In this exercise I added School Library Journal 2.0 and put it in a folder entitled 'Blog'. I also set up a MISDISD feed and added it to the folder entitled 'News'.
I thought all the search tools were very easy to navigate through ~ at least initially. I especially liked the layout of Syndic8.com because of the way the items were categorized or grouped (i.e.) most viewed, most popular, most recent, the graphs, etc. On the other hand, this site got me more and more away from subjects I was interested in and sometimes real confused about what was going on-latest articles on fancy dress and fashion. This was probably the most unusual one I viewed.
The Topix.net was set up very clearly and concisely - People reading, talking and editing, I really like the clarity of this site and enjoyed browsing its contents. There was even a listing of sales (houses, merchandise, furniture, etc.) as well as the most popular news of the day. I found this to be a very interactive sight as well as a very informative sight. This is also the site where I searched jobs for librarians and found everything available in the United States and then, more specifically, Dallas. Very interesting ! We need to hold on tight to what we've got !!
Technorati covered everything from entertainment to sports to politics. In the life section, I read where 80% of all Americans are online now according to a recent Harris poll. I am sure that stat went up significantly after our last staff development meeting !!!!
I looked at Slashdot.com and found all kinds of interesting news items. One was the idea of putting chips in the uniforms of students to keep up with them. These articles and the comments went on and on ~ very insightful.
Finally, I clicked into BibMe and found that this is a way to get free bibligraphic citations online which would be useful to look into at more depth and inform our teachers.
Overall, this was quite a journey and provided a wealth of information on about anything anyone could possibly want to know. You can get as specific or as general as you want which would certainly meet the needs of all users.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Thing # 8
The best feature about RSS and newsreaders is that the information is brought to the reader, not the reader searching for the information. The reader decides up front what is of interest to him/her and that is the information that comes in as often or as infrequently as the reader chooses. This sort of information will force me to look at what is current whether I am aware of it or not and also allow me to choose a feed that a colleague/student might need current information on and pass that article on to him/her. For example, we get the Dallas Morning News everyday and we give it to the secretary every evening. Many times, someone will come in a week later and refer to an article and ask if I have the paper or how they could I get a copy of it. I think this might be an avenue to help that teacher.
As I read through these blogs and feeds, I think this technology is bringing libraries together ~ this is a way to connect to the library world even internationally. We can learn so much from what "they" are doing out there in all areas, and we can share what we are doing right here in Mesquite.
I especially enjoyed the It Really Is Really Simple: RSS for Educators and CNET Video: RSS - Feel the Need for Feeds, and Feed Me tutorials. They were clear and very informative. I thought the Getting Started Using Google Reader went too fast and the narrator was not as clear.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this exercise because I didn't feel rushed and did it in segments. The more I searched the more I wanted to search. I guess these "webfeet" are getting wetter and wetter.
As I read through these blogs and feeds, I think this technology is bringing libraries together ~ this is a way to connect to the library world even internationally. We can learn so much from what "they" are doing out there in all areas, and we can share what we are doing right here in Mesquite.
I especially enjoyed the It Really Is Really Simple: RSS for Educators and CNET Video: RSS - Feel the Need for Feeds, and Feed Me tutorials. They were clear and very informative. I thought the Getting Started Using Google Reader went too fast and the narrator was not as clear.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this exercise because I didn't feel rushed and did it in segments. The more I searched the more I wanted to search. I guess these "webfeet" are getting wetter and wetter.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Thing # 7
Today I visited iGoogle and Picasa Web Album. I set up a home page in iGoogle with a background, temperature, time and information about Dallas. I added more tabs to the Google News to get daily information about popular news, business and sports. This would be an excellent resource for students in keeping up with current events during the week ~ especially if you had one person look this up and report something of interest to the class or on morning announcements. Then I went to the wikiHow-to page and learned everything from roasting pumpkin seeds to resisting a sales pitch. This would be wonderful to use with the students in learning new and interesting facts about everyday things on a variety of subjects and possibly expand their minds on projects or writings.
I downloaded all my library pictures on Picasa Web Album, but marked it private because so many children were involved and was not sure about the privacy issues. But I am going to try and link one of my Mother Goose pictures to my blog again since several attempts have failed so far.
I downloaded all my library pictures on Picasa Web Album, but marked it private because so many children were involved and was not sure about the privacy issues. But I am going to try and link one of my Mother Goose pictures to my blog again since several attempts have failed so far.
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