Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
WEEK 9 - PODCASTS, VIDEO & AUDIO
YOUTUBE
I must admit I’ve only ever gone to YouTube when someone has sent me a silly video of cats or animals doing crazy/cute things but searching further I realized there was a lot of information on it that wasn’t just JUNK. I downloaded three YouTube videos that I like: Blonde @ Library because if short but funny, Library Dominoes because it’s something you really shouldn’t do in the library and it would certainly be frowned upon and ‘Teenage Song’ because it’s almost like they filmed my own son! I think it sums up teenage boys and I laugh every time I see this clip. (Wasn’t sure how to reduce the size though in my blog even though I tried changing the sizes in my html tab – anyone know how?)
I must admit I’ve only ever gone to YouTube when someone has sent me a silly video of cats or animals doing crazy/cute things but searching further I realized there was a lot of information on it that wasn’t just JUNK. I downloaded three YouTube videos that I like: Blonde @ Library because if short but funny, Library Dominoes because it’s something you really shouldn’t do in the library and it would certainly be frowned upon and ‘Teenage Song’ because it’s almost like they filmed my own son! I think it sums up teenage boys and I laugh every time I see this clip. (Wasn’t sure how to reduce the size though in my blog even though I tried changing the sizes in my html tab – anyone know how?)
WHAT I'VE LEARNT TODAY
I've managed to add my TAG CLOUD finally, it has really been annoying me, but hopefully that is working now. I decided to ask the help menu and after reading some of the comments from others who have had difficulty one blogger suggested going to the gadgets area then adding a LINK and turning on CLOUD as an option. It worked!
I also noticed how awful my blogs looked when they were a little long and it was boring to scroll down so far to read them. Once again HELP came to the rescue by telling me to add AFTER THE JUMP which caused a page break and left a message to READ MORE (I changed the wording to suit me). This still didn't work until a blogger said he had to 'monkey' around with the settings and switch on ADVANCED EDITING. I thought that sounded hard but I managed to do it. It worked and this created a less cumbersome entry.
I also noticed how awful my blogs looked when they were a little long and it was boring to scroll down so far to read them. Once again HELP came to the rescue by telling me to add AFTER THE JUMP which caused a page break and left a message to READ MORE (I changed the wording to suit me). This still didn't work until a blogger said he had to 'monkey' around with the settings and switch on ADVANCED EDITING. I thought that sounded hard but I managed to do it. It worked and this created a less cumbersome entry.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
WEEK 7 - WIKIS
SANDBOX WIKI
I added two entries to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki. They were my favourite books, of course Steig Larson’s trilogy and my favourite TV shows, which included: Lost, The Office, Seinfeld, The Amazing Race, Survivor, just to name a few. I haven’t had too much time to watch these lately as I’ve been busy blogging!
DISCOVERING WIKIS
I've discovered that 'Wiki' is the Hawaiian word meaning 'quick'. The biggest wiki we all know about is of course Wikipedia, and althought it has so much information stored in one spot that it boggles the mind (who put it all there?), students tend to go there for lots of their research. It can be the 'starting' point for research but as it is a 'wiki' it is not always correct in it's information because anyone can add their own information to Wikipedia.
Wow... check out http://pgscreading.pbworks.com/ this site impressed me so much as to how to use wikis effectively and also how teachers and students are becoming so innovative at using the Web 2.0 technologies to enhance their school work. Combining Animoto and Powerpoint storyboard children as young as Grade 4 can produce fantastic video clips on their wikis. Using Booktrailers students are making their own book trailers (like movie trailers) to review books... but wait there’s more... click on the ‘sidebar’ and learn about 60 second recap, Toon Doos, and much, much more.
I added two entries to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki. They were my favourite books, of course Steig Larson’s trilogy and my favourite TV shows, which included: Lost, The Office, Seinfeld, The Amazing Race, Survivor, just to name a few. I haven’t had too much time to watch these lately as I’ve been busy blogging!
