Task #23 Summary

I will have to try to condense my thoughts here because I really could go on for days about this program. This has been an amazing opportunity for me to gain a whole lot of knowledge really really quickly. I didn't really know how out of date I was until I started this and I feel I have made enormous leaps and bounds in such a short time.

The difficulty for me is that as I work limited hours I have done the program from home and that means squeezing it into short spells. I have felt quite frustrated by not being able to spend more time to get into each topic in more detail. Still, I have, at least been able to get enough info to feel I understand each bit of technology.

Where to from here? I think that now I will embrace the possibilities of this technology and look for new ways to use it. Up to now I think I wanted to push it away because I didn't understand it but now I can't wait to see it happen.

My first use of Web 2.0 will be to use it to see what work opportunities are out there. I am thinking that by using things like Rollyo and some RSS feeds I might be able to refine my job search techniques and not waste so much time. I think this will be a good practical opportunity to use the technology and will give me some more food for thought for the future.

Thanks so much for running this program. I have enjoyed it enormously.

Task #22 Audiobooks

I thought this was fascinating and the World ebooks Fair terrific especially the Historical Childrens collection. Only problem was that the search facility seems really clunky. There wasn't any quick way to browse through the list of titles and any searches I did returned some bizarre results. Still, the idea that a whole world of books is available for a free download to an MP3 player is quite revolutionary and exciting. My children love audiobooks. Bringing so many of the books of my childhood to them through and audiobook really appeals to me.

Task #21 Podcasts

I am accustomed to listening to podcasts from radio programs on the computer and my husband subscribes to a number of podcasts on his iPod so the technology was not unfamiliar to me. I have found it very useful to catch up on interesting items from radio or TV shows that I missed when they were first broadcast. The directories are handy but at this stage I am more inclined (and I suspect library patrons are also) to use podcasts to follow up items that you know exist rather than search through directories.

I subscribed to the following podcast because the subject area is of interest to me:http://www.talkr.com/app/cast_pods.app?feed_id=1225

Task #20 YouTube

YouTube is well known in our house. We use it to share some family videos. My children also use it to view a range of kids videos from other websites and wikis.

My favourite has to be the Mom Song. Great fun for those of us who are mothers. I will attempt to paste the link. Here's hoping it works.

Task #19 Web 2.0 Awards

I had a look at two different tools. First, I looked at Personalised Google which I quite liked. It should certainly cut down on the rubbish you receive searching across all of Google.

Second, and remarkably for the first time ever, I had a look at Facebook. I have deliberately avoided Facebook and similar sites partly because I saw them as a teenager's environment and partly because I was freaked out by the slightly voyeuristic nature of these sites. Having visited Facebook I am now even more freaked out by it. To view anything I had to sign up. Does that mean the world can now find me at Facebook? I went searching for someone I knew and to have even a little look at their profile my activity was recorded and would be visible to the person I searched for. The feeling that I couldn't make a move without it being tracked disturbs me and, personally, I could think of nothing worse than the whole world viewing my profile on a website.

Clearly, I am in the minority with this attitude given the popularity of these sites. But it really makes me wonder about the motivation behind this social networking phenomenon. Are we all exhibitionists at heart or are we all feeling really isolated and need to connect with people throught the web. Or maybe Generation Y are just really comfortable with a world where their entire lives are an open book. Whatever it is, it's not for me.

Task #18 Web based Apps

This was great fun although you can see by my posted document that I still need some work on editing documents to fit into a blog. Nevertheless, I thought Zoho Writer was great and I could see some real uses for it. Not so much within a corporate environment where I could see that greater control over company documents would be required but I can see that there are many times where a quick, easy to use word processor or spreadsheet with the inbuilt capacity to share quickly could be very useful.

All this says to me is not the death of Microsoft Office but the death of email. Sharing information through the Web is a much better option.

Yuck to Brussel Sprouts

Yuck to Brussel Sprouts

 

I don't like to eat brussel sprouts. They are very very yucky. I don't think they are very nice. I think they are very mucky.

 

Task #17 PBWiki

I found this a bit of a confused task as registering my blog didn't seem to follow the instructions correctly. Nevertheless, I grasped the idea of playing with the wiki, understanding the syntax and learning about it before posting.

Truthfully, however, this is well and truly one step ahead of me. Reading wikis, making use of them, even editing them I can see myself doing. But needing a tool to help me organise my wikis and track my participation in them is just not something I imagine I will be doing soon.