Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, lads and lasses, I hereby cordially welcome you to read....the....very....LAST BLOG FOR 23 THINGS.
Yes, it's very exciting, I am feeling pleased and triumphant.
Ok. Serious time.
My favourite discoveries/tasks have to be Librarything and Delicious. I loved those task enormously, I found them great fun, and very interesting - especially Delicious. I'll definitely be using both in the future, and thanks to the Delicious task of 23 things, I'm currently fascinated and knee deep in Greek and Roman myths.
We-ell....23 thing has taught me new things. I never knew you could do some of the things you can with photos with programs like Pixlr, which is going to be enormously useful when I'm trying to pretty up future photos from trips or events. I never really understood how RSS feeders worked before the 23 things program, and now I have so many blogs to read it's almost scary.
I discovered that I can made an audio recording of a book that people can listen to, thanks to LibriVox, which I think is such a lovely and useful idea. I think it's brilliant, I am full of glowing praise for LibriVox, and I'm pleased I discovered it thanks to this program.
I never knew WiFi security was so bad and easy to break for hackers, which was an eyeopener, and something I'm much more aware of now that I know. It's concerning that it's so easy, especially as a person who has WiFi at home.
Ah, I've just realised I haven't answered the other points yet, bother, as Pooh says.
It's hard to say how this has assisted my lifelong learning goals - I don't really have any at the moment. But it has been an eye opener, and I know that I will use media and information that I learned and gained from 23 things in the future, and probably not just for fun, but for work or for study when I eventually decide to become a student again.
I think I've already sort of answered point three, if there was any takeaways or any unexpected outcomes.....there were, which I've mentioned above. But the thing that surprised me the most was just how much I enjoyed completing the tasks, and blogging about what I liked and didn't like, what I learned or discovered. I've enjoyed being a part of this much more than I thought I would.
I think 23 things is well set out, I don't think there's anything that needs to be changed.
As for doing this on my own, and at my own pace....I love doing duties and tasks at my own pace, I do my best work and am at my most comfortable when I can so so, but at times that isn't such a great thing. And one of the problems with it is that occasionally I'm forgetful, and I completely forgot about the 23 things program for about half the time I was meant to be doing the tasks.
I think there are tasks I would have appreciated more if I'd kept a better eye on the 23 things program, and didn't have to do so much in a short amount of time. But that's my fault, not the fault of the 23 things program. But I wasn't very motivated at times (clearly).
Well. It has for the most part been fun, a blast, a whirlwhind of craziness and awesomeness. I have genuinely enjoyed myself, and I certainly hope whomever's read this blog has enjoyed reading it.
Roger, Wilco and out.
- library earthling
Monday, June 18, 2012
Prezi
Long time, no see lovelys,
I was going to do Task 14, Prezi, quite some time ago, and then I never got around. Mainly because the tutorials for Prezi seemed so long and tediously indepth, that I chose to skip it for a time when I had more....time. And then I procrastinated. Until today! When I can't do my coursework because one of the drivers isn't being friendly.
Actually, I found I like Prezi more than I expected to, which is a nice surprise. I put up photos of my cats (they're sleeping on my bed) and arranged them how I wished, and I could delete anything I didn't want or change the colour of the print if I didn't like it.
Prezi was actually pretty cool. Again, it is very 'look how awesome my photos are!', but I can also see how it could be useful for presentation, it's laid out pretty nicely, and it's easy to use.
Well.....
I guess I'll go off and prepare for doing my very last blog for 23 things. Wow.
- library earthling
I was going to do Task 14, Prezi, quite some time ago, and then I never got around. Mainly because the tutorials for Prezi seemed so long and tediously indepth, that I chose to skip it for a time when I had more....time. And then I procrastinated. Until today! When I can't do my coursework because one of the drivers isn't being friendly.
Actually, I found I like Prezi more than I expected to, which is a nice surprise. I put up photos of my cats (they're sleeping on my bed) and arranged them how I wished, and I could delete anything I didn't want or change the colour of the print if I didn't like it.
Prezi was actually pretty cool. Again, it is very 'look how awesome my photos are!', but I can also see how it could be useful for presentation, it's laid out pretty nicely, and it's easy to use.
Well.....
I guess I'll go off and prepare for doing my very last blog for 23 things. Wow.
- library earthling
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Flickr or Picasa - Try two
Hey,
this is my second attempt to try to do the Task 5 activity, which involves using Flickr and Picasa.
