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.

Wikis

I've often heard the term "Wiki" mentioned but was afraid to enquire what it meant in case I still wouldn't understand after the explanation. Now I'm chuffed to be in the know. Given their ease of use, I think Wikis must become the knowledge-sharing tool of the future.

Wiki.openstreetmap is really amazing as is Wikileaks. You could lose all track of time when exploring these.

From a work perspective, because of the simplicity of updating and saving, I think Wikis could become a popular way to share and update information.

EBooks, Readers and eAudiobooks

Being a fan of the "actual" book, I approched this exercise with a degree of scepticism. However, the facility in ebooks to fit the text to the width of the page is really useful. The feature on the readers which allows you to increase the size of the font is even better, especially if you need glasses! In particular the readers are quite appealing. Being able to download a number of books to a reader saves a lot of weight. This is really important nowadays when airlines are so weight conscious. I don't think I'd download and read an ebook on my PC but I would be open to doing so if I had an ebook reader.

I think the eAudiobooks are great and must be a real Godsend to anybody with sight problems. Equally, they could be of value to old people and even could be used to encourage young people to develop a love of books.

I downloaded Pride & Prejudice from UL Library ebooks and, when skimming through it, noticed that particular pages were blank and had the message "not available for download". I wonder if anybody else experienced that.

Del.icio.us and Technorati

I was able to set up an account in Del.icio.us without any trouble and went on to bookmark a number of websites. It's easy to see how useful Del.icio.us would be in most work situations to allow for sharing of information. I (think) I even managed to set up an RSS feed from one of the bookmarked sites to my blog.

When exploring Technorati I ran into problems with the explanatory video. I didn't have the relevant software to run the video but, try as I might, I was unable to download this. It kept stalling half-ways through the operation. I finally gave up on the video and read the introduction instead. Technorati is definitely a great tool if you want to track blogs but, for the moment at least, I'm not going to go there. For now, the RSS updates to my blog are about all I can keep up with.

Evergreen from A Star is Born

Flickr - Image generator

Living Bridge Linking UL Camus Between North & SouthBanksOfRiverShannon,
originally uploaded by Phoebe-Talktime.

New bridge spanning the River Shannon on the UL campus

Flickr - Image generator

I have been a fan of Kris K for years. His lyrics are powerful and relevant.

Flickr - Thomond-park-aerial1

thomond-park-aerial1,
originally uploaded by Phoebe-Talktime.

The newly refurbished Thomond Park is a great addition to Limerick, the home of rugby. In addition to the years of pleasure which Munster will bring on their home turf, Thomond is a magnificent venue for concerts as well. This was witnessed at the recent Elton John (though the weather was very bad) concert and, in particular, at the Rod Stewart concert. The stadium rocked that night!

Mapmaker

Phoebe-Talktime Travels

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

I've been experimenting with Mapmaker - it is amazing! I hope my map appears.

Dow Gallery Of American Art

Dow Gallery Of American Art

Flickr

Toffee,
originally uploaded by Phoebe-Talktime.

This is Toffee again. He is nine years old and was rescued by Limerick Animal Welfare. We have him for seven years now and he rules the roost!

Jenny

Jenny,
originally uploaded by Phoebe-Talktime.

This is Jenny. She is four years old and still causes havoc in the house. Still, we all love her and she is part of the family

Toffee

Toffee,
originally uploaded by Phoebe-Talktime.

have decided to move on to the next Thing because I want to have a few extra done before I go off on holidays.

At long last! It took me ages to manage this one. The good thing about that was I was forced to keep on trying until it worked. Up to this, I was always cautious and reluctant to experiment. After today's exercise, I should be much more comfortable in playing around with the web.

RSS Feeds

I struggled with this one and without Peter's very helpful instructions I would not have succeeded in transfering the feeds to my blog - so many thanks Peter.

I am not the most comfortable person with new technology but, when I become more familiar with this, I imagine it will be an invaluable way of keeping up to date. It certainly will save a lot of time. 23 Things is certainly broadening my horizon!

23Things-Setting up a blog

I am delighted with myself for having set up my own blog. I was a bit daunted starting out but, I must say, the tutorials and instructions are excellent. I look forward to using this blog.