Are We There Yet?

Creative Commons - Flickr

Web 2.0 Experiences

Eight weeks flew by so quickly, there was barely time to post my thoughts.

For me, customization of the blog was a constant source of learning and fun -- checking the gadgets and learning how to link web 2.0 resources.

Creativity grew with my confidence in navigation. So, each week I refined the page, adding or deleting photos, polls, RSS feeds, lists, links, slideshows, and miscellaneous bits.

I'm a delighted, new fan of delicious (218 bookmarks, and counting) and I plan to continue exploring new technologies, although I don't know if I can "begin with the end in mind." I think exploration of unknown territory can be more exciting when the material draws you in unfamiliar directions.

I'm taking some steps at a time, some leaps and bounds.

Fabulous Flickr

I have a new love. It allows me to save photos of all my other loves. Once again, I didn't edit, just uploaded in order to save photos for eternity (or the digital equivalent).

Flickr and other photosharing websites allow users to upload and save photos, making them public for everyone to see, or keeping them private -- unique to their login. Photos are tagged with labels and organized by the user.

Last winter I searched Flickr for photos of Ottawa after the massive snowstorm. I sent my family in Vancouver links to photos of Ottawa digging out on Flickr that had been posted only hours after the snow had stopped falling. I didn't have to use my camera, someone using Flickr had already been there and done that! Sharing!

Bookmarking and Facebook

I'm catching up on what's been happening in Web 2.0 World the last couple of weeks -- social bookmarking and social networking.

I'd opened a Delicious account a couple of weeks ago, but forgotten the password, so had to start again. I had to upload my bookmarks a couple of times before it worked - but now I have a massive amount of preloaded bookmarks, in addition to the ones I'm constantly tagging.

Delicious is delightful! I use both a desktop and a laptop at home, firefox and internet explorer, and a computer at work, so I'm duplicating "adding favourites" all the time. Having somewhere to fetch the favourites or gather similar links is wonderful.

I've usually saved my bookmark file someplace in case the system crashed, (and it has), but now I have extra insurance. I won't lose all of my hard won references if I lose my computer. I only wish I had edited the file before uploading -- there are a lot of out-of-date links listed in my bookmarks (how embarrassing!)

I've been listed on facebook for about a year, but I've checked it out only a dozen times or so. My nieces, living across the country, upload pictures and I check them out. I maintain a very low profile on facebook, using only initials and surname.

Libraries listed on facebook may it easier for some people to find and enjoy the amenities all our citizens should be enjoying. I've become a fan of several of the library sites, including some of the larger American libraries, but I prefer finding the URLs and visiting the web sites.

To each his own.

Too much and too soon?

I've added a couple of RSS feeds to my blog, but they're probably going to change over time. Just now, with strikes and weather dominating the forefront of everyone's mind, I'm keeping abreast of developments.

My google reader has over a dozen feeds, and it's giving me so much information, with such immediacy, that there is no way I can possibly keep up with it, nor do I want to. I pick and choose those stories I find of interest by the category, title and abstract.

The immediacy is wonderful. The web brings everything to me so quickly! But I'm crushed under the weight of so much information. Entertainment, news, sports, programs, what the OPL just ordered, etc.

Having an orderly place to answer information queries in the work place is wonderful, but at home, it's just a little bit too much of a good thing.

Sorting through the feeds and weeding, works for me.