Some helpful links!

Have a look at Google Reader.

Here's a little Wikipedia article about RSS feeds.

Check out Indexed, published weekday mornings as the coffee brews.

Take a peek at My Mom's Blog by Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Look for more blogs here at Google Blog Search.

Or here at Bloglines.

Or here at Technorati.

Or here at Ice Rocket.

And make your own blog here at Blogger.

And maybe later try Wordpress.

Google reader

Here's a little video about Google Reader.



It's a great way to keep track of all the blogs you read. It's as simple as checking your email! When you're reading a blog you like, look for the button that says 'Subscribe' or 'RSS' and click on it. It will ask you how you want to read the blog. The easiest way (I think) is just to choose Google Reader and let them do all the work. Then you have your email, your blog and your RSS feeds all in one account.

Add a picture to your post

You can add an image to your blog, either one from your computer/USB drive/etc, or from the Internet (you just need to copy the URL). Click on the picture icon in 'Create Posts' and go from there.

Video: How to make a blog

Here's a helpful video on how to make a blog.



To embed a video in your own post, just copy the code from the 'embed' box on You Tube and paste it in.

Final post

Well, this is my last post for this round of Web 2.0 activities. These activities built on what I learned the first time around, with some new things thrown in. The animation activities were lots of fun but a slow process! I could see these Web 2.0 tools being used effectively for presentations (especially for kids and teens) and as an introduction to the library (such as a cartoon on the ACL website showing kids how to find nonfiction in the library, or how to approach homework tasks). The genealogy websites would definitely be of use to some of our customers - family history research is really popular.

I think the book club websites were OK, but not so appropriate for avid nonfiction readers like myself (most were fiction-focused). I think it would have been a good idea to look into some New Zealand resources, or ones that better reflect what New Zealanders want and need online (such as local news). Some online tools that would be of use to many customers include: interactive computer skills, library skills, career skills (interviews and writing CVs and cover letters) and anything involving uploading/downloading music, photos and other media. It would be great if we had some way of introducing customers to all these great Web 2.0 tools, as links on the ACL website or in a separate blog or something.

It's been fun, and I'm looking forward to the next round!

Stumbling upon news

I had a look around StumbleUpon and I really like it. It's easy to search visually for items. I 'stumbled upon' this Dress Me Up: Clockwork Couture - a kind of Steampunk burlesque paper doll thing (why not??) The subject searching is very handy and it's really user-friendly and nice-looking. Unlike Reddit, which is just awful to look at (I think!) and not so easy to discover things serendipitously (and isn't that the whole point of these websites?)

Digg is not bad, but a bit wordy. (I prefer SumbleUpon's visual approach.) I found an interesting article about the increase in the popularity of poetry thanks to the internets. The last website I looked at was Newsvine, which is a great idea but I found the content to be too USA-focused for my interests.

Go Animate thoughts, hopes and dreams

Making a short animation with Go Animate was fun but time-consuming! There are just too many possibilities, it was a bit daunting! The quality of animation was pretty good, even with my basic animation skills and questionable storytelling ability. I would definitely recommend Go Animate to someone with a bit of time on their hands. The animation could be quite sophisticated if you put in the hours, it has definite potential as a tool for storytelling and presenting ideas to kids, in particular. Who doesn't love a cartoon? The only downside was that you have to upload your own music (even Animoto had a basic music library).