Revisit

This week I have revisited many of the sites I did while completing Learning 2.0. Now that I have time--no "new" lessons--I can spend more time on Bloglines, Flickr, Facebook etc. It is still fun finding new things on each site to explore. I feel more comfortable running through the items than I first did.

I have shared some of the sites with fellow workers that haven't participated in Learning 2.0. Today I showed Bloglines and my Feeds to a Weed worker. She got onto Boing Boing right away. It is fun exposing people to what I have learned through L 2.0.

THE END

I can't believe I have completed the 23 Things. When I first started this program I was easily frustrated. My blog reflects that. I think it was because the most difficult discoveries were early on in our learning. Bloglines was a killer. I might not have been so defeated if Bloglines was later in our learning. Some of the easier activities were ones we just completed. Experience with some of the easier more popular sites might have made the more difficult ones a little easier if they came later in the list of discoveries. As I worked my way through the lessons I found some I enjoyed a lot more than others: Flickr, Web applications, Facebook, and the biggest surprise to me, keeping up my blog. I hate to write but enjoyed recording my learnings.

I discovered that Learning 2.0 opened conversations with fellow workers and anyone that would listen to me. Four of us at Weed participated and we often shared our experiences and offered help to each other. I was able to help Shelley save here URLs from her Bloglines feeds to the lesson tracker. It was satisfying answering questions asked of me by fellow workers. Friends heard my tales as I worked on lessons. One friend in particular, Jim, was encouraging. I often thought of giving up but he would convince me that it was worth going on. He also offered ideas which helped me get through the Bloglines blues. "Focus on something you're interested in" were his words of advice. "You like the UCONN Huskies womens' basketball. Look for blogs written about them. That would be a good place to start." It worked. I found feeds in the Hartford Courant and the Connecticut Post. That was the beginning of my Bloglines success.

If I had not participated in Learning 2.0 I would never have done some of the activites I was exposed to through the weekly Discoveries. I would never had done a blog. I would never have opened a Facebook account. Del.icio.us and Technorati were never part of my vocabulary. My Pictures is where I house all my photos. Now I know I can store them some where else--Flickr so others can see them. Will I continue to do that? I don't know. Facebook. Will I continue to keep that account? Do I want to continue my social networking? I don't know. The teen tech did show me I could cancel it. That makes me feel better knowing that is an option. I never conquered Rollyo. I tried several times and was defeated by that search engine activity.

I now have some new words to add to my vobulary list thanks to this technology workout:
tags URL, HTML, XTL(?) Del.icio.us
authority RSS Technorati
blogshpere WIKI feeds
blog LibraryThing
Each word has taken on new meaning since completing this technology workout. There is an ad on TV for medical care for the elderly. At the end of the ad the people say, "I'm old, I'm bold, Get used to it." That's me. "I'm old but wiser. I'm bold and smarter. I'm a technological wizard." What will I do now? No mail from Maura. No lessons to complete. I'll live. It's holiday time. Thanks Maura and Learning 2.0. I had a great time.

Facebook and Second Life

I played with both sites tonight and during break time at work today. I showed Second Life to Marilee. I am amazed at the time people must spend participating in Second Life. Marilee and I looked at the events list. There was a yard sale going on, Christmas parties being organized etc. I watched CSI NY a few weeks ago and their show was based on a murder that used Second Life. Luckily one of the detectives knew about Second Life and was able to get involved and the murder was solved. Wonderful television story. That show did make me curious about virtual life. This Learning 2.0 discovery provided the opportunity to learn a little more. I know I will never do anything more with Second Life, but it was intertesting to navigate the site.

I volunteered today at the school where I taught before retirment and was I telling the people in their library about Second Life. They were fastinated. The librarian told me about her son playing the virtual games. Another worker mentioned seeing the CSI NY show and that got her interested in Second Life. She did get on their site and checked it out but didn't do anything more than that. Learning 2.0 has opened up a lot of conversations with people I may never have talked to about technology.

Facebook is a little more my speed. I have two friends now; Marilee and Maura. I added a fluff friend thanks to Marilee. The teen tech taught me now to superpoke a friend. TodayI superpoked my two new friends. I can handle Facebook.

