Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #11

This photo is taken from Ian Wilson's public photos. with the creative commons attribution 2.0 license.

Creative Commons
I think I actually followed the correct procedure in using this wonderful photo. I contacted Ian through Flickr and he responded with his ok and how to give him credit. I have followed his instructions and thank him for his generosity. If you follow the link to the photo on Flickr you can read his comments about the books.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #11

As I mentioned the thing #11, a Web 2.0 award winner, that I am exploring is "Library Thing". This is an amazing site and illustrates the power of social networking fairly well. I joined the "Librarians who LibraryThing" group, this seemed like a logical choice. The group has 2599 members so it appeaars that many others had similar thought patterns.

Things I like about Library Thing:

1. There are many users
2. It is easy to find users with similar interests
3. You don't have to reveal anything about yourself
4. You don't need an email address to register
5. Locating information about a title is very easy

Things I do not like about Library Thing:

1. It can take a day away from your life
2. So many books so little time

You can see that the positive points outnumber the negative. The time thing is a huge issue with web 2.0 applications. I like the comment "Web 2.0 – with so much to explore, just start with ONE. :)" from our leaders. Another positive from this exercise is that I learned how to make a numbered list using HTML and found a very easy-to-use HTML tutorial.
EchoEcho.Com - WebMaster Resources & Tutorials
The specific page for making lists is
HTML Lists Introduction.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #11

This is really for week 7, Wikis, but I found the article so interesting that I want to share it now Wikipedimania.

The thing #11 that I am exploring is "Library Thing". I was already following the blog and didn't really understand the huge content of the site itself. I will write more about this later.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #10

I am finding it hard to stop playing with image generators. They are lots of fun and there are so many to explore. This is another from Image Shack but the Google search for image generators netted 1,950,000. Yes, I know there are repeats but I think you get the idea. Time to move on to thing #11.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #10

My first attempt at a comic. I can see students having lots of fun using the comic strip generator. Graphic novels are very popular now and this approach might get some students writing in new ways. Thanks to ImageShack for the easy way to create fun comics.

Image Chef has many ways to be creative. I appreciate that you do not have to register to use their tools. The above is a tribute to my excitement about learning 2.0 applications with a holiday twist. I wish all of you a very happy and safe Fourth of July!

Week 4, Thing #9

I actually did most of this "thing" when I set up my Google Reader Account. Like many people exploring cyberspace, the problem isn't finding information. The problem is organizing and evaluating the information. The 2.0 tools can be helpful but it is easy to get swamped. In using the different searches for blogs, I quickly found myself with too many interesting sites to explore. One that I found very useful was An Action Plan. This is from a university setting, however I particularily liked the "General Principals of Library 2.0" because it clarified for me the goal of using 2.0 technologies to make the library a better place. The statement:
"Libraries make collections available via open, personalized, interactive services that encourage content creation, editing, commenting, bookmarking, rating, tagging, etc. by users."
from the general principals summarizes for me what we are trying to accomplish.

The main lesson I learned from the technorati tutorial is to use tags often and carefully.

Week 4, Thing #8

Here is the link to my Shared Feeds. I made the library blogs and library news feeds public but keep my family's blogs and general news private. I don't think this community would be interested.
The whole concept of RSS fascinates me. The Mabry Middle School site is amazing. They have podcasts, video and many other examples of creative use of technology.
I have this nagging issue rattling around in my head: How reliable would all this be in the school setting? I have had many situations where I have developed a lesson, started classes working on a project then have something crash. Our students are learning to deal with frustration. This has happened with simple applications so I worry about the more complex technologies we are working with in this class. I will definitely try them and see what happens but I do worry.