Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards list

Wow! So many to chose from I didn't know where to start. I ended up first going to springwidgets.com and played with some of the widgets. I added the countdown to my blog. I love these little things you can add to your page. I could see using something like this to countdown the days to a bookfair or author study. I also liked picnik.com for photos. This is another great photo site. As the librarian you are also the school photographer. This would be a great way to use an online source for your school photos.

Thing #18 Google Docs

These sites have some advantages and disadvantages. The good thing about them is you can use them for free. So if your computer does not come with this application you can use these online. They also allow others in a group to work on a document and have it saved in one place. The bad thing is that your limited to just the basics with the applications. For instance, the presentation does not offer many themes nor could I figure out how to import a new theme.

#17 Wikis and Sandbox

I really liked being able to interact online with a discussion group. It was also neat to see how people were using the wiki and what suggestions that had on how to use it. I could see using it as a tool for class discussions and for getting feedback from faculty on idea sharing or collaborating projects. The ideas are endless.

#16 Wikis

I found David Loertscher's wiki very interesting. One, he took his conference from just a listening to a total participation session. Two, he gathered information from his participants in a form that can be accessed by many people. I see wikis as becoming the next note taking and idea sharing forum. The uses are endless. My grade level just finished an author study. We could have used a wiki in gathering our biography information, teachers collaborating, gathering books of the same author, etc. I see many ways it could be used in all subjects. For science class you could use a wiki to have a dialog of experiments and what your findings were.

Thing #15 Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is the way to keep up with the technologies that are available. It is about staying current and knowing what the future might bring. As librarians we are the information people to our community. In order to keep our community up to date we have to stay up with what is new. I'm very curious to see how information technology will affect my children in college and their children as well. Some universities are already moving to podcasts as another means of supporting the lectures. Wow!! I would have been engaged.

Thing #14 Technorati

This one was a little confusing to me.There is so much information there that I had a hard time exploring it. I will have to come back to this one when I have more time to spend on it. I could definitly see where it would be beneficial to register your blog so that you would get more views. If I had an author blog or favorite blog site I would register it so people would visit it and respond. I felt that del.icio.us was easier to use and I liked the tools with it. Maybe this summer I'll get some time to explore it more. I did spend some time exploring the tags within my blog and found how some local peolple were using blogs. I think the tags are neat in that you can find things easier.

Thing #13 Tagging

This is a really cool tool. I love the fact that I can bookmark items and access them anywhere. I use 3 different computers and this will be very helpful. I'm conducting an author study over the next 3 weeks in my class. I set up my bookmarking to help make that task a little easier so that I can have all my sites in one place on any computer in my room. What a great idea to keep up with your favorites. Now why couldn't I have been the one to think of that.