Week #8 - a comment on Zoho

Below is my first Zoho document - a quick play around with some of the basic features of the program. The ease with which I posted it into my blog was amazing, although the two pictures I included do not seem to have come through properly (this may just be my computer). I was even able to go in and edit the document in the blog, which was very handy. From a "publish on the internet" point of view I really like this, although I'm not convinced it will replace Microsoft Office - but I could be wrong!! Lets go back and see what else I can do!
Cheers

Week #8 - Zoho ; First try

Whoo-hoo - isn't this cute. Lets just press a few of these buttons and see what this thing can do!!

This is my favourite cat photo (thanks FlickR) and i have managed to add a comment to the image - just point on the photo to see.

OK - what else can I do???

PRETTY COLORS

AND BACKGROUND COLORS

Fonts, fonts, fonts, and more fonts

Bold, italics, inderline, strikethrough, ^superscript, _subscript, all the usual bits and pieces I can do in a normal work document.

I don't mind the toolbar, although with the internet explorer toolbars at the top there is rather a lot of stuff to look at. I think the biggest adventage of this is the ease of sharing and multiediting features. Time to save and see if I can link this into my blog.

Week #7 - Wikis

Despite the pressures of time (see my previous rant), I'm really glad I have taken on this course, as so much of what we have covered I will keep using. Just about all my bookmarks are now on del.icio.us (very timely, as I worked at Tongala branch Saturday, needed one of my sites and found it quickly using del.icio.us - thanks!), and I really enjoyed the wikis this week. I loved the Book Lovers Wiki from Princeton Public Library and would like to do something similar for us - it would be fantastic for readers advice. My main reservation is the lack of control (yes, OK, control-freak tendencies here) but being able to restrict access and track changes would help prevent abuse or inappropriate use. I have browsed through several of the wiki hosts and it would certainly be possible to set something up. I shall cogitate further.

I have succesfully managed to link my blog into the Learning 2.0 wiki - shall have to check that I am not getting all the update e-mails - think I may have neglected to untick the notify box. Ooops!

Ok, the phone has rung again - that was my FIFTH phone call while typing this - I think I had better give up for now.....

Time - where has my day gone???

Time!! There is NEVER enough of it. The 7.5 Habits of Lifelong Learning don't say anything about finding the time to actually LEARN!!
Habit 1 - Begin with the end in mind - and make sure you have the time for the journey
Habit 2 - Accept responsibility for your own learning - and for finding the time to DO the learning
Habit 3 - View problems as challenges - Yes, the problem of time is definitely a challenge
Habit 4 - Confidence - I am confident I WILL find the time ; it will just be challenging!
Habit 5 - Learning toolbox - Well I did PUT time management as one of the tools in by toolbox back in week 1
Habit 6 - Useing technology - yes, it CAN save time. And when it is't jolly working properly, it can sure waste a fair bit of it too
Habit 7 - Teach and mentor - sometimes I spend so long teaching and mentoring I run out of time to do stuff myself
Habit 7.5 - Play - it I had the time to play with all this wonderful new stuff I am learning as much as I want to, I probably wouldn't be griping about TIME!!!

I'm out of time - more later

Week #6 - del.icio.us

This was entirely too much fun - I really like this concept. The next time my computer is upgraded at work, there will be NO chance I will again lose all my bookmarks - they will all be found at del.icio.us/TechnoToria Well some of them can be found there already - and now that I have managed to get the del.icio.us buttons on my toolbar, I will progressively add to them over the next few weeks. Even better - the next time I am working at another computer and can't remember an address I want to get into, I will still have access to my bookmarks!!

Cheers

Week #5 part 3 - Rollyo

Not too sure about this from a "library patrons coming in asking questions" perspective, but personally see the use - searching several trusted websites at once without the irrelevant guff coming up.
I have created a few searchrolls and put a link on my toolbar - I will see how much use I make of it. I have a feeling it just might grow on me.......

Week #5 part 2 - LibraryThing

Now this was fun!! Worked much better too! My list can be accessed at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ToriaG

I only have a few titles listed for now, but can anticipate becoming seriously addicted to it. I particularly like being able to choose which book cover to display - so I can actually show the cover of the edition I own!

Week #5 - Image Generator

After playing around with the image generators I have come to the conclusion that our internet connection here is too slow - I keep losing things and timing out and not uploading properly and am sure the level of muttering is unsettling other staff. Sorry everyone!!

Usualy technology behaves for me, so I have tried to be patient and persist with it today - at least this one (kind of) worked.

Cheers

Bloglines

I have just been back into my Bloglines account, caught up on all the new posts by fellow staff, created 2 new folders (news and movies) and subscribed to a few sites for each. I really like this concept - you don't have to keep going into blogs etc you have visited before only to find nothing new - this tells you when there is new content/new posts and takes you straight to them. How clever is that!

I have tried to visit and leave a comment on the blogs of fellow staff at Campaspe this week - it is nice to find some feedback on your thoughts. Learning 2.0 has generated a lot of comment by staff, and I think we are all finding the same main problem - simply finding the time to get everything done!

Cheers