In the past few weeks, a couple of technology-related articles caught my attention. Both were published in the St Paul Pioneer Press (and yes, I am one of those Luddites who pays to have the newspaper delivered to my doorstep instead of reading it online.)
The first article appeared in the Sunday Nov 17th Pioneer Press on page E5 and it is entitled "If Your Blog Dies, Will Anyone But You Know?" The article is an interview with Derek Gordon, vice president for marketing for Technorati (the Internet search engine for searching blogs). He said the number of blogs world wide is growing (109.2 million is one number he quoted). But no one is reading those blogs! Here is a quote from the article: "The vast majority of blogs exist in a state of total or near-total obscurity." So, for those of you who are worried about what will happen to your blogs when SPPL Learning 2.0 is over, "STOP WORRYING!" You can't get any more obsure than you probably are now.
The second article appeared in the November 16, 2007 Pioneer Press and it talks about how Concordia University in St Paul is switching from Microsoft Outlook-based software to Google Apps. (GOING ALL-OUT FOR GOOGLE ST. PAUL'S CONCORDIA U. IS AMONG SWITCHERS TO THE SEARCH GIANT'S ONLINE SOFTWARE SUITE.) Apparently, Google Apps online software is less-costly than Microsoft software and offers many of the same options: e-mail (dubbed Gmail), scheduling, instant messaging, online document sharing, and more.
I thought it was interesting that when preparing for this particular exercise in Learning 2.0, I looked at several of the other participants blogs. A couple of blogs said they didn't understand the relevance of all the 2.0 learning activities in their lives or in their work. I, too, am having problems understanding how I will use some of these new found technologies. But, having used several of the online Google software products, I have to say I am looking forward to Week 9 of the program. Hopefully, we will be exploring Goople software in more detail!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Exercise #6 More Flickr fun
In an earlier post, I mentioned that findng the time to do the Learning 2.0 work would be the most difficult part of the program for me. That has certainly been true for the past couple weeks as I have been busy working on the capstone project for my Master Naturalist Program. In addition to "counting oak seedlings in an area of the nature center following buckthorn removal and controlled burns," I have been preparing my part of the group's powerpoint presentation.
While preparing that powerpoint presentation I accidentally learned how to do a mash-up. My intent was to show an aerial view of The Nature Center with the four 20 x 20 foot areas marked where we counted oak seedlings. It took alot of experimenting. When I finished, I showed the powerpoint to a group member who then said "Wow! Great Mashup!" My respsonse was a mix of "thanks!" and "huh??" (because I didn't realize at the time that I was creating a mashup!)
Alas, I cannot show you this mashup because I didn't save it as a jpg or gif (and blogger seems to require you to have on those formats to display an image.) I also haven't figured out how to upload ( or if you can upload) a powerpoint image or word document/image to a blog.
In any event, here are two trading cards I created with the help of Flickr and FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. Enjoy!
While preparing that powerpoint presentation I accidentally learned how to do a mash-up. My intent was to show an aerial view of The Nature Center with the four 20 x 20 foot areas marked where we counted oak seedlings. It took alot of experimenting. When I finished, I showed the powerpoint to a group member who then said "Wow! Great Mashup!" My respsonse was a mix of "thanks!" and "huh??" (because I didn't realize at the time that I was creating a mashup!)
Alas, I cannot show you this mashup because I didn't save it as a jpg or gif (and blogger seems to require you to have on those formats to display an image.) I also haven't figured out how to upload ( or if you can upload) a powerpoint image or word document/image to a blog.
In any event, here are two trading cards I created with the help of Flickr and FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Week 3 Exercise 5 Part 2 -- Flickr
Following is a link to part two of exercise 5 in SPPL's Learning 2.0 program:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18829975@N05/1906550989
I think I may have tagged this photo incorrectly because it doesn't show up when I do a search on "stpaulpubliclibrary". This is also NOT the branch where I work. (I guess I didn't do too well on this part of the program.) I took this photo a couple of years ago using a cheap disposable camera. (Sorry. I don't own a digital camera. But, I am open to recommendations regarding purchasing one.) When I had the film developed, I requested a photo disk. It took me a while to figure out how to upload this photo to Flickr. But, once I figured out you have to save the photo to the hard drive before you upload, I had no problems posting it on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18829975@N05/1906550989
I think I may have tagged this photo incorrectly because it doesn't show up when I do a search on "stpaulpubliclibrary". This is also NOT the branch where I work. (I guess I didn't do too well on this part of the program.) I took this photo a couple of years ago using a cheap disposable camera. (Sorry. I don't own a digital camera. But, I am open to recommendations regarding purchasing one.) When I had the film developed, I requested a photo disk. It took me a while to figure out how to upload this photo to Flickr. But, once I figured out you have to save the photo to the hard drive before you upload, I had no problems posting it on Flickr.
Week 3 Exercise 5 -- Flickr
The Libray Slayer has been a bit busy with the Halloween antics of her branch's younger patrons and hasn't had as much time as she would like to participate in SPPL's Learning 2.0. But, hey, I made it to Week Three! (This is where I would usually lose momentum or get bogged down in other Learning 2.0 programs I tried.)
Here's a photo from Flickr (courtesy of dobak): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dobak/466496289/
I chose this because on the night that one of our more mischievous patrons set fire to the branch's outdoor trash can, I was across town tromping through the woods, practicing owl calls with my Master Naturalist class. So, which would you rather do: tromp through the dark woods hooting like an owl or put out a fire in a trash can?
Here's a photo from Flickr (courtesy of dobak): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dobak/466496289/
I chose this because on the night that one of our more mischievous patrons set fire to the branch's outdoor trash can, I was across town tromping through the woods, practicing owl calls with my Master Naturalist class. So, which would you rather do: tromp through the dark woods hooting like an owl or put out a fire in a trash can?
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