Interesting websites to surf this week. I thought both chugged and bottletalk seemed to be a bit lacking in information. I guess it's because I think that there are more wine and beer drinkers out there who would have opinions. I also ran into issues with chugged because of the small number of beers listed. Perhaps it will grow or is it just because there are so many homebrewers who wouldn't touch large American brewery beer out there?
The puzzle player was ok, I played some Deal or No Deal and there are a few interesting games available there - my father would love the Sudoku.
This was a fun week, many recreational activities. I'm still looking for a good beer brewers web 2.0 site, however and I won't rest until I find it....
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Library Technology
It's really hard to figure out my favorite library technology here, we have so much good stuff. I guess I would have to say that I really like the computer related items like the SMART Board. We had 3 of them at my last job and they are just a blast to use once you learn the software. It's very convienent (and even somewhat "green" for you environmentalists) for presentations. Plus, where else can you get a 4' x 6' touch screen for playing PopIt on Pogo games?
There were also several things I really liked from this week's lesson. Del.icio.us had some wonderful links - including one with a tickle me Elmo doll which appealed to the dark humor side of me - and I really liked both Guru Library and Library Thing.
So it was a fun week for me and as soon as I have time I will be loading my whole personal library into Guru Library - software, music, DVD's.. the WORKS. SO that should be fun....
There were also several things I really liked from this week's lesson. Del.icio.us had some wonderful links - including one with a tickle me Elmo doll which appealed to the dark humor side of me - and I really liked both Guru Library and Library Thing.
So it was a fun week for me and as soon as I have time I will be loading my whole personal library into Guru Library - software, music, DVD's.. the WORKS. SO that should be fun....
Friday, May 18, 2007
2 weeks to do 1 week's lesson
Week 4 was some of the most interesting material I've seen in this course. The Web 2.0 video was fascinating and I can't imagine how long it took to film - stop motion photography like that is usually quite time consuming. The large amount of reading took quite some time to digest, hence the reason it's taken 2 weeks to get through it.
I think that Web 2.0 is very indicative of what people are looking for - they want their information faster, more condensed and in the easiest manner to digest possible. I'm not altogether sure that is a good thing, but I can't help but wonder when companies are going to "get it" about advertising dollars. There is no doubt in my mind that people will be taking advantage of their Tivo or other recording mechanisms to put their TV shows on a time that is more convienent for their lives. Throw in the ability to download the show in it's entirety or grab it on DVD and you reduce the amount of advertising you have to sit through. In theory, this could lead to a completly different model of TV broadcasting.
I think the one "downside" of all the information being immediately accessible is the increase of people getting their "15 minutes of fame" in infamous ways. Case in point is the website Badjocks.com which seems to find all the MySpace pictures of student athletes participating in illegal hazing activities on campuses nationwide.
I think that Web 2.0 is very indicative of what people are looking for - they want their information faster, more condensed and in the easiest manner to digest possible. I'm not altogether sure that is a good thing, but I can't help but wonder when companies are going to "get it" about advertising dollars. There is no doubt in my mind that people will be taking advantage of their Tivo or other recording mechanisms to put their TV shows on a time that is more convienent for their lives. Throw in the ability to download the show in it's entirety or grab it on DVD and you reduce the amount of advertising you have to sit through. In theory, this could lead to a completly different model of TV broadcasting.
I think the one "downside" of all the information being immediately accessible is the increase of people getting their "15 minutes of fame" in infamous ways. Case in point is the website Badjocks.com which seems to find all the MySpace pictures of student athletes participating in illegal hazing activities on campuses nationwide.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
RSS, Wiki and Bloglines
This week's task was to set up RSS feeds for the reader. Not that difficult and kind of fun to look through once they were set up. As I'm still a tech person at heart, I selected several tech oriented feeds along with Slate and of course Orange Slices.
Grokker was fun, but I will need to play with it at home as the machine I'm working on does not have Java installed. I would like to see what the mapping feature does. The outline is nice, especially when searching a topic like the Boer War. The outline broke things down into subject headings related to the information found on both Wikipedia and Yahoo! so that made it easier to find exactly what I wanted to know which was that the Boer war took place when the Orange Free State and Transvaal declared war on the British due to their interference in southern Africa. It ended with the creation of South Africa and the rise of apartheid rule.
Now as to my learning style, Learn 2.0 works very well. I'm very comfortable working at my own pace, searching and reading different sources in electronic format.
Grokker was fun, but I will need to play with it at home as the machine I'm working on does not have Java installed. I would like to see what the mapping feature does. The outline is nice, especially when searching a topic like the Boer War. The outline broke things down into subject headings related to the information found on both Wikipedia and Yahoo! so that made it easier to find exactly what I wanted to know which was that the Boer war took place when the Orange Free State and Transvaal declared war on the British due to their interference in southern Africa. It ended with the creation of South Africa and the rise of apartheid rule.
Now as to my learning style, Learn 2.0 works very well. I'm very comfortable working at my own pace, searching and reading different sources in electronic format.
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