So I successfully set up a couple of RSS feeds. I used the Bloglines site and it was pretty easy, though I have read on other blogs that using other accounts has been problematic....so here I am with yet ANOTHER account (another password yadda, yadda, yadda)...
Does this make information gathering more convenient for me? At first I was thinking this would be a good way to track one type of information for myself (soaping), but then I thought...what's wrong with the way I've been following other blogs up to now? Okay, maybe I'm limited to blogs that are only on Blogspot, but is that really a bad thing?
How convenient is it really to have to check so many accounts? We already check our email accounts (in my case 4), our Facebook accounts (I can't be bothered), our personal Blogs, and then finally the postings from all those other bloggers that we are interested in.
I think I am finally reaching my technology saturation point.
What I'd really like to know is when people who do all this checking and keeping up actually live.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Holy Google Universe Batman!!
Wow...I had no idea that the Google Universe is an actual universe. It's big, it's HUGE, it's too difficult to even comprehend.
So, what do I like about this brief exposure I've had? I can really learn a lot. Yep, in my futile attempt to make my pea-sized head bigger I can try to cram as much knowledge and learning into my noggin that I can THINK it is actually increasing in size. We'll all know differently, but it'll FEEL bigger. Today I learned how to make yarn from any old piece of fabric...from beloved silk skirts and your hubby's worn T-shirt to regular old muslin.
One thing in particular that I like is Google Books. I don't know about you, but I was a HUGE user of My List. I tried a few other sites to help me manage the shocking amount of material that I am interested in, but nothing seemed to be able to keep up. Then I discovered Google Books and it was as if the heavens opened up and welcomed me in. Here I can make a list of books I have read (as well as review them) and books I want to read (sort of replaces My List). You can also share your reads with your friends.
And I just fell in love with the translate feature...should help me brush up on my Japanese!!
Another aspect of the whole universe thing that I really appreciate is the whole "umbrella" phenomenon. You can enter this universe with one email account and one password. I really can't stand having to remember several usernames and make up so many passwords. Then I forget which password goes with which account and god help you if you ever have to change your password because you have forgotten it. That's how I lost access to my first Facebook account and now my account is floating around cyber space completely unattended.
What do I dislike about the Google Universe? It's all too much. I have travelled in many different places, trotted for hours through un-navigatable Asian markets, driven on more foreign highways and bi-ways than I have in my own country, but never have I ever felt so lost, with the possible exception of Delicious, as I did in the Google Universe. I felt completely adrift in this bottomless sea of information without anything remotely maplike. I'm a map-turner so maybe it might not help me that much, but seriously, my poor little brain was completely overwhelmed.
Also it seemed that there are a lot of places you can't go unless you pay or subscribe (with an attached cost?) Even in cyber space there is an economic divide.
All of this access to information also begs the question:
How much is too much? We all seem to be so "BUSY" these days that it does intrigue me that we would pile even more on top of what we already do. I guess it's part of our culture to consume ravenously (goods, resources, food, information, technology, knowledge)...put it on our plates and we will lick them clean.
I would recommend Google Universe to anyone more tech savvy than me (that would be most people), however they are probably already using this universe, or to people who are interested in learning more about what is out there on the web. I will venture forth boldly into this universe again when I have regained my sense of equilibrium.
kuri
So, what do I like about this brief exposure I've had? I can really learn a lot. Yep, in my futile attempt to make my pea-sized head bigger I can try to cram as much knowledge and learning into my noggin that I can THINK it is actually increasing in size. We'll all know differently, but it'll FEEL bigger. Today I learned how to make yarn from any old piece of fabric...from beloved silk skirts and your hubby's worn T-shirt to regular old muslin.
One thing in particular that I like is Google Books. I don't know about you, but I was a HUGE user of My List. I tried a few other sites to help me manage the shocking amount of material that I am interested in, but nothing seemed to be able to keep up. Then I discovered Google Books and it was as if the heavens opened up and welcomed me in. Here I can make a list of books I have read (as well as review them) and books I want to read (sort of replaces My List). You can also share your reads with your friends.
And I just fell in love with the translate feature...should help me brush up on my Japanese!!
Another aspect of the whole universe thing that I really appreciate is the whole "umbrella" phenomenon. You can enter this universe with one email account and one password. I really can't stand having to remember several usernames and make up so many passwords. Then I forget which password goes with which account and god help you if you ever have to change your password because you have forgotten it. That's how I lost access to my first Facebook account and now my account is floating around cyber space completely unattended.
