Twitter

I signed up for a Twitter account about six months ago and then promptly forgot about it! I don't find it adds any value to my life... but then again I don't recieve twitter messages on my phone or mobile device (don't have one) so it is not convenient. Also, I don't know anyone personally who is posting and the celebrity feeds I followed are, frankly, boring.

I do like the way the library is using twitter to broadcast what is happening at the library. It would be interesting to survey program participants to find out if anyone found out about the program by following twitter.

Library Thing

I have had a LibraryThing account in the past and while I DID find it user friendly, once I hit 200 entries I would have had to pay to upgrade my account. Then I discovered "Goodreads.com" which is a similar website.

I use Goodreads to keep track of books I've read (rather than books I own). I find it especially useful for work at the Library since I'm always needing to recall books I've read. It's also a neat way to see what friends are reading, or connect with authors, get ideas of what to read next, etc. I like the feature of tagging books into "shelves" like to read, read, currently reading, etc.

I would recommend Goodreads over LibraryThing to a friend.

Online Productivity Tools

Yes, I can see free online tools like the Google Calendar replacing microsoft products. I use this program and it is very user friendly and functional and it sync's with my iCalendar at home, so I can update things on the fly and then sync it with my "paid for" program.

Flickr/YouTube

I enjoy using both Flickr and YouTube. My husband and I have a Flickr account and he really enjoys using it to share some of our photos with friends and family. I find it quite user friendly, most notably we can upload them directly from our iPhoto program.

I use Youtube occasionally when I want to hear a particular song or if someone sends me a funny video via email, etc. I think it's interesting that people can garner their fifteen minutes of fame (or notoriaty) on this site. It's truly unique how user-generated and global it is.

I particularly like this Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCFGqEJdSM

RSS

I didn't particularly like the Bloglines reader for reading RSS feeds. My email program at home allows me to subscribe to RSS feeds and I find it much more convenient to get everything in one sport rather than having to login to Bloglines just to get updates from my blogs.

But... I'm glad to know that it is available as I've never heard of this program before.

Google Universe

I chose to try the Google Calendar application. I was able to sync it up with my home calendar, which I use almost daily to keep track of my appointments. Now when I am away from home and I need to know my schedule, I can easily call it up using the Calendar application from any computer. I have found this to be very handy ... and free!

Facebook

Is Facebook useful or a time-waster?

I signed up for facebook a few years ago when it was becoming really popular. I was worried about privacy so I used a nickname and set my privacy settings really high. Needless to say, very few old classmates or friends of friends, found me! I've recently changed my account to reflect my real name and have connected with cousins and family members that live in other provinces and countries. I do enjoy passively seeing what other people are posting, but I do sturggle with the privacy concerns of putting my personal information, pictures and details about my life out there for all to see.

While I don't think it's a "waste of time", (for me at least) there are people who use it much more extensively to keep in touch with a wide group of people. I suppose if useing facebook replaces personal contact, then, that is sad. I haven't personally seen the merit in using it as a tool to drum up interest in a business, website or movement. Maybe it is, I've just never used it that way.

ALthough I continue to be a member of Facebook, I am sort of waiting for the day I am the recipient of some negative outcome of belonging - like having my password hacked, identity stolen, photograph turned into a billboard, etc. We'll see!

Wikipedia

It took me a while to think of and find an article that I thought I could add anything to. I ended up editing the article for my favourite movie, "Heartlands", as I knew it was a small British film and not very popular. I was able to add some information about a folk singer who is featured in the film into the plot description, and I added her official website to the links.

I was surprised at how easy and satisfying it was to edit the article. I can see it becoming an addictive hobby for some. I have heard that the majority of wikipedia articles were written and/or edited by a select few editors and I can see how some people would really become passionate editors.

I do use wikipedia occasionally to get a general idea about a topic but am still weary about it's accuracy and always try to persuade customers to find more reliable sources when I get the opportunity.

Interesting exercise.

Delicious

My first impression of Delicious is that it is confusing and not user friendly. But with some use, I have found that I use the tags (on the right hand side of CPL's best websides link on delicious) effectively to find some of the sites that I know should be there.

In the past I rarely used the 'search' function, even when I knew which site I was trying to get to (i.e. the citizenship practice question site). A lovely colleague pointed out to me that the seach bar is located in the very top right corner of the site and that when a keyword is searched, CPL links will always appear at the top of the search results. Thanks to that colleague I will now start using Delicious more effectively!

CPL 2.0 Week 1

I am interested in rounding out my knowledge of 2.0 technologies. I think I have a good grasp on some topics, but others are new to me. Currently, I am most intimidated by the Wikipedia assignment! Will I have the knowledge to accurately update an entry?!

Looking forward to next week.