Tasks 13 and 14 - Del.icio.us Tagging and Technorati

So I tackled the world of Del.icio.us and Technorati this week. On Del.icio.us I decides to search for information on the London Olympics and found a blog regarding tickets. I subsequently used the tags of London, Olympics, 2012 and Tickets to see what else would come up. Not as much as I thought. Perhaps I didn't do it correctly or perhaps I just chose to follow something that is not that interesting  to other people. Either way I quite like Del.icio.us.

As for Technorati I type in "Learning 2.0" in the Blog directory and Blog Pasts and got nothing. When I went into the popular/Top 100 section and the Tags section it was very clear that the site is very American in content from both gossip blogs and politics. Lots of articles on Bin Laden and on the latest gadgets. Not really my type of site.

Tasks 10, 11, 12 - LibraryThing, Google Books and LibriVox

This week I tackled with great fervor the world of online libraries specifically. LibrayThing and Google Books. both were very easy to use. Task 12 - exploring LibriVox was quite a revelation as I had never heard of it. Again it is very easy to use and definitely a site i am to return to time and time again.

Tasks 7/8/9 - Blog comments and RSS feeds

Continuing the life-long learning journey I tackled tasks 7, 8, 9 this week. With task 7 I commented on a couple of blogs by my fellow journeymen. With task 8 and 9 I was introduced to RSS feeds and subscribed to 10 news feeds on Bloglines as well as a number of my colleagues blogs. Quite easy really.

I can see a number of benefits of subscribing to RSS feeds as one can target specific areas of interest and get the latest information. I can also see its professional usefulness for libraries with respect to notifying librarians and collections teams of new releases and forth coming publications.

On a personal level I don't think I would use RSS feeds as I already suffer from information overload with emails, internet and social networking.

Tasks 5/6/7

The life-long learning journey continues. I completed tasks 5-7 this week by creating accounts with both Flickr and Picasa and uploading a couple of pictures to my blog I thought I would avoid putting up pictures of libraries as I figured other 23 taskers would already be doing this. It was really easy thought I found upload from Flickr straight to my Blogger blog far more user friendly then from Picasa. There are so many weird and wonderful pictures to view. I am not sure if I would ever be that public with pictures I have taken but I can definitely see the benefits. Task 7 involved commenting on other blogs which I did but to a very limited extent but I do intend to leave more comments as we progress through the tasks.

Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund........ Foto: Verena

Now this is an interesting picture! Check out the tongue. I wonder what made the cat react like this? Poor pussy, poor pussy cat.

 

Grenadier.jpg

Grenadier.jpg, a photo by jmdustin on Flickr.

I love this photo as it reminds me of when I visited London and the Grenadier Pub in 2006. It is a very hard pub to find as it located in a tiny street off Belgravia Square. A local London Cabbie suggested it. Its really tiny and was used as the barracks for Wellington's guards. Legend says that Wellington left for Waterloo from outside this pub. It also has a resident ghost. Guy Ritchie and Madonna used to be regulars as did the US embassy staff when the Embassy was in Grosvenor Square. It also has the best pub grub.

My web 2.0 journey anfd the 7 1/2 habits of life long learning

This is my first real adventure into the world of web 2.0. I know about it and I work in an environment which uses it on a daily basis. I even use aspects of web 2.0 such as social networking. This doesn't mean that I understand it. The journey which I am about to undertake I hope will aid in my understanding. I have always enjoyed learning new things but am always afraid to take the first step. This blog is a perfect example we are in week 7 of a 10 week program on web 2.0 and I have only just now plucked up the couraged to start.

71/2 habits - my experience
Habit 1 states "Begin with the end in mind" i.e. set a goal - my goal  - finish to 23 things - easy, once i get started.
Habit 2 "Accept responsibility for your own learning" - Only I can complete the tasks. No one will do it for me
Habit 3 "View problems as challenges" - my problem as stated is getting started. I like the challenge of learning something new but it still makes me very nervous yet here I am writing my first ever blog. I have read many blogs in the past but I don't think that I have ever contributed to one let alone start one.
Habit 4 " Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner" -  having taken the first "giant leap", writing my first ever blog I am now more confident in myself and my ability to be an effective learner.
Habit 5 "Create your own learning toolbox" - I like to think of my work environment as one giant toolkit. I am surrounded by people who are familiar with web 2.0 and who have done the 23 things. I have participated in coursework which used and discussed web 2.0. I work in a library surrounded by books which I can refer to and I have the Internet both at work and home which I can search to find guidelines to web 2.0 and life long learning.
Habit 6 "Use technology to your advantage" - technology is supposed to make our lives easier yet I find it challenging. It makes me nervous but I still use it. I have an i-pod but I have never downloaded any music to it. I have a smart phone yet I am unsure how to access the Internet on it.  I have bought technology for the sole purpose of making it work for me and not the other way around. This I feel is my biggest challenge.
Habit 7 " Teach/mentor others" - there is know sense in reinventing the wheel. Knowledge is a powerful thing and if you have that knowledge pass it on.
Habit 71/2 "Play" - I love to play but as my mother always said "no play until your homework is done". The 23 things is my homework. I have started it now I must finish. :)