I finally managed to get Yahoo to recognise my username and account, and got into Flickr and added a couple of photos to my brand new Flickr account.
To be honest, I don't really know what libraries are using Flickr for, except that it seems to me that Flickr is just a very large library made up of photos with patrons who contribute to the collection from their private collections.
Flickr certainly reminds me of a library - and it does have acces to both private and public (Library of Congress, NASA etc) collections. People upload their photos, and allow other people to view their photos, unless they've put settings on the photos for them to only be viewed by certain people.
I do like viewing other people's photos, and some of them are just amazing photos. Also people have different ways of looking at the same place. I've been to Darling Harbour in Sydney, but while I was browsing through photos I came across a photo taken off Darling Harbour and it is amazing what they saw and captured compared to what I did.
But that's me philosophising.
Anyway.
Flickr has tags - which is a keyword that you give the photo, which can find you other photos that are about the same subject or similar. Flickr also has something called 'groups' which I actually think is pretty cool. Groups seem sort of like forums, but they're cool because they can share around photos within the group and have conversations as well. Which I quite like.
Picasa.
I had a little bit of trouble with Picasa as well. I thought I had to download it, and I was wrong. So if I had realised that earlier, I probably would have attempted to do this task last week, but ah well.
To be honest, maybe because I've spend so much time looking at things like Flickr, I feel as if a lot of the information is just the same information and things you can do, just in a different format. Although I do like the fact that you can make sort of different collages of photos really easily, that's cool.
But you can store all sorts of information on or about your photos - Title, who's in it, place tags, place it in certain galleries...but you can do that for both Picasa and Flickr.
I think I prefer Flickr to Picasa - it certainly did in the end cause me less trouble. : )
- library earthling
this is my second attempt to try to do the Task 5 activity, which involves using Flickr and Picasa.
I finally managed to get Yahoo to recognise my username and account, and got into Flickr and added a couple of photos to my brand new Flickr account.
To be honest, I don't really know what libraries are using Flickr for, except that it seems to me that Flickr is just a very large library made up of photos with patrons who contribute to the collection from their private collections.
Flickr certainly reminds me of a library - and it does have acces to both private and public (Library of Congress, NASA etc) collections. People upload their photos, and allow other people to view their photos, unless they've put settings on the photos for them to only be viewed by certain people.
I do like viewing other people's photos, and some of them are just amazing photos. Also people have different ways of looking at the same place. I've been to Darling Harbour in Sydney, but while I was browsing through photos I came across a photo taken off Darling Harbour and it is amazing what they saw and captured compared to what I did.
But that's me philosophising.
Anyway.
Flickr has tags - which is a keyword that you give the photo, which can find you other photos that are about the same subject or similar. Flickr also has something called 'groups' which I actually think is pretty cool. Groups seem sort of like forums, but they're cool because they can share around photos within the group and have conversations as well. Which I quite like.
Picasa.
I had a little bit of trouble with Picasa as well. I thought I had to download it, and I was wrong. So if I had realised that earlier, I probably would have attempted to do this task last week, but ah well.
To be honest, maybe because I've spend so much time looking at things like Flickr, I feel as if a lot of the information is just the same information and things you can do, just in a different format. Although I do like the fact that you can make sort of different collages of photos really easily, that's cool.
But you can store all sorts of information on or about your photos - Title, who's in it, place tags, place it in certain galleries...but you can do that for both Picasa and Flickr.
I think I prefer Flickr to Picasa - it certainly did in the end cause me less trouble. : )
- library earthling
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Social Networking
Oddly enough, despite my distaste and disliking for Twitter, I actually really like Facebook. Well, really like might be a bit of a stretch, even a long stretch, but I do quite like Facebook.
I created a Facebook account about 5 years ago, and I've been using it ever since. I tend to be one of those annoying people who signs in and then wanders off to do something else for a few hours. So I'm often listed as being there, but have really gotten distracted by something and actually forgotten all about Facebook.
I'm a bit protective of my privacy, so I've set my privacy settings pretty damn high. People can find me if they want to (at the moment my profile is me dressed like a bear), I haven't hidden myself away on Facebook. But I have made my settings so anybody who isn't a friend of mine can't see basically anything, and then I have different settings for Friends of friends, and then the people I am friends with on Facebook.