DISCOVERING WIKIS
I've discovered that 'Wiki' is the Hawaiian word meaning 'quick'. The biggest wiki we all know about is of course Wikipedia, and althought it has so much information stored in one spot that it boggles the mind (who put it all there?), students tend to go there for lots of their research. It can be the 'starting' point for research but as it is a 'wiki' it is not always correct in it's information because anyone can add their own information to Wikipedia.
Wow... check out http://pgscreading.pbworks.com/ this site impressed me so much as to how to use wikis effectively and also how teachers and students are becoming so innovative at using the Web 2.0 technologies to enhance their school work. Combining Animoto and Powerpoint storyboard children as young as Grade 4 can produce fantastic video clips on their wikis. Using Booktrailers students are making their own book trailers (like movie trailers) to review books... but wait there’s more... click on the ‘sidebar’ and learn about 60 second recap, Toon Doos, and much, much more.
WEEK 5 - PLAY WEEK
Fun, fun, fun. Play week was right up my alley. There were lots of fun things to explore... so I did. I think this site is probably more for personal use although some of the image creating apps you could use in a school.
ONLINE IMAGE GENERATOR
One area I investigated was Letterjames http://www.letterjames.com/ which allows you to personalize photos and send e-cards to family and friends. I enjoyed this site and had a lot of fun sending e-cards to several friends. I even sent one to myself… it was a message written in the sand. Check it out!
I also had a look around in FD Toys and liked some of the great ideas there like turning your personal photos into jigsaw puzzles.I went into Generator Blog but didn’t like too much within that site and didn’t think I would use them.
LIBRARYTHING
Although I did experiment a little with LibraryThing and catalogued a few of my favourite books, I really preferred Shelfari which I discovered. It does a similar thing but I found it easier to use and I liked the way you placed all your books on a gorgeous bookshelf (covers facing out) and you could rank your favourites, those you have read, are still reading or want to read in the future, even books you have loaned to friends. You can write reviews, tags and so much more. I’ve already had people with feedback on some of the books on my shelf. It’s a good organisational tool and it’s definitely something I will continue to update. It’s also good for book clubs.
ONLINE IMAGE GENERATOR
One area I investigated was Letterjames http://www.letterjames.com/ which allows you to personalize photos and send e-cards to family and friends. I enjoyed this site and had a lot of fun sending e-cards to several friends. I even sent one to myself… it was a message written in the sand. Check it out!
I also had a look around in FD Toys and liked some of the great ideas there like turning your personal photos into jigsaw puzzles.I went into Generator Blog but didn’t like too much within that site and didn’t think I would use them.
LIBRARYTHING
Although I did experiment a little with LibraryThing and catalogued a few of my favourite books, I really preferred Shelfari which I discovered. It does a similar thing but I found it easier to use and I liked the way you placed all your books on a gorgeous bookshelf (covers facing out) and you could rank your favourites, those you have read, are still reading or want to read in the future, even books you have loaned to friends. You can write reviews, tags and so much more. I’ve already had people with feedback on some of the books on my shelf. It’s a good organisational tool and it’s definitely something I will continue to update. It’s also good for book clubs.
INFORMATION LITERACY
Yes, it’s true I have learned a lot about Information Literacy since starting this unit but unlike my little story I think that we may never fully be aware of everything thing that is out on the world of Web, but it has been fun working through the 23 things and a challenge for the future. It seems the more I explore the more tangents I go off on (like a huge spider web). I know we are just touching the surface in our 23 Things unit but it has inspired me to try to perfect an application one at a time.
I believe libraries in the future will be very different from what they are today. What we do and how we do it will change dramatically and we will have to be creative and adapt to different roles and be constantly changing. As jobs are more Web focused who’s to say we won’t be having staff working at home and still being able to do their job effectively. We must be seen to be leading the way so we can advise patrons on the most effective way to research e.g. advising how to create your own search engine, with the sites that you have established and considered as reliable, is a valuable tool for everyone to learn.
