.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Week Six - Thing # 13
I spent the afternoon exploring Del.icio.us. The tutorial by the Santa Cruz Public Library helped get me started. As a side note, as I have worked on the 23 Things I have noticed how often YouTube is used for video tutorials. This site is blocked in my district. I understand why it is blocked but I wish there was a solution to using the best of YouTube and blocking the worst of it.
Del.icio.us has great potential as a tool for research in the library, and perhaps students would use it because it is associated with the web and not the library. We have great material already available on our library website but most students prefer to use Google and Yahoo. Using Del.icio.us would make it easier to link news articles with student assignments. It also could be used for specific classes and assignments. Having a Del.iou.us account for the library would be a way to teach students new ways to find better material for their papers rather than settling for what Google and Yahoo throws out in gigantic and not necessarily accurate numbers. This would also give students and teachers the opportunity to interact with the material by posting to the account. I plan to try this in some format with my bookclub this year. Rather than meet every week, one of the weeks will be online.
Del.icio.us has great potential as a tool for research in the library, and perhaps students would use it because it is associated with the web and not the library. We have great material already available on our library website but most students prefer to use Google and Yahoo. Using Del.icio.us would make it easier to link news articles with student assignments. It also could be used for specific classes and assignments. Having a Del.iou.us account for the library would be a way to teach students new ways to find better material for their papers rather than settling for what Google and Yahoo throws out in gigantic and not necessarily accurate numbers. This would also give students and teachers the opportunity to interact with the material by posting to the account. I plan to try this in some format with my bookclub this year. Rather than meet every week, one of the weeks will be online.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Week Five - Thing #12
Today I explored Rollyo. I created an account and a search roll for digital scrapbooking sites at http://rollyo.com/fvaughan/scrapbooking_sites/ .
A teacher would find this tool useful for sending students to preselected sites for specific assignments. In the library it would be helpful for those sites needed quickly; for example, books in a series. For my personal use, however, I am content to use Google bookmarks. I have access to them wherever I log on to my e-mail.
A teacher would find this tool useful for sending students to preselected sites for specific assignments. In the library it would be helpful for those sites needed quickly; for example, books in a series. For my personal use, however, I am content to use Google bookmarks. I have access to them wherever I log on to my e-mail.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Week Five - Thing # 11
Tonight I explored Web 2.0 award-winning applications and Ning. I chose to explore eSnips, one of the award-winning site for digital storage and access. eSnips allows its members to store, share, and exchange music playlists, artwork, jokes, poetry, spiritual ideas, photography, videos, as well as other tags or categories. There is a forum for posts. Playlists and widgets can be used in user's blogs. Students and teachers would find this a useful tool for storing items that they want to add to other projects.
Next I explored Ning. I checked out Library 2.0, but decided not to join at this time. I am barely keeping up with reading everything on my Bloglines account. Library 2.0 or something like it will be my next step as I shift into web 2.0 as part of my online life.
I played Travel IQ and I definitely need to brush up on my geography.
Next I explored Ning. I checked out Library 2.0, but decided not to join at this time. I am barely keeping up with reading everything on my Bloglines account. Library 2.0 or something like it will be my next step as I shift into web 2.0 as part of my online life.
I played Travel IQ and I definitely need to brush up on my geography.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Playing "Go Fish" at the Beach
Although I am learning 23 Things for school use, using the applications with my family is also fun.
Week Five - Thing #10
Yesterday I was discouraged because I had a difficult time with the assignment. Today I received a comment on my blog from Cathy Nelson. I had shared a link to her blog and she wrote to thank me. She suggested that I search the "blogrolls" on the blogs that I like to find more blogs to follow. This is good advice because it is a timesaver. Blogs you like are going to link to more blogs you like. Thanks, Cathy.
Tonight I played around with image generators. Here is the link to my image: http://www.imagechef.com/ This would be fun for students to use as suggested in the Curriculum Connections section; however, my security software was warning me about the Comic Strip Generator site and, if I ventured too far into Image Chef, I was warned also. FD Toys seemed to be okay. This leads me to believe most of these tools will probably be blocked at school. A teacher could probably use this but would have to prepare in advance with technology specifically what site would be used.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Week Four - Thing #9
Overwhelmed would accurately describe how I feel after using the search tools to find feeds. I truly had no idea there were so many blogs out on the www. I enjoyed searching the "edublog" award-winning blogs and school library blogs. There were several I added to my Bloglines account so I can follow them. One I enjoyed was "Cathy Nelson's Professional Thoughts" http://technotuesday.edublogs.org/. She blogged about a neat application using a webcam.
Leon Hale, columnist for the Houston Chronicle has a blog: http://blogs.chron.com/leonhale/ which contains interesting technology information.
Jessamyn West's blog http://www.librarian.net/stax/2330/accessibility-of-google-books/ has an interesting blog about google books for special ed students.
I tried to use Blog Pulse but I was unsuccessful. The other search tools were nice but Bloglines does a good job of searching as well. Perhaps Hurricane Dolly's visit to my house pealing back part of my roof and causing the ceiling in my dining room to collapse has more to do with my feeling overwhelmed than this assignment. I will come back to this assignment later and use the search tools when I am not feeling so pressured. It's good to have these listed in the assignment for future use. I hope the site stays up for a while after the course is completed.
(We are okay. All the furniture was moved before the collapse and we now have a temporary roof in place until we can get the roof repaired. There are people whose homes flooded and people who still don't have electricity. My problems are small compared to theirs.)
Leon Hale, columnist for the Houston Chronicle has a blog: http://blogs.chron.com/leonhale/ which contains interesting technology information.