What do I dislike about the Google Universe? It's all too much. I have travelled in many different places, trotted for hours through un-navigatable Asian markets, driven on more foreign highways and bi-ways than I have in my own country, but never have I ever felt so lost, with the possible exception of Delicious, as I did in the Google Universe. I felt completely adrift in this bottomless sea of information without anything remotely maplike. I'm a map-turner so maybe it might not help me that much, but seriously, my poor little brain was completely overwhelmed.
Also it seemed that there are a lot of places you can't go unless you pay or subscribe (with an attached cost?) Even in cyber space there is an economic divide.
All of this access to information also begs the question:
How much is too much? We all seem to be so "BUSY" these days that it does intrigue me that we would pile even more on top of what we already do. I guess it's part of our culture to consume ravenously (goods, resources, food, information, technology, knowledge)...put it on our plates and we will lick them clean.
I would recommend Google Universe to anyone more tech savvy than me (that would be most people), however they are probably already using this universe, or to people who are interested in learning more about what is out there on the web. I will venture forth boldly into this universe again when I have regained my sense of equilibrium.
kuri
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Facing Up to Facebook
I first joined Facebook a few years ago and all my friends sent messages..."WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION!!"
Frankly, I didn't know what they were talking about. Though I did enjoy catching up with friends who are far away and seeing videos and photos of all the new babies I just couldn't get into all the cyber tickling, poking, gift buying etc. I quickly lost interest and, as a result, there are a whole slew of new humans I haven't seen videos or photos of...too bad for me 'cause that's the only place I'll see them.
Why is social networking so popular? Because we all want to feel connected. It's a primal human need and, try as they might, "the powers that be" won't de-program that part out of our humanity. They can take away our bank tellers, our supermarket clerks, and, yes, even our library staff, but they can't destroy our humanity and our desire to feel touched by our own and others' humanity. It's one of the big reasons I wanted to work at the library...we will always be people helping people. The more we are pushed to uber-efficiency the more we forget who we are and how to be with each other. That's where applications like Facebook come in. It creates the illusion that we are actually connecting with others. Sure we're getting all the dirt, but we're missing the tears and the laughs and the touch that really make up the thrill of human connection. Your computer will never hug you when you are breaking up with your boyfriend or when you find out you are pregnant after years of trying. But we'll all get the news anyway.
So, is it useful or just a huge waste of time? It's both. The decision of how to use it is in your own hands.
Frankly, I didn't know what they were talking about. Though I did enjoy catching up with friends who are far away and seeing videos and photos of all the new babies I just couldn't get into all the cyber tickling, poking, gift buying etc. I quickly lost interest and, as a result, there are a whole slew of new humans I haven't seen videos or photos of...too bad for me 'cause that's the only place I'll see them.
Why is social networking so popular? Because we all want to feel connected. It's a primal human need and, try as they might, "the powers that be" won't de-program that part out of our humanity. They can take away our bank tellers, our supermarket clerks, and, yes, even our library staff, but they can't destroy our humanity and our desire to feel touched by our own and others' humanity. It's one of the big reasons I wanted to work at the library...we will always be people helping people. The more we are pushed to uber-efficiency the more we forget who we are and how to be with each other. That's where applications like Facebook come in. It creates the illusion that we are actually connecting with others. Sure we're getting all the dirt, but we're missing the tears and the laughs and the touch that really make up the thrill of human connection. Your computer will never hug you when you are breaking up with your boyfriend or when you find out you are pregnant after years of trying. But we'll all get the news anyway.
So, is it useful or just a huge waste of time? It's both. The decision of how to use it is in your own hands.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Aloha!!
I didn't know that I was improving my Hawaiian while I was using Wikipedia!! This week's assignment is very fast as it was relatively easy to find an article that I could edit. My editing was not for errors or even grammatical -- more of a style issue really. As I was reading the original article I noticed the flow could use some improvement.
Monday, March 29, 2010
An Hour In...
First off I have to say that I think it is a bit naive to think that we can explore this week's assignment in 15 minutes (the amount of time these assignments were to take)...I'm not really complaining as it was all interesting, but I can see how people wind up spending hours and hours of their life on the computer!!
After checking out several staff blogs I have decided to follow as many as I can (after figuring out how easy that was) so that I can somehow make some kind of personal connection to this experiment. Some made me laugh, some had great titles, some were exhibiting skills I wanted to learn (like how to get pictures on your blog), and many, many, many people out there are like me: unsure how these technologies work, how to protect our personal information, and wanting to get as much as we can out of this experience.
Delicious...at first is anything but!! I have tried to use the best websites site from Delicious before and I have to say it is so unattractive and difficult to use. My past experiences with the site usually ended with me giving up without getting my questions answered. I really missed our old Best Web Sites!!
Then I somehow stumbled onto the "Social Bookmarking" page...
WHAT A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!!!
