For Exercise 23
Finally, I have reached the finale of this programme.
It is one of an interesting self-learning experiences that I've tried. We are being introduced with a wide variety of online applications which are useful and simple tools in assisting us to make use of them to create library resources/reference materials in future. Also, I found them very handy for enriching the contents of my own blog.
If REF is going to launch a continuation of the programme, I would take part in it and recommend my colleagues to join as well.
Thank you for the hard work of REF colleagues in coordinating this programme.
Jun 28, 2010
Apr 10, 2010
Your Personal Search Engine
For Exercise 12
After exploring the website of Rollyo, I am registered with the site and created an entry in the Searchrolls in 15 minutes.
I'm impressed with its search function from all the websites at the same time which I added in the Searchroll which I created. I've created my searchroll "About Jane Austen" and it turns out to be very convenient to find a specific subject from my selected websites at just one click. I even added the Searchroll search engine at my blog here.
After exploring the website of Rollyo, I am registered with the site and created an entry in the Searchrolls in 15 minutes.
I'm impressed with its search function from all the websites at the same time which I added in the Searchroll which I created. I've created my searchroll "About Jane Austen" and it turns out to be very convenient to find a specific subject from my selected websites at just one click. I even added the Searchroll search engine at my blog here.
Apr 3, 2010
Social Networking
For Exercise 22
Social networking applications are a great invention in the 21st century. In my personal experience, it is very useful for me to keep in touch with my old classmates, friends and relatives who are living abroad and people who share the same interests with me. We can know how our friends are doing as they would update their status in these applications. Since we seldom send letters to each other nowadays because of email, applications like Facebook and MySpace are essential in helping us to communicate with each other.
Since most people are connected with Facebook and they check it quite often, it is a useful tool for the libraries to promote their activities via Facebook.
Social networking applications are a great invention in the 21st century. In my personal experience, it is very useful for me to keep in touch with my old classmates, friends and relatives who are living abroad and people who share the same interests with me. We can know how our friends are doing as they would update their status in these applications. Since we seldom send letters to each other nowadays because of email, applications like Facebook and MySpace are essential in helping us to communicate with each other.
Since most people are connected with Facebook and they check it quite often, it is a useful tool for the libraries to promote their activities via Facebook.
Podcasts
For Exercise 21
From this discovery exercise, I surfed through the 3 suggested podcast directories. There are a wide range of interests covered by podcasts. I found those on literature and piano learning most fascinating.
For the piano podcasts, they gave useful tips for adult learners in acquiring the techniques via the audio clips and texts in their blogs.
I think podcasts are good for English language learners to practice their listening skills. It is because there is no scripts for listeners and so one must pay attention to focus on the clip.
From this discovery exercise, I surfed through the 3 suggested podcast directories. There are a wide range of interests covered by podcasts. I found those on literature and piano learning most fascinating.
For the piano podcasts, they gave useful tips for adult learners in acquiring the techniques via the audio clips and texts in their blogs.
I think podcasts are good for English language learners to practice their listening skills. It is because there is no scripts for listeners and so one must pay attention to focus on the clip.
YouTube
For Exercise 20
I've been a YouTube addict for a few years. It is a big treasure box for me to watch my favorite local drama and Japanese animation cartoon which I enjoyed a lot when I was a kid.
YouTube is also a great place to watch things which are the talk of the town and could not be viewed from local TV network, such as the performance of Susan Boyle from the Britain Got Talents' TV show.
To vote for my favorite video in YouTube, the Sound of Music at Belgium Antwrep Central Station is at the top of my list:
The video starts with commuters in the train station are puzzling when the music from the movie the Sound of Music starts playiing. Then a few people go to the middle of the lobby and dance along with the song, and more and more people join in. Finally, there are over a hundred dancers in the lobby! The onlookers enjoy the scene a lot and I also got very excited watching their "performance". The whole thing is beautifully done.
I hope you would enjoy this amazing video the way I do.
I've been a YouTube addict for a few years. It is a big treasure box for me to watch my favorite local drama and Japanese animation cartoon which I enjoyed a lot when I was a kid.
YouTube is also a great place to watch things which are the talk of the town and could not be viewed from local TV network, such as the performance of Susan Boyle from the Britain Got Talents' TV show.
