Finishing line - the course is run

Completion
Well, it's lovely to get here.  Having stalled badly at Endnote and Zotero, my completion of the programme was in some doubt, but I have made it and feel all the finisher's adrenalin. Thanks to the 23 Things team.

Enjoyment and Continuity
I have really enjoyed the programme, particularly the blogging incorporating superb pictures from Flickr - not, alas, taken by me.  Firefox is my default browser, iGoogle is set as my home page and I will continue with both and using RSS feeds to keep up to date

Lukewarm
Facebook still causes me privacy worries, and I think I would rather my photos were on Flickr.  Tweeting leaves me a bit cold: if I follow people with sufficiently interesting lives, real life looks rather pedestrian. The Pandora effect as experienced after watching Avatar.  Note to self - find a good, online therapist to deal with inferiority complex.

  by  Paul Robert Lloyd 

SlideSharing

Slide share is a fantastic resourse.  Many of the training courses I have been on recently have left their slide set on this website, and it is a great place for ideas.  Like You Tube, there is of course a lot of dross here, so atttentive searching is needed and careful use of search terms, but you can find inspiring stuff like this:-

Maximizing Classroom Collaboration Using Web 2.0 Technology

View more presentations from tcc07

  by  j-ster 

A view on Google Docs

Sounds a powerful device to share tools that are easily accessible, but the value is only there if they work perfectly every time.

I uploaded a Powerpoint presentation, but was slightly less than impressed since a couple of the Clip Art images had moved across the page.  Doesn't sound much, but they were obscuring some of the data and one had flipped itself upside down.  I would not be happy to give a presentation which contained such gliches, nor would I wish to share one in my name that was flawed this way.

So nice idea, nice try, but not really for me, particularly as I would have concerns about the security of my data and speed/reliability of internet access.  For now, I am happier with a laptop for mobility.

Wiki editing

Stunned at how easy it was to edit a page in Wikipedia - no expertise needed at all!  Maybe the stories about its inaccuracies are right.  Still find it useful though

You tube if you want to ...

Nothing like a  good, patronising video to tell you the blindingly obvious ... I do trust that everyone who ever puts a book back on our Library shelves has been equally well trained - do enjoy!

Flickering away

  by  HÃ¥kan Dahlström 

Now what's not to like about this?  Having ready access to such wacky images as this superb shot, is great.  As I am not a brilliant photographer, I am a little more wary about uploading my own attempts, but found the process straightforward.

Ending on a note, or Zotero

Endnote and Zotero look very interesting, powerful software, which when needed would really hit the spot.  I cannot see them being relevant to most of my day-to-day work, but you never know what may crop up.  Only the other day I was looking at a detailed accounting topic and wanting to use the correct format for references to put in the report.  If only I had done this first.....

 

 by  linh.ngân

Diigo for Victory, once it works.

  by  f_shields

What is new here - well highlighting is nice as are sticky notes, but as I already bookmark in Firefox along with tags, there is not a huge gain here.

Oddly annoying not to receive the activation email along with other warwick.ac.uk addressees, rather offputting. Reporting this to the support link gained me this reply
"We have activated your account in the backend. Welcome"

Cracking use of English I thought ;-)

13 out of 23 - reflections on a long half

  by  wharman 

13/23 is just over halfway and it has been challenging, finding the time to do this properly, and not getting too far adrift of the timetable.  So far I am about 2 weeks behind.

Some things seemed very useful, others just interesting, and most of them total timesinks for attention.  If I needed help to procrastinate, and I generally don't, I have just been introduced to a whole toolkit of ways to be busy in areas that are tangential to my work objectives.

Things 11 & 12 - stare into my inkblot

  by  designshard

Chose this image because it is lovely, and I wish I had taken this picture.

Have now tweeted and retweeted and messaged, but find it all a little clunky and nothing like the immersive, easy, intuitive world I was expecting.  Still perseverance may overcome this - let's see.

Facebook as ever is schizophrenic, useful for libraries, and for personal posts if your privacy is something you are prepared to barter for ease of access. However if you want control, you must prepare yourself for a long vigilant watch over settings, which will flip to default when things are updated.  As default is "everyone", you will find that your privacy is gradually eroded.


Slightly concerned about how far behind I am, in 23 things terms, finding each week is taking me a very long time, and many unfamiliar technologies to go.

Tweet nothings

  by  wharman 

Twitter was straightforward, as easy as hoped.  With only words, it does seem a little pedestrian, and I am missing colour and images. 

Not sold on the idea yet.  It will be great for chat among friends, but bit less clear about any business use.  I am also keen to find people to follow whose tweats are funny.  Anybody got any suggestions for amusing people to follow?

Flaming vixens..... or firefox if you prefer

A quick little part of the course, as I already use Firefox all the time.  I was first directed to it by IT Services back in July 2009, when they highlighted a threat to Internet Explorer, due to an unpatched weakness and recommended that we all use Firefox for a while.  Having tried it, I have not wanted to switch back.


I like it for the frivoulous stuff like the personas - to make my screens more colourful - and the ability to bookmark so easily.

And of course, who doesn't love the sheer crafty beauty of a fox - clever marketing.

  by  Dluogs 

Doodling away

Successfully doodled to arrange a meeting, and quite impressed with the tool.  Could be extremely useful in the future, especially to set the best time/date combination for a wider group of people.

Thanks to the replies on images - will give that a try on the next posting.

 

iGoogle, though I nearly didn't and Things 4-6

The air went blue as I struggled with last week's  extension tasks and this week's challenges. A verification email went astray, so iGoogle was stonewalling me for sometime, but iGoogle page finally set up and running.  Definately slightly bemused by the choice of things available.  Lots of queries this week:-

1. How do I get an image off Flickr onto my blog?  Lovely articles about the importance of images and how to choose the best one Using images and Incredible-flickr-images  but assume you know how to copy/link/attribute, which I don't.  Anyone know a where I can find a "how-to" blog?
2. Which apps/features on an iGoogle page will prove useful and which are just time-sinks?  Think that uTube will fall into this latter category.
3. What is this Creative Commons license, how do I get and/or display one?
4. If I choose to follow anonymously, is the blogger aware of being followed, but not by whom?  Spooky or what, and is this cyber-stalking?
5. Why has someone from India viewed my blog?  Searching on Google for Alicia's 23 can get you to what appears to be a Swedish lonely hearts website (in so far as I can understand it, as it is all in, er Swedish) so maybe this was just in error.

 

Why blog?

Why do you blog? Is it for fun, vanity, exhibitionism or can you lay claim to sufficient quality to be teaching others, or just hide in the morrass that is personal development?

Maybe by the end of 23 Things I will know my own bias - here is the justification from an award-winning blogger, Steve Wheeler.

Learning with 'e's: Why do I bother?

  by  oedipusphinx — — — — theJWDban 

In the begining...

there was a blog, a somewhat tentative, wordy blog, with no pictures, colour or fancy bits, but hoping to get smarter later.

It was a first step towards trying new things, new web 2.0 things.  It was a chance to get up-to-date and become a generator of content, an opportunity to become more medially social.

It was going to be interesting, maybe even with work applications, the potential was there, just waiting.