Week 6: #14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

Searching "Learning 2.0" on Technorati I came up with 545 posts, 342 hits in the Directory and 125 tags. When I narrowed the search to high authority the list narrowed to 102.

I read through several of the posts. Some were not well organized and difficult to understand. Others seemed like they'd be beneficial in some way.

I searched "freelance writing" and found nearly 3000 posts with some authority. I also searched "blogging for money" and came up with 995 posts with some authority. There seemed to be less ads and more info or job opps searching through Technorati blog posts.

I do believe there is a benefit to this search tool. But, I must admit the amount of information still seems overwhelming at times.

I did claim my blog. It was given an importance level of 4 million+...I just can't believe it is so low on the popularity list...HA HA!

Week 6: #13 Tagging makes the web 2.0 world go round

I don't do much research in my position now but in my former career I spent hours on the internet (especially Lexis Nexis) or at the library. I can definitely see how Del.icio.us could be helpful for research assistants.

At the present, I am particularly interested in the ability to retrieve favorite bookmarks from other locales. Both my husband and I have often found ourselves in other places at work or the home of family and friends and wished we'd been able to access our favorite bookmarks.

Unfortunately, when I signed up for my own account with Del.icio.us I had trouble with the tool bar. I couldn't get the yahoo toolbar to load or the quick tool bar for internet explorer. So, it is hard to tag and save without that. I'll spend more time on it later...for now on to Week 6 #14...still hoping to catch up.

Week 5: #12 The "Library" Elf will remind you!

I use and rely on HCPL's email reminder service and it has seemed adequate (until now). Of course, actually getting the books/dvd's etc into the car and then into the drop slot at the library on time is an entirely different issue. I haven't rec'd an email from Library Elf just yet.

As for the page layout, I like Library Elf's display is better. The two small calendars and then the different sections all on one page is very helpful to me and more appealing. Also, the calendars allow you to see what's due in DATE order. HCPL's list of items is in alphabetical order by title not by due date. I am not sure HCPL's site allows patrons to customize their own page. If so, I didn't see it. I believe it is easier to MISS when an item is due on HCPL's site since the items aren't in order by due date.

I also like that I can put my entire family's cards on one page on Library Elf. I have small children and we end up with a ton of books all at the same time. Checking each account, especially when books aren't in order by due date, leaves a greater chance than an item will be missed and turned in late.

So I'd give the Library Elf pretty high ratings! Glad this was one of our exercises.

Blogger Template and Editing Issues

This isn't a required exercise but I wonder if anyone else is having problems with Blogger. I have edited a post, posted the new edit and gone back hours later to re-edit the post again only to find the text that pops up is my original text and not the text I'd edited an hour ago that is already showing up on my blog.

Template changes: Played around with template changes. Tried to change fonts and colors on several different templates. Get done, preview it and then save it but Blogger says it can't save the changes at this time..

Frustrating!

Week 5: #11 A Thing about Library Thing

I enjoyed surfing through Library Thing a lot. I wanted to order my bookshelf/booklist with the most recently read items first but I couldn't figure out how to do that. I put the Library Thing search widget on after a couple snags.

I tried to put the catalogue link but the Blogger screen keeps saying "Can't process your request. Please fix errors and try again." Guessing though...I think it has something to do with my JavaScript and maybe my Anti-virus software since I am doing this part from home.

UPDATE: Library Thing Bookshelf link added to "My Links" sidebar.

Week 5 #10 (cont) Image Generators

Avatar and Meez were fun--it was kind of like digital paperdolls. My daughter loved it too. We spent way too much time going through the different images to create my Avatar and Meez. (If only picking hair styles, clothing etc were so easy in real life.)

I exported my Meez using the blogger button but my background didn't export too...not sure why. It is saved with my image but Meez message said "unable to export at this time."

My Meez came with a link when I exported her to my blog...just double click on JournalGal OR check out "My Links" sidebar.

Week 5 #10 Image Generators

Spiderman Saves the Day
Originally uploaded by libraryfreelancemom

My Superhero

This was so easy. I had fun playing around the captioning on FDToys. And, I actually remembered how to upload the picture to my blog!
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/captioner.php Here's the link to the captioner or check out "My Links" sidebar.

Week 4: #9 Finding Feeds

Finding feeds was enjoyable though somewhat overwhelming. I am amazed at how much info is out there. I could have sat for hours just looking through things. I am sure I only glanced at a minute fraction. I
did find Topix and Technorati easier to use than Syndic8 and Feedster. When I searched topics on each site I didn't always get feeds or blogs I was expecting. Sydicat8 and Feedster seemed more confusing. I wasn't really sure what blogs to look up. I felt Technorati was easier to surf through to find things I might be interested in. Mostly, out of week 4 I like having all my favorite newsfeeds grouped together.

On to Week 5. I hope to catch up soon!

Week 4: #8 Make life "really simple" with RSS and...

Well....This proved to be more frustrating than I thought. "3g. on the tutorial shows a window for easy subscribing to Blogspot, Xanga or Live Journal." I never managed to pull up the window showing the easy subscribe icons. I was only given the spot to type in the url." Asked several others who'd finished the task and they couldn't figure out why the buttons weren't coming up either. Tried on two different days. In the end, I just typed in the URL's.

I do like subscribing and having all my favorites together on one page though.

Week 3 #6 continued

Thought I'd finished week three. Seems I forgot to blog about the mashups, tools etc. So....

Time permitting I thought some of the things looked interesting but overwhelming at the same time. I liked the tool that let you spell different words with letter blocks but no matter how many times I tried to add it to my html it wouldn't work. I even tried changing the /[img] as suggested but without success. The sites black background with blue letters didn't help me focus. I guess my favorite was trading cards. I haven't put one on my blog yet but I think I'll try that out in more detail.