Facebook does suggest 'Do you know this person?' or whatever it is, which is just annoying. If I spoke to that person regularly and was friends with them in the real world, then 9 times out of 10 I'll have already made friends with them on Facebook. So I tend to ignore the suggestion by Facebook that I should make friends with somebody because 12 of my friends are friends with them as well.
But Facebook does make it easier to keep in touch with people which I love because I'm pretty bad at that. Plus I can keep updated on how friends are doing which is lovely as well.
On the whole I like Facebook, but that's mostly because it's a way for me to be able to interact with my friends.
- library earthling
I created a Facebook account about 5 years ago, and I've been using it ever since. I tend to be one of those annoying people who signs in and then wanders off to do something else for a few hours. So I'm often listed as being there, but have really gotten distracted by something and actually forgotten all about Facebook.
I'm a bit protective of my privacy, so I've set my privacy settings pretty damn high. People can find me if they want to (at the moment my profile is me dressed like a bear), I haven't hidden myself away on Facebook. But I have made my settings so anybody who isn't a friend of mine can't see basically anything, and then I have different settings for Friends of friends, and then the people I am friends with on Facebook.
Facebook does suggest 'Do you know this person?' or whatever it is, which is just annoying. If I spoke to that person regularly and was friends with them in the real world, then 9 times out of 10 I'll have already made friends with them on Facebook. So I tend to ignore the suggestion by Facebook that I should make friends with somebody because 12 of my friends are friends with them as well.
But Facebook does make it easier to keep in touch with people which I love because I'm pretty bad at that. Plus I can keep updated on how friends are doing which is lovely as well.
On the whole I like Facebook, but that's mostly because it's a way for me to be able to interact with my friends.
- library earthling
Twitter.
I'm opposed to Twitter, I really don't like it, and have managed to avoid or flat out refuse, to use Twitter until this task in 23 things.
I think it's an annoying soapbox for people, and while I understand it's a great way to get information out to the public fast, it still bugs me.
Plus you can only make posts of a 140 characters, and as you will have been able to tell, I ramble a lot. 140 characters is wee bit limiting for me.
But, for 23 things only, and once as I do this task I'm deleting the blasted account, I joined Twitter. If there isn't any easy way to delete an account from Twitter I am going to be so far from being impressed it will be ridiculous.
Ok. So. Twitter. The basics are : you can make posts of up to 140 characters long. You can include photos or links to music or pretty mucah anything. You can make a specific post aimed at somebody by doing an '@' sign followed by their name or username.
You can put in tags that will lead to other similar subjects - or comes under the same subject on Twitter.
I still think Twitter is weird, although following Ellen on Twitter is sort of cool because I adore Ellen. Despite this - I am still deleting the account.
It's a great medium to keep in touch with people and keeping people informed, but I don't think it's my sort of thing.
Gotta run.
- library earthling
I'm opposed to Twitter, I really don't like it, and have managed to avoid or flat out refuse, to use Twitter until this task in 23 things.
I think it's an annoying soapbox for people, and while I understand it's a great way to get information out to the public fast, it still bugs me.
Plus you can only make posts of a 140 characters, and as you will have been able to tell, I ramble a lot. 140 characters is wee bit limiting for me.
But, for 23 things only, and once as I do this task I'm deleting the blasted account, I joined Twitter. If there isn't any easy way to delete an account from Twitter I am going to be so far from being impressed it will be ridiculous.
Ok. So. Twitter. The basics are : you can make posts of up to 140 characters long. You can include photos or links to music or pretty mucah anything. You can make a specific post aimed at somebody by doing an '@' sign followed by their name or username.
You can put in tags that will lead to other similar subjects - or comes under the same subject on Twitter.
I still think Twitter is weird, although following Ellen on Twitter is sort of cool because I adore Ellen. Despite this - I am still deleting the account.
It's a great medium to keep in touch with people and keeping people informed, but I don't think it's my sort of thing.
Gotta run.
- library earthling
Mobile Apps
I have an iPad and I have an iPhone (I suddenly became an apple girl somehow, clearly Apple's advertising really does work), so I do already have Apps.
Apart from using Apps for things like the weather (although to be fair I hear tell some aren't very reliable, but that's hardly surprising - weather reports on the news can still get it wrong), money conversions and reading books, I mostly use Apps for fun.
A friend a while back got me onto Angry Birds in Space, it's incredibly fun and addictive. I'm still stuck on this level on an icy planet, and can't get past it. But one of these days I will. But that App isn't free, I had to pay money for it.
