Such a relief to have finally finished this journey, a few weeks late. I have learnt heaps and am no longer totally ignorant about what Web 2.0 technology offers. Much of it has been fun - the obvious things like the social networking sites, using Flickr and YouTube. Other parts of the journey were hard work, particularly fitting it in with other demands and not being able to access some sites at work. Ended up doing some of it at home in my own time just to get it done.
All in all a very positive exercise though and probably the only way to upskill a large number of people in a huge variety of new skills and knowledge.
Thank you.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Week 9 - No 22 - E books
I really enjoyed this exercise, feel I learnt a lot. There is so much freely available both from eLibrary and Project Gutenberg. Also interested to see that electronic audio books read both by humans and computer generated voices are available. Those needing to download these would certainly need help I would think, it doesn't seem a simple process. Is a bit mindboggling just how far the electronic explosion has gone and how much is available at your fingertips now.
Gret to see how cheaply one can purchase electronic books also - tempted to buy Nights in Rodanthe!
Gret to see how cheaply one can purchase electronic books also - tempted to buy Nights in Rodanthe!
Week 9 Podcasts
Nearly there! Podcasts are now on my horizon... have subscribed to http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/podcasts/newstalkipod.xml (Newstalk ZZB radio) because I don't seem to get time to read the papers nowadays and also seem to miss the TV news because I am cooking or gardening or some other riveting task when the news is on!!
Hopefully this will enable me to know what is going on in the world a bit by listening to some interviews etc that I may have missed.
Hopefully this will enable me to know what is going on in the world a bit by listening to some interviews etc that I may have missed.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Week 20 (No 20) YouTube
I am a fan of YouTube, you can have so much fun!!! Must admit it's mostly the funnies I look at. Did find some great footage of Gordon Ramsay interviews which had a few too many swear words in to put on my blog. Also a great funny of Gordon as a kid "evaluating" his lunchbox to an exasperated Mother.
But my favourite is the Simon's cat series, if you've got a cat you'll relate to these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s13dLaTIHSg Follow this link.
But my favourite is the Simon's cat series, if you've got a cat you'll relate to these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s13dLaTIHSg Follow this link.
Week 8 No 18 (doing it out of order!)
Had a little play about in Zoho Writer and am a bit familiar with Google Docs through our Learn.net. However I'm sorry can't get too excited about this, would just rather use Word if I want to do some word processing. There seem to be so many ways of doing everything, it is getting a bit overwhelming. Not to mention having log ins for Africa!!!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Week 8 No 19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools
FIXYA
I chose to look at a site called Fixya which offers technical support for all things mechanical, electrical etc which includes household appliances, computer equipment, phones and even cars.
You can search for solutions to your problems and if you don't find one, post your query and see what help arrives (!!!). Someone had a problem with their fuel gauge behaving strangely, another had windscreen wipers that switched on and off at will, solutions were offered.
New Zealand Fisher and Paykel appliances are well represented on this site so it is not just useful for US brands.
It seems this is a useful site for librarians to know about as we don't have repair manuals for appliances and cars any longer. There are also spondosred links to Consumer and to repair companies (NZ).
I chose to look at a site called Fixya which offers technical support for all things mechanical, electrical etc which includes household appliances, computer equipment, phones and even cars.
You can search for solutions to your problems and if you don't find one, post your query and see what help arrives (!!!). Someone had a problem with their fuel gauge behaving strangely, another had windscreen wipers that switched on and off at will, solutions were offered.
New Zealand Fisher and Paykel appliances are well represented on this site so it is not just useful for US brands.
It seems this is a useful site for librarians to know about as we don't have repair manuals for appliances and cars any longer. There are also spondosred links to Consumer and to repair companies (NZ).
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Week 7 Social Networking
I have a wee look at Auckland City Libraries Bebo page (am a bit anti Bebo because of all the angst the kids have given us here in the library with Bebo in the past!) Seems a bit juvenile to me.
Looked at Myspace - learnt that you can use it like a dating service (!!) searching for people who fit certain "specifications" like dating sites do. News to me. Otherwise pretty similar to other social networking sites.
My favourite is Facebook mainly because I have my own profile on it and have had heaps of fun for a couple of years with it. This week I added the Books I Read application, kind of like LibraryThing and sent a hilarious video to 3 friends.
Only frustration with Facebook is I can't search for people using my email address because it doesn't support searches using xtra.
Hennepin County Library - good idea having link to their catalogue and website, also able to chat to a librarian.
Looked at Myspace - learnt that you can use it like a dating service (!!) searching for people who fit certain "specifications" like dating sites do. News to me. Otherwise pretty similar to other social networking sites.
My favourite is Facebook mainly because I have my own profile on it and have had heaps of fun for a couple of years with it. This week I added the Books I Read application, kind of like LibraryThing and sent a hilarious video to 3 friends.
Only frustration with Facebook is I can't search for people using my email address because it doesn't support searches using xtra.
Hennepin County Library - good idea having link to their catalogue and website, also able to chat to a librarian.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Week 6 Tagging, Del.icio.us
Spent a little time exploring Del.icio.us and got horrribly sidetracked wandering about in other people's bookmarked sites, mainly travel sites that take me away from my desk for a bit!! Also found a neat game someone had tagged - doing a three point turn to park a car - I used up 60 sec and the computer told me I was out of time. At least I didn't hit any other cars in the carpark!!
