Friday, July 9, 2010
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thing 24 - Refresh
I didn't officially register for the original 23 Things on a Stick, but I did complete most of the Things and blogged about some of them. I decided to make it official this time through, so I am signing up for More Things on a Stick. Yay! This blog is a 'refreshed' version of my old one. The older posts are cut and pasted from the old blog. I have done a bit of blogging since the end of 23 Things. I don't enjoy the actual writing as much as I enjoy experimenting with new widgets, photos applications, videos, etc. I also really enjoy adding photos and links.
I read quite a few blogs. Most of them via Google Reader which I am loving more and more every day! My brother and his girlfriend moved out of state recently and it is a really nice way to keep tabs on what they are up to. And vice versa I hope.
I do comment on blogs. Right now that is limited to people I know. However, recently a read a local foodie blog that criticized one of my favorite restaurants. They had good points but I feel that I could add some good points too. The only question, which blogger identity to comment under? Yikes!
I am excited to learn more and appreciate all the hard work that has gone into both rounds of this wonderful learning tool.
I read quite a few blogs. Most of them via Google Reader which I am loving more and more every day! My brother and his girlfriend moved out of state recently and it is a really nice way to keep tabs on what they are up to. And vice versa I hope.
I do comment on blogs. Right now that is limited to people I know. However, recently a read a local foodie blog that criticized one of my favorite restaurants. They had good points but I feel that I could add some good points too. The only question, which blogger identity to comment under? Yikes!
I am excited to learn more and appreciate all the hard work that has gone into both rounds of this wonderful learning tool.
Thing 12 - Social Media Sites
I am interested in what other people are reading about on the web, but I think I prefer to read stories organized by subject rather than popularity. I do think this is a way to find news stories that are not covered by the biggies that pop up on my computer screen like CNN and YahooNews. Like this one for example which I found on Reddit. But I am also skeptical about the reliability of some of the news sources of course.
Newsvine is okay and I do like Mixx because of the way you can choose your subject.
Newsvine is okay and I do like Mixx because of the way you can choose your subject.
Thing 11 - Tagging and Delicious
This morning I started an experiment. I got rid of all my bookmarks (at work) and put them into del.icio.us! Sounds crazy huh? I will probably regret it, but seriously, I am going to try to organize all of the websites that I use on a regular basis and try to make a habit of adding new ones that could help me in the future.
The major challenges are: tags can't be more than one word (ugh!), I have to remember to log myself in at the beginning of the day and I also need to remember to tag as I bookmark, because it can be a drag to go back and tag everything when I make a new cluster. I am excited that my tag cloud can go into Facebook. I doubt anyone really cares about my tags, but whatever.
The major challenges are: tags can't be more than one word (ugh!), I have to remember to log myself in at the beginning of the day and I also need to remember to tag as I bookmark, because it can be a drag to go back and tag everything when I make a new cluster. I am excited that my tag cloud can go into Facebook. I doubt anyone really cares about my tags, but whatever.
Thing 10 - Wikis
First of all, if you want to see a great short video explaining how a wiki works (mom?) watch this YouTube video by Common Craft. Wish I had thought of this!
I have used and/or started about 4 or 5 wikis in my day and it hasn't really caught on with me as an every day thing or a super useful tool. I think my problem involves the number of people involved. One of the first wikis I was involved with failed because there were only 4 of us, and we communicate very well over email. Another one failed because the purpose was not clear. Another one failed because well, the purpose was also not clear. And if I can complain just a little bit, I have too many passwords, and the wiki ones are frequently forgotten.
I love wikis don't get me wrong. I am determined to make one successful. Success=participation by many folks on an ongoing basis. I also think wikis are hard to customize. You need to know stuff that I don't know yet. I like to make websites so I guess I would rather do that and make it look pretty. But that defeats the wikiness of the whole thing, because then I am the only one who can edit and who wants that? Boring!
I have used and/or started about 4 or 5 wikis in my day and it hasn't really caught on with me as an every day thing or a super useful tool. I think my problem involves the number of people involved. One of the first wikis I was involved with failed because there were only 4 of us, and we communicate very well over email. Another one failed because the purpose was not clear. Another one failed because well, the purpose was also not clear. And if I can complain just a little bit, I have too many passwords, and the wiki ones are frequently forgotten.
I love wikis don't get me wrong. I am determined to make one successful. Success=participation by many folks on an ongoing basis. I also think wikis are hard to customize. You need to know stuff that I don't know yet. I like to make websites so I guess I would rather do that and make it look pretty. But that defeats the wikiness of the whole thing, because then I am the only one who can edit and who wants that? Boring!
Thing 9 - Collaboration Tools
This 'Thing' is all about exploring online collaboration tools such as GoogleDocs and Zoho. We have made use of both in my library so far. We are currently using Zoho Writer to write a script for a library orientation video/slideshow we are producing. We have used GoogleDocs to store presentations to be given off campus. I think I prefer Zoho. It has so many editing tools and I like the tabs at the top that correspond with each document. There are over 18 applications and most of them are free!
I wish I had this in grad school. It would have been so slick for group projects instead of the old fashioned emails going back and forth with highlighted text.
I wish I had this in grad school. It would have been so slick for group projects instead of the old fashioned emails going back and forth with highlighted text.
Thing 8 - Share your creations
I made this slideshow using PictureTrail.
You can increase or decrease gaudiness as you see fit. I could see this service being very helpful for more personal endeavors. I made the slideshow as small as I could but as you can see the right side is cut off. Perhaps another tool such as Slideshare would give me more flexibility and customization.
The photos in the slideshow are different textures that can be found in the library where I work. Do you recognize any?
I really wanted to try out Lazybase (an online database creator) but the page is not loading for me. I will try later.
EFolio is also mentioned in this thing. When Christian was in grad school for education, they had to use this as a resume/cv/portfolio tool. I am not sure if it actually came in handy for him, but it seems like a great idea. Instead of reworking your resume all the time you can just update this. Or maybe you would have to do both?
You can increase or decrease gaudiness as you see fit. I could see this service being very helpful for more personal endeavors. I made the slideshow as small as I could but as you can see the right side is cut off. Perhaps another tool such as Slideshare would give me more flexibility and customization.
The photos in the slideshow are different textures that can be found in the library where I work. Do you recognize any?
I really wanted to try out Lazybase (an online database creator) but the page is not loading for me. I will try later.
EFolio is also mentioned in this thing. When Christian was in grad school for education, they had to use this as a resume/cv/portfolio tool. I am not sure if it actually came in handy for him, but it seems like a great idea. Instead of reworking your resume all the time you can just update this. Or maybe you would have to do both?
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