Thing #10

This exercise has many neat possibilities. I can see myself using it in the library for special promotions and programs such as spelling bees, the Lone Star Reading Program, poetry contests, book clubs, and more. Some cool posters can be made with these generators. I had fun making the signs, but I had a little trouble copying the codes. I kept getting them confused with the host codes!




This silly primate came from
big-smile comic strip.




www.CustomSignGenerator.com .

Thing #9

I'm proud to say I did this assignment all by myself. I'm not going to reveal how much time it took me, but let's say LOTS! I added two feeds to my RSS: Librarian's Internet Index: New This Week and Abby (the) Librarian. They seemed interesting at the time. The good thing about adding these feeds is the option to delete if I find them tedious or irrelevant.

I tried viewing Feedster, but it was changing and not up at the time. Google's Blog Search was really easy, I guess because it's format is so familiar anyway. I like how Google keeps a consistent look about its applications. It is less intimidating to me. When I searched Learning 2.0 in Google's Blog Search, I saw the coolest thing. Quintura for Kids has a search engine that changes when the cursor is placed on tags.It finds related topics and nonrelated ones disappear. Neat stuff!

Topix was too much for me. The links connected fast, but it was just overwhelming with so much stuff! I've learned that MORE is not always better. Plus, I read two stories that had sentence fragments in them. The old English teacher in me knocks it down in the reliability catagory right away!

Syndic8 was overloaded with statistics--more so than useful information to me. I found a dead link on it, and I got into a subscribing situation where they utilized Paypal and charged "a modest fee". I immediately exited Syndic8!

Suprglue was very useful and easy. I liked the Suprtags they provided for easy searching.

I was not very impressed with Technorati from a school librarian's perspective. Too much of what I looked at had really vulgar language and descriptions, but I was looking at some entertainment items at the time. Maybe it was my poor choice, but I could never have this available for middle school students to view--especially at MY school, if you know what I mean!

Thing #8

Wow. This assignment really took me a while. First I tried the Google route, but I got too lost and switched to Bloglines. The validation went quickly, and I found the search and subscribing options pretty easy to operate. What I like most about the newsreader is the fact that, like iGoogle, I can customize and choose the information coming to me instead of wading through random news that may not fall in my interest areas at all. In my personal life, the local news source will be most important. The DMN is not always known for its objectivity, but at least the perspectives are somewhat consistent for this locale. As a librarian, I can get cutting edge information from the library-related feeds that come to me instead of me trying to find what I don't know out in the vast information world. At school, the library can steer students in a direction that provides them with valid and relevant information sources instead of allowing them to go straight to the time-consuming web surfing with which teens are so comfortable. If this old dog can try it, I think middle school students can, too!

Thing #7

I had fun on the Google applications. I liked customizing my own iGoogle page so I can see information that interests me instead of random items someone else picked out. It was actually easy for me! I also made a little Picasa album of the beautiful sunrise at our lake house at Lake Palestine. Click on and enjoy.

Sunrise at Lake Palestine Album

Thing #6 - Mosaic

This is a mosaic of my third child, Bella. She's a Pekignese and Shih Tzu mix. I used the smallest photo size option, but it still seems really pixelated. (Is that even a word?!?!) It took lots of copying and pasting to get this done, but I can see some neat projects ahead with this tool.

Thing #5 Revisited

I'm attempting Exercise B this time with a picture of the Cougars at the Tournament of Champions! Yes, they won the city championship and went on to win their first 2 out of 3 games, losing the third by only one point! What a great season!

With the help of my youngest daughter, I found the secret to changing the size of the photos. (We hope!!) It is somewhat less frustrating doing this with a helper! We'll probably be up all night trying to catch me up. She HAS mentioned that Photobucket is easier than Flikr.

Thing #5 - Big Soccer Fun

My daughter's team, the Cougars, will be going to the Tournament of Champions this weekend. I hope they do well. Found this picture on Flikr and thought it was appropriate for the focus in our house right now. Go Cougars!