Slight adjustments in the visuals made it much more attractive and it was also easier to find information. I wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked exploring this new aspect of Delicious, but already I feel that I could give Delicious another try. I feel much more comfortable. It seemed to me that in the previous Delicious you pretty much had to use tags. That was the only way to even make an attempt to find what you were looking for. I will try again later in the week and report more.
Until then...
kuri
Ok, So I'm back after figuring out a bit more:
The Best Websites is the ugmo version and Delicious is the Social Bookmarking. Give the girl a prize!! Ok...so here I go...
The disadvantages of storing/sharing/tagging webcontent in this way are that the tags can be a bit broad or vague. Words often have different connotations for different people. For instance, the tag "inspiration" brought up lots of material ranging from how to design your blog to motivational quotes. WOW!!
And perhaps that is one of the advantages as well...that the tags give a lot of information--perhaps much much more than was expected. For example, with the tag "food" I discovered that McDonald's is scraping its composting program because the food served at these "restaurants" doesn't decompose. And I wasn't exactly looking for canned unicorn meat...but there it is...on the ThinkGeek website!!
So I'm left wondering about how useful tags really are. In a smaller situation, like on the CPL website for example, tags are quite useful on the movie blog. There are only so many genres or sub-genres and away you go, but on the WORLDWIDEWEB, the amount of information is astounding. I'm thinking that you'd have to sort through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat. Perhaps someone out there could help me to understand how to sort this material to a mangeable amount...any takers?
kuri
After checking out several staff blogs I have decided to follow as many as I can (after figuring out how easy that was) so that I can somehow make some kind of personal connection to this experiment. Some made me laugh, some had great titles, some were exhibiting skills I wanted to learn (like how to get pictures on your blog), and many, many, many people out there are like me: unsure how these technologies work, how to protect our personal information, and wanting to get as much as we can out of this experience.
Delicious...at first is anything but!! I have tried to use the best websites site from Delicious before and I have to say it is so unattractive and difficult to use. My past experiences with the site usually ended with me giving up without getting my questions answered. I really missed our old Best Web Sites!!
Then I somehow stumbled onto the "Social Bookmarking" page...
WHAT A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!!!
Slight adjustments in the visuals made it much more attractive and it was also easier to find information. I wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked exploring this new aspect of Delicious, but already I feel that I could give Delicious another try. I feel much more comfortable. It seemed to me that in the previous Delicious you pretty much had to use tags. That was the only way to even make an attempt to find what you were looking for. I will try again later in the week and report more.
Until then...
kuri
Ok, So I'm back after figuring out a bit more:
The Best Websites is the ugmo version and Delicious is the Social Bookmarking. Give the girl a prize!! Ok...so here I go...
The disadvantages of storing/sharing/tagging webcontent in this way are that the tags can be a bit broad or vague. Words often have different connotations for different people. For instance, the tag "inspiration" brought up lots of material ranging from how to design your blog to motivational quotes. WOW!!
And perhaps that is one of the advantages as well...that the tags give a lot of information--perhaps much much more than was expected. For example, with the tag "food" I discovered that McDonald's is scraping its composting program because the food served at these "restaurants" doesn't decompose. And I wasn't exactly looking for canned unicorn meat...but there it is...on the ThinkGeek website!!
So I'm left wondering about how useful tags really are. In a smaller situation, like on the CPL website for example, tags are quite useful on the movie blog. There are only so many genres or sub-genres and away you go, but on the WORLDWIDEWEB, the amount of information is astounding. I'm thinking that you'd have to sort through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat. Perhaps someone out there could help me to understand how to sort this material to a mangeable amount...any takers?
kuri
Monday, March 22, 2010
This is my first entry in my learning blog. I have many interests so it was quite difficult for me to choose just one to focus on. Ultimately I realized that I am in love with learning itself.
I work at the public library in Calgary. You might say that I have the most suitable job in the world. Everyday I am surrounded by people who are learning and the tools to help make all that learning happen. Working here has also helped me uncover passions I never knew I had and provided me with the tools to keep those passions well lit.
I hope to learn to not let new technologies intimidate me into not participating. I am also excited about having an overview on so many different new forms of communicating...some I've never even heard of. I'd also like to learn how to keep my privacy while still using these technologies.
Stay tuned for more of my adventure!!
I work at the public library in Calgary. You might say that I have the most suitable job in the world. Everyday I am surrounded by people who are learning and the tools to help make all that learning happen. Working here has also helped me uncover passions I never knew I had and provided me with the tools to keep those passions well lit.
I hope to learn to not let new technologies intimidate me into not participating. I am also excited about having an overview on so many different new forms of communicating...some I've never even heard of. I'd also like to learn how to keep my privacy while still using these technologies.
Stay tuned for more of my adventure!!
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