Really the last? or Just the begining?

I can't believe that I completed learning 2.0~ I was really afraid in the beginning not thinking I would be able to keep up and learn it all, but I'm so glad that I did. I realized that I shouldn't underestimate my abilities to learn and more important be more open to change to learn something new!

Change is good as I've learned over the weeks...most of the technology I learned can help me to simplify and improve activities that I already do!

My favorite activity was the mash-ups...because it was so fun. There are still so many applications to explore and try out! I also liked delicious to help me keep track of my links and organize them. I love picnik! I use it all the time to do quick touch ups of photos!

Lastly, I enjoyed learning about blogs and how we can customize them using gadgets and editing the html.

All in all Learning 2.0 was a great learning experience for me! =)

Week 9: Podcasts, Video and Downloadable Audio

Video
I used to use Youtube religiously to find and watch korean dramas online - think soap operas but with much more crazy absurd story lines! Anyways if you've ever watched Korean dramas...you know they are addicting!!! you can never just watch one..they make it so suspenseful that you keep watching more and more....no sleep.

Youtube was awesome because they would have these dramas submitted by users (broken into many different parts) and it was free and pretty fast to watch. But this was short lived as the korean tv execs soon realized people were watching online and they removed most of the content.

But of course there are many other sites that host these korean dramas.... like megavideo, myspace, tudou, veoh, youku, google video, and viikii just to name of few. Some are in chinese but if you type in english you can find the videos.

If anyone is interested in watching k-dramas, my source is: mysoju.com. Interesting name because soju is a rice liquor almost like vodka but think worse...imagine rubbing alchohol! i don't know why koreans drink this, but its the drink of choice!

Anyways mysoju.com has not just korean, but chinese, japanese, tawainese, and hong kong dramas too, plus movies! problem is that sometime you'll come across links that are broken but you can report them and they try to "repair" them.

Most of the Korean tv stations also host their videos online for free so fans can watch.
I love having videos online! so many to choose from, so little time.... hehe

Here's an example of a youtube video embedded into my post. I decided to go with Hello Kitty since someone kindly informed me that I had nothing HK on my blog. =)




Podcasts
I don't use podcast that often but I do think they can be used as learning tools. I download podcasts directly to my ipod from itune....its the simpliest way for me to use...plus i like how you can browse and search for different podcasts.

When I started, I sampled different podcasts and thought learning a new language would be fun. I chose a series of podcasts that helped me learn japanese. Each podcast was like a mini-lesson - enough for you to learn something in each session but not too much for information overload.

I honestly haven't downloaded anything new for a while, so maybe I'll go back and find something interesting!

NetLibrary
I was surprised to find that RU libraries has an eContent Collection. 876 titles but they all seem to be e-books no audio books. Anyone else find any audio books on NetLibrary??? I use itunes to download audio books.

Week 8: Online Applications & Tools

Zoho Writer
I really enjoy using Google Docs to colloborate with friends and collegues on projects. It's so convienant because we can each contribute on our on time schedule and see the final work coming together. There are some snags...like the weird formatting that you can't correct sometimes and the limited options, it not like a full word processing software program like Word.

Now this week we are asked to explore Zoho writer. I'm definitely glad that I did. It's like Google Docs but 10 times better. I found it to be more like the real thing, it had so many more options!!!
I like how its neatly organized the function categories with tabs. It even has share options.

So i'm going to try to the publish option and embed my test page onto the blog! wish me luck~ yay it worked!


Picnik
I love this online photo editing tool! it's awesome! you can the usual like crop, rotate, resize, change colors, etc...but the real fun is creating aspect! you can take a pic and change it up by adding special effects. it so much fun! here's an example.

BEFORE and AFTER

Week 7: Wikis

Wiki's best asset is that its collaborative. Anyone can update and add. I like that it can be used as a collaborative documentation sharing resources site, like the SPCPL subject guides. This wiki is very helpful, its a one stop shop for information neatly organized like an index.

I think libraries can also use wiki's as a knowledge making/sharing tool. It could be used as an internal site for training purposes; those training in certain specialities/ topics can upload their knowledge making it available for others. Another purpose could be for document sharing and working on projects; one person could begin and then another person could add/edit later on.

For me personally, I love using Wikipedia! It's a great place to go if your short on time and need info quick. Wikipedia helps me get an overall sense of a topic and I find the links are helpful too. You can find out something new everyday.

Week 6: Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati

Delicious
I think Delicious is genius because i can never keep track of my fav sites. Delicious allows you to organize and access your bookmarks from any computer. So far, when I found a site I liked, I just bookmarked it. As a result, I have tons of bookmarks saved on my computer and it's one big mess. Strangely, I don't use the folder filing system in the bookmark option; I find it annoying or maybe I'm lazy. Anyways all the bookmarks get listed together in one massive list and I need to I scroll though to find the site I want.

Delicious helps me tag and organize my sites. I just signed up for an account and installed the firefox bookmarklet. It allows you to tag your bookmarks directly from your browser and it gets saved automatically into you Delicious account! I also like that you can see what other tags people have used and you can subscribe to RSS feed for a particular url.