Second Life

This one is beyond me. I looked at several videso/slideshows. They are interesting but I am not interested in anything like Second Life. I can see where teens would really be taken with the Second Life teen site. Libraries could find the vitural world helpful. They could present many services via the virtual world. I can see where Second Life could create interesting jobs for the library, Don't ask me to apply for this job.

Facebook

That was a fun and easy discovery. I looked up Marilee on Facebook and found her. I also poked her--whatever that means. Marilee told me she found the email I had sent. Yea. It went through. We are trying to figure out what poking is/means/ She will let me know when she finds out on her Facebook page. I don't think this is something I will keep up. I don't know anyone, other than Marilee, that is on Facebook. It seems to me that the "younger" generation is into this kind of thing. I did look at LinkIn but found it too professional for me at this stage in my career. If I were in business and trying to network, it would be part of this site.

Avator

I edited my avatar that Maura helped me begin. I don't know how I got the new me into my blog. I copied but never pasted the URL into my blog. All of a sudden, there I was--the new me with long black pants instead of blue shorts, so not me. Another learning success. I am getting good.

The Winners

I just looked at several Winners: Fun Stuff--One Sentence
MedStory--asked a question about the shingles shot
Yahoo Local--investigated this one
I noticed several sites that we have already visited through our discoveries--Flickr, Technorati etc.

I liked Yahoo Local. It was easy to use because of the category listings to browse. One feature I found intriguing was the ratings and reviews of not only restaurants but services and businesses. There was a posting about an electrician and one about Sports Authority. It also listed the most popular searches for this week. It looked to me like they were "tagged". Whoa, that is a new word in my technology vocabulary due to Learning 2.0. Yahoo locals is in My Favorites. I did added a feed to Bloglines--Most Recent Say-So. Looked like a fun feed.

Once again, I liked this discovery. I discovered A LOT.

Fun Quotes

The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy. -Helen Hayes (at 73)-

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission. -Eleanor Roosevelt-

I got these quotes, along with several other, in an email. I liked most of them but thought these two were worth putting in my blog.

Web-Based Productivity Applications

This was an easy lesson and fun too. I looked at several of the applications. GoogleDocs was one I tried out. After writing a few sentences I tried changing font, font size, etc. It was easy because it was so much like Microsoft.

Because of Learning 2.0, I learned about these web based applications that I would never have found on my own. The word document applications are ones I will use. I also found a calendar on 30Days that I will use when preparing the pages schedules. Thanks for this easy and useful discovery.

What's Authority?

I found out, with Marilee's help, what it means when it says Authority with a number after a blog. Just click on authority--Marilee's advice--and it says "Reactions to blog". Yea, a new discovery.

Thank you Maura

What an afternoon at Weed. Maura helped us with our questions about our experiences with Learning 2.0. We appreciate your support.

Del.icio.us

I watched a great link on Del.icio.us tonight. It was entitled "Flight Patterns". Spectacular! I can see where Del.icio.us could be very useful to people that use the computer for work or for entertainment and view numerous blogs and links they are interested in reading daily. The tagging aspect makes finding topics of interest very easy. Connecting to what other people are viewing could be revealing. I most likely will not create an account with Del.icio.us but will visit it occasionally just for fun.

TECHNORATI REVISIT

I just spent 45 minutes looking over Technorati again. I looked for Learning 2.0 in Blog Directory and Blog Posts. I don't know if I found what this discovery wanted me to find , but I did find references to Learning 2.o. Under the Blog Directory, Learning 2.0, learning, and 2.0 were picked up as tags. Blog Posts seemed to find Learning 2.0 only. Again. I am amazed at what is blogged. Everyone seems to have something to say about something. And there are all kinds of folks looking to read others' blogs and comment on posts. This was an interesting discovery. I will probably revisit Technorati just out of courisity.

Technorati

Justed looked at Technorati. What a site. There is so much to explore I could be on Technorati all day. I looked at several favorite blogs. The Popular section was useful. I liked all of the headings being available. It made it easy to sort through numerous options/blogs. I crusied through sports, a fan of NCAA foot ball and basketball, and looked at some entertainment blogs. It is interesting how many people are out there blogging about everything. They must have a lot of time on their hands.

What is Authority I see attached to blogs?

