Sunday, February 10, 2008
Week 5, Thing 12 - Roll My Own Search Tool with Rollyo
I signed up for my own Rollyo account and created a customized Reference Search and a Travel Search. I tested my Reference Search and Travel Search a few times and was quite satisfied with the returned results. The results were definitely more targeted than the results of a Google search using the same search terms would be. Initially, I thought that Rollyo would not be of interest to me because I am a pretty proficient web searcher, but I see its advantages and like being able to search the sites I have pre-selected. I will use Rollyo again.
Week 5, Thing 11 - Explore Site on Web 2.0 Awards List
Definitely want to save the link to the list of sites that are on the Web 2.0 Awards List:
http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0
Sites I found intriguing, some of which I was previously familiar with:
ma.gnolia.com Keep track of your favorite online content and quickly see what others have said about a site while you’re still browsing it.
www.furl.net
Store your favorite corners of the internet and let others discover the cool stuff you’ve found. Comment on the content you find and read what other users are saying about your bookmarks.
clipmarks.com
Save the web content that makes you sit up and take notice, not just the webpage you found that content on. Share that content with others in the hope that it will make them think, "wow!"
www.librarything.com
Connect with people who read similar books to you, and get suggestions as to what you should read next.
docs.google.com
Create and collaborate on files of every kind. See who edited which documents and when.
maps.google.com
The web’s most popular and concise collection of maps and satellite images. Get directions, view amazingly detailed images of landmarks or zoom in on your favorite locations!
www.frappr.com
Create maps for people of certain interests, or browse and join the maps of other users, adding yourself and your location.
www.last.fm
Let Last.fm take note of what you like to listen to and let is present you with music it thinks you’ll also enjoy. Take a look at what other people are listening to and what’s hot in the community.
www.flickr.com
A social photo-sharing service a large community and huge inventory of images, Flickr has an older audience than some other photo sharing sites and thus usually produces the best quality shots.
picasa.google.com
Google’s photo sharing service comes with excellent software for editing your pictures. Easy, fast uploads make Picasa fun and simple to use.
answers.yahoo.com
Help Yahoo! users answer questions on every topic imaginable. Ask questions and have the community help you out with answers.
pipl.com
Find web results about people. Sort results by Quick Facts, New Articles, Profiles and Web Pages.
farecast.com
Farecast predicts U.S. domestic price changes, lets users book airline tickets online and provides refunds if they get their predictions wrong! There’s absolutely nothing bad you can say about that!
www.kayak.com
Search for flights, hotels, cars, cruises and travel deals, and check in on the latest "buzz" in the travel industry.
realtravel.com
Read users’ advice about their travel experiences and use RealTravel’s Free Trip Planner to map out your ideal vacation. You can also create blogs to share your trips with others.
colorblender.com
Match colors and create cool palettes easily. Get the Photoshop Color Table for your palette and view palettes made by others.
swivel.com
Show your data on neat graphs and take a look at others’ graphs and charts. It’s more than just data entry; it’s art!
www.yourminis.com
Find widgets for your blog or website that include your favorite services like Twitter and Digg.
www.springwidgets.com
Download widgets for your desktop or your website. Choose from a vast array of widgets, such as an iPhone countdown, Lunar Phase Calendar and SpringWidget’s own RSS Reader.
Oh, for more time!
http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0
Sites I found intriguing, some of which I was previously familiar with:
ma.gnolia.com Keep track of your favorite online content and quickly see what others have said about a site while you’re still browsing it.
www.furl.net
Store your favorite corners of the internet and let others discover the cool stuff you’ve found. Comment on the content you find and read what other users are saying about your bookmarks.
clipmarks.com
Save the web content that makes you sit up and take notice, not just the webpage you found that content on. Share that content with others in the hope that it will make them think, "wow!"
www.librarything.com
Connect with people who read similar books to you, and get suggestions as to what you should read next.
docs.google.com
Create and collaborate on files of every kind. See who edited which documents and when.