One of the best Apps I've ever downloaded (also not free, but definitely worth the cost) is an App called The Solar System. If you have any interest at all in the Solar System, please get this app. It is fantastic. It tells you all about the planets, and their moons, and you can even look at them for different angles because you can move the planets around with your fingers. It is a fantastic App, I am thrilled to bits over it.
I think they're really good, provided they're updated to fix any bugs with them. Sometimes it takes awhile for bugs to be fixed, and sometimes you don't notice an update has been done. Take the time to download the updates, otherwise you could be at risk from nasty stuff on your smart phone or iPad.
But I have to admit, while there are thousands of educational Apps out there, I tend to only use the ones I can play with, mainly because I only really use my iPad in my downtime when I'm relaxing at home.
- library earthling
Apart from using Apps for things like the weather (although to be fair I hear tell some aren't very reliable, but that's hardly surprising - weather reports on the news can still get it wrong), money conversions and reading books, I mostly use Apps for fun.
A friend a while back got me onto Angry Birds in Space, it's incredibly fun and addictive. I'm still stuck on this level on an icy planet, and can't get past it. But one of these days I will. But that App isn't free, I had to pay money for it.
One of the best Apps I've ever downloaded (also not free, but definitely worth the cost) is an App called The Solar System. If you have any interest at all in the Solar System, please get this app. It is fantastic. It tells you all about the planets, and their moons, and you can even look at them for different angles because you can move the planets around with your fingers. It is a fantastic App, I am thrilled to bits over it.
I think they're really good, provided they're updated to fix any bugs with them. Sometimes it takes awhile for bugs to be fixed, and sometimes you don't notice an update has been done. Take the time to download the updates, otherwise you could be at risk from nasty stuff on your smart phone or iPad.
But I have to admit, while there are thousands of educational Apps out there, I tend to only use the ones I can play with, mainly because I only really use my iPad in my downtime when I'm relaxing at home.
- library earthling
Wifi and security
Well. That was sobering reading.
I swear to God that 23 things just increased my paranoia levels. Grumbles.
Ok. Basically the gist is that WiFi basically sucks involving stopping people from hacking their little hackery selves onto your sad, not well defended wifi system, and using your wifi for nothing because WiFi sucks at keeping people from doing this. Basically.
Because WiFi, despite updates to their security system still has flaws. And there's programs out there that hackers can use to crack your encryption.
So first rule boys and girls : USE REALLY GOOD ENCRYPTION IF INSTALLING WIFI IN YOUR HOMES. Just saying, it's important.
If you have WiFi and am concerned, you can turn off Wi-Fi Protected Setup, which apparently is a feature installed in the 2007 update that has a major flaw that lets security to be bypassed and broken by hackers. That was installed five years ago, so I really hope WiFi have rectified that feature by now.
Firesheep is just plain scary Jake. SCARINESS. I am not pleased I know these things, and am now looking at WiFi's and how people use their computers in a whole new way. My god. I suddenly feel like becoming a technological hermit and never touching a computer again.
Essentially what everybody needs is good encryption that covers EVERYTHING you do on your wifi, otherwise you will be hacked, and there will be tears and some very sad people. On the wb, encryption that covers your wifi use is called HTTP and SSL. You need stuff like that.
I'm off to do the next task and hopefully it will be more cheerful.
- library earthling
I swear to God that 23 things just increased my paranoia levels. Grumbles.
Ok. Basically the gist is that WiFi basically sucks involving stopping people from hacking their little hackery selves onto your sad, not well defended wifi system, and using your wifi for nothing because WiFi sucks at keeping people from doing this. Basically.
Because WiFi, despite updates to their security system still has flaws. And there's programs out there that hackers can use to crack your encryption.
So first rule boys and girls : USE REALLY GOOD ENCRYPTION IF INSTALLING WIFI IN YOUR HOMES. Just saying, it's important.
If you have WiFi and am concerned, you can turn off Wi-Fi Protected Setup, which apparently is a feature installed in the 2007 update that has a major flaw that lets security to be bypassed and broken by hackers. That was installed five years ago, so I really hope WiFi have rectified that feature by now.
Firesheep is just plain scary Jake. SCARINESS. I am not pleased I know these things, and am now looking at WiFi's and how people use their computers in a whole new way. My god. I suddenly feel like becoming a technological hermit and never touching a computer again.
