Week 4, Thing #9, Locate a few useful school classroom and library related blogs

I took a look at the different ways to search for rss feeds. On topix.net I subscribed to health news. On Syndic8.com I searched for blogs about fitness. I found one I like but it does not look like it is being updated. I added it anyways just in case they decide to add more posts. Technorati was very well organized. By looking at the Blog directory, I was able to choose the category I wanted to search. I also liked the way the information was displayed about each blog in Technorati. I did a search on children's librarian and found a blog about children's books.

Now that I know how to add feeds to my bloglines account and what to look for on websites to see if they have an rss feed, it will be easy for me to continue to add feeds to my blogline account. This will be a great way for me to keep up with information about books, about fitness, and about any other subjects that I find interesting.

Week 4, Thing #8, Learn about RSS Feeds

I definitely learned a lot this week about RSS Feeds. Before this lesson, I did not really know what they were. Having new information from favorite websites all in one place to look over is a great tool to have. I created an account with Bloglines and started adding news feeds. I found some feeds that give information about authors and about new children's books. I also chose the feed about the library cartoon. My favorite website FlyLady.net also has an rss feed that I added.

One question I had wondered about was whether or not you would have a lot of articles piling up like you have emails in your email box. Using Bloglines, I discovered that once you take a look at the list of articles, then you no longer see them unless you have decided to save one (which I will have to try out).

I am wondering how to have several people take a look at the information that I would have going to a Blogline account. For instance, if I wanted to create an account for a library that would have information on a subject that was popular with patrons all in one place, I would not want the information being marked read once one person has looked at the information. Sounds like it is time for me to go back to Bloglines to learn more about what I can do with Bloglines.

Week 3, Thing #7, Technology

It just dawned on me that I could do a lot with photography with my digital camera and Flickr. I love photographs and enjoy scrapbooking. However I have not taken any photographs in a long time. I kept thinking photography would be a hobby that would end up being too expensive. Now with a digital camera it is easy to take a lot of pictures (and delete the ones you do not like). With Flickr I can have a way of sharing my photographs with my family and friends. Also with the mashups that allow you to purchase a variety of things like the magazine covers or inspirational sayings, I would easily be able to buy items made from my photographs. I would not have to try to find negatives or try to figure out how to get the pictures from the digital camera to the store. I just joined Facebook this year because my friend from college was keeping in touch with friends that way. It was fun seeing pictures of her kids (who I have not seen in years).

Week 3, Thing #6, Flickr fun, mashups, and 3rd party sites

I think creating a librarian trading card is a great idea. It is interesting to see how creative people are with their cards. Some of the librarians are having fun being super heros. The card is also a way to tell people a little about your interests. I see that some people have added quotes to their cards. The card is a way for a person's creativity and individuality to shine through.

Week 3, Thing #5, Explore Flickr

I am having a lot of fun looking around Flickr. I tried searching for photos with tags of dancing, exercise, sunset, kittens, puppies, and babies. Here is a link to the photo I found to blog about. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosmgm/943507547/ It is a cute picture of kittens. Looking at the kittens brought back memories of when I was a child and we had 9 kittens all at once because one of our cats had 7 kittens and another cat had 2 kittens at the same time. Flickr is a great way to see photos. It was so easy to search with the tag kittens in order to see many cute pictures of kittens.

Week 2, Thing #3, Create Your Own Blog

When I first tried to create my blog on Blogger.com, I got a message about Java Script and cookies. I followed the instructions and found out the settings needed for Blogger.com to work were already set at the correct settings. So I was left to figure out why I was receiving the message about Java Script and cookies. Wondering if the fact that I was accessing Blogger while I was in Blackboard, I decided to access it outside of Blackboard. That worked. I did create a blog on Blogger.com for one of my other classes last fall. Therefore I do have some experience with a blog. Tonight was the first time I created an avatar. I did not know it could be so much fun! However I did discover that if I did not continually save my changes to my avatar, I would lose everything I had changed up to that point. I found that out the hard way when I wanted to change clothes and lost the face and hairstyle I had picked out. While the hairstyle was easy to pick again, the face was harder because I could not remember which one I had decided I liked best. Speaking of hairstyles, I played around with trying different hairstyles including the bright colored ones. I knew I was not going to choose a bright colored hairstyle but I was curious to see how they looked. For the clothes for my avatar I was looking for something I thought was stylish. I thought the dog added a nice touch to the background scene in front of the library.

Welcome

Hi! Welcome to my blog for my graduate class about new technology.