Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Publishing Google Docs

It worked! When I chose the option to publish it to my blog I wasn't sure it did because it didn't give me any indication. But I guess I did it right. Yeah!

Online apps? Such an interesting concept. It is really useful for those that don't have access to a word processing program but do have access to Internet. However, I personally don't see where it will take the place of Office but then again I have not really played around with it much. Google Docs looks exactly like Word so creating documents is easy.

We do have a Zoho account in the reference department that we use to share programming ideas. I find that it is really easy to post although sharing Publisher files is a bit difficult.

Quest 9-Wiki, Wiki, Wiki

Ahhh, wikis. Working in a library and working previously for a virtual reference company, I have tried to stay away from using Wikipedia as a source because of the fact that anybody can post. However, when a subject is difficult to find it is a great place to get started.
We have been exploring the option of wikis here in the Reference Department as a means of sharing information with each other. I signed up for a wiki account and looked it over thinking I would create one that all the reference staff could use to post information. I actually got the idea from the St Joseph Public library, whose wiki I had seen many months ago. It is really a great way to share information and have it right there at your computer. However, creating a wiki takes a little more effort than some of the other technologies and I had a little too much going on to sit down and try to create one. I hope that in the future I can possibly use it to share nonprofit and grant writing resources for the Foundation Center collection.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Social Networking

I already have an account on LinkedIn that I have been using for professional reasons. But it is just that ...professional. As far as having a little fun, I really liked Bebo. Very hip looking. I have friends and family that have MySpace and Facebook pages. In fact, my nephew started to go into the whole Facebook explanation with me and seemed surprised that I already knew what it was. But he did make me think about the fact that maybe I don't create my own page because I feel like I am too old. When searching around on these social networks it did seem that the majority of people are in their mid twenties and younger. That and the fact that I don't really need one more thing to distract me from life. Maybe I'll take the time to create my own page soon.
However, I do think a great way to use MySpace and Facebook is for organizations, especially nonprofits, to create their own pages. What a great way to get some free advertising.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Flickr

I love Flickr. I love to look at other people's pictures and with Flickr you can share them with friends and family or with everyone. It's funny how you can really start to relate to people by looking at their pictures. You almost feel like you know them.
I took the Flickr class earlier and created an account but had not put any pictures on there yet. So for this exercise I went home and put some of our wedding pictures and some of the best dog in the world on there.
My Flickr screen name is mistyinchas.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Del.icio.us and Technorati

OK, let me first say that it really bugged me that the del.icio.us tutorial was fuzzy. I couldn't see what she was doing. But I was able to figure it out myself. I actually have been meaning to start my own del.icio.us page so this made me go ahead and do that. I know I will use it. I have often been ont he reference desk and been asked a question and I have a webpage bookmarked on my computer that would help. Now I can access all those. How cool!
I haven't really used Technorati much but today I signed up and made sure to claim my blog for nonprofit and grant resources. I can really see the importance of tagging now so that people can find your blog.