Tuesday 29 September 2009
#15 RSS feeds
I've used Google Reader for a while and find it handy to read all ones feeds in one place. As the space grows you can also organize feeds into folders. All the blogs I'm following feed into this reader. It's an easy way to follow the progress of my classmates on this course and I could imagine it to be useful to a course facilitator too for the same reason.
Saturday 26 September 2009
#14 Facebook
I have a personal Facebook profile and I've linked it to Pageflakes which is my home page. In this way I stay connected with friends from school and university and keep up with my relatives overseas.
Friday 11 September 2009
#13 MySpace
Personally I find MySpace too commercial. It is useful if you want to follow celebritity profiles, but I prefer Facebook for personal use. There is also a lot of unwanted advertising on MySpace. I could see the application of a MySpace page for a public library, as long as it is frequently maintained. My experience with Drupal is with a previous version and we use it on our intranet. It has a much more conservative look than the examples in the link. It is quite cumbersome to load images and you need a bit of coding knowledge to make it work properly.
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Visual dictionary
Shahi is a visual dictionary that combines Wiktionary content with Flickr images.
http://blachan.com/shahi/
http://blachan.com/shahi/
#11 Library Thing
I am a real bookaholic, so I find LT really great. I think that it could be a specially useful tool in the library at our school, seeing that we're a distance education provider. The librarian could use the widget on the library's webpage to showcase new arrivals and it could also be interesting for students to see how widely these book are being read (or not).
Sunday 6 September 2009
#10 Image Generators
This is way too much fun! OK, I'm restricting myself to stop and show what I've created...
Cool Text Generator
Voki She talks too!
Glowtext
Fotosketcher This does require a download, but I think it's definitely worth the space. I've taken a Flickr photo and turned it into a water colour.
Cool Text Generator
Voki She talks too!
Glowtext
Fotosketcher This does require a download, but I think it's definitely worth the space. I've taken a Flickr photo and turned it into a water colour.
#9 Virtual Worlds
It is an eye opener too see how many virtual worlds there are around. I am personally not a huge fan of SecondLife because I can barely manage to get everything done in my 'real life', let alone in a second life. I have seen some interesting applications e.g. a PhD student who posted his thesis displayed as an art exhibition. You could literally read from the walls and walk through rooms of information - fascinating.
As a parent I am frequently confronted with new virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and Rune Scape. Most of these do contain the social interaction component of IM (instant messaging) as well as the entertainment features of games, quests and creating personal spaces.
I discovered Whyville which is a virtual world for 10-16 year olds. What I find reassuring about this site is the parent information and the fact that users need to attain their Chat License before they interact freely with other users.
ExitReality is a fascinating concept but quite a logical development if you take into account the advances 3D technologies have made in the past decade. I must admit that I wasn't aware of the 3D sites being 'searchable' as such.
To summarise, the development of virtual worlds could have very interesting possibilities for visual learners. It is however always important that it's not about the technology, but about the learning outcomes for students.
As a parent I am frequently confronted with new virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and Rune Scape. Most of these do contain the social interaction component of IM (instant messaging) as well as the entertainment features of games, quests and creating personal spaces.
I discovered Whyville which is a virtual world for 10-16 year olds. What I find reassuring about this site is the parent information and the fact that users need to attain their Chat License before they interact freely with other users.
ExitReality is a fascinating concept but quite a logical development if you take into account the advances 3D technologies have made in the past decade. I must admit that I wasn't aware of the 3D sites being 'searchable' as such.
To summarise, the development of virtual worlds could have very interesting possibilities for visual learners. It is however always important that it's not about the technology, but about the learning outcomes for students.
Friday 4 September 2009
#8 iGoogle
I've had an iGoogle page for quite a while. It's not set as my homepage, so I do not make as much use of it as I could. What I added today are:
Webopedia's Page of the Day (for my job), SunflowerGlam, Random Bible Verse and one of the Facebook gadgets.
I would love to be a Google employee. I am a firm believer of looking very carefully after your employees and Google seems to get this right. All the elements of flexibility, nutrition, excercise and relaxation are incorporated into the 'campus'. Although this seems like heaven on earth, I am still mindful of the fact that it could take over your life completely... and the downside - I think I was born 2 decades too early :-) All the employees are REALLY young!
Webopedia's Page of the Day (for my job), SunflowerGlam, Random Bible Verse and one of the Facebook gadgets.
I would love to be a Google employee. I am a firm believer of looking very carefully after your employees and Google seems to get this right. All the elements of flexibility, nutrition, excercise and relaxation are incorporated into the 'campus'. Although this seems like heaven on earth, I am still mindful of the fact that it could take over your life completely... and the downside - I think I was born 2 decades too early :-) All the employees are REALLY young!
#7 Google Books
Google books in NZ
An interesting development on the front of Google Books is the joining of New Zealand authors. There seems to be mixed opinions, but I found the take of Auckland University Press sensible.
“Allowing people to preview books generates more sales, so we are going to give that a try. If in a year or so we don’t like it, then we will pull our books out,” says Sam Elworthy, Auckland Uni Press.
I find the feature to preview a book very useful, especially if it is an academic resource. Often the title can be somewhat misleading and it is not until you've had the opportunity to look at the contents page and even some of the chapter excerpts that you can make an informed decision about buying the book. I think that Google Books definitely exposes the work of authors to a much wider audience and in my view that is the ultimate goal - to have as many people as possible read your work!
An interesting development on the front of Google Books is the joining of New Zealand authors. There seems to be mixed opinions, but I found the take of Auckland University Press sensible.
“Allowing people to preview books generates more sales, so we are going to give that a try. If in a year or so we don’t like it, then we will pull our books out,” says Sam Elworthy, Auckland Uni Press.
I find the feature to preview a book very useful, especially if it is an academic resource. Often the title can be somewhat misleading and it is not until you've had the opportunity to look at the contents page and even some of the chapter excerpts that you can make an informed decision about buying the book. I think that Google Books definitely exposes the work of authors to a much wider audience and in my view that is the ultimate goal - to have as many people as possible read your work!
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