One area I thought I would never be interested in was TWITTER. I couldn’t think of anything worse ‘tweeting‘ all day long and the only experience I had with it was kids or younger adults who would ‘tweet’ about anything and everything they were doing. I would rather TALK to people personally. Then, only just this week I saw an interview on TV with Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and she had an inspiring way of using Twitter and Facebook that I hadn’t thought of before. Even though she is the Queen of Jordan she finds using Twitter and Facebook allows her to share her personal feelings and personality more openly with others. Being a Queen of her country there are certain protocols in addressing her and her husband and people don’t say exactly what they are feeling, they are too scared to view their opinion on a personal level.
I believe libraries in the future will be very different from what they are today. What we do and how we do it will change dramatically and we will have to be creative and adapt to different roles and be constantly changing. As jobs are more Web focused who’s to say we won’t be having staff working at home and still being able to do their job effectively. We must be seen to be leading the way so we can advise patrons on the most effective way to research e.g. advising how to create your own search engine, with the sites that you have established and considered as reliable, is a valuable tool for everyone to learn.
One area I thought I would never be interested in was TWITTER. I couldn’t think of anything worse ‘tweeting‘ all day long and the only experience I had with it was kids or younger adults who would ‘tweet’ about anything and everything they were doing. I would rather TALK to people personally. Then, only just this week I saw an interview on TV with Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and she had an inspiring way of using Twitter and Facebook that I hadn’t thought of before. Even though she is the Queen of Jordan she finds using Twitter and Facebook allows her to share her personal feelings and personality more openly with others. Being a Queen of her country there are certain protocols in addressing her and her husband and people don’t say exactly what they are feeling, they are too scared to view their opinion on a personal level.
INFORMATION LITERACY - MY VIEW
SYNC or swim… I feel like I have been stranded on a deserted island in the middle of CYBERSPACE ocean, on WEB 2.0 ISLAND, and told ‘to survive’ I must swim to the another island called INFORMATION LITERACY ISLAND, which is only 23 THINGS (kms) away. I was told once I got there I will have all the skills and knowledge to rescue myself and be empowered in all 23 THINGS. I will also know how to assist others who are also trapped on the Island.
I started off slowly from the beach once I’d set up my BLOG and NING accounts, but then the surf got rougher and I was surrounded by WIDGETS, LINKS, WIKIS, TAGGING, just to name a few. I didn’t have many TOOLS, only my YOUTUBE to help me survive my journey. It was taking ages SURFING on the NET as many APPS FLICKR’d past me and the TAG CLOUDS gently drifted above my head. The more I swam the further the INFORMATION LITERACY ISLAND seemed away. I only had my RSS FEEDS to sustain me with regular updates. My FACEBOOK seemed dehydrated and I was fading fast. I had constant ONLINE IMAGE GENERATORS going through my mind of my fate so I decided to use my time more wisely and ROLLYO helped me to SEARCH my ENGINES, which raised my hopes that I was LEARNING EFFECTIVELY. I even took a stab at CATALOGUING MY LIBRARYTHING with my favourite books while I was day dreaming. The more I swam the more the Island seemed out of my reach until I struck DEL.ICIO.US which helped me see that with help from my SOCIAL BOOKMARKED FRIENDS I could make it. I did eventually make it… exhausted… and collapsing into my SANDBOX. I am proud I survived my experience and reached my goal of INFORMATION LITERACY and can now assist others who can ask for HELP.
I started off slowly from the beach once I’d set up my BLOG and NING accounts, but then the surf got rougher and I was surrounded by WIDGETS, LINKS, WIKIS, TAGGING, just to name a few. I didn’t have many TOOLS, only my YOUTUBE to help me survive my journey. It was taking ages SURFING on the NET as many APPS FLICKR’d past me and the TAG CLOUDS gently drifted above my head. The more I swam the further the INFORMATION LITERACY ISLAND seemed away. I only had my RSS FEEDS to sustain me with regular updates. My FACEBOOK seemed dehydrated and I was fading fast. I had constant ONLINE IMAGE GENERATORS going through my mind of my fate so I decided to use my time more wisely and ROLLYO helped me to SEARCH my ENGINES, which raised my hopes that I was LEARNING EFFECTIVELY. I even took a stab at CATALOGUING MY LIBRARYTHING with my favourite books while I was day dreaming. The more I swam the more the Island seemed out of my reach until I struck DEL.ICIO.US which helped me see that with help from my SOCIAL BOOKMARKED FRIENDS I could make it. I did eventually make it… exhausted… and collapsing into my SANDBOX. I am proud I survived my experience and reached my goal of INFORMATION LITERACY and can now assist others who can ask for HELP.