Don't know if I would use this but certainly an interesting concept. The example of teachers sharing teaching resource discoveries was excellent.
Don't know if I would use this but certainly an interesting concept. The example of teachers sharing teaching resource discoveries was excellent.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
PBWIKI Sandbox
Quite fun reading everybody's favourite holiday places and recipes - why is chocolate everyone's favourite thing???? Might come back to this and read a bit more. Added my favourite holiday destinations briefly and wish I was there now!!!!!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Spanish rooftops on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Spanish rooftops on Flickr - Photo Sharing! I made a neat jigsaw with Flickr Toys - would make great gifts at Christmas!
What about Wikis?
Had a bit of trouble getting my head around these things called Wikis. I am a bit sceptical about anything that can be edited and the changes saved by anybody. Doesn't that leave web pages wide open to people mischief-making? However I watched the You Tube video Wikis in Plain English with the example of the people planning a camping trip and could see how that worked very well, better than email.
Did find something to interest me though - on St Jospeh County Public Library's subject guides pages. Followed a link to the Stone Circle Network, an organization that encourages women to write their life stories!! They are also marketing a great cookbook/memoir which looks really fascinating, think it was called Kitchen Table Stories. Interstingly enough, one of the authors is a New Zealander!
That's it for now.
Did find something to interest me though - on St Jospeh County Public Library's subject guides pages. Followed a link to the Stone Circle Network, an organization that encourages women to write their life stories!! They are also marketing a great cookbook/memoir which looks really fascinating, think it was called Kitchen Table Stories. Interstingly enough, one of the authors is a New Zealander!
That's it for now.
Olympic Games wizardry
Found myself mesmerized on Saturday night by the awesome technology used to give the world the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing - no idea how some of the fantastic lighting and special effects were created, how did the writing appear on the enormous scroll of paper as the figures danced over it??? How did they do the sparkling Olympic rings ?? And how will London compete with the spectacle when it is their turn?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Flickr
Well Flickr is a lot of fun, I could play here for hours - found some amazing pics taken by people with loads of talent and fantastic cameras no doubt.
I like the fact that you can download pics from your computer, edit them, arrange them, store them and share them with friends. Saves a lot of storage on your home PC.
Love this cute squirrel, at first glance he looks like he has the latest spikey 'do' but actually its his very lush tail you he is showing off!
Reminds me of the squirrels in London parks, so tame and so fond of tourists peanuts!
I will return to Flickr I think.....
Rollyo - sort of!
I decided that I liked the look of Marlowe's alternative to doing the Rollyo thing and have followed his instructions and I have added a Page Element to list the sites I am keeping up with. These are probably a bit depressing and not recommended for entertainment!!
LibraryThing
I really like LibraryThing, a great way to share books that I have enjoyed with others and to get some recommendations from other readers who enjoy the same kind of books that I do. I have listed some of the travel books and the odd fiction title that I have read and loved over the past year. See my list at http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=sharleenbishop13&deepsearch=
Friday, July 18, 2008
Yummy Icecream Sundae
I found this great site where you can design your own ice cream cone or sundae - this is the link to my sundae: http://www.cybercones.com/sundae-vanilla-s-ch-2-yf.htm
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The way ahead?
This was fun - I have learnt how to make a fake airline ticket and send it to a friend for their birthday!!! Had a look at Elf Yourself but was disappointed to find the elves are not at home seeing it isn't Christmas of course. Did have some fun last Christmas doing that mind you - a bit bizarre seeing yourself as a singing dancing Christmas elf. Also played about with the yummy cup of coffee and ended up writing on a road sign that looks like it is in the middle of nowhere - going nowhere???? Decided that I would put this one on my blog.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Just a tad behind
OK so it's Week 3 and I've just got around to doing Week 2. That's for the very obvious reason that the school holidays started last week, we have had mountains of books to shelve courtesy of RFID tagging, 2 staff sick, 1 on leave and not many left!
I now have a rudimentary understanding of RSS feeds and Bloglines and have managed to open a Bloglines account and subscribe to several feeds. I can see that this could become addictive and save time if properly used.
Found the instructions a bit off the mark and ended up exploring on my own - if kids can figure out how to do all this just by playing about then so can I!!! That's assuming that I've done it all properly of course......
I now have a rudimentary understanding of RSS feeds and Bloglines and have managed to open a Bloglines account and subscribe to several feeds. I can see that this could become addictive and save time if properly used.
Found the instructions a bit off the mark and ended up exploring on my own - if kids can figure out how to do all this just by playing about then so can I!!! That's assuming that I've done it all properly of course......
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Search and Rescue on standby
OK here we go - first time into this new world of blogging! It feels pretty strange but exciting too to be learning such new cutting edge stuff - means I can keep up with alll the kids who sometimes seem to know ten times as much as me about the new whizz bang stuff on the net. And great that it can be made fun and we can do it in work time - yay!
If I get lost in here will someone send out a search party for me????? Please!
If I get lost in here will someone send out a search party for me????? Please!
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