The End

Overall I have really enjoyed this opportunity to take this course, some of my co-workers may be surprised to hear me say this as they had to listen to all my frustration during times when I just couldn't understand the lesson. Getting the map on my blog was really hard (but easy when Robin showed me how) other things caused much frustration. One thing I've really gotten better at is writing on my blog, at first I wrote on paper to get my ideas down but now I can skip that part. I also felt uncomfortable knowing anybody could read my blog but I figure outside of my "teachers" nobody else cares what my opinions are. There are things that I would never have even attempted if not for this class, namely myspace, and I doubt if I will ever use it but it was easier to join than I thought it would be and not the evil, dangerous site I heard about. I enjoyed the creative parts like flickr. I feel that at least now I have more of an idea what all these different things mean and why some people really like them. The creative things and bloglines are what I hope to continue to use.

As far what would I like to learn more about I'm not sure how to answer that. I would like to see either classes where we can ask questions when we are having problems or maybe a time scheduled for questions when the instructors would be available. I do think more time needs to be scheduled for doing the assignments, I have rushed through some parts that I would have liked to spend more time on. I am also behind on other things that I am anxious to catch up on.

e-books

I have used e-books occasionally since the library has first started subscribing to them. I find it easy to use. I only use it as a starting place, by searching a subject and looking at different books and I find which are of most interest to me and interlibrary loan (ill) them. Books are so much better then a computer screen. That probably one reason I don't care for blogs, but them in book form and I'll read them. I do have very dry eyes and looking at a computer screen for any time at all really bothers my eyes. For anybody doing research papers and maybe research for something specific such as an illness, e-books can be of great help. I see this as something that will only get more popular as people become more familiar with it especially if it become more portable. I overall really like e-books as a resource but cannot see it ever replacing real books. There is nothing like curling up with a good book and a cup of tea.

Podcast

This week has been podcast week. I found some of the podcast selections interesting but I was unable to get them because active x control (or whatever it is) does not work on this computer. I had the most luck with yahoo podcast. The found "The Library Channel" on yahoo, from Arizona State University. I find it hard to listen close enough to get any real information from the podcast. I cannot listen to audio books or talk radio because I get distracted too easily. I would must rather read to get the information. It is also much easier to go back and reread something or slow down than listening to a podcast. I still see a valuable use for them and by all the podcast out there they must be popular for a lot of people. I did try to listen to some podcast on subjects that were more entertainment hoping it would be easier to pay attention, it was not. I did select "The Library Channel" to add to my bloglines. I do not think unless I have a very specific reason that I will very use podcasts.

YouTube

I've been looking at YouTube for the last few days. I understand the fascination with it but I find it boring mostly and a drain on my time. There are so many very clever videos but you have to go through a lot to find them and that is very time consuming. I can see why creative people enjoy making them. That would be the fun of YouTube. I can also understand why people could get obsessed with not only creating them but watching them also. I think creative people could fine lots of uses to use various videos on there sites to promote different things. It could be a useful tool. The video I choose is interesting but it did give me a headache watching it.


Doug Aitken: sleepwalkers

Web 2.0 Awards

I looked around at a few different sites. Some sounded interesting but I was unwilling give them a try, such as the start pages because I don't want to mess anything up. I enjoyed the calenders and would need to work with them for a much longer period of time to really see what would work for me. A good and easy to use calender can help with busy lives. I also like the photo sites, but again to make a decision on what would be my favorite would take time.

I really liked newsvine. It was easy to navigate and find news stories that were interesting. I liked that people can submit news stories that they found elsewhere.

google labs

I've been looking at google labs. I imagine the people at google have fun with that. I tried a few like music trends which was fun but I'm not for sure what the point is. I think Accessible search is a great idea and would be of great help to people who needed it. Picasa for linux also was interesting, but I like photos. I'm not sure what linux is and maybe picasa already exists for other systems(?). The notebook would be of great help to people search something. Page creator would be very popular I would think. I wanted to try it out but I also do not want a web page so all I did was look at it. I didn't get trends but it was interesting to search on things (I searched on winter, summer) but I have not idea what the graphs mean. I think page creator, music trends, accessible search and notebook will make it because of the uses a lot of people will have for them.

OK, I'm totally lost with this stuff. I don't use anything besides occasionally a word processor. I don't understand the meaning of many of the terms and endings(?) that are used such as 'ajax, htm, html, PDF, .ppt, .pps or .odp. When it says you need firefox I don't have a clue if I have it. Its hard enough with photos and music and they only have about 4 or 5 different endings and I guess at it. Even as I opened the file to this document the choices to save were confusing. I have no idea if I wanted to save this document would I save it as a html or rtf or word or openoffice or pdf. Whats the difference and how does average Karens know which to use.

Now that I've vented my frustrations I see why people who know what they are doing when find this a great help. I would be useful for people in the same office building and would be a must have for people working from different buildings or even states. The time and ease of working on a project together would be a great benefit to all companies.