To vote for my favorite video in YouTube, the Sound of Music at Belgium Antwrep Central Station is at the top of my list:
The video starts with commuters in the train station are puzzling when the music from the movie the Sound of Music starts playiing. Then a few people go to the middle of the lobby and dance along with the song, and more and more people join in. Finally, there are over a hundred dancers in the lobby! The onlookers enjoy the scene a lot and I also got very excited watching their "performance". The whole thing is beautifully done.
I hope you would enjoy this amazing video the way I do.
More 2.0 Tools
For Exercise 19
In this exercise, I selected to explore one of the awarded site under the category "Fun Stuff" and it is the "hairmixer".
The hairmixer's application allows you to key in your own photos with the hair style of your selected celebrities. We can then see if the their hair style us suitable for us. However, the database of this US-base website is mainly Hollywood's stars, their hair color and shape of their faces do not match well with Asian users, but it's still good to act for reference and to dream of as a star.
In this exercise, I selected to explore one of the awarded site under the category "Fun Stuff" and it is the "hairmixer".
The hairmixer's application allows you to key in your own photos with the hair style of your selected celebrities. We can then see if the their hair style us suitable for us. However, the database of this US-base website is mainly Hollywood's stars, their hair color and shape of their faces do not match well with Asian users, but it's still good to act for reference and to dream of as a star.
Apr 2, 2010
Web-based Applications
For Exercise 18
This is a text I posted here via using the Zoho Writer.
It is very easy to use as the toolbar is almost the same as Words which I use everyday.With just one click, this text could be posted on blogger and other kinds of blog in an instant.
*****
Onxy E-book Reader
As a book lover, there are over a hundred books on my bookshelf. I like the texture and smell of paper. They gave me a sense of security. However, storing space in the bookshelf is very limited. I need to give away some old books for the new one.
Recently, I bought a e-book reader called the Onxy E-book Reader. With its handy and cool design, I can now download books from online which helps to save storing space of books.
Feb 17, 2010
Using a Wiki
For Exercise 17
After getting to know the functions of a Wiki from the previous exercise, I have the chance to work on a Wiki for real.
In this new exercise, I explored the http://learning20rrs.pbworks.com/. There we will have to request access first then we can edit the pages. I contributed in several "favorite" pages, such as Favorite movies, restaurants, vacation spots and sports. The application is as simple as doing a Word document, except you have to set the display method of the new links, whether to be opened in the same page, or in a new window. By the way, I like the topics being selected and I'm very happy to share my favorite things with my colleagues.
After getting to know the functions of a Wiki from the previous exercise, I have the chance to work on a Wiki for real.
In this new exercise, I explored the http://learning20rrs.pbworks.com/. There we will have to request access first then we can edit the pages. I contributed in several "favorite" pages, such as Favorite movies, restaurants, vacation spots and sports. The application is as simple as doing a Word document, except you have to set the display method of the new links, whether to be opened in the same page, or in a new window. By the way, I like the topics being selected and I'm very happy to share my favorite things with my colleagues.
What's in a Wiki
For Exercise 16
Ever since the appearance of Wikipedia, it has became one of my handy tools in getting factual information of historical events, movies, celebrities and books and their authors. I prefer to search information from Wikipedia over other kind of website, because of its one-at-a-glance plain page design, without the hassle to click many buttons and jump from page to page.
For those who have limited skills in webpage design, a Wiki is an easy and convenience way to use it for simple publishing and to be shared among a community. The basic design of a Wiki is somewhat like the text version of a webpage. With reference to the BookLoversWiki of Princeton Public Library, a little bit design is added to the interface which made it more appealing.
I'm surprised to discover that Wiki could be used as an event page, like the 2009 ALA Annual Conference. The way the conference detailed are presented is convenience to its members to skip for those information which they need with the topic words stated, without the need to read everything. For the libraries, I think it will be useful for the posting of library courses.
Ever since the appearance of Wikipedia, it has became one of my handy tools in getting factual information of historical events, movies, celebrities and books and their authors. I prefer to search information from Wikipedia over other kind of website, because of its one-at-a-glance plain page design, without the hassle to click many buttons and jump from page to page.
For those who have limited skills in webpage design, a Wiki is an easy and convenience way to use it for simple publishing and to be shared among a community. The basic design of a Wiki is somewhat like the text version of a webpage. With reference to the BookLoversWiki of Princeton Public Library, a little bit design is added to the interface which made it more appealing.
I'm surprised to discover that Wiki could be used as an event page, like the 2009 ALA Annual Conference. The way the conference detailed are presented is convenience to its members to skip for those information which they need with the topic words stated, without the need to read everything. For the libraries, I think it will be useful for the posting of library courses.