Essentially what everybody needs is good encryption that covers EVERYTHING you do on your wifi, otherwise you will be hacked, and there will be tears and some very sad people. On the wb, encryption that covers your wifi use is called HTTP and SSL. You need stuff like that.
I'm off to do the next task and hopefully it will be more cheerful.
- library earthling
Monday, June 4, 2012
Podcasts
I have never actually downloaded a podcast before. Mainly because I tend to view them as things that would be useful while traveling on a bus or plane, but I have a habit of zoning out or daydreaming when I'm in moving vehicles, buses especially, and I've been known to not notice half an album of music go by before I come out of whatever I'm thinking or dreaming about.
So I've always been of a mind that they're a bit pointless in my case, because if I get distracted by an idea while I listen to a podcast I'd have to replay the recording from the beginning.
But I like the fact that you can learn new languages, or the history of China, or social issues through a podcast. And they're so accessible that it's fantastic.
I quite like the phrasing of the next point 'Consider investigating....' and to be honest, I'm not really interested in how to create a podcast. Well, to be fair, I probably would be if I didn't have about 7 things on my to do list to get done by closing today, but as I do, I'm slightly pushed for time. But I might come back to it on my long weekend.
I added a Doctor Who podcast on my reader, it's quite cool. I'll have to make sure I turn off the updates for it when the new season comes out as it comes out in the UK before it comes out in Australia.
So I've always been of a mind that they're a bit pointless in my case, because if I get distracted by an idea while I listen to a podcast I'd have to replay the recording from the beginning.
But I like the fact that you can learn new languages, or the history of China, or social issues through a podcast. And they're so accessible that it's fantastic.
I quite like the phrasing of the next point 'Consider investigating....' and to be honest, I'm not really interested in how to create a podcast. Well, to be fair, I probably would be if I didn't have about 7 things on my to do list to get done by closing today, but as I do, I'm slightly pushed for time. But I might come back to it on my long weekend.
I added a Doctor Who podcast on my reader, it's quite cool. I'll have to make sure I turn off the updates for it when the new season comes out as it comes out in the UK before it comes out in Australia.
Youtube
YouTube.
I have to say, I've always loved YouTube. So I'm probably going into this task a smidge biased.
I mostly use YouTube however to listen to music, than for educational purposes or to learn how to do something, although apparently you can get a demonstration or step-by-step guide on basically anything on YouTube. Unless it's something you got from BBC and put it up (which is illegal children, don't do it), in which case expect BBC to contact you within two weeks. BBC is vigilant about anything BBC copyrighted being placed on YouTube (seriously, don't do it. You there thinking about putting up Doctor Who or Torchwood or that show your friend said was cool on BBC 2 that they missed, walk away from the computer and don't do it).
How to melt crayons on canvas <--- this is awesome. I didn't even know you could do things like this in art. I did fail art one semester after all. But very cool. Enjoy it people.
I'm not sure I learned anything new (apart from melting crayons on canvas - oh the awesomeness) I'm already pretty familiar with YouTube, but I think I embedded the link right, which I hadn't done before, so I guess actually I did learn something new after all.
- library earthling
I have to say, I've always loved YouTube. So I'm probably going into this task a smidge biased.
I mostly use YouTube however to listen to music, than for educational purposes or to learn how to do something, although apparently you can get a demonstration or step-by-step guide on basically anything on YouTube. Unless it's something you got from BBC and put it up (which is illegal children, don't do it), in which case expect BBC to contact you within two weeks. BBC is vigilant about anything BBC copyrighted being placed on YouTube (seriously, don't do it. You there thinking about putting up Doctor Who or Torchwood or that show your friend said was cool on BBC 2 that they missed, walk away from the computer and don't do it).
How to melt crayons on canvas <--- this is awesome. I didn't even know you could do things like this in art. I did fail art one semester after all. But very cool. Enjoy it people.
I'm not sure I learned anything new (apart from melting crayons on canvas - oh the awesomeness) I'm already pretty familiar with YouTube, but I think I embedded the link right, which I hadn't done before, so I guess actually I did learn something new after all.
- library earthling
Technorati
Technorati sounds as if it would be a great thig if I was interested in being known, or at the very least read more, out in the blogosphere. Seeing as I'm not particularly interested in that happening, I'm pretty happy to mooch along and make these posts with signing up to Technorati. Besides, according to the information given to me by Jake and about.com, my blog has probably already been picked up by Technorati anyway.
