Thing #14: Technorati

I like Wikipedia's concise definition of Technorati: "Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs," about 94 million blogs, as of August '07. I took the "Technorati Tour" and was amused by founder Dave Sifry's comment: "While we love expert bloggers, we've also spent a lot of time making Technorati understandable to normal people." I guess that makes me "normal."

I visited Technorati and searched "Learning 2.0" in the blog posts. It came back with 26,315 posts, but it was obvious that the search had split "learning" and "2.0" into separate, distinct hits. After scrolling through many posts, I had no luck finding anything that was truly "Learning 2.0."

I had better luck searching the Blog Directory: 677 blogs about Learning 2.0.

"Top Blogs" and "Top Favorited Blogs" were primarily technical in nature. "Top Searches" were, I felt, somewhat "disturbing" in content, so I did not linger long in that area. Very odd.

I did not feel the need to "claim" my blog.

Thing #13: Tagging and Del.icio.us

I did wade through the tutorials, "Us.ef.ul: A Beginner's Guide to Del.icio.us" and "Several Habits of Wildly Successful del.icio.us Users." I also accessed del.icio.us using the PLCMCL2 account, all in an effort to discover the wonders of "the most popular social bookmarking service" (as defined in Wikipedia). I can see that to be able to access your personal bookmarks online, from any location, as well as view the bookmarks of others, is a tremendously helpful tool for those who conduct research. The Firefox perks (e.g., live bookmarks), are interesting as well. I have found that in my own personal use, however, my bookmarks tend to outlive their usefulness, and I delete many of them from time to time without remorse. Del.icio.us is not something that is a "must have" for me at this time but is certainly good to know about.

I did do some research about the del.icio.us name (why this format?) and learned that the name is an example of a domain hack, "an unconventional combination of letters to form a word or phrase."

Thing #12: Rollyo

Rollyo: A great tool for gathering and organizing information on a specific topic. I created a search roll for parenting teens: "Parenting Teens!" Link: http://rollyo.com/calbear86/parenting_teens/

In the area at the top of my search roll where it says "Searching for.... in Parenting Teens," I typed the word "curfew." Up popped several articles about that topic. Fabulous! I'm sure that my son, gazing at you here when he was just a young guy, will be thrilled to know that I have all of this invaluable parenting information at my fingertips!

I suppose that one is limited only by one's imagination when it comes to potential uses of Rollyo - - in students' work, careers, hobbies....

Thing #11: LibraryThing

This exercise is one of my favorite "Things." I explored LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/) for some time, created an account and enjoyed creating my online catalog of a few "favorite titles." (Link: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Calbear86) I appreciated how remarkably easy and fun it was to create both the catalog and the widget... It has been quite awhile since I have given concentrated thought as to which books have impacted me the most over the years. Although I do not see myself taking the time to "catalog" my entire library, putting together a "favorite title list" was intriguing.

I plan to return to LibraryThing often for further exploration. I am intrigued by the social aspect of it, given that it connects me with others who have an interest in the same titles as I do.

I am also intrigued by the possible ways that libraries can use LibraryThing to enhance customer service. I especially like the idea (as suggested on LibraryThing) that widgets can be used on library web sites to spotlight "featured materials" in the collections.

A few of my favorite titles (Click on "Thing #11: Library Thing," just above, if you don't see book covers displayed here):

Thing #10: Online Image Generators

I visited The Generator Blog and played with several different image generators, such as the Collage Generator and the Snowflake Generator. My favorite, though, was the Puzzle Generator. If you'd like to create a puzzle using your own photo, visit the Puzzle Generator at:

http://www.flash-gear.com/puzzle/

I selected one of my personal photos to create my own photo puzzle! It was fun "putting the pieces together." Give it a try! Can you guess where I took this photo?! http://three.flash-gear.com/npuz/puz.php?c=v&id=2850236&k=19214006

Thing #9: MERLIN and More Feeds

I visited the MERLIN site and added that feed to my Bloglines account. Never having seen MERLIN before, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information on the home page alone. I could spend hours browsing through the Library News Blogs and still have more information yet to explore on the home page.

