I made it to week 8. I feel a bit like technology overload, but am proud of myself for wading through all the exercises, even the optional ones. Mashups is a new word for me. Looking at the award winners was an eye opener. How do people think these things up and furthermore, how do they make them work! I found lots of fun sites--FrekFly, Mapdango for starters. I also found lots of great travel pictures using flickr and google maps. The combinations are endless....Fun to get weather, airport details, photos, history, and tourist info in one spot! Some of these sites could be great reference tools as you can follow news (if you like) worldwide.
Rollyo is new to me too. It took some doing, but I was able to create and make public a custom search engine for consumer health sites:
http://www.rollyo.com/obrienna/ezhealthlinks/ Most of these Web 2.0 tools have help screens, it is just a matter of finding what you want. I was able to export bookmarked sites into Rollyo, making the creation fairly painless once I got started. My mistake was not making it public at first and it took me a while to figure out how to change the status. The link works, so I'm a happy camper.
I'm hoping when the dust settles to revisit these tools and play some more. I was happy to hear that actually integrating 1-2 of these tools into our daily lives was a course expectation. I took Gabe's class on technology in Omaha last fall and although I'm taking baby steps I am moving forward albeit slowly! When I think about it, I'm actually using some of these tool daily. After all, who couldn't live without an RSS feed to "Get Fuzzy."
Summary of use to date: Blogs--yes; RSS--yes; wikis--not yet; social networking--no; social bookmarking
yes; Googledocs--yes; flickr--plan to use;podcasts--not yet; mashups
no; API--custom search engine
When searching librarianblogs in Rollyo for privacy, I got caught up reading pieces referring to the age gaps and how age fifty seems to be the magic dividing line on privacy concerns. Being in the over 50 group myself (barely) I would agree that there is an age barrier with technology and the feeling of privacy. First it was online shopping, ATMS and email. Step two PDAs, ipods and downloads. Now all these "social" computer tools.
I think the older crowd is more apt to publicize their professional side and leave the personal profile at home. One piece commented that we are only deluding ourselves in thinking that our lives are private. The younger group, growing up with the Internet and the public eye, put themselves out for all to see and post personal info and photos in their online profiles. In a sense they are controlling what we know about them and are allowing themselves to connect to others with similar interests. On the other side, I'm content living in a filtered world--I guess that is why I used an alias on my facebook exercise....
Great Class! Molto grazie!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
MLA CE Class Week 7
Every week I get a little more amazed at 1) how little I know about Web 2.0; 2) how much I am learning and 3)how much stuff is out there on the web! As an ipod junkie I have used itunes but am a novice with it as well. Technologies don't always play well with others. An example of this is with a tape recorder. Audio files can be downloaded from the recorder to the pc, but when loaded to itunes and then to the ipod, there is a disconnect. The files play fine on the pc, but not from the ipod--oh well. I got a little off topic here.
Odeo is an interesting product. I didn't find it especially user friendly at first, but really didn't have much trouble navigating and subscribing once I played a bit. In thelibrary we haven't used podcasting or really any of these technologies yet, but I know many libraries make podcasts of their Audio Digest CDs and these are great for the users to download and use on the go.
I got a chance to look at youtube at home this weekend. While there is a bunch of junk out there, I found some cool videos about italian cities and travel. I came across a few that requested a sign on--I passed on those. The quality of tapes varies draqmatically, but there are lots of informational, quality items as well. It was easy to put the clips on to my blog.
Youtube won't work for us at work, but podcasts could be great tools for teaching EBM classes or recording "coffee with Eric" sessions...
Odeo is an interesting product. I didn't find it especially user friendly at first, but really didn't have much trouble navigating and subscribing once I played a bit. In thelibrary we haven't used podcasting or really any of these technologies yet, but I know many libraries make podcasts of their Audio Digest CDs and these are great for the users to download and use on the go.
I got a chance to look at youtube at home this weekend. While there is a bunch of junk out there, I found some cool videos about italian cities and travel. I came across a few that requested a sign on--I passed on those. The quality of tapes varies draqmatically, but there are lots of informational, quality items as well. It was easy to put the clips on to my blog.