I searched 'eLearning' in blog posts, and received 1532 blogs relating to eLearning - which seems like a fair few. I searched posts and only received one post relating to eLearning. I searched eLearning in the Blog Directory and received a grand total of no results. Zero. Nada. Zull.
Which is interesting I suppose.
A lot of the popular blogs on Technorati's Top 100 are seem to be technology or news orientated, although some of the news ones seems to go over into Hollywood gossip stories. But it's nice to see that people are still talking about or accessing the news, it's just that instead of newspapers, they use blogs now.
Popular tags on technorati are the most popular used over the last month. It's fascinating to see the numbers on tag use because I would have thought the numbers would be higher due to the amount of blogs Technorati picks up. Facebook was tagged 32 times over the last month, Which seems very small when considering Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs. It makes me wonder what everyone spends time blogging about, or if people just don't tag what they're talking about very often.
Well. It's been fun, but things to do and 23 things to try to steamroll through. : )
- library earthling
I searched 'eLearning' in blog posts, and received 1532 blogs relating to eLearning - which seems like a fair few. I searched posts and only received one post relating to eLearning. I searched eLearning in the Blog Directory and received a grand total of no results. Zero. Nada. Zull.
Which is interesting I suppose.
A lot of the popular blogs on Technorati's Top 100 are seem to be technology or news orientated, although some of the news ones seems to go over into Hollywood gossip stories. But it's nice to see that people are still talking about or accessing the news, it's just that instead of newspapers, they use blogs now.
Popular tags on technorati are the most popular used over the last month. It's fascinating to see the numbers on tag use because I would have thought the numbers would be higher due to the amount of blogs Technorati picks up. Facebook was tagged 32 times over the last month, Which seems very small when considering Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs. It makes me wonder what everyone spends time blogging about, or if people just don't tag what they're talking about very often.
Well. It's been fun, but things to do and 23 things to try to steamroll through. : )
- library earthling
Delicious
Hi people,
Well, I'm still frantically trying to complete 23 things within 10 weeks.....which is probably a pipedream but I figure I'm not out of the game yet. Even if it is Week 10 this week and I have....10 tasks to go. ha.
Anyway.
I was actually going to write up this post yesterday, involving my adventures on Delicious, but instead got so distracted on account of the wealth of information on Delicious, that I couldn't quite drag myself away.
As a side note: did you know that according to an ancient Greek myth, Andromeda was once a princess of Ethopia? Her mother was so boastful of her own beauty, that she claimed she was more beautiful than the Queen of the Gods, enraging Poseidon, who send a terrible sea monster to ravage Ethopia. Andromeda's parents were told by the oracle of Apollo that the only way to end the attack on Ethopia was to sacrifice their daughter Andromeda to the sea monster. So they chained her naked to a rock on the coast and waited for her to die. But Perseus, traveling home after defeating the Gordon Medusa, saw Andromeda, and fell in love with her. He slew the sea monster and freed Andromeda on the condition that her parents would permit him to marry her. When Andromeda died she was placed by the gods in the sky, forever near Perseus, and her boastful mother Cassiopeia.
- Cassiopeia due to her boastful ways and vanity, was also placed in the sky, but as a punishment by the Gods. She sits upon a chair in the sky, but due to her position around the Pole star, she spends half her time upside down.
As you can see, I got very distracted on delicious. I could tell you more Greek myths (I learned quite a few yesterday thanks to Delicious), but then I wouldn't be rabbiting on about Delicious, I'd be rabbiting on about myths instead
I think it's fantastic that I can bookmark websites I'm interested in, and also find new sites that might interest me, because of the way Delicious works. I could spend hours on Delicious, so it's definitely a 'look at when I'm at home' activity and have a few hours spare. It's easy to use, and if I have any issues with Delicious, it is that it almost feels like there is too much information available. I could go looking for information on there and go, ' ohhh, that looks interesting' (like yesterday), and keep doing so forever. I don't know where it would end.
But Delicious is excellent and a lot of fun and I'll definitely be using it again in the future.
Well, I'm still frantically trying to complete 23 things within 10 weeks.....which is probably a pipedream but I figure I'm not out of the game yet. Even if it is Week 10 this week and I have....10 tasks to go. ha.
Anyway.
I was actually going to write up this post yesterday, involving my adventures on Delicious, but instead got so distracted on account of the wealth of information on Delicious, that I couldn't quite drag myself away.
