For this assignment we were to look at Mozilla's firefox to play with an alternative way to browse the web. Working through the 23 things blog, I wrestled with the meaning of "open source software" and finally understood how that could be important. The sharing component with its frequent updates would possibly allow not only for a more flexible & user-friendly product but also one that was a bit more secure. Rather than waiting for officially released protective patches, shielding would come in various layers, that would constantly be available. (At least that's the glimpse of insight I felt.) I really enjoyed the YouTube videos on Firefox 101 by demogirl.com. I hope to be able to go through all 10 segments when I get time.
I clicked on the popular and recommended extension links from the 23 Things blog. There was quite a gamut from which to pick.
I downloaded Firefox and tried some tabbed browsing. I am familiar with tabbed browsing but I usually become distracted or busy and click on the wrong x & loose everything. With this in mind I tried the Colorful tabs add-on. I had it working for a while. It helped me be more aware of which tab I really wanted to click. This feature disappeared when I closed out of Firefox. After reading through the other participants' comments I now understand that it may not have been an error on my part.
I will have to work with this browser some more. The Flagfox add-on intrigued me.
As for thing #19, using the CTRL + / CTRL - keys to zoom in and out on the text size is an incredibly easy to use and to remember feature. I usually don't bother trying to change text size in IE because I never remember exactly how it is done.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Podcasting
This week we are exploring podcasts. I learned that the p-o-d of the podcast is actually an acronym for Personal On Demand broadcasting. It offers the means to step away from the constraints of traditional media broadcasting. The Commoncraft video clip embedded on the 23thingsn'at page (Week 11) explained that there are 3 essential appeals to podcasting: (a) given a few simple tools (a microphone and/or video camera, a computer, and a web connection) anyone can create his/her own podcast; (b) anyone with just a computer and a web connection can subscribe to a multitude of offerings; (c) podcasting is very gadget friendly... you don't have to be stuck in front of a computer to view or hear a podcast.
I then went through yet another clicking spree on the 23things Week 11 Wiki page. To understand the difference between streaming and downloading, I visited cnn.com Live. After clicking on a news story it took 22 seconds (There was a countdown window which seemed to hang up) before the news stream started. During those 20 some seconds, I was treated to a blasting advertisement about a pregnancy test product. Then a pop up recommended that I upgrade to Octoshape Grid Delivery Enhancement . I declined. That CNN sampling showed me that streaming is very similar to tuning into a radio/television broadcast. There would be a bit of flexibility about the timing of watching the broadcast but a limited window of opportunity still exists. Streaming is not as slick as a download.
To prepare for the actual assignment of selecting a podcast and subscribing to it, I opted to click through the suggested library links. Each one had a slightly different style, graphics, sound quality, amount of information to sift through before deciding where to click. The Library of Congress link had very sophisticated graphics. It was easy to use. I simply clicked on an image and then listened to an interview with Marisa de los Santos. At the Seattle Public Library link, they included the play time for the podcast offerings, a nice feature, in my opinion. On the Library Beat site, I listened to a Longshots podcast in which Susan Kent talked about library leadership in this year's economic climate. To jump to something different I visited the NPR link. Quite frankly I was overwhelmed by the possibilities of places to click! I finally listened to a few minutes of the Splendid Table, which had a very good audio quality. It didn't have quite the AM broadcast background sound in the voice of the person being interviewed that some of the other podcasts did.
The podcast I selected was from the Denver Public Library. The link opened at the Stories for Kid's page. I listened to a tale from India, The Talkative King. It opened up in media player. Oh, what a psychedelic experience! I did however enjoy the sound quality of the reader's pleasant voice. As I was listening, I could imagine a group of kids stuck inside on a rainy day, coloring or drawing while they listened to a story. Sounds like a flashback of an old-time radio show, doesn't it? Yet here we are again... only now the kids wouldn't have a box of paper dolls to play with.
I then went through yet another clicking spree on the 23things Week 11 Wiki page. To understand the difference between streaming and downloading, I visited cnn.com Live. After clicking on a news story it took 22 seconds (There was a countdown window which seemed to hang up) before the news stream started. During those 20 some seconds, I was treated to a blasting advertisement about a pregnancy test product. Then a pop up recommended that I upgrade to Octoshape Grid Delivery Enhancement . I declined. That CNN sampling showed me that streaming is very similar to tuning into a radio/television broadcast. There would be a bit of flexibility about the timing of watching the broadcast but a limited window of opportunity still exists. Streaming is not as slick as a download.
