happy _face

happy _face
Originally uploaded by maxkalehhoff.

Happy Face - Right back atcha to the Emerging Technologies team!

To the Emerging Technologies team,
You have made it all so easy and so much fun. I am totally hooked.
Thank you!

Happy Face

It was very rewarding to check the Emerging Technologies participant blogs and find a smiley face beside my blog's title. It isn't because I am happy that the program is over though, quite the contrary. This mini course was the best learning experience I have had on the internet and I would gladly continue on with it indefinitely if it were possible(no incentives required). I feel very fortunate to have been permitted to take part in this program and I am extremely grateful to the Emerging Technologies Team for all the time, effort and expertise that went into making this course so worthwhile.
The activities were well thought out, presented in a nonthreatening, fun format, and divided into bitesized chunks that were easy to swallow. I always felt challenged but I never felt overwhelmed. Over the course of the next few weeks I hope to revisit some of the activities and explore some of the enrichment readings that the team made available but which I was unable to get to during the regular course of events.
Here's a spin off bonus that perhaps no one on the team anticipated - the Web 2.0 Technologies program has brought me closer to my children. We now have another shared interest which we can discuss. It was my daughter who forwarded me the 'grocery store spoof' of web2.0 technologies because she knew that I would NOW be able to appreciate the references in the humour.
The drop-in sessions were a great addition. The team was always accessible. There was an attitude of 'there are no stupid questions' (thankfully). The learning was fun! .... I could go on and on.
I will conclude by simply saying THANK YOU to Amanda and the team. You have made a difference.

Bookmarkleting Morris

This was so much easier than I had imagined. It was a simple matter to install Morris Bookmarklet using an executable file on Internet Explorer. I am amazed with its performance. It was one thing to read that "bookmarklets are bits of javascript code that are embedded into the URL of a 'favourite' which performs an action(such as searching a database from another website)", but it was quite another thing to actually see it in action. There was a definite 'close to home WOW factor' involved. I'm impressed with the work of Wiktor Rzeczkowski. I was able to search Morris by highlighting excerpts from several different websites and the results were impressive. So far I have been experimenting using a Subject search but I can see where Author, Journal, Title, and Keyword searches could also be useful. I think this is a very valuable tool. I guess the ET team have been saving the best for the last. I know I will use the Morris Bookmarklet often.

Browsing toward the finish line

I have been a bit reluctant to complete some of the activities for this week. Some of the information in the 'overview' made me a bit apprehensive. I do the activities on my computer at home and statements such as 'keep in mind that too many add-ons will slow down your browser's performance' and 'for security reasons, download from reputable sources' set off alarm bells. I had trouble with unwanted spam and sluggishness with my last computer and there is a part of me that wants to keep this one 'light and lean'. If I customize my browser to provide additional functionality, I'm not sure I would make enough use of it to justify its installation.
I trust the ET team and have had only positive experiences in this course. So, I have installed Firefox on my computer. It was easy, simply a matter of following the prompts. In preparation for adding a tool, I read the article 'Top 10 Firefox Extentions to Avoid'. It was a bit confusing in some ways, as it warned against certain extensions that it also recommended. I reviewed the list of add-ons available on Firefox. Disclaimers such as 'no spyware or viruses' or 'does not open pop-ups or hyjack your searches' did not fill me with confidence. I finally selected 1-click weather 1.14 as an add-on, but once again got cold feet when asked if I wanted to save the file and the pop-up window warned 'while files from the internet can be useful, some files can potentially harm your computer. If you do not trust the source do not save this file.' I will press on.

Gaming cont'd

I have always enjoyed 'wasting' time on the computer with Scrabble, Bridge, and Trivial Pursuit and I have just added to the list of activities that could whittle away the hours by trying my hand at 'The Cradle of Rome' where I managed to build a saw mill. It was a minor achievement at best.
I believe there is a place and a use for Gaming and Virtual Worlds in Education and some of the benefits are obvious; sparking interest, increasing reading, sharpening reaction time, stimulating brain activity, providing a jumping off point, etc. As with any tool, it largely depends on the craftsman and how he chooses to use it.

Gaming and Virtual Environments

Sadly I was unable to attend any of the 'drop in' sessions related to gaming. From my readings, it sounds like they were a lot of fun and a big success. I did attempt to join Second Life. I had first heard about Second Life while listening to CBC radio about six months ago and although the interview caught my interest and I was curious, I hadn't pursued it at that time. I decided that week ten's assignment was the perfect opportunity for me to check it out. I submitted all of the information, selected a name for myself(couldn't resist the surname MILLS) and chose an avatar. Unfortunately, I could not run the program on my computer(2 years old)??? I did read a few of the related articles posted on the Second Life homepage and I will make a Second Attempt at Second Life soon.

Supermarket - video 'spoof' of Web2.0

This video was brought to my attention and I think members of this course will appreciate the references.

http://www.glumbert.com/media/supermarket

Facebook

What did I know about 'facebook' before joining?? Well, what with having 3 twenty-something offspring, I knew it was a site that occupied a lot of their time. I knew that it was originally a university student site, designed for keeping in touch and reconnecting with friends and classmates. My preconceived notion was that it was an elaborate message sending site for young people.
What do I know about 'facebook' now that I have joined? Well, in many ways it is exactly what I had expected. It is what it claims to be, 'a social utility that connects you with the people around you'.
The best part about facebook for me was being able to add my two daughters as my 'friends'. I even like the sound of that sentence.
The fact that they are both studying in Dublin Ireland at the moment has meant that I do not always get my 'daily fix' of them, and needless to say, I miss them very much. Thank goodness for SKYPE, but facebook too has given me another way of connecting with them that makes them seem closer to home.
Let's see, we have written on each others' walls. We have sent messages back and forth. We've poked each other.........but I guess the best part for me is just glancing through their many photo albums. It gives me a glimpse into their daily routines and assures me that all is well.
Aside from my children(and their roommates) I don't know anyone else on facebook. I searched all of my hotmail address contacts and none of them is on facebook. So, as 'a social utility that connects you with the people around you', facebook is NOT for me; but as a social utility that connects me with my loved ones, facebook is a success.

