Collaborative Writing and Word

I chose Collaborative Writing and Word as my top award winning subject due to my high level of satisfaction thus far with the use of Google Docs. Google Docs ranks #1 among its peers, and my vote is in favor for its use by everyone. And even though I have not tried the others in this group, and I should, but I am a firm believer in not trying to fix what is already working quite nicely.

My first experience with Google Docs was my class project in 550 - Information Technologies for Libraries and Information Analysis. Amy Kearns, our Professor for this class, gave a demonstration to the class, we formed our groups, and we immediately were able to collaborate on our group project. Were there some issues? Yes. We had some formatting problems when converting to Microsoft Word (paragraphs and indents got a little weird) and some editing ground rules issues that we had not established in the beginning, but goes it when you are learning something new. With awesome input from our group we put together a great word document.

My second experience was in my Human Information Behavior class. We had to present a slide show presentation. Which by the way Google Docs calls "Presentation," and Microsoft Office calls "Power Point Presentation." It worked great. Aside from the slides people inserted to be funny at 2:00a.m., not one complaint. Even better the presentation downloaded to a Microsoft Power Point with no issues at all.

And lastly, my experience today with uploading a post to my blog was super simple. On the right hand side of the documents page there is a 'share' drop down button. Click on 'Publish as Web Page,' and it will have 2 options to publish your doc. One of which is to post right to your blog. Since it is a Google Doc and we set up our Blogs with Blogspot, the option is right there for you to log on and it is done in a matter of seconds.

This is John I. for Learning 2.0 Part 8: Online applications & tools #18&19.

Blog posting test

This is a test for me to try and download this Google doc to my Blog.

Wikis - Pros and Cons

I personally think that a Wiki is a great idea. It will allow for mutually respectful people to work on a website for the benefit of anyone. This is one of a Wikis many pros. However, if there are people who do not respect the rules of the Wiki, then this can be one of the cons of a Wiki. If anyone can go in and change the webiste - edit it - and put false, misleading, and inappropriate information on the Wiki this is wrong. There has to be a group of people who are monitoring the Wiki around the clock to make sure this does not happen. I look at it as a neighborhood watch program. If there enough people interested in a subject and following the Wiki than any attempts of that nonsense will be corrected quickly.

I use Wikipedia all the time. And, I usually believe what I read. Maybe I have too much faith that people are not that malicious.

Del.icio.us, Technorati, & The Future of Libraries

This section was helpful for me. I still need to learn more about tags and how I can use del.icio.us and technorati better. I did find on technorati a really cool section on adding a gadget. There were hundreds to choose from. The radio stations interested me the most. I figured if I were a real Blogger, that is a professional mercenary type, that I would be spending hours upon hours on my blog and wanting to listen to some streaming music. But the best part of this weeks Learning 2.0 was reading the write-ups by the professional librarians. I especially liked "To a Temporary Place in Time...." by Dr. Wendy Schultz from Infinite Futures. Learning 4.0 is, to me, very imaginable. Libraries need to create the same buzz as does some of our popular book stores with cafes and places for people to relax. The problem is the capital funding. Libraries under public budgets can't create that buzz anytime soon. And the thought of Google or Starbucks or B&N or Amazon buying the libraries or becoming investment partners would create such a stir among those who want to hang on to the free services of the library versus those who want to see advancement. The library is a community. It is a place to not only get great books and knowledge, but also a place to take a workshop on how to knit, bake, create a website, a resume, or properly create a nice aquarium and not just your run of the mill aqua prison. Or it can be a place to learn how to give back and volunteer. B&N used the library model and installed the cafes. I believe that libraries have to do something similar in nature to get people interested in coming through their doors. Some already have cafes, but is that enough. Should Apple donate MP3 files of music on a listen only basis? Should Play Station place station for gamers in the libraries? How do we get the funding to create a buzz about the library and educate the staff and update the resources they currently have to meet the needs of people in the new world of information knowledge? Learning 2.0 is an excellent starting point. Each week I have anxiety about what I will learn next. But at the end of the lesson it was more inspiring than not. If Google plans to digitize all books, should they feel obligated to run a not-for-profit division that takes a percentage of sales and donates the money on a weighted basis to all libraries across the country with initiatives to get all libraries more resources? An independent panel not affiliated to Google to decide on the resources needed would have to be created. Just trying to think outside the box. However, some might say it is inside the box.

Rollyo

Hi Team 550,
I signed up for Rollyo and put in an URL for CBS Sportsline. It created the radio button for CBS Sportsline, but when I clicked on the radio button and hit search, nothing happened but that it went through motions of trying to pick up the URL but went right back to highlighting the Web radio button and no results for CBS Sportsline. The web site is extremely slow. :-( Not a winner yet in my book. What is the difference between this and bookmarking your favorite pages?

Library Thing

Library Thing is really simple to sign up and add the books I am reading to it. I added the feed to my blogline. I think the discussion groups and chat rooms are great for people to have a forum to speak about books and authors they like with people around the world. The chances that someone in your book club in a town with a population of 5000 people and 5 book club members likes the same exact books as you do are pretty slim. Overall good experience so far. Need to do more investigating and navigating the site.

Movie Moment - Back To School

I tried both the Intel commercial and Movie Maker. I thought that this was a lot of fun. Always worried that I am going to be charged for something or someone is going to hack my pc, but that is off the point. The point is that this is COOL! A lot of time for the first run, but check me out in one of the classic college movies: Back to School

http://mymoviemoment.com/?mId=31696158.3&doorId=408&clientId=170