To prepare for the actual assignment of selecting a podcast and subscribing to it, I opted to click through the suggested library links. Each one had a slightly different style, graphics, sound quality, amount of information to sift through before deciding where to click. The Library of Congress link had very sophisticated graphics. It was easy to use. I simply clicked on an image and then listened to an interview with Marisa de los Santos. At the Seattle Public Library link, they included the play time for the podcast offerings, a nice feature, in my opinion. On the Library Beat site, I listened to a Longshots podcast in which Susan Kent talked about library leadership in this year's economic climate. To jump to something different I visited the NPR link. Quite frankly I was overwhelmed by the possibilities of places to click! I finally listened to a few minutes of the Splendid Table, which had a very good audio quality. It didn't have quite the AM broadcast background sound in the voice of the person being interviewed that some of the other podcasts did.
The podcast I selected was from the Denver Public Library. The link opened at the Stories for Kid's page. I listened to a tale from India, The Talkative King. It opened up in media player. Oh, what a psychedelic experience! I did however enjoy the sound quality of the reader's pleasant voice. As I was listening, I could imagine a group of kids stuck inside on a rainy day, coloring or drawing while they listened to a story. Sounds like a flashback of an old-time radio show, doesn't it? Yet here we are again... only now the kids wouldn't have a box of paper dolls to play with.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Flickr: Take 2
The Flickr part of this assignment has been exasperating. I'm grateful for being forced to learn more about Flickr. What a fascinating resource... I've managed to create an account and upload one photo. Yeah!! I made it public but I'm still not sure what info I need to tell you about how to view it. I also can't figure how to get it back to this site. It will eventually become clear and automatic. Thank you all in advance for your patience.
YouTube
I've been browsing YouTube for quite awhile now. I've viewed clips on subject ranging from how to tie scarves to how to make chapatis. It's been a great resource for viewing versions of famous French songs. I stumbled upon this particular video one day while I was preparing a lesson for one of the beginning level non-credit French class I teach. The students who made the effort to look up the site really enjoyed it.
Learning how to embed videos directly into a blog could prove very useful in the future. I did have to try several times though before succeeding. I didn't realize how long the embed code was!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Flickr
I've visited Flickr before and have loved watching slide shows. I've selected to insert a photo of a French pastry from Maki's Provence France collection. Her photos are so lovely. I get the feeling of being back in France as I click through them.....Oops technical difficulties. Photo did not show up. We'll try with a different photo....
Monday, July 6, 2009
Social Networking
During Week 8 we were to learn about social networking by starting a MySpace, Facebook or Twitter account. I selected to do the optional assignment which was to read 3 articles and post thoughts about them. We were also to consider the way social networking can be used by libraries. I began the assignment by reading through the other participants' comments posted on the 23 thingsnat blog. This technique has been a very helpful way to gain insights into both the the subject matter at hand and how to possibly tackle the assignment. From other participants' comments, I learned that MySpace and Facebook have very different flavors. MySpace seems to appeal to the younger crowd; it was suggested to be flashy and some what superficial. Facebook could have professional applications and appeals to an "older crowd," who may use it as a vehicle for keeping in touch with geographically separated family members.
In the next phase of this assignment, I went on a link clicking spree. I watched the slide show about Facebook and libraries provided by Perth Australia. www.facebook.com/pages/perth-australia
I also discovered Michael Stephen's site www.tametheweb.com He promotes technology as a tool to create community, on-line. This new & emerging sense of community in a space that is not your everyday reality is a very interesting and potentially powerful idea. I will need to keep visiting his site.
One of the issues that intrigues and also sometimes paralyzes me is how the concept of "privacy" is evolving. Social networking offers a transparency that does not appeal to me. There is a blurring of reality and imagination. You can say anything, be anything but who are you really? ..and what if I only want a few select people to know? In response to this I found an article "How not to lose face on Facebook for professors," which told the tale of a professor who blasted some personal thoughts about her coworkers to the entire faculty rather than her "friends". She was very lucky to have had the department chairman come to her defense, or a very different scenario would have played itself out. I also read about the "10 privacy Settings that every Facebook user should know" on ilibrarian at www.oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian.
