Sunday, July 31, 2011

Task# 4 Twitter and Facebook

This was my first experience with twitter. I found the standard version page more user-friendly than the mobile page. I also found searching for people or places/businesses challenging because you really needed to be specific or creative with your search. For example, looking for the store Joelle's located in downtown Burlington, search Joelle's turns up hundreds of girls named Joelle and what they were up to last night, search Joelle's clothing and it turns up in the list as Joelle's Downtown along with many other options.
I don't see myself using Twitter very often after this course, especially not sending tweets, but I will keep my account just in case. I can see the many positive applications Twitter and FaceBook provide people and businesses but I feel the majority of users are just 'tooting their own horn' and I don't have the desire or time to listen to them.

Friday, July 29, 2011

task #3 Diigo

I had never heard of Diigo before and I am really excited about it now that I see all the applications!
Great for compiling lists of websites and articles that you would like to read when you have more time, etc.
I will definitely continue to use Diigo after this course and am planning to add it to my iPad2.

Some of my tags and bookmarked websites so far,

Tag - Books    
Bookmarked - Burlington Public Library,   Bestsellers List The Globe and Mail, Chapters/Indigo

Tag - Davidcamp      
Bookmarked - Muskoka Woods,  Camp Muskoka,  McMaster University Sports and Recreation

Tag - BettyBlogger   
Bookmarked - Betty Blogger 2011, Betty's Gourmets, Blogspot   

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Task#2 - Streaming Happiness

Task #2 took longer than I anticipated, not because of the complexity of the work (the instructions and the embedding video were excellent and straightforward) but because I had difficulty choosing one video from the vast collections in the YouTube universe.
 My previous experiences with the web site were mainly for basic entertainment - try http://youtu.be/s13dLaTIHSg (Simon's Cat - TV dinner) but I have also searched for educational purposes - http://youtu.be/s13dLaTIHSg will show you how to correctly execute a long-tale cast-on for knitting.

After pulling myself out of a 'YouTube black hole' - a term my sister brilliantly coined after losing hours if not days watching endless suggested YouTube videos - I chose to share a video about a book I have just finished reading.
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think everyone could benefit from her Secrets of Adulthood ie. You don't have to be good at everything, and her stories about her year long pursuit of becoming happier. Best part - you can get it at the BPL!
http://bplcat.bibliocommons.com/item/show/304858047_the_happiness_project,_or,_why_i_spent_a_year_trying_to_sing_in_the_morning,_clean_my_closets,_fight_right,_read_aristotle,_and_generally_have_more_fun

I appreciate the many uses of streaming videos, live or not, and will continue to use the 'free' knowledge acquired from YouTube for information, education, and of course entertainment while hopefully avoiding the gravitational pull of the 'black hole'. Maybe just one more suggested video....

Friday, July 1, 2011

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my web 2.0 knowledge and experience at a meager 3 supported by my limited Farmville harvests on Facebook.