Del.icio.us

I worked on this lesson off and on today--between patrons. I established an account but fail to see how it is much different than Bloglines or Favorites on AOL. I still have exploring to do and will do so over the next few days. Look again for my thoughts.

Wikis what?

It was fun finding out the meaning of the word Wiki. I should have been able to figure it out. It looks Hawaiian.

I looked at all of the library wikis offered in the Discovery Excerise. I thought it was interesting that three libraries share a wiki. I supposed that is because they are three small libraries. Sharing services and information is good for those communities. I also found it interesting that one library wiki was having vandalism problems. I would assume that is a general problem with wikis that are open for public edit. I will continue to investigate and read about wikis. Doing that will require more blog entries. Look for them. I hope I have some worthwhile comments.

Wikis

Doing the Ferguson Learning 2.0 wiki was fun and easy. I worked on it this morning and had problems adding to the lists of favorites. This evening it dawned on me how to do it. I guess all this technology experience is helping me become better at solving problems I am confronted with as I work on the discoveries.

Comments

I love getting comments. It's exciting knowing someone that is doing Learning 2.0 os reading what I write.

Web 2.0

Today I had a conversation about Web 2.0 with a friend. This friend worked for years for IBM and today is an instructor at the Maritime College. He uses the public library a lot to help with his classroom and online instruction. Since he now frequents the public library often he has developed a paper on the future of the public library and its place in the community. I have attached the URL for his position paper. Take a look
http://jmsdrgn.squarespace.com/other-information-and-ideas/

WEB 2.0

As I was looking over the five perspectives, I noticed four were written by men. What's up ladies?

I read four of the five perspectives. Because I do not have a librarian degree (I have and degree in elementary education), some of the discussions were confusing to me. I did find that Rick Anderson's article "Icebergs" hit home when he wrote about the "come to us" library model. One does not need to go to a library for information like the good ole days. One does not need to go to the library for a book. We experienced that when doing the audiobook downloads. One doesn't need to go to the library to do a research project. Today most of those needs can be met by searching the Web. This Learning 2.0 project has made me very aware of that. I knew it, but now I have experienced more of its offerings.

Podcast link

http://www.mugglenet.com/mugglecast/

Here is my Podcast link.

LibraryThing

Here's my catalog. That was easy to do and fun.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/MarilynM

A Comment

This was an exciting find. Someone made a comment on one of my entries. It was the post about audiobooks. Keep commenting. I love to get input about my experience with Learning 2.0.

Rollyo Second Try

I tried again today. Somehow I have two searchrolls--recipes and Food for Thought. I go to sites on the recipes searchroll but nothing happens when I try the same thing with Food for Thought. I thought I made a search link to Food Network, Cuisine At Home, and Kraft Foods but nothing happens when I click on the link. This one befuddles me. Help!!!!!

Quote I Found

Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Jack Benny

Rollyo

hThis was another confusing lesson. I can't figure out how to connect to my Searchroll (?) to the sites I selected. When I try to visit the sites I get an answer that says can't be found. Oh what am I not doing or doing wrong? I'll have to revisit this lesson.

Technology

I was thinking that since I began to use computers there has been a big change - in them and me. I used to spent hours trying to figure out how to do something, now it seems navigating on the computer is easier. Maybe it is because I more experienced too. Working at Weed Hollander has improved my skills a lot. Marilee has taught me many things on Word. The teen tech we had this past year showed me Exel. He also showed me how to find clip art. Each new skill learned makes me feel "smarter".

Podcasts

That was fun. I always wondered how they worked and today I found out. I tried a couple different finding tools. Sports is a favorite topic of mine so I listened to a NASCAR podcast for one. I moved around some of the other tools and found a podcast for Muggles. I made a feed to my Bloglines. That took some doing. Every time I tried to paste the URL the screen jumped back to the podcast. I finally typed in the URL when subscribing. That worked. This was a fun activity.

Catching up

Just went back to Flickr and created a postcard. I love the options on this site. I will use it often. I sent my uploaded photo account to my family. They took a look at what I am learning to do and are impressed. Here is the link to the postcard I created. By the way, I sent it to my husband.
http://www.delivr.net/popcard.php

Audiobooks

I looked over both NetLibrary and OverDrive. I liked NetLibrary best. I ordered a book but couldn't download it without Media Player. Since I am not really interested in audiobooks I didn't download Media Player. This is one service I don't think I will use. I don't use the books on tape offered at Weed. I know they are very popular and people that use them love them. Maybe I will get into audiobooks in the future.