David Lee King had a series of posts about "friending" on his site davidleeking.com. This is another crucial concept in the idea of on-line community. How & who should you friend?
He strongly suggests that libraries avoid making their Facebook page look like an ALA reunion or their patrons will not get on board.
The purpose of Twitter was escaping me until I read a post by Michael Arrington at www.techcrunch.com "It's time to start thinking of Twitter as a search engine." People, overwhelmed by all the info available, often go to Twitter to find short bursts about brand name items, restaurants, hotels, businesses etc. Wow! Couldn't libraries do this with new book titles, or upcoming programming? Short & but hopefully sweet bits of info would be out there where they could be seen. The author of the post admits that tweets are like a bit like grunts. They could have their place though, if info is being communicated.
In the next phase of this assignment, I went on a link clicking spree. I watched the slide show about Facebook and libraries provided by Perth Australia. www.facebook.com/pages/perth-australia
I also discovered Michael Stephen's site www.tametheweb.com He promotes technology as a tool to create community, on-line. This new & emerging sense of community in a space that is not your everyday reality is a very interesting and potentially powerful idea. I will need to keep visiting his site.
One of the issues that intrigues and also sometimes paralyzes me is how the concept of "privacy" is evolving. Social networking offers a transparency that does not appeal to me. There is a blurring of reality and imagination. You can say anything, be anything but who are you really? ..and what if I only want a few select people to know? In response to this I found an article "How not to lose face on Facebook for professors," which told the tale of a professor who blasted some personal thoughts about her coworkers to the entire faculty rather than her "friends". She was very lucky to have had the department chairman come to her defense, or a very different scenario would have played itself out. I also read about the "10 privacy Settings that every Facebook user should know" on ilibrarian at www.oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian.
David Lee King had a series of posts about "friending" on his site davidleeking.com. This is another crucial concept in the idea of on-line community. How & who should you friend?
He strongly suggests that libraries avoid making their Facebook page look like an ALA reunion or their patrons will not get on board.
The purpose of Twitter was escaping me until I read a post by Michael Arrington at www.techcrunch.com "It's time to start thinking of Twitter as a search engine." People, overwhelmed by all the info available, often go to Twitter to find short bursts about brand name items, restaurants, hotels, businesses etc. Wow! Couldn't libraries do this with new book titles, or upcoming programming? Short & but hopefully sweet bits of info would be out there where they could be seen. The author of the post admits that tweets are like a bit like grunts. They could have their place though, if info is being communicated.
Friday, June 19, 2009
OnLine Databases
This assignment was more fun than I imagined it would be. There was such an abundance of sites listed that I got a little carried away.
Phase #1: To advance my language skills: I signed up at Mango Languages. I'm working through the Italian segment. I like the slide show concept. Being able to see the spelling of a phrase while hearing it is a great way to reinforce learning the material. Some of the slides were silly. One of them was the repetition of a person's name... something to the effect of this is how a man would say Marco (not sure if this is the exact name used). One of the subsequent slides then asks what is the Italian and/or English for Marco. The level is really bare-bones beginner.
I am also investigating the French lesson format. I currently teach non-credit beginning and intermediate level French classes. It may be a good service to offer to newer students. I haven't yet figured out how to jump directly to a higher level. I have the impression that you have to ride the wave of working through the program. This will take some more investigation.
Phase #2: To be practical, I visited Kelly's Blue Book and the Auto Repair Reference Center. Both were relatively straight forward to use.
Phase #3: To see if I could find the plot of a novel that I had read years ago: I explored the Literature Resource Center. I was actually able to find out the storyline of Le Rouge et Le Noir, a novel by Stendhal... and also quite a bit about Stendhal himself. This site would have been a wonderful resource to have when I was in Grad School (Was it really eons ago?).
Phase #4: For fun, I visited NoveList. What a great site! I started by looking up an author. I found not only the title but also the ISBN numbers listed for the books! I've had problems finding ISBNs on the web for this author, so I was quite pleased to have a new place to look. The site also allowed me to read the first chapter of a book I'd not yet read. .., and will soon be putting on hold... unless I find there is a e-book copy available! I spent a lot of time clicking around on this site. The "What we're reading" links were also fun. I will be revisiting this site and mentioning it to any of our novel loving patrons who come in to pick up holds at the Circ desk.