I also used the Blogline's Search tool as well as Syndic8.com to search for additional news feeds. I found Syndic8.com to be a bit "confusing," as its screens were cluttered with too much information for ease of my use. By contrast, Blogline's Search tool was straightforward/direct, and I used it to add a couple more news feeds to my collection.

Lastly, I played a bit with the Gaming, Avatars and Virtual Worlds link to create my Avatar in the post below. I've had a small bit of experience with the Avatar technology in my Yahoo account. However, Meez was much more fun to use!

Avatar Fun

Follow-Up to Previous Post

Logged onto my Bloglines account on my break, just to get a feel for what it is like to have favorite "feeds" gathered in one place. I admit: it is pretty fantastic. I just might make visiting Bloglines a daily fun task....

Thing #8: RSS & Newsreaders

Although I had already been introduced to the world of RSS feeds via HCL training, I admit that I have not been putting that technology to use in my daily life. I have about three sites that I visit each day, so it does make sense to gather that information and place it into one convenient location. I set up a Bloglines account and subscribed to a variety of feeds: library-related news, new CDs at HCL, house and garden news, CNN, baseball headlines, etc. It remains to be seen whether I actually access this information throughout the course of my days, as I tend to visit only about three sites regularly! Otherwise, I just don't feel the need to access that much information.

Nevertheless, it is an amazing technological tool that I can now add to my "toolbox."

Thing #7: Blogging about Technology

As the parent of a technology-savy teenager, I watch my son in amazement at how comfortable he is with his discovery of and adaptation to new technologies. Be it gaming on the Xbox, IMing friends on the computer, texting friends on the phone, he is "in his element." However, his "favorite" device would have to be his iPod. This technology especially intrigues me. Yes, there are iPods out there, but not just one kind. iPod shuffles, nanos, classics and now the iPod touch bring the concept of listening to music and watching video to outrageous levels! The iPod classic is 4.1" tall, 2.4" wide and 0.41" deep, yet it can store up to 40,000 songs and 200 hours of video. Check out this link: http://www.apple.com/ipodclassic/. I am beyond amazed by this technology. However, my son takes it all in stride and cannot wait for the "next" generation... what will that be able to do?!

Thing #6: Flickr Mash-ups and Third Party Sites

Spent quite a bit of time playing with various sites here. Created a montage of my vacation photos using Flickr's mosaic creator (found through FD's Flickr Toys). I then set that montage as my desktop background on my home computer. I also created the "trading card" seen here using Flickr's Trading Card creator and one of my personal photos. Of these two applications, I was most intrigued by the montage/mosaic-making programs. A fun way to organize and display photos.

Thing #5: Exploring Flickr

Bloody Lane #4 (B&W)
Originally uploaded by W.R.Miller

Yes, I am one of those people who has never heard of Flickr but had a great time discovering what it can do. I found this photo in Flickr's inventory, created a Flickr account, and (obviously) played with the "blog this photo" function. This particular photo is of Bloody Lane, Antietam Battlefield, in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Having taken many photos at many Civil War battlefields, including Antietam, this particular photo is especially intriguing to me because it is a black and white print. For me, the black and white adds a surreal quality to the landscape. Photo credit: W. R. Miller.

Thanks to Flickr, I enjoyed many different perspectives of this hallowed ground.

Test Post

California Dreamin':
Home on the Central Coast.

Thing #3: Creating My Blog

Lifelong Learning Habits - Easiest:

It would have to be "Begin with the end in mind." While I believe that "not all who wander are lost," I find that for those situations when "staying on task" is key, it is best that I define my end goal and march toward it.

Lifelong Learning Habits - Most Difficult:

It would have to be "Use technology to your advantage." My ignorance about technological tools is vast! If I am to "use technology to [my] advantage," I must collect a few more of those tools for my toolbox! Ahhh, perhaps completing the "23 Things" tutorial is just what I need....