Youtube won't work for us at work, but podcasts could be great tools for teaching EBM classes or recording "coffee with Eric" sessions...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
MLA CE Course Week 6
Flickr will be a fun tool. In the past, friends of mine have taken trips and invited me to see their albums. I really didn't know anything about photo sharing at that point and stumbled my way around Snap Fish and Flickr. We are planning a trip to Italy in May and this will be a great way to share photos with my travel mates. My limited experience tells me that the photos load slowly and the progression doesn't always work as planned. Like all of these tools, I'm sure they will improve as time goes by. Afterall, they are FREE!
The interface with Facebook was a little rough. I have to use Facebook at home and didn't find the Apps section and the link to Flickr. I'll have to check this out. Instead, I used the old tried and true method of downloading the photo to my hard drive and then importing it. It worked, but it is not a very technique.
As for the library--might be a way to showcase the library and facility to prospective residents as well as our "virtual" customers. This could also be a tool to promote and share posters created by staff.
The interface with Facebook was a little rough. I have to use Facebook at home and didn't find the Apps section and the link to Flickr. I'll have to check this out. Instead, I used the old tried and true method of downloading the photo to my hard drive and then importing it. It worked, but it is not a very technique.
As for the library--might be a way to showcase the library and facility to prospective residents as well as our "virtual" customers. This could also be a tool to promote and share posters created by staff.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Baby Otis
This is Oti as a baby. He is the youngest of the family. Hard to believe he will be 5 years old this year! He joins his brother zippy and the two dogs, Lexi and Buddy.
josie
This is a photo of Carol's puppy Josie. She is a Toy Schnauzer and is small enough to fit in a purse! She loves her doggie friends Feta Cheese and Henry and gets along with the cat... She's just too cute!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
MLA CE Course Week 5
I really like the simplicity of Google Docs. It is easy to use and the screens are clean. That was until I tried Zoho Writer. While the screen is "busy," it has the familiarity of typing a word document. All the familiar options and icons appear, making it easy to add color, undo, add links or anything else imaginable. These things can also be done with Google Docs. It may be a matter of personal preference or the depth, extent of the documents that are to be shared.
At work, we often store documents in "shared" files on the hospital network. While this is good, allowing access to certain employees, only one person may edit a document at a time. Other users are blocked in to a read only mode. This can be a time waster as then you must exit and return to the page.
Web office tools make document sharing easy AND there is no wasted time. I like the idea, too, that drafts or a history are kept for reference and it is easy to track any changes. The publish feature on Zoho Writer makes it easy to send as a blog post. I just retried to do this with Google Docs and I think my eyes were playing tricks on me. The screens were a little different than before and the "post to blog" option is appeared for me. Easy enough.
The appeal of accessing documents from any pc with Internet access is great. My skeptical self wonders what a large portin of the world will be lost if the Internet crashes and everything is lost...This brings up the issue of privacy. While you hve the optin of sharing documents with others, an able hacker might be able to have their way with any pages they access.
I love the fact that Google Docs automatically saves your work! The more I play with Zoho Writer and Google Docs, the more I prefer the latter. It is easey to use, but basic, and alleviates the need for yet anoather username and password!
At work, we often store documents in "shared" files on the hospital network. While this is good, allowing access to certain employees, only one person may edit a document at a time. Other users are blocked in to a read only mode. This can be a time waster as then you must exit and return to the page.
Web office tools make document sharing easy AND there is no wasted time. I like the idea, too, that drafts or a history are kept for reference and it is easy to track any changes. The publish feature on Zoho Writer makes it easy to send as a blog post. I just retried to do this with Google Docs and I think my eyes were playing tricks on me. The screens were a little different than before and the "post to blog" option is appeared for me. Easy enough.
The appeal of accessing documents from any pc with Internet access is great. My skeptical self wonders what a large portin of the world will be lost if the Internet crashes and everything is lost...This brings up the issue of privacy. While you hve the optin of sharing documents with others, an able hacker might be able to have their way with any pages they access.
I love the fact that Google Docs automatically saves your work! The more I play with Zoho Writer and Google Docs, the more I prefer the latter. It is easey to use, but basic, and alleviates the need for yet anoather username and password!
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