Flickr Toys

I had fun in fd's flickr toys, creating a Magazine Cover - so easy! Using a digital photo of my 'offspring', I turned them into instant 'celebs'. So many other interesting distractions on this site to amuse and entertain. Creating Calendars with photos looked promising and so did Captioner. I'm looking forward to returning to play again, but for now it is on to 'My Space' and Facebook. This is the photo I used for the Magazine Cover

Zoho

It is useful to realize that tools such as this exist on the internet for free. I played with the planner and could see that it would be handy in several ways. I was able to share pages successfully, make To Do lists, record appointments, make new pages and request reminders. It was all very straight forward.

Week 8 - Google Docs & Spreadsheets

I am working my way down the list of sites to visit this week and have logically started at the top of the list. I have spent some time experimenting with Google Docs & Spreadsheets and found it easy to get started and familiar in its applications. I created a document and experimented with the tools. I had no difficulty importing photos to the ducument and creating a link to my blog. I was able to easily email the document to my hotmail address and univmail.
Where I ran into difficulty was when I attempted to post the document to my blog. I followed the steps of the instructions but a dialogue box stating 'there was an unexpected problem' appeared, saying 'we're sorry but the username/password combination you've entered is either invalid or you don't have permission to access this blog'. I tried several times with the same result. Am I missing something??

Egg-cellent!

Egg-cellent!
Originally uploaded by KristinRanae.

Sending this egg from flickr......just for fun and practice. Have a cracking good weekend!!!!!!

Flickr and adding photos

Just spending a little time experimenting with adding photos.

I'm not sure why, but sometimes they upload and sometimes they don't.

Tried to add a photo to my profile but was unsuccessful. Will try again when I have more time.

Opened an account with flickr. Couldn't have been easier. Hope to explore the site more at my leisure. They say a photo is worth a thousand words, so it is a valuable tool.

del.icio.us

I have now set up a del.icio.us account and have even added a few websites. Spending time on del.icio.us is easy and it was difficult to drag myself away from 'browsing' in order to spend a few minutes blogging about the experience. There is no shortage of interesting material. Some of the tags are exactly what I would apply, but some are a bit more obscure. I think that del.icio.us is more personal and subjective than a google search. From this short initial visit, I found del.icio.us more international than google. I will definitely be going back ..... and soon.

Liking and Linking

Two quick comments/observations:
1) I'm liking blogging more and more. It's as easy as email and has more potential.
2) It was great to have the individual attention provided at the drop-in session with Amanda and Kelly. Thank you for spending your time and sharing your expertise ...... and for showing patience even with the dumbest of questions. Here's Emerging Technologies as a link to this blog.

Moving On

I have completed week four's activities and am about to move on to week five, but before I do, I want to Blog about my experience.
I know I have said it before, but it amazes me how these activities are so totally absorbing! I need to remind myself to keep checking the clock when working on them because I lose all sense of time.
I have created a page on myfavouritebooks and added Virtual Travel to Digital Reference. Both wikis were easy to follow and manipulate. My difficulty with the Digital Reference Wiki was in deciding what to add. After reading through the tutorial, the phrase 'try adding......whatever you think might be useful' left me staring at the computer screen for a long time, stumped for an idea.
I am very grateful for this oppurtunity to be exposed to these new technologies but I am overcome with a feeling of 'so much to play with and so little time' and I know I am just barely scratching the surface.

Week Four

I am still playing catch-up. Week five's activities have been posted and I am still engaged in completing week four's assignments. I have been checking out wikis and have created a page on Myfavouritebooks but there is so much more to explore. I am amazed at how 'time' gets consumed whenever I sit down to these activities. Black holes could learn something from their powers. I am looking forward to having the two weeks which are slated for further exploration and I am excited about the workshops planned in the Wong classroom - I feel I really need the 'human' aid and hands-on direction.

Snooping

Rather than beginning Week Four and its activities tonight, I decided to spend some more time visiting the blogs of other participants in the Learning 2.0@Mac program. There are some amazing and very interesting ramblings out there and I have only gotten about half way through. This too is addicting! I'm hoping that I will be able to apply what I read in Blog Adventures(Tam's blog) about 'how to add a link to Google Reader to my Blog(on the right side bar)'??. I also spent some time wandering through Blogger's Help pages. I will sleep on this information in the hope that it will all come together in the light of day.

Next Step

I've been taking some 'baby steps of discovery' and am clearly still at the 'more questions than answers' stage, but as I navigate around the sites, my comfort level is increasing. I have chosen Google Reader as my aggregator and have started subscribing to some of the feeds suggested. That part is fun and so far it all seems fairly easy but I am aware that I have barely scratched the surface and my understanding is rudimentary at best. I now need to find a way to add the subscribed feeds to my blog??

Getting Started

Mastering Web 2.0 tools will mean experimenting, exploring & manipulating the materials and if I intend to 'get it down pat' and learn these new technologies, I shouldn't put it off any longer. As it is, I am already off to a late start and I have some catching up to do. I am excited about the opportunity that ETG is providing by offering this series of 'fun activities'. I'm sure there will be moments of confusion and doubt but hopefully it will lead to eventual enlightenment........or at least an increased comfort level when dealing with these tools!!?!!