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My Comment on Josh's Web2.0 Tool for Week 3, VoiceThread

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My Comment on Karmiko's Blog on Web2.0 Tool for Week 3

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Spring has sprung in WV. This weekend saw upper 60s low 70s and sun. IT IS WON-DERFUL! I was thinking about all the stuff I need to do that I've been putting off. Now that the weather has turned, I'm feeling motivated. But where to begin? Make a list, I suppose. And, you guessed it, there's a Web2.0 tool for that! Todo.ly.com.

My thoughts immediately jumped to educational uses. What a wonderful way to help students stay on task. Of course, not all students have smart phones yet. But, most classrooms do have computers. Students could be given time each day to create their weekly home work and test study and project to do list using this tool. Teachers would be there to ensure accuracy. Kids can share their log-in/account information with their parents. Parents could log-in to see what homework or activities their child must complete for the evening or week. Some schools may already be using something similar, but it is usually filled out by the teachers without student involvement. The beauty of this strategy would be child-centered organization facilitation, so that the kids learn how to organize themselves. This would be especially useful for children with ADHD or similar challenges. And, I believe that since it's technology based the kids would really enjoy using it and be self-motivated to do so.

That's my Week 3 Web2.0 tool! Happy Spring everyone. I'm off to make my TODO.ly list!!!

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This is my one-minute message about the last Web 2.0 tool I blogged about, Woopid. I did mention that I'm the not the greatest artist YET, right? If you didn't hear me mention it before, you've been forewarned! This is my second try at using Illustrator. And, I'm not the best at i-Movie yet either. Ran out of time to figure out how to adjust the last still and could not figure out how to loop my background music (although I saw how to do it another time)... Enjoy, for what it's worth!

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My Comment on Irene's Blog -- Web2.0 Tool Knowtes.com

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My Comment on Karmiko's Blog Post -- RSS Feeds

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I’ve been using Lynda.com this week. I’m very keen to learn Adobe Illustrator CS4. Particularly, I’m interested in using Illustrator to create one of my photo uploads for our Week 2 Flickr assignment. Lynda.com is terrific. I feel like I’m learning just as much watching these tutorials as I would if I were actually sitting in an Illustrator class (and for a lot less money)!

In this vein, I decided to explore Web 2.0 Tools in search of a similar software tutorials that are free. Low and behold, I found Woopid. Woopid contains professionally created tutorials for a host of hardware, software, gadgets, and operating system questions. While you will not find a tutorial for a complicated software package like Adobe Illustrator, you will find many, many other tutorials for both the PC and the Mac. In fact, Woopid’s Mac library is quite impressive.

The site is very easy to use. From the homepage (www.woopid.com), you can enter a search query to automatically have all related tutorials populate or, if you don’t know exactly for what you are looking, you can go to the library tab and look for tutorials by subject.

As I mentioned, Woopid is completely free. No account is needed to search for or watch tutorials. However, if you do create an account, which takes less than a minute to do, you can save favorite tutorials into your own “favorites” tab and you can send invites to friends to watch certain tutorials. Other cool features include a “bundles” tab where grouped tutorials are kept for complex tasks and a “request tutorial” tab where you can tell Woopid what you would like to see and if they get enough requests for it, they will create and post a tutorial on that topic.

To finish my research of Woopid, I decided to peruse their Mac tutorials. Since I am relatively new to the Mac, there are still some tricks I have yet to learn. One very simple Mac application I find challenging is, of all things, Spaces. I get confused navigating all over the place. But after watching the Woopid video, I am now a Spaces expert! Thanks, Woopid, for being both great and free.

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(manageME7.com, 2010)

I do not teach and have little influence at my office to incorporate new technology (in spite of working in the I.T. department! My company is technology averse so it is very frustrating). Therefore, I decided to look into Web 2.0 tools that can help me better manage my life since I am very busy working full time and going to school full time. I need all the help I can get!

I’ve been interested in getting a handle on my finances. So, I checked out a web 2.0 tool called BillShrink. BillShrink is a free, web-based service that provides consumers with personalized recommendations for everyday services, such as cell phone plans and credit cards. Recommendations are computed in real-time by matching a user’s indicated usage profile against millions of different options in any market to enable option comparisons and well-informed decisions to maximize savings. (billshrink.com, 2010) I’ve been griping quite a bit about my mobile phone bill lately. So I decided to see if I could do better. The application is extremely easy to use and just takes less than 5 minutes to get to the results. It’s as simple as filling out a questionnaire. Turns out I’m a savvy shopper and already had the best-rate scenario.

Then I decided to see about an application that can help me analyze my overall monthly expenses to see where I might squeeze out more savings. I found a hosted application called manageME7 (manageme7.com). This tool is free and offers features such as, payment reminders, saving for future goals, debt pay-down strategies, a financial forum, and full security. For travelers or those who may split their time between two (or more) countries, currency conversion is inherent. Subscribers can upgrade their account to a paid subscription, which entitles them to increased analytics and unlimited access. The drawback is that in addition to managing my on-line checking account, I must manually input all of my financial information into another application. This wouldn’t be so bad if I actually had time to do this. But time is the problem. I think the best solution would be if my bank had a similar tool that is integrated with my checking and seamlessly transfers my data into an analytical tool. I think before I take the time to set this up, I will check to ensure that an easier option isn’t available from my bank.

For those who would like to share my bookmarks, my My Delicious user name is: lauranwv.

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When I graduate from Full Sail, I would like to obtain a CAPM (Certified Associate Project Manager) certificate and a post-graduate certificate in Digital Publishing. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to transition my career to work for an educational publisher -- one of the big publishers that has an academic division or a small university press -- who is going digital with its offerings.

So, based on this interest, I have selected about 10 RSS feeds, some generic and some specific, that carry content regarding technology in general and digital publishing in specific. In brief, here are the top seven (??? -- just worked out to an odd number):

The Journal of Electronic Publishing (JEP)

An Open Source (OS) journal dedicated to "research and discussion about contemporary publishing practices, and the impact of those practices upon users. Contributors and readers are publishers, scholars, librarians, journalists, students, technologists, attorneys, retailers, and others with an interest in the methods and means of contemporary publishing. JEP aspires to document the changes in publishing, and in some cases to stimulate and shape the direction of those changes. The articles present innovative ideas, best practices, and leading-edge thinking about all aspects of publishing, authorship, and readership. The editor and publisher are committed to presenting wide-ranging and diverse viewpoints on contemporary publishing practices, and to encouraging dialogue and understanding between key decision-makers in publishing and those who are affected by the decisions being made." (journalofelectronicpublishing.org, 2010)

Adobe Digital Publishing Blogs

As a leader in developing platforms to deliver digital content, Adobe has a new blog dedicated to digital publishing. Good to keep up with one of the major players in the industry.

(http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/)

DigitalKoans Blog

DigitalKoans is a Weblog that provides news and commentary on digital copyright, digital curation, digital repositories, open access, scholarly communication, and other digital information issues."

(digital-scholarship.org, 2010)

Booksquare Blog

Provides the book-lovers viewpoint of digital publishing initiatives from those in-the-know of the world of publishing.

(booksquare.com)

Wired, PCMag and MacRumors Blogs

These blogs provide general updates on the world of technology, which often include digital publishing snippets.
(pcmag.com, wired.com, macrumors.com)

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