2.0 for 20

I have to say that I was pleasently surprised with the 2.0 for 20 experience. It was a lot more fun and a lot less frustrating than I had anticipated. I quickly shed my "I don't have time for this" attitude and donned an "inquiring minds need to know" one, and got going.

The biggest surprise for me was the extent of virtual living. I never would have guessed that so many people spend so much time living a life that is not their own...so to speak. I enjoyed making an avatar and could have spent an entire afternoon creating images. It is a lot like playing Barbie.

I was disappointed with some of the social network sites. Many of them had "groups" that were non functioning. My Space had too much on the page for my taste and Eons is a big pain to stay connected with. As for the personal website save pages, such as del.icio.us,I found them useless. However I can see how some people would need them. Facebook has become my next best friend. In fact I found my best friend from childhood on that site! We now correspond everyday and I can not imagine my world without him.


I could rant on and on about how other people use computers, spend their time, and interact with each other but to what end. I think the best lesson we can learn is that everyone uses, views, and interacts in their own way and at their own comfort level in Computer Land much the same way they do in Non-computer Land. Viva la virtual!

Badminton....Anyone?

Games are fun whether you are playing alone or with others. Every experience is educational so I guess you could say it's all good. I am concerned about the crossover from game world to reality. If you spent your adolescence/young adulthood buried in gaming the world may come as quite a shock to you. Many jobs have no clear cut goals, you are expected to find your own tools to solve problems, challenges and success can be nebulous, you usually don't get do-overs (second chances), and nobody gives you an M&M for doing what you are paid to do. Some days nobody gives a Bo Diddly what you do right. Good luck to you future employers, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. I won't get going on the games that involve violence because I would be on my soap box from now 'till Sunday!

What Would The Map Makers of Lascaux Think?

I have to say that Google Earth is a wonder. Marco Polo would have loved it and Christopher Columbus could have used it. It has a lot more detail than the maps of Lascaux caves! I have traveled all over the world to look at maps and now I can sit at home and travel all over the world looking at a map. I was relived to notice that my house cannot be seen because of all of our trees. I was pleasantly surprised to see the waves on the ocean and the ridges in the sea floor. I am hoping to spot a whale. This tool really sets off a dichotomatic discussion in my head. I love the detail/I love my privacy.

Hey Babe

Here I am in all my splendor! Could I be the woman..er..cartoon..of your dreams? As fun as it is to play paper dolls and relive a piece of childhood I do have other things to do with my time. I think that the virtual world is interesting and weird. It would be a better use of time and resources if part of the virtual culture was to power all of these computers via physical exercise. I have concerns regarding "real" social interaction. It is one thing to speak in pretend land and another to face actual people. Do people who spend time everyday in virtual land interact with real people the same amount of time each day? When I was a child we played in the woods. We inappropriately called ourselves cowboys and Indians (my brothers and I are some Native American), we shot pretend guns and arrows, we spoke with stupid accents. We interacted with real people. I think that I had the richer childhood.

Tools. continued

Yes! Got both documents to publish. As you can see they are very important. It is a good idea to start planning for a trip early.

CRUISE TO MEXICO

1. Leave Seattle
2. Arrive San Diego
3. Leave San Diego
4. Cruise
5. Cruise some more
6. Go zipline
7. Go kyaking
8. Go swim with dolphins
9. Go dune buggy riding
10. Arrive San Diego
11. Leave San Diego
12. Arrive Seattle
13. Add layers of clothing

Hammers & Nails & T Squares, Oh My

I am all over the tools and applications sites. They have made my committee life so much easier. We no longer have to worry about who has word or mac or works or tin cans on a string. We can communicate! This is the best thing since 8 track went to cassette tapes! I did send my self 2 documents and only 1 came. I think this is my fault so I will try again.

Cruise Wear

What To Wear On Cruise

1. Bathing suit
2. Cover up
3. Shorts
4. T tops
5. Dress
6. Sandels

Can't See The Forrest For The Search Engines

Search engines are fun if you know your way around them and how they think. However it can take a very long time and a lot of searching to hone in on what each one is good at. I get bored. Maybe I am missing something by sticking close to Google but I can only scan so much for so long before I get antsy. I did like Mamma better than Rollyo. I am not sure why but I suspect it was the colors and layout. I am not fond of Yahoo because of all the ads in your face although I use it sometimes. I like Dogpile when I am shopping and hoping to find a new source of petite clothing. I have been sitting here for an hour and that is my limit.

