Learning about the different tools like: Blogging; Photo Images; RSS Feeds ; Newsreader; Tagging; Wikis; Social Networking; and Podcast was very educational in learning the new ways in technology in communicating and researching.

This Web 2.0 course has opened my eyes to a whole lot of tools that I can access free and be able to communicate and research anything I would like to. This course was very informative to me. I learned very quickly about some things that I had been trying to figure out but just never had the time to do and some things I didn't know about. The course was very easy to follow.

I really enjoyed this course and hope that we have some more of them coming up, because technology changes every day and I would like to try to keep up a little bit.

YOUTUBE & PODCASTING

YouTube and Podcast are very similar to me other than Podcast is a little more personal. I would probably use the YouTube just to watch the old sitcom's that are on it or if someone told me to watch something someone posted. I would use the Podcast to download certain audiobooks or music. So, I really don't have a preference. I would probably use both of them an equal amount of time, just for different things.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Both are great forms of social networking, but to me they are also different in a lot of ways. It really depends on what you would be using them for.

Facebook seems to be more business orientated and a little more formal than MySpace. Facebook is an excellent place to post upcoming events to inform everyone of. A lot of college students use this form of social networking so the know what is going on a the different colleges that their friend are at.

MySpace is a little more laid back and a lot more fun. The social networking in MySpace has a lot of crazy graphics and people go crazy changing the layouts and backgrounds in it. They also post a lot of pictures of events that they attend as slideshows that rotate or flip around so their friend can see them. There is one for minor children that is a lot safer for them than MySpace called Vevo. I would not recommend that minors use MySpace because it is to accessible, even with the new privacies changes.
My preference is MySpace. I just have a lot more fun with it that FaceBook, and even though everyone I know has accounts in both, they use the MySpace the majority of the time.
Below are my links for this lesson.

http://www.myspace.com/stmul8mymind2
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=831086444

Wikis was fun and interesting. I had used Wikipedia before, but that was for research only, which I really didn't find too helpful. Using Wikis for communication purpose of planning events at a Library or etc.. would be great. I would enjoy the BookLovers Wiki though. That one I know I will be giving a second look to.

DEL.ICIO.US & TECHNORATI

Tagging would be very important to people who do a lot of research on subjects that they are interested in. It would be a quick and easy way for them to keep up with all information on the subject without doing a lot of internet searches.

Del.icio.us would be very useful for people who does a lot of research on certain topics and if they know others that would be interested in some of the things they have tagged. It would be very useful and simple to forward the information to them.

Technorati a good place to tag certain links and it is very simple to do. It seems to already have subjects divided in catagories so it would be easy to find subjects and tag them to your blog.

Here are my links to del.icio.us and technorati:

http://del.icio.us/STMUL8MYMIND

http://technorati.com/people/technorati/STMUL8MYMIND

PLAYING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Using Rollyo, Library Thing, and Online Image Generators are all excellent things to use in a library. Library Thing would be great for cataloging and Rollyo would be great for doing the research, both would be very useful and used a lot. Online Image Generators would be good for special projects and activities going on in the library, it would not be something used all the time.

I enjoyed all of them and will be using them quite a bit now that I know about them.

ANGELS WATCHING OVER US

We all need help, so belive that we have ANGELS watching over us to help and guide us in the right direction.

Here is something that can release all stress after a long hard day. Just kick back, eat it and relax. Something so simple can help a lot.

KEEPING UP ON TOPICS "THE QUICK WAY"

RSS Feeds are a way to have information at your disposal very quickly. It keeps you up-to-date without you having to search all over for it. Using it in the library would be very helpful.

Setting up on Bloglines was really simple to do. I intend on keeping up with the RSS Feeds I subscribed to. This will allow me to follow-up on things that I have an interest in really quickly.


I found two blogs that I found very intersting.



http://victorwillis23things.blogspot.com/2008/01/bit-of-perspective-library-20-vs.html

http://circandserve.wordpress.com/

THE GIFT OF SHARING PICTURES

Using Flickr and some of the Mashup/Third-Party Applications were fun. I would use them because it is a great way of viewing others pictures and them view yours. You do have the option to make them available to be private for just family members and friends or open to the public. You can also look up others that are using it and find out what events have went on and look at the pictures of the event.

My kids use their MySpace account to post pictures of events them and their firends have gone to or had and to share them with the ones that are out of town and weren't able to attend, this seems similar, but Flickr and the Mashup/Third-Party Applications have more options to turn your pictures into something more.

I actually enjoyed all of the Mashup/Third-Party Applications, because of the different things you were able to do within them. Each had their own appeal.

Okay, this is my second blog, hope you enjoy it.

FIRST TRY @ BLOGGING

My first impression of WebCT was that it is exactly (with some small differences) like my online classes, so I should not have any problem working in it. Learning about the new gadgets technology puts out is a fun thing to do, but it’s hard to keep up since there is something new coming out or something is upgraded and improve on. I try to keep up with my kids and grandkids but it seems when I finally get something, they are into something new with technology. From this class I hope to learn all the new technology in Blogging, RSS and Newsreaders, Tagging, Folksonopies, Technorati, Wikis, Podcasting, Video and Downloadable. I’ve seen the different blogs in my kids MySpace accounts and found them very informative. Blogging is something I wanted to try but just never took the time to research and try. I enjoy reading them, but I am not great at writing them. At first I thought it would be like a chat room (e-mail version) and I am not a big fan of those. In researching and reading some I found that I did enjoy them. This is my first blog, hopefully I did it right. I have read some blogs every since I took the Blog Workshop back in December, but I have never written one or commented on anyone else's.

I have read some blogs that I googled to find out information regarding Self-Publishing in the World of African American Literacy. There seems to be a lot of information out there and a lot of people trying to get into self-publishing, especially with African American or Urban books. I found quite a few blogs on this subject but one of that caught my attention was http://literarydish.wordpress.com/ , because it gave quite a few different authors whose books are published and on shelves now and the different African American Publishing companies out their to help you get started. Two other blogs that gave information on the author’s personal experience, samples of their writings, and other different events that are coming up pertaining to this subject was http://www.themillionsblog.com/ .

The information in these blogs would be of great use for libraries to use when they have patrons who are trying to obtain information on a particular subject. Blogging makes getting a lot of information easy and saves a lot on time. It’s a great time management tool.