Thing 23 - Thoughts

Thing 23 AT Last!

My favorite discoveries and exercises in this program were Flicker because of downloading pictures and YouTube because of downloading some interesting videos.

This program assisted or affected my lifelong learning goals taught me not to be afraid of anything new to learn. Although I found at the beginning of this program it was a little difficult, I was determined to keep going. As I progressed it seemed to get easier. I found some mistakes in previous programs and went back to correct them.

The whole program was a big surprise for me. I knew nothing of Blogging before. I found new programs that were useful that I did not know were there.

To improve the format or concept would to explain each step in a simpler way. In the beginning of this program it would be useful to explain in more detail what this program is about. I found that 2 hours a week is not enough time to put to this program in order to fully understand each concept.

If another program were offered I would consider taking it.

I believe this program was challenging but useful.

I do feel, however, that it was difficult to find time to work on this program. It is a good feeling to know that I completed it!

Downloading audio books

I had heard that we could download audiobooks (e-books) sometime ago. The first site I visited was Overdrive Digital Media which gave a guided tour about the e-books. You need a valid library card to be able to do this. The next site I visited was Net Library which is the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. That site also gave a tour of how to download a book and explained what version would be best for a computer or a media player. They even showed how much time you had left for a particular book=days, hours and minutes. You can even renew a book if you need more time. Project Gutenburg was a free site. Most of the books I found were classics. I was able to download Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Then I had to search for it on my computer. I found it in my Adobe Reader program and logged in. Then I put it on my favorites list. I am not sure if I want to read a book on a computer especially after working at a computer all day. I do think this is a useful program to have especially for someone who is unable to physically come to the library.

Podcasting

Sites for podcasting include everything from music, news, sports, pictures, television shows and dictionaries. In iTunes 7, you can look at New Oxford American Dictionary and has everything from Nascar Coverage, music and news. iPod and iTunes you can download, music, photos, videos as well as subjects like math and science. Podcast.net was my favorite. You can get television shows. Old shows like The Nanny, new ones like American Idol, Cartoon shows, sports, news, and music channels.
Yahoo Podcasts had all the other categories and included games like Mario Brothers.
Merlin offered instructions on how to install your own Podcast. This was an interesting exercise to do. I did not realize there was so much information on Podcast.

YouTube - Library Dominoes

YouTube - Library Dominoes
Working in a library, I found this site fun to watch. I couldn't resist putting it on my blog.

You tube-The Jeep Channel

I surprised myself when I found this was so easy to upload to my blog. I clicked a few buttons and it finally worked. I like this site because it was cute and entertaining. I also liked the Library Dominos video. There are videos for everyone with so many different subjects. Some of them were inappropriate and you can mark them as such. Wouldn't it be fun if the library could do their own video and post it on YouTube?

Awards List

I liked going into this site as it had a lot of interesting topics you could look into. Unfortunately I did not have the time to look into more than a few. The first one I tried was Fun Stuff. I could always use a little fun. I clicked on Cocktail Builder. This was a site for anyone who drinks cocktails (not me). You could choose the name of a cocktail and it came up with the recipe for mixing the drink. Then I tried Games. Some of the games were already on the site, others had to be downloaded. I played a game called Cowboy. It was easy and fun, but it did not last very long. You had to shoot the cowboys that popped up on the screen. I do not have a lot of time at work to play games. I might visit this site at home.

Zolo Writer

I looked into Zolo Writer which is similiar to Microsoft Office. It has a comparative operation programs for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and even an e-mail site. Most of the buttons look like those used in Microsoft. In fact, they were a little clearer to understand. I liked the color of the programs which were easier on the eyes. In Publisher you can publish documents as a public file so anyone can read. The e-mail feature was ok. Everything was on the first page that you would need, including your e-mail list. I still think I prefer AOL or Netscape for my e-mail. It is good to know that there are other programs other than Microsoft to use.