Friday, June 11, 2010
23 THINGS - BLOG 2:
LITERARY LIFE : ramblings of a book nerd
You WILL want to check out this fantastic blog by MEGAN BURKE from Melbourne. She is fantastic! Her blog is beautiful to look at and is an inspiration.
It is a literary blog that covers publishing, authors, writing, editing and books. She also has some fantastic links to explore… but be warned… you will spend lots and lots of time investigating. Megan admits she rants and raves and is a book nerd but she has accomplished so much in her 22 years. Her site is well set out and includes areas such as: subscriptions, praise comments, interviews, top books, services she offers and much, much more. Megan reviews books, holds interviews and even hosts guest posts. If you have a manuscript she will even read it and proofread and do some light editing on it. I gather she charges for some of these services.
As well as constantly reading and writing book reviews, Megan interviews authors, some of which are on her blog. She also receives books from publishing houses for her to review. I like the way she suggests other books you may be interested in reading after each review of a certain book or author.
Luv, luv, luved this blog and I have subscribed. Check out her website for more information on Megan.
References:
Burke, M., (2010). Literary Life: ramblings of a book nerd. Retrieved from http://bookworm-megs.blogspot.com/ on 2010, June 12.
You WILL want to check out this fantastic blog by MEGAN BURKE from Melbourne. She is fantastic! Her blog is beautiful to look at and is an inspiration.
It is a literary blog that covers publishing, authors, writing, editing and books. She also has some fantastic links to explore… but be warned… you will spend lots and lots of time investigating. Megan admits she rants and raves and is a book nerd but she has accomplished so much in her 22 years. Her site is well set out and includes areas such as: subscriptions, praise comments, interviews, top books, services she offers and much, much more. Megan reviews books, holds interviews and even hosts guest posts. If you have a manuscript she will even read it and proofread and do some light editing on it. I gather she charges for some of these services.
As well as constantly reading and writing book reviews, Megan interviews authors, some of which are on her blog. She also receives books from publishing houses for her to review. I like the way she suggests other books you may be interested in reading after each review of a certain book or author.
Luv, luv, luved this blog and I have subscribed. Check out her website for more information on Megan.
References:
Burke, M., (2010). Literary Life: ramblings of a book nerd. Retrieved from http://bookworm-megs.blogspot.com/ on 2010, June 12.
23 THINGS - BLOG 1:
Kids more likely to own a phone than a book
A scary thought I know! I found this blog very interesting and you may like to read it yourself. The blog, written by Chris Cameron, investigates that idea that technology is becoming a huge part of our lives, so much so that it is causing our children to stop participating in a lot of activities, in particular reading. One survey conducted by the National Literacy Trust suggested that the children in the U.K. are more likely to own a mobile phone than a book.
A survey of 17,000 U.K. children between the ages of 7 and 16 found that while 86% owned a cell phone, only 73% said they owned a book. The NLT believes a child's access to books has a direct effect on their reading ability, finding that 80% of children reading at their expect levels have their own books. Conversely, the same can only be said for just 58% of children not reading up to par with their age group.
