Thing #9, Library Blogs and Newsfeeds

I learned that people sure are blogging a lot about libraries. As I worked through the tools listed for this exercise, I found lots of feeds and blogs that were interesting. Some of my subscriptions now include: Joyce Valenza's NeverEndingSearch, the Shifted Librarian, Library Link of the Day, LibraryPlanet.com, School Library Journal, Unshelved, Blue Skunk Blog, and a few others.
I found Topix.net to be the least useful of the tools that I tried-even though I liked the fact that their "Advanced Search" allowed me to restrict by zip code. I had much better success using Blogdigger and Syndic8. I also found lots of stuff by using the Search screen in Google Reader, and also by typing in "RSS Feeds" into a basic Google Search. Although I stuck to library blogs and feeds for this post, I also found lots of good sites/blogs on topics of interest to middle school students and teachers.
It was easy to add subscriptions from all the sites, in fact it was so easy that it is hard not to oversubscribe.
Now that I know a little about RSS feeds, I see that although my fears of being swamped with information were unfounded, it would certainly be easy to get involved in more information than I have time to digest each day. I just hate it when moderation is the key.

Thing #8, RSS Feeds

I have heard several people talk about RSS feeds and how useful they are. It seemed to me that this was just another way to add way too much information to my inbox when it takes enough time just getting through email every day. For Thing #8, I subscribed to some feeds including the following subjects: cartoons, politics, my hometown newspaper, news, graphic novels, and School Library Journal. I used Google Reader since I had set up an account last year, but had seldom used it.
I have learned that some feeds can be slightly overwhelming, like the news sites, but that other sites don't update as frequently or as much as the news sites and can be used without fear of hundreds of new items popping up every hour. And the information is from sites that I am interested in. There are a lot of sites that can be useful to teachers and students (I am currently following the Phoenix Mars Lander) who are studying specific subjects or current events and I will mention RSS to several teachers at school. It was interesting to see some Feed Directories as well learning how simple it is to add feeds from the Google Reader page.
After experimenting with RSS feeds, I believe I will continue to use this service. Google Reader is easy to set up, and can be managed without investing too much time. And I do like the fact that information on subjects that I am interested in can come to me rather than me having to search for it every day.

Thing #7, Technology-Digital Pens

I have been hearing about digital pens for a while. I haven't had the chance to try one, but I think the idea is interesting.
Digital pens are available now, but they still require a special sheets of paper or pads to work. It is possible to upload handwritten notes from a digital pen to your computer, but there aren't programs yet that will automatically convert the notes to text. Well, there are handwriting recognition systems, but they don't seem to be quite up to user's expectations.
I am looking forward to further developments in this technology.

Thing #6, Flickrfun, Mashups, 3rd party sites

Robert Michalove
Originally uploaded by robertmichalove

All of these API sites are creative and fun to explore. And it sure is easy to lose track of time while you are experimenting.
I was fascinated with CoverPop and how he creates them. When I used Montagr, I was happy to see that pictures I had uploaded to Flickr earlier showed up at the top of the montage for "fairbanks alaska" tags.
I also created a trading card and have posted it here. I know that students would love creating cards about themselves or books that they have read. I am looking forward to sharing these sites with several teachers at school.

Thing #5, Flickr

sham
Originally uploaded by robertmichalove

Sham is our oldest pet. He is 14.
I uploaded this photo from Flickr.
I am enjoying playing with Flickr but I am having trouble finding my photos by tag when I search "everyone's pictures". I will continue to work on tags.
My Flickr address: www.flickr.com/photos/robertmichalove

Sonic Shade Band

Sonic Shade Band
Originally uploaded by robertmichalove

Here is a picture from the first public appearance of the Sonic Shade Band. The Tanana Valley Sportsmens Club burned last year.

Fighting Like Cats and Dogs

Here is some footage of my dog and cat playing around at home.

Thing#4, Registration

OK, I am registered and ready to move on to learning more about photos and images.
Next stop is Flickr

Thing#3, Blog and Avatar

The blog is up and running. It was easy to set up and I moved the elements around and inserted a picture and my avatar. I like the way the blog autosaves my posts as I work on them so I don't have to remember to do that. I haven't been using labels for my posts, but I will when I use a blog at school. I want to try to add some video to one of my next posts. I think that I could use a blog with my Book Club next year to get comments as we read our books.

The avatar was fun to create and I made a few of them. I was unable to add a moustache to my avatar but it is nice to finally have a screen representation of myself.
I did have a slight problem exporting, because on my screen I did not have an export option on the Avatar/Yahoo home screen. Has that changed, or did I just miss something?

Thing#2

The 7.5 Habits of Lifelong Learners:
Let's start with the hardest habit for me. That would definitely be #3--Viewing Problems as Challenges. During the workday at school, I often feel like I do not have enough time to troubleshoot every problem that comes my way (and many of them need to be dealt with immediately). So, during the day, I often look at problems as roadblocks rather than challenges. When I get home, I am able to focus on the "challenge" and take the time I need to find a workable solution.

The easiest habit for me is #4--Having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I know that if I put in time and thought, I can learn things effectively. I can learn from books, online tutorials, and from talking to others. I expect I will be sending some questions to the Raven About the Web 2.0 team before this class is over.

Thing#1

I am ready to start using the tools that I have been reading about for the past year. I suspect that it will be hard to sit down at the computer during these nice sunny days of summer, but I am happy to be able to work through this course at my own pace. Here we go.