As a side note: did you know that according to an ancient Greek myth, Andromeda was once a princess of Ethopia? Her mother was so boastful of her own beauty, that she claimed she was more beautiful than the Queen of the Gods, enraging Poseidon, who send a terrible sea monster to ravage Ethopia. Andromeda's parents were told by the oracle of Apollo that the only way to end the attack on Ethopia was to sacrifice their daughter Andromeda to the sea monster. So they chained her naked to a rock on the coast and waited for her to die. But Perseus, traveling home after defeating the Gordon Medusa, saw Andromeda, and fell in love with her. He slew the sea monster and freed Andromeda on the condition that her parents would permit him to marry her. When Andromeda died she was placed by the gods in the sky, forever near Perseus, and her boastful mother Cassiopeia.
- Cassiopeia due to her boastful ways and vanity, was also placed in the sky, but as a punishment by the Gods. She sits upon a chair in the sky, but due to her position around the Pole star, she spends half her time upside down.
As you can see, I got very distracted on delicious. I could tell you more Greek myths (I learned quite a few yesterday thanks to Delicious), but then I wouldn't be rabbiting on about Delicious, I'd be rabbiting on about myths instead
I think it's fantastic that I can bookmark websites I'm interested in, and also find new sites that might interest me, because of the way Delicious works. I could spend hours on Delicious, so it's definitely a 'look at when I'm at home' activity and have a few hours spare. It's easy to use, and if I have any issues with Delicious, it is that it almost feels like there is too much information available. I could go looking for information on there and go, ' ohhh, that looks interesting' (like yesterday), and keep doing so forever. I don't know where it would end.
But Delicious is excellent and a lot of fun and I'll definitely be using it again in the future.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Slideshare
I'm impressed by Slideshare.
I think it's a great idea - and judging by the list of people who use Slideshare (The White House, NASA, The UN, WEF), it's a trusted and reputable medium.
This is a very easy for people who want to learn about, say, The American Civil War, to learn about it in their own homes, at their own speed, for free. I imagine it is also good for people who learn more effectively through visual means than by reading from a book.
There is a great amount of information available on Slideshare, and provided the people running the site check what goes up to make sure the information is correct, I think it is a brilliant idea.
I searched 'American Civil War' (because I'm a history buff) - and received 21653 results which I can then filter down to anything I might want to look at involving this subject.
It's a good medium, and again, it's something that is being added to my list of 'things to play with in my spare time' thanks to 23 things.
- library earthling
I think it's a great idea - and judging by the list of people who use Slideshare (The White House, NASA, The UN, WEF), it's a trusted and reputable medium.
This is a very easy for people who want to learn about, say, The American Civil War, to learn about it in their own homes, at their own speed, for free. I imagine it is also good for people who learn more effectively through visual means than by reading from a book.
There is a great amount of information available on Slideshare, and provided the people running the site check what goes up to make sure the information is correct, I think it is a brilliant idea.
I searched 'American Civil War' (because I'm a history buff) - and received 21653 results which I can then filter down to anything I might want to look at involving this subject.
It's a good medium, and again, it's something that is being added to my list of 'things to play with in my spare time' thanks to 23 things.
- library earthling
Skype
I'm actually already familiar with Skype - I downloaded it on to my computer only a few weeks ago so that I could have a three-way video conversation with a couple of friends of mine - one here in Australia, and the other far far away in Edinburgh, Scotland.
We all had a bit of trouble trying to get the video conversation to work, for a while we could hear each other but not see each other. But we worked it out in the end, and had a very happy conversation face to face for about an hour.
I like Skype - I love the fact that I can have friends on the other side of the world and can still see them face to face thanks to video call.
I don't use Skype regularly, my first time using it was only a few weeks ago, and I haven't used it since. But I'm sure I'll use it again sometime in the future, and I think it's a great bit of technology.
We all had a bit of trouble trying to get the video conversation to work, for a while we could hear each other but not see each other. But we worked it out in the end, and had a very happy conversation face to face for about an hour.
I like Skype - I love the fact that I can have friends on the other side of the world and can still see them face to face thanks to video call.
I don't use Skype regularly, my first time using it was only a few weeks ago, and I haven't used it since. But I'm sure I'll use it again sometime in the future, and I think it's a great bit of technology.
LibriVox
I have to admit, I love LibriVox. I think it's fantastic.
I love the idea of it - that you can download podcasts of some of your favourite books, authors, poems and then carry them with you everywhere. And it's free. It's happiness.
