Thing 17: Social Networking FACEBOOK

I LOVE FACEBOOK!

Facebook is my current social networking tool. It's a place where I'm connected to friends, family and co-workers. I use it to upload pictures, update my status, chat and message with friends, and just feel connected to people I don't get to see or talk to often enough other than on Facebook. I like the status update feed, and although there are sometimes issues with "post-aholics," I like that I can see what's going on and what's new in my friends' and families' lives. I also like that I can tag people in my photo albums, so when I go on a family trip I can quickly share pictures with the people that I traveled with. Facebook is a living-yearbook, constant class and family reunion, and life documentary all in one site.

Thing 16: Social Networking MYSPACE

My thoughts on Social Networking:

• Great way to connect with old friends and keep in touch with family
• Love the ability to share news (status updates) and pictures (photo albums)
• No cost communication
  
  I think, when used appropriately, Social Networking is a great Web 2.0 tool. Users just need to remember that there are safety and privacy issues to consider when creating profiles and putting information on the web. Learn you privacy options--consider allowing only friends to see your information. Think about the effects of your postings--once you post something, it's out there. Is it something you would want your grandmother to see/hear/read?
  
  The article "No Place to Play: Current Employee Privacy Rights in Social Networking Sites" discusses the connection between work and personal use of social networking sites. Businesses and workplaces using workers' social networking profiles for hiring and discipline is new territory. There are questions about whether viewing a person's personal social network profile violates privacy laws. Several businesses do look at these profiles before hiring and may check out user activity and use it against the employee (Genova, 2009). I think it is in the best interest of the Social Network user to consider the effects that each post and update may have on their job. I know that at the beginning of the school year our principal stresses that while it is not against school policy to have a social networking account, teachers need to consider who can view their accounts, what they post on the accounts, and of course not "friend-ing" students.

As far as MYSPACE goes, I was a devoted user in high school. It has great features (basic profile, ability to upload pictures/movies, connect with friends, and at the time I liked that you could change the background and colors on your page), and has even been updated since I last used it. One of the things I consider when choosing which site to use is what site the people I want to connect with are on; once I started college, the trend seemed to move towards FACEBOOK (something I still use now).

Genova, G. L. (2009). NO PLACE TO PLAY: CURRENT EMPLOYEE PRIVACY RIGHTS IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(1), 97-101. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Thing 15: Library Thing

Library Thing (www.librarything.com): Similar to Goodreads. Still has the options to post books you've read, books you are reading, and books you want to read. However, this site limits the number of books you can post (without a paid membership).

If I had to choose between Goodreads and Library Thing, I would pick Goodreads (Since I'm already a member, I'm more familiar with it, no cost or limits--it's probably a "that's the one I saw first" thing); however, I am interested in the ability to tag and categorize books on Library Thing...sounds very organized with the potential of finding some new great reads.

Thing 14: Goodreads

Goodreads www.goodreads.com: Keep track of the books you've read, write reviews, and scope out potential next reads by looking at friends' lists, reviews, "noteworthy titles," and more.

I created an account back in 2009. I attempted to add some of the memorable books I had read the last few years, then for a while added books to my "currently reading" list. I haven't kept up with it, but liked the idea of keeping track of books I've read--this is helpful when I'm looking for more books to read (can look for more books by the same author, similar authors, similar topics...), and when I'm asked for recommendations for books, I can look at some of the ones I've read and have that reference available. Goodreads also has a way to connect to friends so they can see what you have read.

Signing back into my account for this blog makes me want to start using the site again. Here's the link to my Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2041946#

Thing 13: Google Docs

Playing with Google Docs:

I heard about Google Docs for the first time last school year. My technology coordinator was giving a training on another topic, but somehow we began talking about “the cloud.” He went on to talk about how amazing this “cloud” was, and the explained what a cloud had to do with computers. He presented a little about Google Docs and the collaboration abilities. Until this summer though, I hadn’t used it. So far in my graduate classes, I have shared a paper through Google docs to be edited by a partner, and for this class, uploaded a PowerPoint web quest for our midterm. As I play with the program and become familiar with it, I can also picture how Google Docs can be helpful in my classroom. Group projects can be edited all at the same time (no one having to compile changes at the last minute), and everyone has access to presentations and papers. I plan on introducing this technology to my kids next year.

I don't think that Google Docs will replace the traditional Microsoft Office programs; however, I do think that it has collaboration features that go beyond emailing a document as an attachment. Businesses and schools can use Google Docs whenever there is a need for multiple people to be working on one project at once--which happens quite often. 

