The Finish Line

It's hard to believe it's been 9 weeks already. I have enjoyed the learning experience from the Web 2.0 Project. I have to say creating the blog in itself and adding to it was my favorite part of Web 2.0. I also had fun with Picnik an image editor, the image and text generators I tried, Flickr and ZOHO writer. I also liked the use of Wikis for a collaborative staff FYI site to share ideas and concerns. If the Library offered another discovery program like this in the future I would chose to participate. I like learning new technologies whether they be Internet, software or hardware. The discovery program made me take the time to learn some of the new Internet services out on the web that I may not have found time to learn about. I liked the weekly structure of assignments and the way they were organized. The only downside to the discovery project was trying to find time in your work day to do the weekly exercises. I had to do most of the project after work to stay up to speed and complete the project. To sum up the Web 2.0 experience I would have to say it was great fun.

Downloading in Overdrive

After touring the Digital Media collection on the library's website I installed the Overdrive software onto my computer at home so that I could download digital audiobooks. I browsed a few titles in different genres and listened to some excepts. Some narrators are more interesting than others. I found a couple of interesting titles that were already checked out and put my digital hold on the titles. I did find a title to download to my computer which was easy and straight forward. I decided to burn the title to CD since iPod's are not compatible at this time. To burn the entire book at once would take 6 CD's so I burned one part which took one CD. I intend to listen to this first installment of the book I selected in my truck. I have never listened to an audiobook. I have always thought of books for reading not listening. I look forward to the experience.

Podcasting....

I found podcasting to be a learning experience more than anything. It seems to be a medium for people to share their thoughts, discussions and commentary on a variety of subjects such as movies, news, books, music and life in general. I did not find anything in podcasts that would compel me to investigate further.

Exploring YouTube

This was the first time I explored YouTube and found some cool music videos and movie trailers. I also found some funny animal videos, but the Billy Ray Cyrus video Real Gone was my favorite.


The only drawback to YouTube was all the stuff you have to wade through before finding something entertaining. We all do not have the same idea of what's tasteful either.

Posting videos on the PBCLS website to explain the different services the library provides could be useful and easier for some people to understand depending on their reading skills.

Picnik

I selected Picnik from the Web 2.o awards list to investigate. Picnik is a web based photo editor. I downloaded a picture to Picnik and tried some of the editing tools provided. I tried a number of effects on my photo until I settled with the pencil sketch effect and then added a border. I found Picnik to be an easy program to use and comparable to photo editing software I have purchased for basic editing. Being a free program would make it available to everyone in an organization when editing and sharing photos and would save money in purchasing basic photo editing programs.

Writing in ZOHO

ZOHO Writer

I think the idea of an online word processing program with all the features that ZOHO Writer has is great. No more emailing the document to yourself or someone else or saving it on a usb drive to access it later on a different computer. You don't have to worry if the other person viewing the document is running the same program or same version that the document was created. You could work on the same document with someone else and always have the current edits.

I was able to insert this image, but not able to manipulate it and have the text wrap it. You can change the font, font color & size, and add a background color. I like the too. You can easily add ©®¼≈. ZOHO Writer seams to have all the bells & whistles most people would use.

I easily published my ZOHO document to my blog using the Publish link in ZOHO writer. The screen was easy to understand. I give ZOHO writer a thumbs up.

PB Wikis

Adding content and making changes to the PBCLS Wiki was fairly simple. You can insert entries anywhere in the Wiki and format the text and add images easily. I added entries to favorite books, movies and tv shows. Adding my blog to the favorite blogs was easy too. I had fun adding my favorites to the wiki.