Thing #20-You Tube

You Tube was a lot of fun! There are so many cute animal videos! I don't really see this as an educational tool, unless the subject matter were to be instructional or informational. I have tried to place my favorite video in this blog. It is a patient golden retriever putting up with a kitten's antics--very cute! It reminds me of my now 15-year old cat, Pookie, when he was a kitten (he bothered my dog this way).
--

Thing #19-Discover Web 2.0 Sites

I have not posted any new entries lately because I have been having so much fun exploring many of the recommended sites! I always wondered how some people could possibly spend so much time on the internet, and now it is beginning to make sense to me. However, there comes a point when I can no longer look at another web site! I love bloglines.com and have a collection of feeds I view daily through this site. Picnik.com is very useful, as is Yahoo! Answers. These three are among my favorite new sites (new to me, that is!). How nice it is to know they exist!

Thing #18-Zoho Writer

I loved Zoho Writer! Below is a document I created using this tool and inserted in my blog using the publish feature. Zoho Writer is an excellent tool that I will definitely use in the future. I am going to explore the Google Docs site as well to see which tool I prefer. What fun!!

Learning to use Zoho Writer

I am playing around with Zoho Writer, an online productivity tool. It seems a lot like a word processing program, although there are more things on the tool bar and I am not familiar with them all. I'm going to see what the Anchor button does...never mind, it says to "insert anchor" and I don't know what that means. How cool! You can add an emoticon! ΩΩΩ This is from the insert special characters button. Neat! I'm not a big fan of Word (it tries to anticipate what you want, and 99 out of 100 times, it is NOT what I want) and this seems much better. I really like Zoho Writer!

Thing #17-Sandbox Wiki

It was fun to try to actually add information to a wiki. The Sandbox wiki is great in that it allows you to test things and see what does/does not work before perhaps posting them elsewhere. I created a login account and added my blog to the Favorite Blogs page. However, when I attempted to link it to the blog, "error on page" was returned. I think it may be a glitch that will be fixed, at which time I will try again. It still seems very strange to me to be adding content to a web page. I need to "get with the times"!

Thing #16-Learn Wikis

I actually understand the concept of wikis. They sure would have been helpful when I was in college and needed to work on a project with a group of people (we had to arrange times to physically meet, which was difficult)! I enjoyed the Book Lovers wiki from the Princeton Public Library and think that is a very helpful tool for anyone trying to decide what to read. The ALA wikis (both from New Orleans in 2006 and Washington D. C. in 2007) certainly contained a host of helpful information. For uses such as these, I think the wiki is a brilliant tool. It is amazing how much information you can amass with a collaborative effort! My problem with wikis is that I tend to be protective of "my things", and am not comfortable with the idea of anyone going in and editing what I posted. I think I would only want to use a wiki with a group comprised of a few people I knew I could trust.

Thing #15-Perspectives on Web 2.0

I read all the recommended articles and noticed the common theme of involving the user in the libraries of the future. The articles point out how libraries will need to change their focus since they are no longer the only source for research. When I read Dr. Wendy Schultz's article, the paragraph on Library 1.0 made me laugh. It made me think of an experience I had at the library in my elementary school. I opened a book to read and the librarian yelled at me for "bending the spine". I remember being so confused---don't you have to open the book to read it?! It seems that in the past, some libraries were more like museums. The libraries of the future will be much more open to the users and will provide the tools users require for their research. It was interesting to look into Dr. Schultz's future Libraries 3.0 and 4.0 and imagine what that will be like. It wasn't so long ago that I couldn't imagine ever needing the internet! The only certainty is change, and libraries are changing with the times. It will be so exciting to see these changes as they evolve!!

Thing #14-Technorati

Wow! I had no idea there were so many blogs! I am glad to now be among the rapidly growing number of people who utilize this technology! The Technorati web site was a bit overwhelming---so many categories of blogs! Blogs on everything and anything you can possibly imagine!! I explored the top favorited blogs, top searches, and top blogs. It is extremely easy to use! I did a keyword search for Learning 2.0. Using the search tool, 25,415 blog posts were found, and there were 484 blogs about Learning 2.0. I imagine I will use this web site in the future to locate blogs I wish to read!