 The Cloud

Here is a link to my Google Doc Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18SM7Oblzi39YZCxifEmaciC9oQZ8ulqnh4WyCY1GXmg/edit?hl=en_US

Thing 12: Searching for Blogs

Searching for blogs? Check out Technorati (www.technorati.com). This site allows you to search by topic, title, keywords, tags, and even most popular. If you are specifically searching for blogs, then there's no question a site that is designed for blog searches is your answer. In Technorati, I can type in "library" and know that the results will pull up different blogs associated with the term. When I type "library" into Yahoo, it returns 395,000,000 results in which I would have to sift through in order to find blogs. Even when I typed "library blogs," I received over 44,000,000 results, and when I started clicking through them, I quickly found out that even many of those sites aren't actually blogs.

One blog that I found through my Technorati "library" search, is www.readwriteweb.com. One specific post I read was titled "Library E-Book Checkouts Get a Major Boost." This blog discussed Amazon and Overdrive's collaboration to make E-Books/Kindle Books available to check out in libraries and schools. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/library_e-book_checkouts_get_a_major_boost.php

(***This reminded me of our guest speaker last week and our discovery of E-books--the technology, sites, tools, potential for school, etc. I know a lot of us were interested in how libraries and schools could actually check out books to users without running out of subscriptions and while using different devices.***)

Thing 11: More Instant Messaging and Meebo

Instant Messaging across IM Clients...It CAN be done. Thanks to sites like Meebo (www.meebo.com), you can talk to all of your friends at once through one program. Because of sites like this, you don't have to have multiple instant message programs pulled up clogging your task bar, nor do you have to check several windows to see if different friends are online. A drawback might be linking all of your user names and information through a third party (privacy issues, security issues).

Overall, I think that instant messaging can still be a valuable social networking tool for those who use it and like being able to chat with others online.

Thing 10: Instant Messaging

AW: Hey! How's it going?
SL:  Good. How are you?
AW:  Great.

IMing is something I did CONSTANTLY when I was in high school. It was what everyone did. Back then, I used AIM (AOL instant messaging). It was a convenient way to talk to several friends at one time. Now I don't necessarily use an Instant Message program, but I do occasionally talk to family and friends through Facebook's instant messaging.

I think instant messaging is a good thing. It's a way to keep in touch with friends and family from anywhere in the world. It's instant access (no waiting for a return email). It's simple to use; just log on and chat. Mostly when I think of instant messaging I think of personal use; however, I think it could also be a good tool at work.At work, it could be used for brief messages, questions or even teacher-to-teacher conferences. For students in school, I think it would be very tricky. There would be issues of security (controlling who the students could talk to), as well as a need to monitor what is being talked about (nothing inappropriate, nothing off topic, no bullying, etc.). Something like Today's Meet chat room (http://todaysmeet.com/) would probably be more appropriate because it's a monitored environment where the students could only talk to other students in the class.

Thing 9: Social Bookmarking

Tool: Delicious (www.delicious.com)

Description: Bookmarks to go...create a list of favorite websites, and take them with you! The list is on an account, not a computer, so anywhere you can view your Delicious bookmarks anywhere you have internet access.

Potential for Personal Use: Access you favorite sites from your desktop, laptop, smart phone, or work computer from ONE website.

Potential for Educational Use: Students can use to save sites for research at school and access at home (or vice versa), or share their resources with partners or group members when collaborating on a project.

My Delicious URL: http://www.delicious.com/AshleyW3

Thing 8: Tagging and Folksonomy

Exploring the world of tags:

First stop: Amazon. I searched for the book Marley and Me by John Grogan. Tags associated with this book were "dogs," "Marley," "John Grogan," and "worst dog." They were pretty general, obviously fit the book, and I would say could be helpful if a person were familiar with author John Grogan and wanted to read another of his books, liked dog books and wanted to read another, or were fed up with their dog and wanted to reassure his or herself that there are worse dogs out there. In general, since these things might all lead to someone purchasing a book, I think tags are helpful to Amazon's business.

To my own Flickr pictures, I added tags. These tags included: schoodle, lab, chihuahua, dog, Grace, and Elvis. These tags are helpful within my own account because if I want to search for a picture, I can click on tags and a list of key words (tags) appears. This allows me to quickly find the pictures I am interested in. When looking at pictures throughout Flickr, tags are helpful key words that let you search for different things.

Thing 7: Wiki

So.....Wikis. A collaborative website of information that is as easy to search as Google and Yahoo, yet instead of having to choose websites based on their excerpts in order to find that information, Wikipedia (for instance) provides an overview of the topic that is quick and efficient to browse through. Besides the quick navigation and easy browsing, the fact that a site like Wikipedia is collaborative and open for users to change, it might be more up to date than other sources. However, because it is edited by users, the credibility is questionable. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, including anonymous users, the "facts" you are looking at may not be factual at all.

As far as Wikis go, I think there's definitely some positives to getting a group of people together to collaborate and create a source for information. More minds can mean more knowledge. However, I think that it is not a good idea to allow just anyone to edit and change that information. This should be left to experts on the topic. At the very least, any changes should be previewed by an expert before the site reflects those changes.

