Week 12 - Summary

I can't believe I made it to this point. Around the 7th week I thought I'd falter so I'm delighted I stuck with it.

Overall, the whole experience was informative, enjoyable and, at times, challenging. I'm not one of the world's technological creatures and I think 23Things is particularly good for someone like me. Without this structured programme, I would never have discovered this vast world of cyberspace.

Overall I can say that I liked every new discovery (though, at times, it took me quite a while to complete an exercise). I think Google Maps was the most enjoyable and I definitely will be revisiting that any chance I get.

From a work perspective, I think the most useful to my own situation would be Wikis. I think using Wikis would save a lot of time and energy. At the moment, I can't see a use for any of the other tools in my own particular work situaton.

From a personal point of view, I loved the social networking aspect and Flickr and intend to use these regularly in future.

The only thing I have reservations about is the number of new accounts I had to create. I mostly used the same password but, for some, you could not have a symbol in your password and so I had to slightly change it. In a few months time, I will probably have trouble remembering passwords for some accounts.

Overall, I enjoyed the programme and thanks to Peter and all the team for all the effort you put into this.

Google Maps

I was only able to spend a short time exploring Google Maps but, from the little bit I saw of it, it is fascinating. I managed to locate my townland in County Limerick and was able to see an old tree at the back of our garden from the satellite view. Just amazing. This is something that you could spend hours on. I also used the "Get Directions" mode.

Widgets

Really impressed at the simplicity of getting widgets. You could get carried away with these. I'm going to find these really useful.

Personalised Home Pages

I was pleasantly surprised at how simple it was to personalise my home page. I added a number of gadgets and flakes including my Delicious bookmarks. This is a great time-saver.

Office 2.0

I'm feeling the pressure to get the 23Things covered by next week. Checked out Office 2.0 and toured Zoho Writer and Google Docs. As I already had a Google Account I decided to limit myself to Google Docs to avoid setting up another account. However, at the end of the day, I had to set up a GMail account anyway.

I managed to send an email from my GMail account and also succeeded in uploading a document from Word and Powerpoint. Overall Office 2.0 is amazing. The facility to save and convert documents as multiple file types is great.

If I had a complaint, it is the fact that my GMail account name is very unwieldly but, I gather, that is so for security purposes.

Anyway, on to Week 11 tomorrow.

Social Networking

I have been a member of Facebook for a number of years and find it great to keep in touch with friends. I began on Facebook when two of my nieces went to Australia and it provided a very easy way to keep up with their travels throughout Australia and New Zealand. In the same way, I had Skype installed in my PC at home and I was able to communicate regularly with the girls.

Because I have experience of both Facebook and Skype and because I am desperately trying to catch up with "23 Things" I did not explore the other social networking sites.

From a work perspective, I think Skype could be very useful in organising meetings, events, etc. and would provide a more "personal" and friendly way of communicating.

YouTube and Podcasts

You have to marvel at the way YouTube has opened up the whole world of video. The speed with which videos are uploaded is staggering. It is a great resource and very user-friendly. Ever before "23 Things @ UL" I was using YouTube. In fact, it was probably one of the first web applications I tackled.

I reason I chose to upload the Munster haka was because the night in 2008 that is one of the most memorable in Irish sport. As if the opening of Thomond Park and playing against such formidable opponents as New Zealand were not enough, the four lads stepped forward and performed the haka! What is more, the entire squad did themselves proud on the night. Pure magic.

I also explored podcasts, in particular, Podcasting Ireland. In the process, I realised I needed to instal Quicktime, which I did, to allow me to follow some podcasts. I also checked out Stephen Kinsella's podcast. I must be honest, it is no substitute for a classroom though its effectiveness may be greater if it was visual as well as audio.