Feb 16, 2010
Library 2.0 & Web 2.0
For Exercise 15
Though I'm working in an academic library, I have not take any programme in library science before. In a user's point of view, Dr. Wendy Schultz's Library 4.0 in her article To a temporary place in time is quite a perfect one. Of course, it will take time for a library to evolve to such an ideal one.
After reading the perspectives listed, most librarians which contributed the articles proposed to add more interactive features in the library webpage so as to putting the library closer with users and to have their active particiption. Like many online bookshops, Amazon has been doing quite a good job in providing interactive elements on its webpage already for a long time. These commerical websites encourage users' participation and attract traffics. Readers' reviews are a good reference for potential buyers. I think the libraries can take reference from the successful online bookshops to observe what kind of services are avaliable for users.
Though I'm working in an academic library, I have not take any programme in library science before. In a user's point of view, Dr. Wendy Schultz's Library 4.0 in her article To a temporary place in time is quite a perfect one. Of course, it will take time for a library to evolve to such an ideal one.
After reading the perspectives listed, most librarians which contributed the articles proposed to add more interactive features in the library webpage so as to putting the library closer with users and to have their active particiption. Like many online bookshops, Amazon has been doing quite a good job in providing interactive elements on its webpage already for a long time. These commerical websites encourage users' participation and attract traffics. Readers' reviews are a good reference for potential buyers. I think the libraries can take reference from the successful online bookshops to observe what kind of services are avaliable for users.
Searching for Blogs
For Exercise 14
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. According to the explanation in Wikipedia, the name Technorati "is a blend of the words technology and literati, which invokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism". (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technorati)
In the first exercise, by searching "Learning 2.0" in Blogs/Posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory from Technorati, different results are generated:
1. Blogs/Posts - got a blog with an article on Learning 2.0 from Blogs; got many different blogs with "learning" and "2.0" in their content;
2. Tags - no same or similar keywords can be found
3. Blog Directory - no result from search
For the second exercise, as the What's Popular page is not avaliable now (Technorati's Popular section is currently unavailable. Popular features will return in the near future. Popular videos are available now in the new Technorati Video Section), no comment could be made at the moment.
Technorati is quite an informative platform with a wide varieties of topics from blogs. As most of its users are probably from the America, all the information listed in the homepage is generally on American politics, entertainment and technology. As a user in Asia, there is a distant between me and the American news which I have no background, but it's still a good way to know what is happening in the other side of the world.
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. According to the explanation in Wikipedia, the name Technorati "is a blend of the words technology and literati, which invokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism". (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technorati)
In the first exercise, by searching "Learning 2.0" in Blogs/Posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory from Technorati, different results are generated:
1. Blogs/Posts - got a blog with an article on Learning 2.0 from Blogs; got many different blogs with "learning" and "2.0" in their content;
2. Tags - no same or similar keywords can be found
3. Blog Directory - no result from search
For the second exercise, as the What's Popular page is not avaliable now (Technorati's Popular section is currently unavailable. Popular features will return in the near future. Popular videos are available now in the new Technorati Video Section), no comment could be made at the moment.
Technorati is quite an informative platform with a wide varieties of topics from blogs. As most of its users are probably from the America, all the information listed in the homepage is generally on American politics, entertainment and technology. As a user in Asia, there is a distant between me and the American news which I have no background, but it's still a good way to know what is happening in the other side of the world.
Tagging & Social Bookmarking
For Exercise 13
Hello there! Happy Chinese New Year!
What a great start in the Year of Tiger to learn something new!
Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. Users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen index terms (generating a kind of folksonomy).
After exploring the Delicious website, I'm now with a clearer idea about tagging and thrilled to know that the mass of grey and black words grouping together is called "tag cloud" in which the size of those word reflects their popularity. What I like Delicious most is that we can organzie our favourite sites by centralizing them in one place and can access them anywhere! It's much more easy than managing "My Favorites" in the PC.
I tried to take a look of the bookmarks under the tag "books" and very happy to see a number of very useful websites, together with related tags like "library", "literature", "ebook", etc. It's great to know what websites are popularly bookmarked and what are the most popular tags nowsaday.
The registering procedure is very simple and easy to follow. I created an account for myself and saved some bookmarks in my account already - My Delicious. Also, I've put the network badge at the right column of my blog. You are very welcome to join my network!
Hello there! Happy Chinese New Year!
What a great start in the Year of Tiger to learn something new!
Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. Users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen index terms (generating a kind of folksonomy).
After exploring the Delicious website, I'm now with a clearer idea about tagging and thrilled to know that the mass of grey and black words grouping together is called "tag cloud" in which the size of those word reflects their popularity. What I like Delicious most is that we can organzie our favourite sites by centralizing them in one place and can access them anywhere! It's much more easy than managing "My Favorites" in the PC.
I tried to take a look of the bookmarks under the tag "books" and very happy to see a number of very useful websites, together with related tags like "library", "literature", "ebook", etc. It's great to know what websites are popularly bookmarked and what are the most popular tags nowsaday.
The registering procedure is very simple and easy to follow. I created an account for myself and saved some bookmarks in my account already - My Delicious. Also, I've put the network badge at the right column of my blog. You are very welcome to join my network!
Feb 12, 2010
LibraryThing
For Exercise 11
Apart from eating and sleeping, reading is an important element for me to sustain my life.
The first application I know for listing books is weRead from Facebook. Members share their comments of the books that they read in a simple platform. Compared to weRead, the LibraryThing is a much greater reading community with more features. One of its features which I like is that it would give reading recommendation to me according to my reading list. Sure I am very interested to know what other similar books are avaliable.
It is also interesting that it allows interaction between authors and reader in their Author Chats forum, and it provide a platform for members and authors to give their books away to another member who write a review about the book and being selected randomly. It is quite a meaningful way to clear the shelves for new books and for the authors to promote their works.
You are welcome to visit my library in the LibraryThing below, or check the widget of my library in the right column:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/darbyshaw
Enjoy reading!
Apart from eating and sleeping, reading is an important element for me to sustain my life.
The first application I know for listing books is weRead from Facebook. Members share their comments of the books that they read in a simple platform. Compared to weRead, the LibraryThing is a much greater reading community with more features. One of its features which I like is that it would give reading recommendation to me according to my reading list. Sure I am very interested to know what other similar books are avaliable.
It is also interesting that it allows interaction between authors and reader in their Author Chats forum, and it provide a platform for members and authors to give their books away to another member who write a review about the book and being selected randomly. It is quite a meaningful way to clear the shelves for new books and for the authors to promote their works.
You are welcome to visit my library in the LibraryThing below, or check the widget of my library in the right column:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/darbyshaw
Enjoy reading!
Feb 11, 2010
Image Generators
For Exercise 10
Great to have something new to discover in this exercise!
I'm thrilled to found out that there are many different kinds of image generators which could serve for different purposes, such as for making your own garden signs, post-it, magazine cover.......you name it! I created a movie poster for one of my favorite cartoon character by using the Movie Poster generator in BigHughLabs and here is the image:
The generators here are very easy to use, just upload an image and type a few words then click. It is especially useful to those who do not have softwares like PhotoShop. However, the layout of the design is limited and so there's not much change we can do.
Apart from the poster, I also created a header for my blog using the Blog Header generator and applied it in this blog already. This is one of the items which I wanted to know how to make one for a long time. Thanks for the Web2.0 Team for introducing this funny and useful exercise to us! Happy Chinese New Year!
Finding Feeds
For Exercise 9
Amongst the search tools for finding feeds as suggested in the exercise, I think the Bloglines' search tool is the most convenient and easy to use. Once keywords are entered, buttons for feed preview and subscription to the feed come out together with the search results.The result page is simple and easy to read, without too much irrelevant information cramping in one page.
Meanwhile, I found that both the Bloglines' Search and Google blog search are very good search engines for articles in blogs. From my search of a BBC drama "Lost in Austen", I found some very interesting reviews and writings on it. I'm also happy to find the blog of the Seattle Public Library from the searching process which has a very rich content of books and popular culture.
Amongst the search tools for finding feeds as suggested in the exercise, I think the Bloglines' search tool is the most convenient and easy to use. Once keywords are entered, buttons for feed preview and subscription to the feed come out together with the search results.The result page is simple and easy to read, without too much irrelevant information cramping in one page.
Meanwhile, I found that both the Bloglines' Search and Google blog search are very good search engines for articles in blogs. From my search of a BBC drama "Lost in Austen", I found some very interesting reviews and writings on it. I'm also happy to find the blog of the Seattle Public Library from the searching process which has a very rich content of books and popular culture.