I have to say the best feature of Delicious is the transportability; it's an online bookmarking tool. You can sign in onto any computer and get access to your Delicious account and all your bookmarks are right there.

p.s. The 2nd link in the Discovery resources on Tagging in Learning 2.0 is bad, I got an error message. Anyone run into this problem?

Technorati
I've never heard of it before or thought it was even possible, but there's even a search engine for blogs = Technorati. It searches using an algorithm using tags/keywords. (I'm getting that tag/keywords are an important aspect of 2.0). =)

Technorati offers a blog directory, Top 100 list, tag index and even categories to search/browse from. There's even a video section!

I tried the discovery exercise and put in Learning 2.0 in the search field. Under Blogs it found 0 hits, but under posts it found 66047 hits. Each hit lists the title of the post, title of the blog, when it was posted, and also partial sentences of how the search terms is being used in the blog.

Again, some of the links in Learning 2.0 had some issues:
Discover page - got an error, says page doesn't exist
Popular blog, searches, and tags - page says its unavailable.

I would definitely use Technorati and just added it to my Delicious account.

Away from the Icebergs
Just in case collections.
Difficulty letting go.
User centered services.
Patron education.

Working at the Art Library, our collection is very specialized yet we've tried to make more user centered services available. One example would be our reserve readings. Most of the students prefer to get the readings electronically, so we scan and post the readings online to the library website. Students can access these reading when and wherever they want.

At first, many of the professors had "difficulty letting go" of the traditional mindset - come into the library and use the resources in person. But many have realized that this is what the student want and so they've compromised; taken it to where they are (the Internet). We place the electronic readings online, but also provide the books (just in case collections) for those students who prefer to come in. The reason mainly being because of the color plates and illustrations.

The overall encompassing idea is about creating user centered services. Users want convenience and they use technology to accomplish this purpose. If this is the now, libraries have to be more proactive and willing to adapt to change. Like the author said, we can't expect users to come to us, we need to go to them or we'll be left behind.

Week 5: Play Week

Online image generators
Went online and found not just image generators, but also ones that created banners and text. There were so many different kinds to choose from.

I liked the Lego character creations the best, which i found it on the generator blog link in Learning 2.0 at http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mm2/mini2.swf

Since I'll be getting married in 2 and a half weeks (yay!), my mind seems to be occupied with thoughts of the wedding and so i went along with the marriage theme and created cute Lego character couple based on my fiance and myself. Aren't they cute?



(p.s. i don't know why they don't have a pants option for the boys? they only offered skirts! They even have a capes option but no pants! go figure~ )

You can create a miniature of yourself, be it realistic or fantasy. Some of the things you can customize is hair, eyes, eyebrows, mouth, clothes, skincare color and even accesories. For those who like super heros and sci-fi they have some super hero customes and light sabers included too!

I was having so much fun, I created another of me.



Last thing I'll mention is the background choices. You have the option to select from a plain background color or choose from one of their pre-determined background themes. You can also upload your own background by inputting in the URL of your own image location.

Definitely FUN! I would recommend for those who have kids! You can save the images and then share or print them out stick them on the fridge or in their rooms.

Library Things
So Library Things is a way to self catalog books in your collection and allows for tagging. I found it very easy to use. Just enter what your reading and it pulls information from either library of congress or amazon. I also liked that it includes the image covers. A nice detail because sometime you can't remember the title but do remember the image cover. You can also change the covers.

I added my 5 books here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/kristenko

I think Library Things would be useful for organizing books in your own personal library. I would also use it to find similar reads or maybe to connect with other readers (book clubs). Buy, borrow or swap function is also very cool.

Rollyo
This was the most frustrating thing, since it didn't work. When I clicked on the links in Learning 2.0, it took forever for the pages to load and then I got the page load error multiple times.

When I was finally able to get into Rollyo and added my sites and tried to create; it didn't work. The page just seemed to time out or be frozen.

Glad I wasn't the only one who was having difficulty. I'll try again later.

Week 4: RSS & Newreaders

Before this class I never used RSS feeds or really had any interest in them. I was that person who would constantly look at websites and refresh every other minute or so to see if anything new came out. How annoying can that be? Many times my eyes would start hurting from scrolling through the same page again and again with really nothing new.

RSS to the rescue! Out with the old and in with the new. I found RSS feeds to be great tools that can help cut through all the clutter and just give you the information that you really want. Best of all, I can go to one place to get all my information and it will alert me automatically about any new. No more eye strain! =)

I signed up for a Bloglines account as my newsreader of choice. Following the Bloglines tutorials available from Learning 2.0 made the process much easier than having to try to figure it out on my own. Signing up was simple, but boy was there so many choices of blogs/sites to choose from!

I used the top 100 selection option in Bloglines to browse through and see which feeds would be of interest to me. I decided on my 10 and they vary widely; I've subscribed to feeds about cartoons, cooking, recipes, gadgets, cute kitties and news!

I'm still trying to figure and all the ins and outs of Bloglines but for now it seems easy to use. I really like the fact that its a one stop shop. I can just go to one place to get all my info rather than spend time looking at individual pages. I think RSS feeds and newsreaders can be helpful with time management and be used for those who need access to lots of different kinds of information. Bloglines in particular can be used to help organize and centralize your information needs into one place.