Week 7, #16 Wikis

Wikis seem like a combination of a few good things. The wikis that I looked at all had the following elements: web site with original content, links (bookmarks) to related sites and blogging abilities. Maybe I should use a wiki to bookmark, set up web quests, have a library web site, etc. My favorites were Library Success and Library Bloggers.

Wikis are great for groups of teachers or administrators working on curriculum mapping in vertical teams. There are many ideas for students to use wikis on class projects across the curriculum. I would love to find more examples of wikis created and used by students in various subject areas to show faculty how useful they can be. I think the wiki Library Success would be the best place for me to begin.

Week 6, #15 Web 2.0, Libraries 2.0 and Future

Michael Stephens article "Into a new world of librarianship" really resonated with me. I believe that the libraries of the future must be customer oriented. We need to be able to give the customer what they want. That means staying current with technology (the technology that we've tested ... not just the new stuff), making the library a welcoming place and a social place and much more. Librarians must continously be learning and teaching what we've learned.

On another note, I don't want to believe that eventually we won't have print! I can't imagine not being able to feel the pages and look at the pictures in my hands. But, I know it makes sense to have everything digital and ready for use when needed. Maybe in 5 years most students will have some type of a reader. Certainly for textbooks that makes sense ... they'll always be up-to-date and not left at school.

Week 6, #14 Technorati

Now I know noone will ever read my blog! According to Technorati there are over 175,000 blogs posted every day! I looked at some of the top 100 blogs (based on fans) and liked lifehacker (although a bit too technical for me) and even though I feel very nosy, I enjoyed http://postsecret.blogspot.com. Postsecret is a community art project that encourages people to send in their secret anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard! Some secrets were hilarious but others were kind of sad.

I like being able to search for blogs that relate to a current project.

The only disadvantage I find with tagging is that individuals categorize things differently based on their own ideas.

Week 6, #13 Tagging and Del.icio.us

I like the bookmarking concept of Del.icio.us because I can't remember my bookmarks from home to work computers. I've already used Ma.gnolia for bookmarks. Ma.gnolia also has groups, favorites, most recent, etc. so for now I am going to use Ma.gnolia.

I don't really have enough bookmarks added yet to really use tags but I'll get there.

Week 5, #11 Rollyo

It took me awhile to really want to explore Rollyo. I had trouble coming up with a reason to limit a search to selected web sites. I'm just afraid I would miss a good site if my search is limited. I finally decided to create a poetry search using Rollyo. It was easy to create a search but not easy to link my search to this blog. I'll have to try again at a later date as I'm already 1 or 2 weeks behind.

The best thing about using Rollyo with students is that Wikipedia could be excluded from their searches!

Another search engine that I love is http://www.clusty.com/. The search results are clustered into categories and it really helps to focus a search.

Week 5, #11 Explore Web 2.0 Awards List

I really needed the extra time February vacation allowed for this assignment.

The categories that I explored from the Web 2.0 Awards list were: Collaborative Writing and Word Processing, Books, and Bookmarking. Thank goodness for the "short version" of the awards. I would have been completely overwhelmed with more than the Top 3.

I liked Google Docs and thought it would be useful for collaboration in the classroom and to help students transfer work from home to school. It was easy to sign up, upload, edit and share documents. I compared it to Thinkfree.com and preferred the look, toolbars, and ease of use of Google Docs.

Currently, I use a thumb drive or email docs from home to school but I could use Google Docs instead as long as it's a word processing, spreadsheet or PowerPoint. As with everything I've experienced as part of this class, finding time to explore, learn, and ultimately remember to use each new tool is the hard part.

I checked out Library Thing in the "books" category really just to compare it to Good Reads. It's similar and has some unique features that I don't think Good Reads provides. Library Thing will analyze your catalog and make suggestions for new books and provides a humorous "unsuggested" analysis. But, I'll stick with Good Reads since I've already started to use it a bit.

The site ma.gnolia.com was beautiful to look at and I think it could help with organization. Sites that I've found and saved as favorites at school sometimes slip my mind when at home. Instead of using my browser's favorites I can keep ma.gnolia open and add bookmarks there. I could see myself using it with colleagues to share sites that may be useful for their subject.

Is anyone else wishing that there was ONE PLACE to have a blog, get e-mail, publish photos, bookmark, read RSS feeds, ect.?

Week 5, #10 Online Image Generator

The image generator at http://bighugelabs.com/ that I liked the most was the "warholizer." I made my digital picture into pop art! For best results use a picture with a lot of contrast.

The Hockneyizer was great too.

My family had fun with the movie poster maker.

I've forwarded this fun site to the yearbook advisor at school. I think the students could produce some unique images to use in the yearbook.