WEEk 8 Again

OK, I finally get it. This site(delicious) was not easy to access or manoeuver.( I always spell this word wrong and lazy me - I'm not getting up - a bad librarian) 

 I had trouble with an initial password and it took days for them to get back to me. In their instructions they said "change your temporary password right away" - and I spend AGES trying to see where to do that. Probably me being dim but surely there are many dim newbies out there. Why frustrate us? 

Sort of a boring page. I don't like overkill but this is pretty institutional looking. Also, the presentation is silly. Why isn't "add this bookmark" not the biggest button in sight?

Anyway........I finally get it- took me a while to grok the social networking aspect- and it seems like a very cool site. I have already spent way too much time exploring the first few posters who matched my url links. So.....I'm all set up and will start to use in earnest when I get the rest of the 23 things under my belt!

WEEK 8

Well....waiting to hear from Del.ici.iuos or however you spell it on why my sign in failed. They will be e-mailing the answer to my other computer  - unavailable as my husband is doing free lance graphic work. I know this is the continual whine of late blooming techies but honestly! Sometimes it is an infuriating world.

So, I fast forwarded to Technorati site which to me is attractive in concept but dismal in design. Way too cluttered and pop culturish.  The blog statistics are really unbelievable so I appreciate that there's a way to find and be found but still........as I've heard it said......... the people who are code monkeys are not graphic designers. This kind of layout is a bother to wade through and very unappealing. Anyway, I did peek in to some conservative scary rants, some creepy college frat type info on bar types and some other random stuff. 

I will return here in January though to register my new blog because, hey, I'm looking for wide exposure now too!

WEEK 7 Once Again

Librarything was one of the few 23 things with which I was already familiar. When I began to use it I found it an interesting puzzle to decide how to choose what books would go into my library.  Other people's apparent catagorizing didn't appeal to me. I finally settled on books  that had been or are important to me and books that I'd love to talk about with anyone who had read them, books that I'd recommend  (some)and (some) books I've just read.

In other words, a fairly idiosyncratic system - which was also often evident in other's libraries and is part of what makes this Web 2 stuff all so very very cool.

Week 7

Week 7

Week 6

Whoever designed this course was a genius. 

This was a week when I might have said "too hard, no time , I'm overwhelmed"and packed it in. Instead, week #6 really did allow me time to pull back, take a breath and not feel like the train is leaving the station with everyone else on board but me!

I'm writing this weeks ahead, and still behind, but really appreciate the space that week 6 provided.

Week 5 Social Networks

I felt a little strange creating a Facebook - everyone seemed so young when I was checking it out - but there I am! I had to really work hard to figure out how to get photos from my iphoto to my Facebook album but I'm proud of my persistence (if not my language) in getting them on there.
Like Flickr, my excitement about this site is mainly being able to post and share photographs. Several years ago, I entered the on-line genealogy community and it's been a blast connecting with long lost family scattered around the world. This seems like a quick and easy way to share old photographs of distant relatives (I have a bunch of those) and I'm looking forward to doing that.
Again, the very best thing about doing this is the comfort I now feel in knowing about it. As a librarian it feels great to feel solid rather than out of the loop when kids and teens are coming in using social networks (as most of them are.)

Week 4 RSS Feeds

Week 4

I finally worked through th RSS feeds - it was a challenge. Even after listening to the intro and watching the quickie cartoon - there was something about creating a new place in which to have the RSS feeds appear that didn't click. After getting it I'm not sure what all the difficulty was - but trying to figure out which to subscribe to, viewing them all and not having experience enough to make really informed judgements was all part of it. I finally went with Google Reader and have subscribed to three feeds.
Frankly though, I'm not sold. The space is cluttered and distracting and because I subscribed to two places I had already bookmarked (which I checked now and then) I feel if anything that I've put more on my plate to read. This could all fall into place for me though, I know from experience that feeling comfortable and accessing these things intelligently takes time.
I do feel good about knowing what RSS means - one more tiny step in the direction of computer literacy!

Week 3 - Flickr again

Oh yes, and the mashups were fun - hard to control the cursor on Retreivr though. Plus, a little bit of tech cheating on montagr because they colorize-unlike the book montages. But still amazing. 

Week 3 - Flickr

What a cool and amazing site this is. I've had a blast searching out places I grew up and places I have always longed to see, relatives and friends and vintage pictures.  I have also been awed by all the incredible award winning photos. 

And of course, every stream you follow opens you up to other streams -so addictive!

I have not yet opened an account but think I will - although my former picture taking obsession has taken a major dive since my kids got older. Still - a lot of old photos to post!

Week 2 Create a Blog

Apparently Blogger is the easier site but somehow I still find ways to tie myself in knots. I have an odd mix of attraction and aversion to Web 2. Or perhaps the aversion is just getting Web 2 skills into my screaming protesting brain - I've always enjoyed playing around with this stuff once I finally get it.
I don't have a burning desire to post anything other than 23 thing commentary right now but who knows - maybe I'll be spouting out volumes of opinionated blather by the time we're through.