The blog continues on addressing questions like:
- have children’s reading skills deteriorated due to mobile phones, texting, blogging
- are parents to blame
- is it better for a child to have an e- book in their pocket if they will read it than having a book which they may not read
- if we don’t allow our children to move with technology we would still be in the dark ages and painting on walls
- does the mobile phone give the children more availability to access books
-
These are all very interesting questions and I must admit as I was reading through the information my opinion changed back and forth a little on some points. However, I still think that there is no better feeling than sitting down with a good book in your HANDS, in a comfortable chair or relaxing spot, and being consumed by every word on the page. Turning the pages one by one, building up the suspense, and being taken away to a completely different world. That is by far the BEST way to READ, in my opinion,. Yes you can use e-books and I feel there is a place for them, but children need to learn to feel and touch books and ponder the illustrations and not stare at tiny screens on a computer or phone for hours on end, which will only end up with poor eyesight and back and neck strain.
I have always read to my children from the moment they were born and they have continued their love of reading, one even wanting a career as an editor.
References:
Godwin, P., (2010, June 7). Kids more likely to own a phone than a book [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://infolitlib20.blogspot.com/ on 2010, June 12.
Cameron, C. (2010, May 26). Kids More Likely to Own a Cellphone Than a Book, Study Finds [Web log post ReadWriteWeb]. Retrieved from http://networkedblogs.com/4eFmq?a=share&ref=nf on 2010, June 12.
A scary thought I know! I found this blog very interesting and you may like to read it yourself. The blog, written by Chris Cameron, investigates that idea that technology is becoming a huge part of our lives, so much so that it is causing our children to stop participating in a lot of activities, in particular reading. One survey conducted by the National Literacy Trust suggested that the children in the U.K. are more likely to own a mobile phone than a book.
A survey of 17,000 U.K. children between the ages of 7 and 16 found that while 86% owned a cell phone, only 73% said they owned a book. The NLT believes a child's access to books has a direct effect on their reading ability, finding that 80% of children reading at their expect levels have their own books. Conversely, the same can only be said for just 58% of children not reading up to par with their age group.
The blog continues on addressing questions like:
- have children’s reading skills deteriorated due to mobile phones, texting, blogging
- are parents to blame
- is it better for a child to have an e- book in their pocket if they will read it than having a book which they may not read
- if we don’t allow our children to move with technology we would still be in the dark ages and painting on walls
- does the mobile phone give the children more availability to access books
-
These are all very interesting questions and I must admit as I was reading through the information my opinion changed back and forth a little on some points. However, I still think that there is no better feeling than sitting down with a good book in your HANDS, in a comfortable chair or relaxing spot, and being consumed by every word on the page. Turning the pages one by one, building up the suspense, and being taken away to a completely different world. That is by far the BEST way to READ, in my opinion,. Yes you can use e-books and I feel there is a place for them, but children need to learn to feel and touch books and ponder the illustrations and not stare at tiny screens on a computer or phone for hours on end, which will only end up with poor eyesight and back and neck strain.
I have always read to my children from the moment they were born and they have continued their love of reading, one even wanting a career as an editor.
References:
Godwin, P., (2010, June 7). Kids more likely to own a phone than a book [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://infolitlib20.blogspot.com/ on 2010, June 12.
Cameron, C. (2010, May 26). Kids More Likely to Own a Cellphone Than a Book, Study Finds [Web log post ReadWriteWeb]. Retrieved from http://networkedblogs.com/4eFmq?a=share&ref=nf on 2010, June 12.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
FINALLY!
I've finally worked out how to have a photostream from flickr. It's been bugging me and at last I've uploaded a few of my photos. When you click on one it takes you to my flicker page and you can see that I've attempted to place them in albums with comments and tags.
P.S. Try out my games I've added - Free Rice is a great word game and everytime you get it right they donate 10 grains of rice to someone in need. The other is my passion Sudoku's. Can't get them and jigsaw puzzles hard enough for me to solve... well not yet anyway!!! Enjoy
P.S. Try out my games I've added - Free Rice is a great word game and everytime you get it right they donate 10 grains of rice to someone in need. The other is my passion Sudoku's. Can't get them and jigsaw puzzles hard enough for me to solve... well not yet anyway!!! Enjoy
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
FLICKED ON TO FLICKR - WEEK 3
No good being scared… just do it!
