Thing 31: Get Organized with Plaxo

I don't think I'm organized enough to "get organized with Plaxo". Perhaps I've missed something essential, but I would prefer a simple handwritten task list on my desk in a good old fashioned diary or notebook. In the past year or so, I've begun to keep dates and notes in my little mobile phone - no it's not one of those fancy shmancy organizers, but it does the job for me. I can carry it around in my pocket and set up alerts and reminders etc.
Plaxo I found a little too busy - too much happening with too many sidetracks. I also didn't like the way it wanted my Yahoo details on signing up - I opted out of that. I don't think making too much personal information available to too many sites a good way to go.

Thing 30: I'm in UR Libary, Readin UR b00ks

Oh so very cute! I can't see any bird, can you?
My chosen pic caught my eye straight away. A nicely set up picture and a very compliant cat too!

Is there a LOLDogs too? Woof!

http://www.lolcats.com/view/12265

DD

Thing 29: Scrapblog - I'm in Love

A little time consuming, but engaging. A good way to entice readers perhaps, using soothing background music and snippets of books using a slideshow. It could be as long or as short as needed and as detailed as required for the purpose. A fun way to create a semi-professional looking piece without the need for expensive software.

DD

Thing 28: Well we're big rock singers… (or food connoisseurs)

Image generators can be lots of fun and I had quite a play in Learning 2.0. For this exercise I chose "Food & Wine" magazine and used a photograph of a family member.

DD

Thing 27: Photobucket #2

The Photobucket creation above is actually my second attempt. After blogging about it the first time, I tried to edit my creation. Don't quite know what I did, but ended up having to create a new one. This time I used images from Photobucket itself. I had a little trouble adding some of the music tracks so settled on one that worked.

DD

Thing 27: Photobucket

I've really enjoyed playing with the Remix tool. The search option within Photobucket I found did not supply me with what I was looking for, so I searched elsewhere and uploaded from my computer.

I can see that I will be using this site again.

Please see my creation below, called "Fortune's Rocks at Photobucket".

Thing 26: Yourminis - attempt #2

OK, I don't know what I was doing wrong before, but copying the code and embedding it is now working. I'm sure I was doing the same thing a few hours ago, but I've now got different results. So easy really - I can't quite work out why it all wasn't working before. See above and to the side some widgets from Yourminis.com.

Thing 26: Little bits of the Internet, on your desktop (Yourminis)

I have had a go at yourminis.com. Perhaps the hot weather is playing with my mind, because I can't quite work out how to add each widget separately. I have registered and have added a link to my chosen widgets. I shall persevere as I believe there must be a way - I've seen it on other people's blogs.

Diggly's Widgets

Thing 25: Newsletters in a Pop!

I have enjoyed playing around with Letterpop. I must admit I have found it a little awkward at times, such as not finding the "dashboard" link until after my fourth attempt at making changes and having to scrap and start again. Perhaps it is a little late in the day for me? The templates I found a little limiting, but for free, I'm not complaining.

I hope you all enjoy my Letterpop creation, the link to which is found below.

Dribble with Diggly

DD

Thing 24: Got file conversion issues?

OK, so I've not been doing any of this learning online for ages. Each time I've tried to engage with Learning 2.1, there has always been a much more interesting distraction. Tonight however, I decided to take some action!

Zamzar: I'd never heard of this site before, but I can see the use for it. My son has had issues at school opening files saved on our home computer. Zamzar could be invaluable at some later stage.

For this exercise, I took an article I found online and saved it to a word document. I submitted it to Zamzar and within 5 minutes, the converted document was emailed to me. I decided not to sign up at this stage, but saved the pdf file directly to my computer. It would only be available for 24 hours, but I did not see this as a problem.

I haven't worked out how to add the pdf file for all to see, but I've included a link to the video of the CBS News article, "Unlikely Reading Teaching Aide: Dogs."

Enjoy!

Can Dogs Teach Kids To Read?

DD

Snowball, not a sniffer dog, but talented!

Sniffer dogs in action

#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning ...

Finito! I have really enjoyed doing the Learning 2.0 program. At first I was a little apprehensive when told it would involve creating a blog, but I feel so much more confident now. I've discovered tools, both serious and fun, which I will be able to use in future. During these exercises, I have also included my family members in the process, so they have also made discoveries along the way.

Overall, this has been a very positive experience for me. I have to admit though, that I've had to do the bulk of it at home as it has been difficult to achieve much of it at work, with desk shifts and other tasks. The reading and exploring before the discovery exercises certainly took longer than 15 minutes. Aside from that, I have enjoyed it tremendously and tried out applications and tools that I probably would never have.

Thank you.