Wikis, like Wikipedia, have a place for personal, and even research, use BUT cannot be a final source. These sites should only be used to find basic information, acting as a launch pad for further research.

Thing 6: RSS

RSS, sounds more intimidating than Feed Reader, but it's what makes the Google Reader work! RSS is an easy way to subscribe to your favorite websites while on their page. I used RSS to subscribe to the Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com), The Houston Humane Society (www.houstonhumane.org), and Epicurious (www.epicurious.com). Now I can get the latest Houston news, updates on animal shelter events and adoptions, and new recipes, all at the SAME TIME!

 

(Chronicle article, Shelter update, and recipe RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER!!)

Thing 5: Feed Readers and Aggregators

The Feed Reader I practiced with is Google Reader. I used it to subscribe to and view multiple recent blog postings at one time. Reading these postings through Google Reader is a time saver. By clicking on my Web 2.0 folder, the most recent entries automatically appear on top, all in one place on one website. I think this is helpful for managing time by reviewing everything efficiently...I know that I have my rituals when it comes to getting on the computer. Even when I have a specific task (like homework or lesson planning) to complete, I first check my mail, Facebook, the news, and a million other things so I don't get distracted later (or maybe as an attempt to procrastinate). By using a Feed Reader, I can quickly view just the updates and move on.

Thing 4: More Photos and Images (Getting Creative)

Once you upload pictures, the real fun begins. Many websites offer tools that help you decorate, manipulate and get creative with your photos. Several sites had different tools, but Big Huge Labs was my favorite:

Big Huge Labs: http://bighugelabs.com/  This one is interesting because it has several different tools you can use to make your photos more fun. You can use different effects to edit your picture, or you can use your picture(s) to create something else (collages, magazine covers, slide shows and more).

Here's a trading card I created of Elvis, my dog.

I think this could be used in a library or classroom as a way for students to be creative. The magazine covers and movie posters could be used for students summarizing novels or short stories. Even the trading card could be used for a characterization activity--create stats and write important information to represent a character. 

Whether used in school or at home, time slips away as you play (there's so much you can do with your pictures!!); Definitely need to set aside a specific amount of time to explore and create.

Thing 3: Photos and Images

For my Photo and Images experiment, I explored Flickr. When looking for pictures, I searched for dogs. The results were ADORABLE! Dogs of every shape and size...some posed, some dressed, some that looked just ready to jump out of the photo with a big sloppy kiss. I am definitely a dog person and enjoyed looking at other people's pups.

Naturally, all of this looking at dogs inspired me to upload my own dogs' photos for my album. Getting started with Flickr was easy. I already had a yahoo account, so I was good to go as soon as I signed in. The uploading tool on Flickr was just as easy, however I probably spent way too much time looking through THOUSANDS of photos to find pictures of my pups throughout the years. Worth it! :)


Here's the link to my photostream...these are pictures of my two dogs, Grace and Elvis. They are both adopted shelter dogs and both 4 years old. We've had Grace since she was 6 months old and Elvis since he was 2 years old. As you can probably tell from the pictures I uploaded, they are part of our family. :)

Photos of Grace and Elvis

Thing 2: Web 2.0 and Blogging

Dear Diary, I've moved on to the 21st century and will no longer require your services...

A few of my thought so far on Web 2.0 and Blogging:

I think the whole concept of Web 2.0--an interactive web--is the epitome of world wide communication. Through it we have a collaboration of resources, a unity of people eager to share their information and gain knowledge from others, and a way to truly be a part of this technology that is such a big part of our lives.

I think blogging is popular because people like to share; whether it's information or just a personal journal. Think about how many people keep (or kept) diaries. Now we can write and reflect online. It's amazing that we have the ability to record our lives through pictures and posts. And despite the fact that the World Wide Web has brought about many privacy and security issues, people still enjoy sharing their lives with others via the internet. Think about Twitter and Facebook. We can update our status to let people know what we are doing at any minute of the day (and in fact some people do post every minute ;) ).

Blogging is a great way to keep people up to date with your life and experiences, as well as your thoughts and ideas; it lets everyone be authors and story tellers, resources of knowledge and personal experience.

Blogging in the library could be a useful way to share library "happenings" with the students and teachers at your school. Librarians could share when new books come in, when events such as author talks or book clubs are taking place, or articles and news of interest as it relates to the library and classroom.

Thing 1: The Person Behind the Blog

Welcome to my blog

I am a graduate student in the Library Science program,
as well as a high school English teacher.

As technology advances, exciting new technology tools appear.

I am on a quest to experience new technology AND
experiment with ways it can be used in the classroom or library.

This is a place where I will be recording my discoveries of new technology.