I’ve successfully uploaded photos to Flicker and it wasn’t really as hard as I thought. The setback was I had to join up to yet another site… yes… now I have a yahoo a/c. I had to run through all the profiling again (grrr). I didn’t want to upload personal photos featuring family members as I am still unsure of all this being in the public domain. I called my Flickr page ‘PHOTO ENVY BY LISA’ because I know whoever sees my happy snaps will be very envious. Here are my observations…
I’ve successfully uploaded photos to Flicker and it wasn’t really as hard as I thought. The setback was I had to join up to yet another site… yes… now I have a yahoo a/c. I had to run through all the profiling again (grrr). I didn’t want to upload personal photos featuring family members as I am still unsure of all this being in the public domain. I called my Flickr page ‘PHOTO ENVY BY LISA’ because I know whoever sees my happy snaps will be very envious. Here are my observations…
NOTE TO SELF:
Don’t upload so many photos at once (or use a faster computer)
Don’t upload at 9.00pm as I think this would be a popular time and may have slowed things down a little
Resize photos a little so they don’t take too long to upload – they don’t really have to be best quality as friends are only viewing them and not printing them.
TASKS I COMPLETED: (or clever things I did!)
Uploaded 27 photos
Made TITLES, DESCRIPTIONS and TAGS on all of them (loved the way once they were tagged a tag cloud came up and I could click on any word/tag and go straight to those photos)
I looked at the GALLERY tab thinking this would make albums of my photos but realized after looking around that it seemed to be a gallery for everyone to look at and place your photos in the existing albums or create your own. (I didn’t want to do this at this stage)
So instead I made SETS (which are like albums) to group the photos into some order/organisation
I sent emails to several friends inviting them to come and look at my great work
I also found a friend in flicker and posted a comment on one of her photos
I liked the layout of the page as you can see the SETS on the right hand side and larger ones on the left. (I could change the layout if I wanted but decided I liked it the way it was). I will add some more photos in a few days. It was fairly easy to navigate around Flicker and I will probably use it more in the future now I’ve played around with it.
I noticed a copyright symbol came up on my photos – it made them look very official!
To see my happy snaps check out my link
Don’t upload so many photos at once (or use a faster computer)
Don’t upload at 9.00pm as I think this would be a popular time and may have slowed things down a little
Resize photos a little so they don’t take too long to upload – they don’t really have to be best quality as friends are only viewing them and not printing them.
TASKS I COMPLETED: (or clever things I did!)
Uploaded 27 photos
Made TITLES, DESCRIPTIONS and TAGS on all of them (loved the way once they were tagged a tag cloud came up and I could click on any word/tag and go straight to those photos)
I looked at the GALLERY tab thinking this would make albums of my photos but realized after looking around that it seemed to be a gallery for everyone to look at and place your photos in the existing albums or create your own. (I didn’t want to do this at this stage)
So instead I made SETS (which are like albums) to group the photos into some order/organisation
I sent emails to several friends inviting them to come and look at my great work
I also found a friend in flicker and posted a comment on one of her photos
I liked the layout of the page as you can see the SETS on the right hand side and larger ones on the left. (I could change the layout if I wanted but decided I liked it the way it was). I will add some more photos in a few days. It was fairly easy to navigate around Flicker and I will probably use it more in the future now I’ve played around with it.
I noticed a copyright symbol came up on my photos – it made them look very official!
To see my happy snaps check out my link
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Hellow world! This is my first time using blogger. It's all new and exciting.
I'm enjoying my course and this unit has been very helpful in assisting me to be more IT SAVY! The more I can learn about social network sites the better. I can't believe how many types of sites are out there... so many I haven't even heard of before! The world is certainly at our fingertips... where will it stop?
I'm enjoying my course and this unit has been very helpful in assisting me to be more IT SAVY! The more I can learn about social network sites the better. I can't believe how many types of sites are out there... so many I haven't even heard of before! The world is certainly at our fingertips... where will it stop?
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