DD

#22 Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight ")

Audiobooks are fantastic and something that I've only recently got into. Our library patrons have been keen on them for quite some time but I've only just discovered the convenience of audiobooks. Absolutely fantastic.

From the recall perspective, I find that I am more likely to remember what I have been "told" by a talking book, than by having read it myself. Of course I still enjoy going to bed with a book, but you can't be reading while you're driving or doing certain other tasks. At work, I've found audiobooks invaluable when perfect ordering, a task which many of us abhor because it is so tedious. It has actually transformed my perception of the job. I don't mind it so much now.

DD

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I have decided to subscribe to The Library Survival Guide podcast which is about tips, shortcuts and techniques for library research from Emory University's Woodruff Library. I have added the feed to my Bloglines account.

Podcasts could be included on library websites to demonstrate as above, how to use a particular library's resources and perhaps even include interviews with authors, book reviews, or upcoming events just to name a few. Podcasts could also be used to keep patrons up-to-date with technological advances in libraries.

DD

#20 You too can YouTube

The video I have chosen is called Reading Rainbow: "At the Library" and is a short animation of a girl's trip to the library. The little girl enters the quiet library and sees other children totally absorbed in what they are reading. The animation shows well that each child is having a totally different experience and that their imaginations are totally engaged in the books they are reading.

The girl approaches the librarian for help choosing a book. The little begins reading the book suggested by the librarian, but it frightens her so she snaps it shut and pushes it away. She reaches for another book which does interest her and it brings a smile to her face as well as new imagery in her mind. She proceeds to borrow the item and sneaks another peak as she is leaving the library. The animation demonstrates that our tastes are particular and varied. The pleasure that can be gained from reading is limitless and the library is a place where everyone is welcome.

What I find interesting about You Tube is that many different types of videos can be found, from simple entertainment to educational. As mentioned in an earlier post of mine, I found one of the instructional videos extremely helpful in grasping a concept. Perhaps in future, similar types of videos could be applied to library websites, demonstrating the use of online catalogues or online bookings. Another video I came across offered recommended reading material for young children and demonstrated the types of activities or games which could be played during the reading of the books. Many people could benefit so much from visual instructions as written guides can sometimes be a little tricky to follow.

DD

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

The site I have chosen is from the video category and is the well known and very much used site of You Tube. Looking around my blog it is obvious that I have been to You Tube before and I can tell you that I could spend hours looking at other peoples' uploads. You Tube offers something for everyone's taste (you can see by the beagle videos which I have added to my blog that beagles are an interest to me). If beagles are not your cup of tea, hunt or sniff around You Tube a bit because I know you will stop and find something that interests you....guaranteed!

In a library setting or anywhere, You Tube fascinates because its content is so broad and caters for all. I have seen instructional videos during the course of this online program which have been extremely useful in demonstrating how to use certain web based applications the concept of which I would probably not have grasped quite so quickly otherwise. I love You Tube for the fact that it can be used recreationally as well as could be used in the workplace for training purposes. Go You Tube - you're the one for me.

DD

#18 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

For this discovery exercise we were asked to create a Zoho account which I have done. I've had a play with Zoho features but can't really see myself using Zoho. I can understand why someone might want to use Zoho. Zoho saves space on computers by not having to have certain programs installed, but still being able to access them. An internet connection is still required though.

Personally I'd rather keep my personal stuff to myself and not have it floating about the internet somewhere. I realize documents can be made public, or not public, or you can specify who can view your documents, but I know now I will never use this in my personal life. In work however, is a different story and may be useful in that several people can view the same document without having it saved on their computers....such as the Staff Tracking Log which was created with Google Docs.

DD

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

I have now added my blog to the Favourite Blogs page. At first I wanted to add my blog title and create a link to the url, but for some unknown reason to me, it wouldn't work. So I decided to just add my url and again, I had a little trouble, even though I thought I was following the instructions. In the end, I managed by following the instructions found in a colleagues post about this discovery exercise, about entering at the end of the last blog link and typing in my url without brackets....and yes it works....

DD

#16 So what’s in a wiki?

The Youtube video by Commoncraft videos, demonstrating wikis made the idea of wikis extremely easy to understand. Wikis are useful for organising information in a central location for contributors to refer to, add to, edit and update.

In a library setting, book reviews and suggested titles with links to catalogue records, I think many people would find very useful. Could it work the other way with catalogue records linking to wikis?

When you mention wikis, people often think of Wikipedia. My concern with such a site is that anyone can edit it, so how accurate is it? Many school children may accept it as an encyclopedia, when infact it is not an authoritative reference. It could be useful for searching for new ideas but not for a source of accurate information.

DD