Jessamyn West's blog http://www.librarian.net/stax/2330/accessibility-of-google-books/ has an interesting blog about google books for special ed students.
I tried to use Blog Pulse but I was unsuccessful. The other search tools were nice but Bloglines does a good job of searching as well. Perhaps Hurricane Dolly's visit to my house pealing back part of my roof and causing the ceiling in my dining room to collapse has more to do with my feeling overwhelmed than this assignment. I will come back to this assignment later and use the search tools when I am not feeling so pressured. It's good to have these listed in the assignment for future use. I hope the site stays up for a while after the course is completed.
(We are okay. All the furniture was moved before the collapse and we now have a temporary roof in place until we can get the roof repaired. There are people whose homes flooded and people who still don't have electricity. My problems are small compared to theirs.)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Week Four - Thing #8
Although I haven't posted in a while, I have been discovering RSS feed readers and learning about the difference between Bloglines and Google Reader. I am now connected through Blogline to an online resource for keeping up with what is going on with the world without having to go to each individual source. The time devoured by moving from blog to blog was the main reason that I quit reading blogs after library school. I kept them in "Favorites" but I seldom visited the sites. Now I can scan through the new posts and read what I find interesting all in one place. I will share this valuable tool with teachers when school starts in the fall. Even the administrators could use this time saver.
As part of my learning process, I set up accounts in both Google Reader and Bloglines. For the first time in my experience, something was better than Google. I preferred Bloglines over Google Reader. Bloglines was more user-friendly in my opinion. This was a surprise to me because I use Google documents and Google calendar as well as Gmail. Bloglines was easier to set up with my personal preferences. It was visually easier for me to follow when I was setting my page up; however, in all fairness, Google Reader has the convenience of not having to login if I am already checking my e-mail. I will eventually have to decide which I want to keep because I don't need two. Since I am in the process of deciding between the two and learning about this new-to-me tool, I am opting not to share the URL of either site
As part of my learning process, I set up accounts in both Google Reader and Bloglines. For the first time in my experience, something was better than Google. I preferred Bloglines over Google Reader. Bloglines was more user-friendly in my opinion. This was a surprise to me because I use Google documents and Google calendar as well as Gmail. Bloglines was easier to set up with my personal preferences. It was visually easier for me to follow when I was setting my page up; however, in all fairness, Google Reader has the convenience of not having to login if I am already checking my e-mail. I will eventually have to decide which I want to keep because I don't need two. Since I am in the process of deciding between the two and learning about this new-to-me tool, I am opting not to share the URL of either site
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Week Three - Thing # 7
It is no secret in my family that I like to play video games. Zelda and Mario games are two of my favorites. Both require solving problems and mysteries. Since mysteries are my favorite genre I see a connection between the two. The game units have evolved along with the games themselves so that now I can play online with my grandchildren with my Wii. I can also check the news and the weather.
While working on my assignment for this week, I explored Infodoodads and discovered a site called Scratch where you can make your own video games. I played a game called "Super Mario Galaxy Four." Here is the link: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/Dolfus555/162167 if you want to play. Scratch could be used in classroom and I plan to share it with teachers but I also plan to share it with my grandchildren. 23 Things has been a sharing experience with my family all along. My oldest granddaughter started her own blog after I started mine for this class. We have shared our experiences as we have learned.
Ironically, many of the sites we are studying for this class are blocked at my school. I cannot access any of the blogs we are working on much less YouTube. There has to be a balance between protecting students and giving them access to the positive part of the WWW.
While working on my assignment for this week, I explored Infodoodads and discovered a site called Scratch where you can make your own video games. I played a game called "Super Mario Galaxy Four." Here is the link: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/Dolfus555/162167 if you want to play. Scratch could be used in classroom and I plan to share it with teachers but I also plan to share it with my grandchildren. 23 Things has been a sharing experience with my family all along. My oldest granddaughter started her own blog after I started mine for this class. We have shared our experiences as we have learned.
Ironically, many of the sites we are studying for this class are blocked at my school. I cannot access any of the blogs we are working on much less YouTube. There has to be a balance between protecting students and giving them access to the positive part of the WWW.
Week Three - Thing #6
Flickr mashups were new to me. Color Pickr was a "Wow" experience, and I played around longer than I should have just looking at the different photos and color selections. If the rest of the 23 things are like this I am going to need a thesaurus to come up with different superlatives. "Wow" will get old fast. Montagr was also a fun experience. The trading cards, however, have the most potential for classroom use in my opinion. Even high school students would have fun with these.
I have to admit that the articles in Wikipedia did give great explanations about mashups, but since I try to steer students away from Wikipedia to more reliable sources, it is ironic that it is being used to instruct librarians. Is Wikipedia changing? Where does it fit as a tool for students?
I have to admit that the articles in Wikipedia did give great explanations about mashups, but since I try to steer students away from Wikipedia to more reliable sources, it is ironic that it is being used to instruct librarians. Is Wikipedia changing? Where does it fit as a tool for students?
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Week 3, Thing #5
This week I explored Flickr. I learned about tags and how to add them to my photos so that the photos could be categorized. Tags are great places to get ideas for special photos because very talented people post their photos on Flickr. If you are going to the beach, for example, check out the "Beach" tag. There are some great ideas. I looked at several groups, such as Helsinki's Metal balls. Some groups have to be joined, such as this one, before you are allowed to post photos.
I opened my own account on Flickr and tagged two photos "esc1library" and marked them public. I posted my photos using Flickr's blogging tool. I learned to just click around and what I needed was somewhere. The main lesson I have learned is "don't be afraid to search the site. Flickr and Google work to make themselves user-friendly. If you seek, you will find
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