WEEK 5 - THING #11

I enjoyed browsing the Web 2.0 award winners. There are many interesting sites some that I have never even heard of. First off, I though Last-fm was amazing. It is kind of like Pandora (see Pandora post) but it has options to watch videos and talk with others about your favorite music. Since I am a huge music lover, I signed myself up right away. I also liked LuLu which is a self-publishing site. This is for all of us who are planning on writing a book someday (at least I know I am). I saw an old friend in the awards list, PBwiki. I can remember using this with a group of classmates for a class assignment. I was so much easier than e-mail files back and forth.

If I were to pick a site that could be useful for a library it would be WuFoo. It helps you design online surveys. Not only that but it organizes and analyses your data, creates reports and builds graphs. This would be a useful tool for a school library (taking a survey on what new technologies the students would like to see in there schools) or a public library (what type of book discussion interest you). I was a psychology major and I know how time consuming and sometimes mind boggling raw data can be. This site does everything for you.

I tried to sign up with library 2.0 and classroom 2.0 but they have to approve me first. The amount of info they wanted was impressive. I guess they don't let just and rift raft on their Ning.

WEEK 5 - THING #10

I went to http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ and spent about an hour there trying to decide what picture to use. This was a lot of fun. I can definitely see why the directions for this "thing" said to keep it in good taste. I think a teacher could use this tool to make reminders and print them out and post them around the classroom or post them on the classroom website (if he or she has one).

WEEK 4 - THING #9

Subscribing to more feeds in Google reader was really easy. I was able to search for feeds by topic or search term. So now, in addition to my classmates blogs, I have:

KDKA Pittsburgh News
Library Stuff
Library.net
Wikitravel
Crockpot Recipes
Free iTune Downloads

I am going to attempt to put my public library into my reader as well. A RSS feed is like free publicity for libraries. The community will be informed of any new library developments and events. My library also has book sales (that I habitually miss). It will be nice not to miss another one!

WEEK 4 - THING #8

I created an RSS account in Google Reader. I didn't even try Bloglines because once I was in Google Reader, I saw that it had imported all of my classmates blogs that I follow. That was a big time saver and I was sold! I love having a RSS reader. I can keep track of everyone's blog here and it is so much easier then clicking on each individual blog (especially when I would forget whose blog I looked at already!). I read all the "helps" and "abouts" and I really liked these two RSS analogies:

RSS reader is like TiVo for your computer.
An aggregator collects all of your subscriptions in one place like a magazine rack in your home.

I will definitely use my RSS Reader (even after this course is finished). There are many websites that I frequent and subscribing to them will make my life easier and more efficient.

WEEK 3 - THING #7

One of the first classes I took at Clarion introduce me to Pandora. It has been a match made in heaven ever since. If you have never experience Pandora, I highly recommended you click on this link http://www.pandora.com/. I absolutely love music. Something is always playing at my house whether it be the radio, a CD or a music station on the TV. At first, Pandora seemed like it would be a sort of on-line radio station that played certain genres of music. For instance, if you like Jazz there would be a station for you. But once you really learn about Pandora you come to see that it is not just different genres, it is all the music that you like, whatever genres they might be. Since Pandora appeared in 2000, musicians there have been hard at work analyzing thousands and thousands of songs to pick up musical similarities between them. This means that when you type in a song that you like, Pandora will play it along with every other song that has similarities to it. I have discovered countless new artists that I never would have given a chance if it wasn't for Pandora. If I were a music teacher, I would utilize Pandora in my lessons. It would be especially useful for professors that teach music theory. With Pandora, you can create 100 unique "stations" for yourself. I have built a reggae station that plays not just any reggae music but the kind that contain the beats that I enjoy. I like to call it the soundtrack of my mind! I just can't say enough good things about Pandora. If you are a music fanatic, you don't want to wait another day to check this out! (and I am not even getting paid for this endorsement!)

WEEK 3 - THING #6

I went to BigHugeLabs, a third party tool, and there are so many things you can do with your pictures. This is one of my daughter. I love how it divides up into frames. This was a lot of fun and it took me forever to settle on a format. I was hoping that it would post the picture right on my blog, but, alas, I guess I have to make due with a link. I really tried to get the picture directly on my blog but I believe it said something about meeting my picture quota. Not sure?

BigHugeLabs: Do fun stuff with your photos

WEEK 3 - THING #5

Vic' Falls (00380)
Originally uploaded by giamplume

Flickr is a lot of fun. I could see myself getting lost in all the photos. This one is Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. It has been a dream of mine to travel to Africa. Someday...........

I made myself an account and it was really easy to blog this picture straight out of Flickr. I learned what tags are. I like this tool because I can give my pictures keywords so that I can locate them later. Also,I would like to try my hand at creating a group. Maybe a "Trips to Africa" group :-) Anyway, even though I'm not a blogger, I can see myself getting hooked on Flickr. I love to look at interesting pictures.