Wrap-Up/Reflections (Activity 23)

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

Meebo, YouTube and Sign Makers were probably my favorites. I'm being very cautious of YouTube until after Easter since I'm not watching TV for Lent. I don't know that I'll give up TV entirely, but cutting back certainly can't hurt me. It's too easy to sit in front of the TV or YouTube for hours without thinking about it. (Update since Easter: I still watch too much TV and YouTube.)
Meebo allows me to be connected to multiple IM accounts at the same time so I don't have to log into all the accounts. Plus it's web-based so if I'm using another computer that doesn't have the IM software installed it doesn't matter.
The sign maker site was just plain fun. I don't currently have a printer. However, I can make a sign, save it and run it to the printers or to my online photo company if I need a poster for an amusing birthday present.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I appreciate this program's allowance for play. It allows me to work at my own speed and spend more time with the things I enjoy or find useful. Several of these things I may or may not use all that much in the future. I can see how most of them are useful, but I don't necessarily have these needs and so probably won't use them.

Perhaps the most confusing is the RSS feeds. I understand how they work, but not necessarily why one would use them. I don't read enough news or blogs that are constantly updated to use RSS effectively.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I most appreciated the time to work on this project with my co-workers. In helping each other and teaching each other we learned more about the program and the skills necessary to make it work better. Though I was often asked the questions, everyone participated and in many cases started punching buttons until something worked. The hardest part was figuring out what buttons we pushed a second time to do it for ourselves or the next person who wasn't sure.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I would cut back one of the RSS assignments. Picture plays are fun for everyone. When you're sitting on top of Information Services it's easier to call them than sift through my RSS feeds.
I appreciated being given time to do this at work, however it is difficult to retain the process one week to the next. Early on we were given two hours to work with Discover 2.0 and that was very helpful.

Feel free to write about whatever else comes to mind.
I had fun doing this project. Somethings were slightly Greek/Geek to me. Next time I would like a little help getting through RSS and a few of the other activities. I did have a great time showing my friend smiley faces on Meebo. (My personal favorite: >:D<>

Tumblr Alternative Blogging (Activity 22)

I suppose for most of this assignment I could have used Tumblr. Only a few of my posts really needed more than a few hundred characters. It's a good thing I used Blogspot though because I tend to be long winded. So I'll quit here.






WAIT, WAIT! Here's my tumblr url: http://mcdata.tumblr.com/

Podcasting (Activity 20)

So if I did this right you can click the link and then the play button and listen to the title theme of, what else my current favorite show, NCIS. By the way, the writer's strike is over (YEAH!) and the next new episodes for NCIS start April 8th if my info is correct. Thanks to the NCIS fans wiki for keeping me up to date on these important things.

http://audio.search.yahoo.com/search/audio/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Faudio.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Faudio%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26sngid%3D7a571a15617c477c%26p%3DTheme&p=Theme&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fireflyfans.net%2Fthread.asp%3Fb%3D13%26t%3D3751&name=navyncis.mp3&dur=0:36&rate=160kbps&no=1&tt=1&size=712.9kB&artist=Navy+NCIS&weburl=http%3A%2F%2Fslidersweb.net%2Fblinker%2Fnsr%2Fnavyncis.mp3


And for those interested here's the link to listen to Air1 online. Air1 is commercial free Christian radio.

http://www.air1.com/broadcast/playnow.aspx?media=listen&bt=3&

Pandora/Archive.org/Mango (Activity 19)

Pandora is online music streaming. I pick what I like and it creates a station based on that choice. Yahoo's is more restrictive in that you must have a different e-mail for each station. A small fee opens many opportunities. I've been on Yahoo long enough that it mostly picks stuff I like based on artist, album, genre and song title. Yahoo allows for a wide variety on a single station. Pandora selects music based on an artist or genre entered, then plays similar stuff on that station. Pandora allows the user to create multiple stations, one for every mood. Skipping songs is limited by licensing, with Yahoo that's all the skipping for the month (at least it used to be, may have changed). On Pandora skipping is limited per hour. I tested a couple of my favorite radio stations as well. Many now have online streaming to allow people to listen to the radio at their jobs without needing the radio at their desk. Useful as sometimes being in the basement or away from windows limits the radio stations available through the antenna.

Archive I can see as very useful for people researching who need primary documents that are out of print or perhaps too fragile for transfer or even handle. Being more into current items I didn't find anything terribly exciting to me, but when the books I like go out of print I'll be able to access them there. It will also be useful to me when my kids need primary resources for school projects.

Mango looks like a blast! I didn't get very far because I've not created an account, but what a positive way to teach people other languages. We're so caught up in this English thing. I'm taking a trip to Europe this fall so I hope to use Mango to learn some French and Italian and brush up on my Spanish before I go.

Google Docs (Activity 18)

Another cool tool for allowing the world access to your stuff! And people want privacy... I follow the Gibbs rule about secrets/private stuff: keep it to yourself, second best tell one other person (being Catholic, that'd be my priest since he's got a short memory and isn't allowed to say anyways), there is no third best. Sorry, I can't remember which number the rule is, but any of you NCIS gurus out there who keep track of this stuff leave a comment. Thanks much! So, now I must do my next favorite thing... relate this to Star Wars/Star Trek... hmm. Ah! Yoda's students telling Obi-Wan Kenobi that the files had been altered so that a planet 'disappeared'. That could happen here. As for Trek, well I don't have a good one at this time, perhaps all the holodeck errors that occur when Professor Moriarty of the famed Sherlock Holmes stories by Doyle was allowed to mess with computer systems several centuries past his time.

Library Thing (Activity 15)

Hey cool! A staff picks table and no cards to fill out. I'm the staff and these are some of my favorites. In case you've not guessed I read about the saints and Star Wars. Funky combination, but that's me. The 'random list' of my Library Thing picks is below Meebo. If you can't see my You Tube video or the Meebo widget they're blocked... sorry. I didn't do it!
Note: I looked into it... apparently some of the library computers are randomly running through the enhanced filter which prevents these sites. The powers that be know and are looking into it. Yeah computer gurus!

NCIS Day at the Office (Activity 21)

Found this on YouTube. Credits on the clip. Thanks much!
PS You Tube is addictive and should be considered hazardous to your sleep cycle. Hence our esteemed colleague's warning: "Look for something that interests you on YouTube... Spend a few minutes exploring (and we mean just a few - it can get addictive)."

In case you'd not guessed NCIS is my favorite thing next to Star Wars, peanut butter and Italian food. Don't get much of the latter any more and it's wearing thin, but that's another story.
Videos have endless uses, but don't try to explain how to use internet on You Tube. If you can't get online how are you supposed to get the video. That's what 8-year-olds and libraries are for, haha, I will still have a job in the near future since robots don't shelve books yet.
Oh, since you've not made it to the end of the video yet... Mark Harmon's in charge, in case you haven't guessed. Notice everyone gives him front stage? It's kinda like when the priest walks in, everyone remembers something they need to confess and suddenly the floor is very interesting.