Google Docs - assignment sent Friday August 19th, 2011

My Recipe

Summary

On the given scale, after having taken the Betty Blogger summer school, I would rate my knowledge of Web 2.0 and its applications at a 6.0.  I had hoped to gain more knowledge about social networking, and this summer course helped with that.  I found some of the work challenging as I am not very computer savy, and had to rely a lot on friends and family for support.   I was unable to take advantage of the drop-in sessions for a number of reasons - if I had been able to attend some of these tutorials, I think that the task completion would have been easier.  I really like the concept of 'self-directed' learning, because it allowed me to work at my own pace and on my own time schedule.  I always managed to get the assignments completed, although sometimes I wondered how it happened!!  I mentioned frequently in my blog posts that more practice would be needed, and that will be the challenge now - to keep trying.  I would definitely recommend this programme to a friend.  Thank you for a fun summertime learning experience.

Library Thing

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/LDGOSBORNE (library)

I think that Library Thing is a useful and easy to use tool.  I will definitely use it in the future to keep track of books I have read, to find other books to read and to see what others are reading!

Task 8: RSS Feeds

I am not sure that I am even completing the correct assignment considering an e-mail received on August 19th entitled 'This weeks assignment'.  In any event, these answers are for questions posed in an e-mail received on August 16th entitled Task 8:  RSS Feeds
.
1.  I subscribed to 3 RSS feeds:  Staff Picks, 25 Days of Christmas Cookies at Christmas Epicurious.com and Free Knitting Patterns:  Lion Brand Yarn Company.

2.  I understand the purpose of Google Reader and the site was fairly straightforward to navigate.   However I tried to 'unsubscribe' to one of the feeds (Staff Picks), and that did not seem to work.  I probably would continue to use Google Reader as the need arises in the future.

PB Wiki Experience

For the family meal, I will be contributing a mixed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing - simple, but healthy and delicious.

As with most of the Betty Blogger assignments, I managed to complete the task, but I am not really confident with the process.  More practice is definitely needed.

I can appreciate that a wiki would be very useful for organizing group events, but only if all members of the group were familiar with the process.  I think that there are other applications I have learned this summer which would be of more use to me at present.

Productivity Tools

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1bpJMhrMfGqzQEoyH0i4B1Qb4HQJE5iApCQxDfoKfV28&amp;embedded=true"></iframe>

Photo Sharing

The following tags were assigned to my picture:  Carrick-a-Rede,  Rope,  Bridge,  Ballintoy,  Northern and Ireland.
I found the Picasa web site very user friendly.  I think that it is an application I will definitely continue to use.  I have a lot of travel pictures that need to be organized and, of course, as has been mentioned, everyone LOVES to share photos.

Social Networks

So - I have spent the last week reading through and trying to digest the information provided regarding Social Networks.  At this point in time, I have decided NOT to sign up for a Twitter account.  I realize that I will probably be regarding as being in the Stone Age, but here are my reasons:

1.  I am not entirely comfortable with the security measures used with Twitter, etc.  My husband especially needs
     reassurance on this aspect.
2.  I am not sure how much I would realistically use these Social Networks.  Frankly, I do not think that my
     kids would want me as a Facebook friend!
3.  It seems that a considerable amount of time would be needed to 'maintain' a Facebook page, post tweets,
     etc., and I am not sure that I am able to invest the time required.
I will follow up with the 'Further Reading' articles.   Thank you for providing two options for this week's assignment.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Diigo

Well - this was challenging for me!!
I bookmarked the following websites:
  www.mayoclinic.com    tags:  symptoms  drugs  supplements
  www.tiffany.ca              tags:  gifts  charms
  www.tilley.com             tags:  travel  "sun protection"

Diigo is certainly a powerful tool that will allow lots of discovering, remembering, collaborating and sharing of websites.  Like most things so far in this course, it will take practice for me to be able to use it effectively outside of the Betty Blogger summer school.

A Clarification

Just to clarify my first post, my self rating on knowledge of web 2 is  - 5 (as in MINUS 5).  By the end of this course, I hope to be on the PLUS side!!

http://youtu.be/jb_vRwCHd40

I have enjoyed my YouTube experience - it just takes me a LONG time!! I think that streaming has become so popular because it is immediate, and, for better or worse, the whole world seems to be in a hurry!  I will probably use YouTube in the future, especially for instructional purposes.  With continued practice, it will become easier.

First Post

On a scale of 1-10 (1 being 'web 2.huh?' and 10 being 'web 2 guru') I currently rate my knowledge of Web 2.0 and its applications as a modest -5!!!  I have received a lot of heckling from my 'support team'!!