Phase #5: To follow up on a favorite pass time: I tried to explore Kovel's. I was actually quite disappointed with this site. After going through the process of registering, all my searches resulted in a message explaining that searching is free but a fee is required to see the full text of some articles. I'm not sure that I will be going back to that site. I could have gotten better results using a search engine like Google. Maybe the e-zine, for which I am now subscribed will draw me back... maybe not.
Phase #1: To advance my language skills: I signed up at Mango Languages. I'm working through the Italian segment. I like the slide show concept. Being able to see the spelling of a phrase while hearing it is a great way to reinforce learning the material. Some of the slides were silly. One of them was the repetition of a person's name... something to the effect of this is how a man would say Marco (not sure if this is the exact name used). One of the subsequent slides then asks what is the Italian and/or English for Marco. The level is really bare-bones beginner.
I am also investigating the French lesson format. I currently teach non-credit beginning and intermediate level French classes. It may be a good service to offer to newer students. I haven't yet figured out how to jump directly to a higher level. I have the impression that you have to ride the wave of working through the program. This will take some more investigation.
Phase #2: To be practical, I visited Kelly's Blue Book and the Auto Repair Reference Center. Both were relatively straight forward to use.
Phase #3: To see if I could find the plot of a novel that I had read years ago: I explored the Literature Resource Center. I was actually able to find out the storyline of Le Rouge et Le Noir, a novel by Stendhal... and also quite a bit about Stendhal himself. This site would have been a wonderful resource to have when I was in Grad School (Was it really eons ago?).
Phase #4: For fun, I visited NoveList. What a great site! I started by looking up an author. I found not only the title but also the ISBN numbers listed for the books! I've had problems finding ISBNs on the web for this author, so I was quite pleased to have a new place to look. The site also allowed me to read the first chapter of a book I'd not yet read. .., and will soon be putting on hold... unless I find there is a e-book copy available! I spent a lot of time clicking around on this site. The "What we're reading" links were also fun. I will be revisiting this site and mentioning it to any of our novel loving patrons who come in to pick up holds at the Circ desk.
Phase #5: To follow up on a favorite pass time: I tried to explore Kovel's. I was actually quite disappointed with this site. After going through the process of registering, all my searches resulted in a message explaining that searching is free but a fee is required to see the full text of some articles. I'm not sure that I will be going back to that site. I could have gotten better results using a search engine like Google. Maybe the e-zine, for which I am now subscribed will draw me back... maybe not.
Friday, June 12, 2009
E-Books: Part 2
My first go with E-books was far from satisfying. I felt so frustrated with the way the pages took so long to load. I was wondering if it was just a fluke, or was it related to my home computer system? Tonight I decided to give it another try, and am thrilled to report that I encountered none of the problems that I did with the first 2 E-books! It was a relaxing and enjoyable experience... A double bonus, in fact, because I selected a title that I'd been meaning to look for in the stacks for weeks. There I was, hours after the library had closed, accessing the book without even leaving my house!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
E-books
I suppose that I should apologize for being a week behind the rest of the 23ers. I'm still moving forward and that is what counts. Our assignment for Thing 8 is to learn about downloadable audio & video available through the library system. I've decided to work with each part separately.
A few days ago I played with the E-book aspect on my home computer. I selected a book on Indian cooking: The Taste Divine. I impatiently tried to skip too far ahead and received an error message telling me to wait for the page to load before advancing. I waited a bit but nothing happened. I tried to get back into the book but it had timed out. I closed out completely and re-entered the on-line catalogue, selecting another book: Cooking the Indian Way. Once again I found that there was a real lag in the time it took to skip between pages. At one point the program must have frozen. I clicked on a link in the task pane (contents) and at least the moving circle appeared letting me know that something was happening. After waiting 4 minutes (I timed it) with nothing showing in the reading pane, I started clicking around in the left hand pane. This time the word, contents, did produce the table of contents in the reading pane. Determined not to be impatient, I plodded slowly forward but 2 pages later, I was back to the whirling blue circle and the empty reading pane. I closed out.
Despite the snail's pace of moving ahead, it was exciting to find and attempt to read a book on-line. I think I would use the service for non-fiction, or something that could be read in snippets. Trying to read through a whole novel from a desktop computer monitor would not be my cup of tea.