Casting for Pods

Part 14. I downloaded NPR's "Fresh Air", Wadsworth Public Library's "In Good Company", and Arizona State U. Noble Science Library's "violence Over the Land: Lessons From the Early American West" podcasts. It was easy to add them to the Google Reader. The success of the audio podcasts rests solely on the reader. Some people were born to read aloud and others should keep it to themselves which is why I liked the ASU cast. NPR is always good no matter what the program. I have used itunes as a pod catcher in the past so it was good to try other methods. I like podcasts for instructions but I wouldn't want to have to listen to them for an instructional class.

Picture This

Part 13. The image generators were a lot of fun. I am glad I had the opportunity to give them a try. I could while away many hours playing with the computer.

Overdone OverDrive

OverDrive was not over fun. It is a pain to download and install because there are too many directions on too many pages. In the end I was not able to use OverDrive because Windows Media Player would not allow me to upgrade the security. Without the upgrade OverDrive will not allow me to download media. If I were a patron I would be very frustrated by now. Looking through the catalog there seems to be a wide selection of titles and genres. I am looking forward to June when OverDrive is ipod compatible. Perhaps by then I will have the security upgrade problem fixed.

Yum, Yum, Delicious

How many "favorite" pages can one person have? Social tagging pages seem to me to be the equivalent of storage lockers. If you have so much you can't live with it maybe it is time to get rid of something. Del.icio.us is an interesting idea, however, I think that it takes a lot of time to maintain. It is fun to poke around in. I would rather forget another set of log ons and passwords in favor of simply remembering my favorite places.

Part 10 Wiki Whacky Woo Woo

Today's lesson was all about wikis. It made me stop and think about the way we publish memos and newsletters. I was thinking that this would be a good way to pass info to other bike riders as we could link to maps and trip tiks. I might take the time at home to build a wiki just for the experience.

My Pug imitating a blender

ha ha

where does the video go

I downloaded a video and played it. However when I went back into my blog the video was gone! Where did it go?

Cycling the Bridge of the Gods/part 9

This video was shot on a bicycle ride that I help organize. Imagine long haul triple trailers passing you on this baby.

Part 8

Social networking via the Internet is a little strange. How do you determine intent? Face book is much easier to navigate and rather plain. My space is like a carnival. There is almost too much to look at and too much to choose from. Not all of the FAQ info is accurate. I made the mistake of putting in an incorrect email address. Although I followed their instructions I could not change the address. Without the confirmation email I could not make use of the entire site. I emailed a person for help.

Part 7

The manatee is one of my favorite animals. I got this from flickr. I enjoyed photo shopping and it was easy to upload them. I am going to try taking some photos and posting them when I have more time. I would like to know how to get my paper photos (or real photos) on the computer. I don't have negatives for some of them. Anybody got any ideas?

Part 6

The streaming music lesson was fun. I can't play streaming anything at home because I have dial up. You can die waiting for dial up. I think the Sno-Isle streaming feature should offer rock & roll music.

Part 5 RSS

It is interesting to see all of the feeds that are available. I wish that I had time to read all of the news articles that interest me. I probably won't use this much at work but I can now help patrons set up bloglines and feeds. I especially like the PBS World News and itunes top 25 connections.

Bonus

I have always been a succesful lifelong learner. I didn't know that there were specific steps untill I watched the video clip. Teaching/mentoring others is the most gratifying of the 7 1/2 steps to me. The most frustrating of the steps is finding time to use technology to the fullest. I like to play.

Part 4

I have used instant messaging in the past. It is a great way to "talk" to friends and family overseas. However, I would rather text or telephone or use a free Internet phone service that allows you to talk via the computer.

Part 3

Today is the third part of this exercise. I erase everything I write because I feel uncomfortable with the idea that who knows who is reading it.

More

Yeah! I found my way back here.

The First

This is my first blog. It was not hard to set up, however, remembering all the passwords, urls, titles etc. will be the challenge.