And what's really great about it is that absolutely can take part - if you want to read a poem, a play, a whole entire book series out and be saved and accessible as an audio file, well, guess what? You can. It doesn't matter how good or bad your accent is (which is great considering my weird hybrid of an accent), nobody is going to be turned away or told they can't.
The website it laid out well, it's easy to use, easy to find books that interest you. It's fabulous.
I love the idea of it - that you can download podcasts of some of your favourite books, authors, poems and then carry them with you everywhere. And it's free. It's happiness.
And what's really great about it is that absolutely can take part - if you want to read a poem, a play, a whole entire book series out and be saved and accessible as an audio file, well, guess what? You can. It doesn't matter how good or bad your accent is (which is great considering my weird hybrid of an accent), nobody is going to be turned away or told they can't.
The website it laid out well, it's easy to use, easy to find books that interest you. It's fabulous.
Google Books
Hi People,
Firstly, before I ramble on in my own weird little way about Google Books on this fine Saturday (this fine Saturday I'm working I'll hasten to add), I'd like to say: it never occured to me that people from the other side of the world would read this.
Which in hindsight maybe it should have. So. To those in England, Germany, India, South Korea, and the United States: Hey, hope my blogs have been enjoyable to read. If you've seen my first posts you'll know I'm doing this as staff development by taking part in 23 things (if you don't know what 23 things is, go to our ol' buddy Google and google it).
If you're a fellow countrymen/women (for people concerned with PC): In the famous words of Robin Hood : Men in Tights, 'Lend me your ears!'. I hope you have also enjoyed the read so far and am enjoying a leisurely Saturday.
Now, Google Books.
I actually find Google Books quite enjoyable. You can pretty much type in any book title (I know, I've tried), and you will get a hit. You will get the whole book if copyright has ended, every second page if it hasn't.
Libraries, well reputed, famous University libraries have thrown their weight behind Google books, and I can see why. It's immensely useful, especially when I'm trying to track down the exact correct title of a textbook for a lecturer but it's not right in the reading list. So Google has helped my life easier, which is always pleasant.
You can read whole books for free, which is fantastic (coincidently, while I'm on the subject: Wikipedia has a free content online library called Wikisource and is fabulous - I've spent the last few days reading the complete poems of Wilfred Owen), and very easy to read.
I have added some digitised books per 23 thing's orders, and I quite like the options that Google gives you involving the book: you can zoom in and out, view one or two pages at a time, bring the whole book up in thumbnails, crop, copy the link, add it to your favourites, or read, or to read....it almost feels endless.
Well. I'm going to eat a Tim Tam and then go on to do my next task.
- library earthling
Firstly, before I ramble on in my own weird little way about Google Books on this fine Saturday (this fine Saturday I'm working I'll hasten to add), I'd like to say: it never occured to me that people from the other side of the world would read this.
Which in hindsight maybe it should have. So. To those in England, Germany, India, South Korea, and the United States: Hey, hope my blogs have been enjoyable to read. If you've seen my first posts you'll know I'm doing this as staff development by taking part in 23 things (if you don't know what 23 things is, go to our ol' buddy Google and google it).
If you're a fellow countrymen/women (for people concerned with PC): In the famous words of Robin Hood : Men in Tights, 'Lend me your ears!'. I hope you have also enjoyed the read so far and am enjoying a leisurely Saturday.
Now, Google Books.
I actually find Google Books quite enjoyable. You can pretty much type in any book title (I know, I've tried), and you will get a hit. You will get the whole book if copyright has ended, every second page if it hasn't.
Libraries, well reputed, famous University libraries have thrown their weight behind Google books, and I can see why. It's immensely useful, especially when I'm trying to track down the exact correct title of a textbook for a lecturer but it's not right in the reading list. So Google has helped my life easier, which is always pleasant.
You can read whole books for free, which is fantastic (coincidently, while I'm on the subject: Wikipedia has a free content online library called Wikisource and is fabulous - I've spent the last few days reading the complete poems of Wilfred Owen), and very easy to read.
I have added some digitised books per 23 thing's orders, and I quite like the options that Google gives you involving the book: you can zoom in and out, view one or two pages at a time, bring the whole book up in thumbnails, crop, copy the link, add it to your favourites, or read, or to read....it almost feels endless.
Well. I'm going to eat a Tim Tam and then go on to do my next task.
- library earthling
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