A few days ago I played with the E-book aspect on my home computer. I selected a book on Indian cooking: The Taste Divine. I impatiently tried to skip too far ahead and received an error message telling me to wait for the page to load before advancing. I waited a bit but nothing happened. I tried to get back into the book but it had timed out. I closed out completely and re-entered the on-line catalogue, selecting another book: Cooking the Indian Way. Once again I found that there was a real lag in the time it took to skip between pages. At one point the program must have frozen. I clicked on a link in the task pane (contents) and at least the moving circle appeared letting me know that something was happening. After waiting 4 minutes (I timed it) with nothing showing in the reading pane, I started clicking around in the left hand pane. This time the word, contents, did produce the table of contents in the reading pane. Determined not to be impatient, I plodded slowly forward but 2 pages later, I was back to the whirling blue circle and the empty reading pane. I closed out.
Despite the snail's pace of moving ahead, it was exciting to find and attempt to read a book on-line. I think I would use the service for non-fiction, or something that could be read in snippets. Trying to read through a whole novel from a desktop computer monitor would not be my cup of tea.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wikis
This week we are learning about wikis. The lesson began with a short sweet and very understandable video from Common Craft. I've consulted Wikipedia countless times, so the only purpose of a wiki, as I understood it, was a place to access a dictionary/encyclopedic blurb on a topic. The Common Craft tutorial, however, showed how a group of people could use a wiki to work on a common task (IE. a camping trip).
Our assignment was to sign up for a PBworks account and then add a 6 item list (on the subject of why I love my library) to the wiki created by the 23 Thingsnat folks. After scrolling through a long stretch of individual postings, I began to wonder how a post on a wiki was any different from a comment on a blog. I re watched the video. Upon returning to the wiki, an urge to get a bit creative hit me. I didn't think that editing any one's post would be polite, especially since most of us do not know each other and any such unexpected tampering might be misconstrued. I decided instead to suggest a slightly different spin: Why I love libraries (the big picture). I only listed 2 things instead of 6 & invited others to add to the list. I'm curious to see if any one runs with my suggestion.
Our assignment was to sign up for a PBworks account and then add a 6 item list (on the subject of why I love my library) to the wiki created by the 23 Thingsnat folks. After scrolling through a long stretch of individual postings, I began to wonder how a post on a wiki was any different from a comment on a blog. I re watched the video. Upon returning to the wiki, an urge to get a bit creative hit me. I didn't think that editing any one's post would be polite, especially since most of us do not know each other and any such unexpected tampering might be misconstrued. I decided instead to suggest a slightly different spin: Why I love libraries (the big picture). I only listed 2 things instead of 6 & invited others to add to the list. I'm curious to see if any one runs with my suggestion.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
RSS Feeds
In this week's assignment we are to (a) choose a newsreader, (b) sign up for an account and (c) suscribe to at least 1 feed. I've seen the RSS icon on blogs and other websites I've visited. The idea of suscribing to them for automatic updates makes perfect sense to me. Using a newsreader to do this is a new concept to me and I am not sure how to go about it.
I've reviewed the comments posted by participants on the 23things blog and have learned the names of at least 3 readers: My Yahoo, Google reader and bloglines. I opened my yahoo account and clicked on the My Yahoo tab but was overwhelmed by the sea of info presented there. I will instead maybe try to google some of the terms to see what I can find.
I've reviewed the comments posted by participants on the 23things blog and have learned the names of at least 3 readers: My Yahoo, Google reader and bloglines. I opened my yahoo account and clicked on the My Yahoo tab but was overwhelmed by the sea of info presented there. I will instead maybe try to google some of the terms to see what I can find.
Monday, May 18, 2009
So Many Questions
I like to research things before I leap. So diving in and playing with a blog wasn't fun for me. It was tramatic. What if I do something wrong? I'm already noticing that my e-mail address is up in full view on this create a post page. Does it show up in the actual blog? Should I have created an alternate account?
Here I come kicking and screaming into the blogosphere. I have had more anxiety about this seemingly simple assignment for week 2 of the 23 things than you could imagine. 100 other people have already jumped in and are enjoying the water, while I've been trembling at the side of the pool...
So, this is the 21st century?
So, this is the 21st century?
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