LEARNING 2.0

A few comments…….

Completing the activities was challenging at times but the support was incredible. It was always reassuring when an email was sent from team leader Alex with encouraging comments for the completed tasks. Weekly assignments with the easy to follow guidelines provided a strong foundation for the program. Including links, to articles and example sites, was expecially helpful. The drop-in sessions were great for communication when a little extra guidance was needed and it was fun to share experiences and tips with other novice learners. Favourite activities included setting up a blog, finding out about Facebook and creating a Second Life avatar. The gaming and virtual worlds presentations provided an excellent opportunity for group discussion and commentary from the experts. In the ever changing world of libraries and technology, an invitation to further discoveries would always be welcome.         Thank you Emerging Technologies Group for making this journey such a pleasant learning experience.

ARBORETUM AT THE RBG

For a happy adventure this Victoria Day weekend, visit the Arboretum at the Royal Botanical Gardens to enjoy the first blooms of the fragrant lilac dell and vibrant rhododendron garden. The McMaster lilac and colourful Tintoretto rhododendron are two of my most treasured discoveries.

BROWSER TOOLS

Firefox has been installed along with add-on Stumpleupon. There were lot’s of great categories for the Stumpleupon and three were selected - gardening, books, interior design.  

Bookmarklets was easy to install on both Internet Explorer [favorites] and Firefox [bookmark]. “Doctors Without Borders” was searched in subject keyword as well as keywords anywhere. Both IE and FF found one MORRIS record for subject and seven for keywords anywhere. The just released DVD Painted Veil is the biography of a 1920’s doctor who could easily be a forerunner to the present day Doctors Without Borders. For those who enjoy the history and scenery of a distant land, the story is set in the Far East, and the movie has been designated a hidden gem by Blockbuster.

GAMING AND VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

After a weekend of walking the Cootes Paradise footpaths and sharing the delights of the world of nature with local hikers, birders and cyclists - it’s time to explore the virtual world! Second Life now has a new avatar - Karenina Mills. Hopefully, shopping for a wardrobe will be easier than finding a name. Karenina has already been invited to join McMaster Library Group Charter and McMaster Library Friends, so she is feeling very welcome in her new virtual community.

Board games and cottage vacations just seem to go together. Scrabble is definitely one of the standards. Online game competition was great fun but all those other players with their “hurry up” comments, gentle sounds of surprise and outbursts of laughter, in the real world, were greatly missed. Devoting time to the online version [classic for now, not speed] would certainly improve my spelling and vocabulary.

Recently there was a television documentary on the addictive nature of online gaming and for sometime there has been an advertisement cautioning others to intervene when they think someone is spending to much time playing poker on the internet. A strong awareness of and dialogue about this concern will no doubt be an essential component of this emerging environment. It is reassuring to note that reading has never been described as an addiction. 

A PERFECT SPRING DAY

 

The Laking Garden RBG

 

Sparkling Waters           One Desire            Harbour Blue

Welcome to the Royal Botanical Gardens www.rbg.ca Iris Collection. There’s a wonderful surprise for visitors to the Laking Garden this year - a new design!  instead of rows, as pictured, there is a circular planting style. In early June, when the garden is in full bloom, I plan to search for my three favourite tall bearded irises.  

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS

As a recent member of Facebook with a photo, thanks to Debbie, I’m discovering the joys of social networking. My sons, Eric and Ryan are both members and it was fun to find the correct spelling for some of their friends names. I’ve been cautioned to only accept names of people I know. Alas, there was a definite note of humour towards this latest communication technique! Library 2.0 @ Mac recently welcomed member number 54 and exploring this library community has been educational.

Profile was also setup on MySpace. For comparison, Facebook was preferred visually and navigation/searching was easier.  

ONLINE APPLICATIONS AND TOOLS

Google Docs & Spreadsheets will be especially appreciated from home computer.  Time was spent creating a word document. Check spelling is a great feature - a click on the yellow highlighted misspelled word(s) - and alternative spellings appear!

Profile was setup on LibraryThing: got books. Since springtime has arrived, a list of books on gardening seemed like a good idea. The cover view is especially delightful and, yes there is a Gardening All-in-One for Dummies by the National Gardening Ass.

TAGGING, SOCIAL BOOKMARKING AND FOLKSONOMIES

A search of del.icio.us for miniature shoes provided 13 links with a few not on topic. As a phase search there were 6 links, all on topic miniature_shoes! My favourite site - “Just the Right Shoe” was found on both searches. Google phrase search yielded 13,700 hits and results page 1 listed “Just the Right Shoe”!

There were 37 Flickr photos for miniature shoes and this is my favourite from a longtime collector. Miniature footware includes shoes from all over the world and represents shoes throughout history. A miniatue shoe is usually 3-4 inches from heel to toe and many of them are decorated with tiny pearls or crystals. The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto also has many wonderful designs in their gift shop while others are available for purchase online. At a cost of $12 to $15, it makes collecting lots of fun.

 

WIKIS

WikiMatrix comparison chart was really helpful, except for the more technical features. Comparison Wiki information - PBwiki (Jan 07) and Wetpaint (Dec 06) was recent. Also, more than two could be requested for the compare.

BOOK CONNECTION  was easily added to the PB (peanut butter!) wiki ”my favourite books” and it was fun to receive other members book lists via email over the past few weeks.  Wetpaint tutorial was found via the navigation sidebar but it took some time. McMaster is certainly well represented - Office of the Registrar, UTS, Health Sciences, MUGSI, etc.  For comparison found Wetpaint to be more intuitive.   

BLOGLINES -after meeting with Alex!

The feeds are now organized and there’s even a folder for Learning 2.0. Wired news already has 200 postings.