Happy Face - Right back atcha to the Emerging Technologies team!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
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.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
