The Last Thing

This has been an enlightning adventure. In my first posting I referred to myself as a technological dinosaur. I do not feel that way any more. I have learned a great deal with this project and I am sure that I will be using a number of the technologies. Some areas are not of interest to me, such as podcasting, but it is still nice to have a general idea what it is all about. If another discovery program such as this was offered in the future I would most probably participate.

It is amazing to think of the technology available and that there is so much more out there in its infancy. I'm glad that I chose to explore Learning 2.0 and look forward to the next adventure.

Learning About Audiobooks

Having not signed up for Overdrive or NetLibrary I went on the Project Gutenberg site. I found the titles on the 100 Most Downloaded Titles for the day very interesting. Most titles on the list this evening were non-fiction materials. I found a title of interest to me "Cocoa and Chocolate". The hour is late, I will try to download it at another time. I am hopeful that when I receive my MP3 player I'll be able to use that for listening to my first audiobook.

Podcasting

I tried and I tried to no avail. I went on to Yahoo Podcasts, Podcast.net, and Podcastalley.com. I was able to navigate the sites and choose something I would like to listen to, but nothing would play. I followed the instructions given when you could not listen, but nothing worked. I guess it could be my dial-up internet connection. This has not been fun, just aggravating.

Web 2.0 Award Winners

I chose Lulu.com from the books catagory. It is the 1st place winner and I can see why. You can do so much on this site it's kind of unbelievable. The site allows you to publish anything from you prized manuscript to a photo album of your favorite pictures. You can sell you fabulous creation to people all over the world. More importantly Lulu is a community of creative people there to help each other. They will give help in publishing you first creation. You can find groups of like minded people who share your interests. Lulu has a newletter and a blog. I visited the blog and it is awesome as is the whole concept of the company. This site is amazing. Anyone interested in publishing anything should look at it.

Merlin and Me

I subscribed to Merlin's RSS news feed. While navigating the site I clicked on
"Library Garden". "Library Garden" is maintained by a team of contributing editors with differing perpectives, but one shared goal; ensuring the health and relevance of libraries. They fulfill their goal by reading interviews and passing the information on. I found it very interesting.

YouTube & Yahoo Video

Trying to watch YouTube with dial-up internet service is not a fun experience. I did manage to find a couple of cute videos with pets and animals, but watching them was a very long process. I watched 2 videos. "Put a Smile on Your Face" by jessicapeanut was my favorite, and it actually did (put a smile on my face). I personally do not see any real purpose to this site. I have better things to do with my time than search thru this stuff. Granted some of them are entertaining, but so much work to find. As far as a use in the library setting, I think we have to much class to be on this. Yea, just call me a fuddy duddy.
I tried Yahoo Video after YouTube and found that Yahoo loaded faster and the start times were faster. The video ran a little faster, but it was still a choppy start and stop process.

Zoho Writer

I finally figured this out. This does merit more experimenting, because I think I can make use of the site. I found Zoho Writer more user friendly than Google Docs. When I have more time I'm going to try other applications.

Zoho Writer - Learning 2.0

This document is an experiment for my Learning 2.0 project.  I am going to try to publish to my blog, Daisies and Daffodils.  Well here goes.  Let's see what happens. 

Sandbox

I have tried numerous times to edit various Favorite pages and have had no success. I even tried adding a new page, that didn't work either. I traveled around the site and was able to read entries, but that is all. I did add my blog to the Favorite blogs. All in all my experience with Sandbox has not been that memorable.

The Wacky World of Wikis

A wiki is a quick to build, easy to edit site that is constantly evolving. I think there can be a place for this type of technology in our every day life. I can see certain applications of this technology instead of using email. Example - Planning a family reunion. Instead of having to email back in forth with suggestions and changes, just bring that wiki up and go for it.
I did not know until today that HCPL has a wiki. Looks very interesting. Maybe each branch could develop a wiki to share information.
I spent alot of time on this Thing, even went as far as setting up my own wiki. Guess I'll see what kind of fun I can have with it.

Library 2.0 - The Library of the Future

Libraries are no longer perceived as the place to go and read a book, sit and do your homework, work on a project with reference books piled all around. The library's role has changed over the years and will continue to change. Library 2.0 is just the beginning. Thanks to the Internet, information is available immediately. New technology allows us to interact with websites, make comments, add information, and so on. The library of the future will still be enclosed in a building of some kind. Librarians will still help us retreive information. The difference will be how this information is stored and dispersed to us. The technology of today will continue to advance and the learning process is going to become more and more exciting.

Technorati

I claimed my blog, set up my account and got confused. I really think this tagging stuff is not for me. I do not have the need or the desire to use the web in this manner.

