RSS. This is a tough one for me. Since I generally tend to look for information when I need it rather than keep track of various periodicals, I've not had much success using RSS feeds although I've tried them a couple of times. I just don't seem to make the time to look at them and read them. Maybe I just haven't found the right sites. I do keep up with CALIB and to some extent with LM_NET which seem somewhat similar. I guess I'm comfortable with email and its "in your face" nature.
I did click thru to some of the feeds with people writing blogs about various library 2.0 techniques that I found interesting but my general impression of blogs is that it's like reading someone else's diary - something I've rarely had any interest in doing.
I was interested to read one entry about the mobile internet and basically being an IP address as a human being. That makes sense to me as I'm still struggling with whether to pay what it costs to be more connected on an ongoing basis. It's hard for me though to justify the cost.
I'll keep at it, working to consider what piece of the RSS feeds would be of value to library services.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Week 3, Thing 7
So much changes so quickly with technology. It used to be there weren't tools to do what you wanted. Now, there are way too many tools to do what you want. There are so many things available to do what you want, that it's easy to get lost in the exploration just seeing what's out there or to just choose one for efficiencies sake and ignore the rest.
I continue to be frustrated (as do many) by the fact that many of these tools are blocked by the district. On the other hand, it looks like they're beginning to figure out how to put the technological capabilities "behind the wall" in the district for safety reasons. Perhaps in the near future, things will open up. In the meantime, there are certainly plenty of technology apps available that I'm not taking advantage of.
I continue to be frustrated (as do many) by the fact that many of these tools are blocked by the district. On the other hand, it looks like they're beginning to figure out how to put the technological capabilities "behind the wall" in the district for safety reasons. Perhaps in the near future, things will open up. In the meantime, there are certainly plenty of technology apps available that I'm not taking advantage of.
Week 3, Thing 6
The 3rd party apps have changed a bit from last year. I'm still intrigued by the trading card app and thinking about how I might use it for book reviews or in the curriculum for my TA's. I also like the Name Badge idea since I'm collaborating with a teacher to create an orientation for TA's. I'd like to have them create their own name badge, killing two birds with one stone.
Last year after I stopped doing the tutorial, I created a book using Blurb to showcase my trip to China. It worked out great! I couldn't believe how professional-looking it was and how easy it was to create. Although the cost is fairly high, I can certainly see using this as a culmination of a class project on some visual topic... especially since you're able to combine text and photos. It might even be used as a fund-raising project. I'm amazed at the things that I see sell that I would never believe there would be any market for.
Last year after I stopped doing the tutorial, I created a book using Blurb to showcase my trip to China. It worked out great! I couldn't believe how professional-looking it was and how easy it was to create. Although the cost is fairly high, I can certainly see using this as a culmination of a class project on some visual topic... especially since you're able to combine text and photos. It might even be used as a fund-raising project. I'm amazed at the things that I see sell that I would never believe there would be any market for.
Week 3, Thing 5
Wow! Back again - almost exactly a year later! Better late than never. I was reading back though my blog and saw that my Flickr picture disappeared so I decided to remind myself how to do it. The picture ended up as its own entry but it's there. Onward and upward!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Week 3 - Thing 7
Anything technology related. That's a pretty wide topic!
Two things are of interest to me in the last couple of months.
1. I got a cheap 1g MP3 player, mostly to better understand how they work. I'm not big on walking around with headphones on listening to music all the time. (I guess I'm a bit old school in that it seems rude to be around others with headphones on or while talking on a cell phone.) Although I have used it to download music to, the biggest use I've found for it is checking out audiobooks from NetLibrary (through my local library), downloading them to the player, then using the player in my car to listen to books. Since I don't often listen to it other than in the car, I'm not sure this is a huge improvement over just checking out the CD's from the library but it does have some advantages... smaller device, don't have to make a trip to the library, don't have to change CD's while driving. Also, I was able to take the player recently on a long plane flight where I could finish listening to the book I was "reading". I've had the opportunity to talk to my students several times, giving them a little better understanding about the things that are available to them.
2. Sightspeed. I've been intrigued by the idea of videophones for years, hoping that someday they would actually materialize. Recently, I got a webcam at a huge discount from buy.com and decided to give the current videoconferencing tools a try. Turns out Sightspeed is pretty darn good! With it, you can record a video from your pc to send someone or you can call them up and talk "face to face", assuming they have Sightspeed and a webcam and they're logged on to the pc at the time. The technology still has a little ways to go but for using videoconferencing with family and friends who are distant is great. And even more impressive... it's free!
These are fun times we live in!! If only we can figure out how to keep up!
Two things are of interest to me in the last couple of months.
1. I got a cheap 1g MP3 player, mostly to better understand how they work. I'm not big on walking around with headphones on listening to music all the time. (I guess I'm a bit old school in that it seems rude to be around others with headphones on or while talking on a cell phone.) Although I have used it to download music to, the biggest use I've found for it is checking out audiobooks from NetLibrary (through my local library), downloading them to the player, then using the player in my car to listen to books. Since I don't often listen to it other than in the car, I'm not sure this is a huge improvement over just checking out the CD's from the library but it does have some advantages... smaller device, don't have to make a trip to the library, don't have to change CD's while driving. Also, I was able to take the player recently on a long plane flight where I could finish listening to the book I was "reading". I've had the opportunity to talk to my students several times, giving them a little better understanding about the things that are available to them.
2. Sightspeed. I've been intrigued by the idea of videophones for years, hoping that someday they would actually materialize. Recently, I got a webcam at a huge discount from buy.com and decided to give the current videoconferencing tools a try. Turns out Sightspeed is pretty darn good! With it, you can record a video from your pc to send someone or you can call them up and talk "face to face", assuming they have Sightspeed and a webcam and they're logged on to the pc at the time. The technology still has a little ways to go but for using videoconferencing with family and friends who are distant is great. And even more impressive... it's free!
These are fun times we live in!! If only we can figure out how to keep up!
Week 3 - Thing 6
Fun stuff. I started out looking at some of the mashups and found myself a couple of hours later still exploring. I like the movie poster, trading cards and magazine covers. All of them certainly have curriculum connections that can extend to just about any subject. My only concern would be that students might become more engaged with the technology than the actual content (much as I did while exploring the site). Because of this, I think it would be important to provide a fair amount of structure, especially to younger students when using this for projects.
I also explored the trip planner mashup with high hopes. Unfortunately, the site doesn't yet have enough users to make it too valuable. My hope was that there would be detailed trip routes and journals for trips. However, I mostly found skeleton trips that appeared to have been created by people like me who were just trying it out. I also couldn't find a way to delete what I had created which seems like a drawback. However, since these are user developed solutions, it makes sense that they might not have all the bells and whistles that professional applications might have.
I got a notice in the mail recently that Frommer's travel website is creating a Flickr group so maybe that will develop into a robust travel site.
A fun exercise.
I also explored the trip planner mashup with high hopes. Unfortunately, the site doesn't yet have enough users to make it too valuable. My hope was that there would be detailed trip routes and journals for trips. However, I mostly found skeleton trips that appeared to have been created by people like me who were just trying it out. I also couldn't find a way to delete what I had created which seems like a drawback. However, since these are user developed solutions, it makes sense that they might not have all the bells and whistles that professional applications might have.
I got a notice in the mail recently that Frommer's travel website is creating a Flickr group so maybe that will develop into a robust travel site.
A fun exercise.
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