Jan 8, 2010
RSS Feeds
For Exercise 8
I have been awared of the term "RSS Feeds" and "RSS Reader" for quite a long time from some of the websites and blogs, but I have never try to find out what they are about. Thanks to this exercise and I am delighted to find out that they are really very useful as they allows users to view what is necessary amongst millons of information in the internet everyday. The short video RSS in Plain English recommended by Learning 2.0 provides a vivid explanation of what is RSS Feeds. I strongly recommend it to everyone who are new to this fucntion.
RSS Reader, in some way, is an advanced format of "My Favorite" in the Internet Explorer. Apart from grouping our favorite blogs or websites under folders, it further shows the updated contents of those sites in the same browser, saving our time to go to each website.
I've created my blogroll in Bloglines by following the instruction in both Learning 2.0 and Bloglines:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/darbyshaw
I will keep on saving my favorite websites in Bloglines from now on.
I have been awared of the term "RSS Feeds" and "RSS Reader" for quite a long time from some of the websites and blogs, but I have never try to find out what they are about. Thanks to this exercise and I am delighted to find out that they are really very useful as they allows users to view what is necessary amongst millons of information in the internet everyday. The short video RSS in Plain English recommended by Learning 2.0 provides a vivid explanation of what is RSS Feeds. I strongly recommend it to everyone who are new to this fucntion.
RSS Reader, in some way, is an advanced format of "My Favorite" in the Internet Explorer. Apart from grouping our favorite blogs or websites under folders, it further shows the updated contents of those sites in the same browser, saving our time to go to each website.
I've created my blogroll in Bloglines by following the instruction in both Learning 2.0 and Bloglines:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/darbyshaw
I will keep on saving my favorite websites in Bloglines from now on.
Jan 7, 2010
Blog About Technology
For Exercise 7
I've tried iPhone before and it is undeniable that it's amazing to have easy access to the multimedia through such a portable device. I expecially enjoyed its touch screen and photo viewing function. However, the price of iPhone comparing to an ordinary cameraphone is far too expensive and I know I would use only a few of its applications. What I need for a mobile phones is to make calls, text messaging and its alarm function. Occassionally, I would take snapshots of funny things. So, it seems that I don't have the need for a smartphone at the moment.
**Souce of image: http://www.google.com/phone
Topic: Google's Nexus One
Apple's iPhone is facing a big challenge since its domination in the smartphone market as its competitor has just emerged. Nexus One, a smartphone developed by Google, has just launched its sales in the US market this week. Hong Kong and Singapore are the two cities which enjoy the premier sales in Asia. We can get the phone being delivered at out home by ordering it on Google's website. Comparing to iPhone which you are bounded to only 2 service providers in HK, we can make our own decision to subscribe to any service provider which supports Nexus One.
One of the attractive features of Nexus One is its software platform for mobile devices, Android, which is based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. From one of a user's twitter's notes, “Google Phone = iPhone + a little extra screen and a scroll wheel. Great touch screen, and Android.”
I've tried iPhone before and it is undeniable that it's amazing to have easy access to the multimedia through such a portable device. I expecially enjoyed its touch screen and photo viewing function. However, the price of iPhone comparing to an ordinary cameraphone is far too expensive and I know I would use only a few of its applications. What I need for a mobile phones is to make calls, text messaging and its alarm function. Occassionally, I would take snapshots of funny things. So, it seems that I don't have the need for a smartphone at the moment.**Souce of image: http://www.google.com/phone
Mashups
For Exercise 6
I'm happy to learn from this new discovery exercise that there are numerous online applications which are linked with Flickr.
From the App Garden of Flickr, I found a free online greeting cards application called Mango eCard which uses photos from Flickr. The application is very user-friendly and the collection of photos are in very high quality. Below is a sample ecard I tried to create using the application:
From the Search button, I typed "snow" and a number of photos with snow images appeared. I chose the one with a cat walking in the snow. Though it is easy to use, the application is far too simple than those ecards in Hallmark where you can add music and choose different fonts and change layout of the greeting messages.
I'm happy to learn from this new discovery exercise that there are numerous online applications which are linked with Flickr.
From the App Garden of Flickr, I found a free online greeting cards application called Mango eCard which uses photos from Flickr. The application is very user-friendly and the collection of photos are in very high quality. Below is a sample ecard I tried to create using the application:
From the Search button, I typed "snow" and a number of photos with snow images appeared. I chose the one with a cat walking in the snow. Though it is easy to use, the application is far too simple than those ecards in Hallmark where you can add music and choose different fonts and change layout of the greeting messages.
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