Del.ilcio.us

I set up My Del.icio.us and played around with it, but I do not see myself using this. I look at this as just another way of gathering my favorite sites together, and I much prefer Rollyo. The tutorial was disabled before I started working on this thing, so maybe I'm missing the benefits of Del.ilcio.us. I will check back for the working tutorial and watch when available, but for now I am quite happy with Rollyo and very glad I learned about it.

Rollyo - Cool!

This site is really neat. I can see me using this alot. Already I'm on my way to getting all my reference sites for gardening together. I see this as a real time saver. Checkout my Gardening Info.

My Fun With Avatar

I really enjoyed creating my Lady in the Garden. This is a great site to just sit and relax with. Let your imagination go and see what interesting characters you come up with. Go to Avatar and have some fun.

Library Thing

Library Thing is a great tool. Not only did I have a great time cataloging some of my favorite authors, but I also came across some titles I had not read. I found it quite interesting to read some of the reviews others had written. It was amazing, many of them were just about what I would have written. Another feature I found interesting, were the number of people that had my books in their library. For anyone without access to a library (hard to imagine, but I'm sure they are out there)this is a great way to find books, as well as cataloging.
I know that I will use this new resource in the future.

Garden Chit Chat

Good Morning! I titled my blog Daisies and Daffodils because I enjoy gardening. This morning in the garden is wonderful. The temperature and humidity are down, the sky is blue and there is a light breeze. The birds are singing their morning songs and flitting back and forth to the feeder. The birdbath is busy with morning drinking and splashing. The squirrels are enjoying their breakfast of sunflower seeds and the bunnies are enjoying the lower leaves on my plants. The plants and shrubs are all standing tall and happy, thanks to yesterday's rain. All in all, God's glory at its best. Have a wonderful day, I know I will.

Bloglines and RSS Feeds

First my comments concerning Bloglines: Less than a fun experience initially. I was able to sign up for my account and choose my feeds. At this point I was pleased with myself. Unfortunately this feeling did not last long. Trying to make my account public and linking my blogline feeds to my blog became a very long unsuccessful ordeal. Part of my problem has been my uncertainty working with all of this new technology. The problem I was having had to be me, it could not possibly be the website. Wrong. After much assistance from Jan Shive and Maurice, we realized that Bloglines was not recognizing my account. As soon as I subscribed again and opened a new account, everything worked. I was able to link my blogroll to my blog. Linda Zuckerman's (lindabeekeeper) instructions for publishing your blogroll to your blog are perfect. Worked like a charm. Now what this has taught me is that I am coming out of the technology dinosaur age, and that I just need to have more confidence in what I am doing. And probably most important, technology is not any more perfect than I am.
I am sure that RSS feeds have their place on the information highway, but personnally I prefer my regular websites for news. I do not have the time or need for all of this information. It is, however, nice to know that it is there if needed and that thanks to 2.0 I know how to get it.

Mash-ups - Very Interesting!

Of all the mash-ups I looked at, Jim Bumgardner's are the best. His stuff is so interesting and unusual. To quote him about colrpickr "Its purpose is simply to provide wonder and delight. Nothing more, nothing less. Isn't that enough" I say "It sure is". For some fun try the following: flash bestiary, coverpop.com and whitney music box. Hope you enjoy.

My Encounter with Flickr

I have had so much fun with flickr. Looking around and playing with different tags and groups has been interesting. Posting my pictures took a little longer than I anticipated, but as you can see below I did succeed. I thought it would be neat to have my first photos depict my blog name, Daisies and Daffodils. I really want to spend more time on this site. I'm going to take some pictures and upload them to flickr and post to my blog.

Daisies

Daisy close-up
Originally uploaded by JCeL Training Flickr Account

Daisies are just one of my favorite flowers.

Daffodils

DAFFODIL-2yellow
Originally uploaded by whatchamaycallit

Daffodils are my favorite spring time flower. It never ceases to amaze me, to see these beautiful flowers, standing tall with snow all around them as sometimes happens in early spring.

7 1/2 Learning Habits

My weakest Learning Habit is #6 - Using technology to your advantage. This is probably due to my being in the dinosaur age of technology, BUT NO MORE. I am going to take advantage of Learning 2.0 - 23 Things. Learn how to use the web and be comfortable doing it.

"HELLO WORLD"

Here I am, a technology dinosaur, actually posting on my own blog. I am very optimistic that Learning 2.0 is going to move me out of the dinosaur age and into the technology age. I was excited to think I would get a MP3 player when I finish the program. Then it dawned on me, I didn't know what it was or what to do with it. After attending the Technology Fair, MP3 players and many other "tech things and terms" were somewhat clearer. I'm looking forward to my journey.