maps.google.com
The web’s most popular and concise collection of maps and satellite images. Get directions, view amazingly detailed images of landmarks or zoom in on your favorite locations!
www.frappr.com
Create maps for people of certain interests, or browse and join the maps of other users, adding yourself and your location.
www.last.fm
Let Last.fm take note of what you like to listen to and let is present you with music it thinks you’ll also enjoy. Take a look at what other people are listening to and what’s hot in the community.
www.flickr.com
A social photo-sharing service a large community and huge inventory of images, Flickr has an older audience than some other photo sharing sites and thus usually produces the best quality shots.
picasa.google.com
Google’s photo sharing service comes with excellent software for editing your pictures. Easy, fast uploads make Picasa fun and simple to use.
answers.yahoo.com
Help Yahoo! users answer questions on every topic imaginable. Ask questions and have the community help you out with answers.
pipl.com
Find web results about people. Sort results by Quick Facts, New Articles, Profiles and Web Pages.
farecast.com
Farecast predicts U.S. domestic price changes, lets users book airline tickets online and provides refunds if they get their predictions wrong! There’s absolutely nothing bad you can say about that!
www.kayak.com
Search for flights, hotels, cars, cruises and travel deals, and check in on the latest "buzz" in the travel industry.
realtravel.com
Read users’ advice about their travel experiences and use RealTravel’s Free Trip Planner to map out your ideal vacation. You can also create blogs to share your trips with others.
colorblender.com
Match colors and create cool palettes easily. Get the Photoshop Color Table for your palette and view palettes made by others.
swivel.com
Show your data on neat graphs and take a look at others’ graphs and charts. It’s more than just data entry; it’s art!
www.yourminis.com
Find widgets for your blog or website that include your favorite services like Twitter and Digg.
www.springwidgets.com
Download widgets for your desktop or your website. Choose from a vast array of widgets, such as an iPhone countdown, Lunar Phase Calendar and SpringWidget’s own RSS Reader.
Oh, for more time!
Week 5, Thing #10 Online Image Generator
I explored a few online image generators and made a creation using "Image Chef." Pretty simple to use, but it does not give many options in terms of spacing and letter case. No registration required is a nice feature. Site URL: http://www.imagechef.com/
Also tried out Comic Strip Generator: http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ (which has a smiley face generator) and Flickr Toys some more (http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/).
Also tried out Comic Strip Generator: http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ (which has a smiley face generator) and Flickr Toys some more (http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/).
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Week 4, Thing #9 - RSS and Feeds
I have added feeds to both my Bloglines account and my Google Reader account. Right now I prefer Bloglines. It seems easier to add feeds, gives good options for screen viewing, and has Bloglines Top 1000 (a helpful place for a beginner to find feeds). My feeds include: CNN News, Word of the Day, Dilbert, Motley Fool, Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week, and PC Magazine: New Product Reviews. Now I just have to find time to read my feeds.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Week 4, Thing #8 - RSS Feeds and Newsreader Accounts
I have read about RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") and have set up "RSS aggregator" accounts on both Google Reader and Bloglines.
Week 3, Thing #7 - Technology Thoughts
I played some more with mashups.
I used a cool tool to create my own trading card:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php
Tech thoughts: As a school librarian, it is certainly good to keep abreast of new technology. However, I have found that staying on the cutting edge of technology often is more expensive in terms of both time and money invested than sitting back a bit and waiting until the new technologies develop. Web authoring is an example. Writing html code used to be a somewhat tedious undertaking. Many programs are now available for creating web pages that make the process quite simple and quick. I have watched the price of many pieces of technology drop after their initial introduction--computers, digital cameras, memory cards,... As new technologies emerge, I have to decide the optimum time to jump in and get my feet wet.
Week 3, Thing #6 - Flickr Mashups & Third Party Sites
So many possiblilities--not enough hours in a day! I enjoyed using a Flickr mashup to create a magazine cover with a picture I had taken of my husband in London last year. Middle school students would love creating their own magazine covers. So many possibilities!
Link to create magazine covers: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/magazine.php
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