I did find there was a good selection of my favorite books--mystery and suspense.

YouTube

I watched several videos and didn't find any I could say you have to watch. I have received in emails YouTube videos that have been terrific. This is a fun site and one can spend a lot of time looking at all that is available. I am including a link to one video I liked. Take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iff5GXeW3nw&feature=bz303

Some of the videos I watched tonight were not playing properly. They kept hesitating. I hope my link works.

This is a site I will visit again.

Improving daily

Yea!!! I am getting better. I added an image and it covered my whole blog. I was paniced. Alas, I figured out how to delete and mess and I am back to normal. What a relief.

Mess up

Man, I think I messed up my whole blog. Help!!!!

Adding To Blog

I tried to add to my blog today. Each time on I get on my blog I want to experiment. I don't know how this one worked.

Having Fun

Today I worked on Bloglines again. I am getting a whole lot better finding feeds and saving them. I hooked up to Flickr for a couple feeds. That should be fun to view. I read about Mashups on Flickr and viewed some peoples API( is that what I did?) and enjoyed seeing people's photos. There are many creative folks out there. I think I will try a digital post card through DelivrDigital Postcards on Flickr.

I'm finding technology can be frustrating. For example, I was following the tutorial for Bloglines and found the pages shown in the tutorial didn't look at all like those on the computer I was using. This required my fooling around and clicking on different menus to finally find what I needed. In a way, that was good. It forced me to try to figure out the process. I have also discovered technologly can be fun, like Flickr. That site was just plain fun. I hope to use that site on my blog. Just have to figure out how to do that.

Next are the audiobooks. Stay tuned for how I did with that lesson

Learning every day

Every day I get better at blogging and using Bloglines. Today I added a couple new feeds. I have used the bloglines search to get most of my feeds. I need to work at getting feeds from newspapers.

I truly enjoyed Flickr. I was successful importing three of my own pictures and making a link to my blog. YEA!!!!

Learning daily

Today I spent a lot of time on the bloglines and Flickr. I tried to use Feedster and Technorati with my feeds to Bloglines. I didn't have much success with Feedster. Technorati was a little easier for me. I was able to add two more feeds to my list with the help of Technorati. I am having problems with hooking up to newspapers. I don't know why. There has to be one thing I am missing. I'll keep trying. I am enjoying learning more about technology. I don't know how much of it I will keep up after finishing these lessons but I'll wait and see. It may grow on me.


After posting the previous blog I went back to my Flickr account and added two more pictures to my account. It is very easy to do. Thanks for including Flickr as one of our lessons.

Flickr

Hey look!!!! I did the Flick lesson and imported a picture. Here is the address. http://www.flickr.com/photos/14806095@N05/ That was a fun lesson. Much easier than the blog and bloglines. What's next!

At Last

I have been working for two weeks on Bloglines (RSS). I was ready to give up until I had a conversation with a friend that uses blogs and bloglines services. He convinced me to try again and help me determine some areas of interest that I could find feeds for. Thank goodness I tried again, because this time I was able to complete the discovery and find 10 feeds to add to my bloglines account. It was very confusing. I am still learning. Sometimes I can't find the url for the feel I want. I will keep at it. Determination keep me going. I don't like not being able to figure something out. On to the next lesson.

RSS bloglines

Today I am trying to learn about RSS and bloglines. I am frustrated again. This time I can't them bloglines to accept my email address. I am not getting a confirmation. What am I doing wrong this time. It can't be that hard.

Try three

I didn't wait until tomorrow to attempt opening my blog. It took forever. I get confused with all the usernames and passwords. I took notes this time. I hope my next attempt will be easier.

Try two

I finally figured out how to do this blogging. It was very confusing, not at all what I expected. Helping me were a couple friends at work. They have been just as frustrated. I think I have this part now. I'll see if I can get back into my blog tomorrow. That will be a success for me.

Frustration

This is my second attempt to create a blog and post on it. What a trial!!! I never believed it would be so frustrating