tombstone
Originally uploaded by Yummy Mummy 2007
Watch this space for new posts, as I continue my learning journey...
Monday, August 6, 2007
Thing 23 - the end...
This doesn't seem like the end, but just the end of the introduction. There is so much to explore and tools are developing and changing all the time.
My favourites were the image generators and Youtube - and of course creating this blog! I've also enjoyed sharing the experiences with my colleagues and friends, and my children.
As professionals we have a resposibility to ensure we understand these new tools, so that we can provide our clients with the best possible access to information and new techonologies.
As parents we have a responsibility to understand the technologies and tools our children are and will be exposed to, so that we can educate and protect them. They need to understand what is safe, what can be fake, what is a proper source of information and what is just someones opinion.
As people we have a responsibility to ourselves to spend time learning new things, and there are now many more ways we can access both information and people who have the same hobbies as us.
Thing 21 and 22 - Podcasts and AudioBooks
These are interesting, and have been around in one form or another for some time. They have a place in providing both information (useful podcasts on particular subjects), and also providing access to information for people who are blind or unable to read well. Many books have already been made into tapes (and probably CD's) for the elderly or vision impaired. We used to borrow them for my Grandmother to listen to after she had a stroke and could no longer read. She was a voracious reader, and not only a teacher librarian, but also had an honour degree in English, something quite unusual for a woman in the 1930's.
I downloaded 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit', because I love reading it to the children, and also loved it as a child.
I have heard podcasts before, but being a visual person rather than an aural one, they don't really do it for me at all. However I'm sure some people would really benefit from them.
Give me a real book to curl up in bed with anytime!
I downloaded 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit', because I love reading it to the children, and also loved it as a child.
I have heard podcasts before, but being a visual person rather than an aural one, they don't really do it for me at all. However I'm sure some people would really benefit from them.
Give me a real book to curl up in bed with anytime!
Things 18 & 19
Yep - I know I already did thing 20, but I just couldn't wait to get onto Youtube.
So I've had a look at the 'awards', and found that 'Facebook' won top award for Social Networking. Seeing as I have been 'invited' to be someones friend in Facebook, I took this opportunity to explore Facebook a bit more.
Facebook is a social networking tool, a rival to MySpace. You can set up other people in Facebook as your friends, and invite friends who aren't already in Facebook to join. You can also join networks of people in your area, who you went to school with etc. It seems to be kind of a mini network within the web. You can post messages and video onto peoples 'walls', share photos etc.
You can create photo albums that your friends can see, which is a nice feature.
You can also 'poke' friends, but I'm not really sure what this is, and the 'about' didn't tell me.
I now have 2 friends on Facebook, but I'm not really sure what to do with them...
So I've had a look at the 'awards', and found that 'Facebook' won top award for Social Networking. Seeing as I have been 'invited' to be someones friend in Facebook, I took this opportunity to explore Facebook a bit more.
Facebook is a social networking tool, a rival to MySpace. You can set up other people in Facebook as your friends, and invite friends who aren't already in Facebook to join. You can also join networks of people in your area, who you went to school with etc. It seems to be kind of a mini network within the web. You can post messages and video onto peoples 'walls', share photos etc.
You can create photo albums that your friends can see, which is a nice feature.
You can also 'poke' friends, but I'm not really sure what this is, and the 'about' didn't tell me.
I now have 2 friends on Facebook, but I'm not really sure what to do with them...
Friday, August 3, 2007
Vader Boy
My very clever friend found the clip I wanted on Youtube - but it has embedding disabled, so here is the link. It is worth watching...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PMOYDYLd8MQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PMOYDYLd8MQ
Thing 20 - Youtube
Youtube was really my first introduction to 2.0 technologies, when a friend told me about the 'Star Wars Kid'. Apparently this high school kid in Canada filmed himself pretending to be a Jedi, and it was leaked online. It became a phenomenon, with over 100 different clips created on Youtube, based on the original footage. Some of them are extremely clever. 'Star Wars Kid' even has a Wikipedia entry! Unfortunately the fame wasn't so good for 'Star Wars Kid', who apparently was unable to live the Jedi thing down, and left school.
This clip is one of my favourites, partly because I like the original song, and partly because I think the new lyrics are very clever. Enjoy!
Except - now I can't find the one I want, but it was a clever Star Wars clip using new lyrics to Avril Lavignes Sk8er Boi. However I also like this one...
This clip is one of my favourites, partly because I like the original song, and partly because I think the new lyrics are very clever. Enjoy!
Except - now I can't find the one I want, but it was a clever Star Wars clip using new lyrics to Avril Lavignes Sk8er Boi. However I also like this one...
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Thing 16 - Wikis
So what's not to love about a Wiki? They are a wonderful way to share information in a shared space. But, with everything on the Net, you need to be aware that the information they contain is not reviewed or refereed in any way, so cannot be taken as an authoritative source. However sources like Wikipedia contain lots of really interesting information that would be hard to find elsewhere - for example a list of all the Muppets from the Muppet Show!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Thing 14 - Technorati
Technorati appeals to me much more - its seems like a valuable search tool. And I guess if you have something to say on a blog, you do want people to access it - that is the point of information sharing. I can certainly see the value in this.
Thing 13 - Del.icio.us Tagging
As I've been playing with things like Flickr and RSS feeds, I've noticed that people use free form tagging, which I found incredibly frustrating. Maybe there is a hidden cataloguer in me after all! Without knowing what tags people (and lets face it - at this stage probably mainly American early 20's aged people) might have used.
Listening to the podcast and reading about this 'social' tagging has not yet convinced me. I don't necessarily want to see who else has tagged things in a similar way to me. And who else out there is looking at what and how people are tagging. I think there is a danger of people becoming exposed because the wrong kind of people are using the information they are providing in a way they never meant for it to be provided.
Certainly for marketing purposes, unsolicted emails could be sent to targeted people, based on tags they have selected. And so on. Or maybe I'm being paranoid...
Listening to the podcast and reading about this 'social' tagging has not yet convinced me. I don't necessarily want to see who else has tagged things in a similar way to me. And who else out there is looking at what and how people are tagging. I think there is a danger of people becoming exposed because the wrong kind of people are using the information they are providing in a way they never meant for it to be provided.
Certainly for marketing purposes, unsolicted emails could be sent to targeted people, based on tags they have selected. And so on. Or maybe I'm being paranoid...
Monday, July 30, 2007
A Yummy Mummy creates...
I got my name in lights with notcelebrity.co.uk
I am sitting here blogging away, reminded of why I named this blog Yummy Mummy. Above (hopefully) is my lovely daughters name in lights - because she is helping me on the 'puter'. I have a dolly on my lap, and I'm feeding another dolly sitting in a high chair next to me, because my daughter just had 4 babies at once, and she is busy with the other two!!! I'm sure many of you remember this wonderful and lovely imaginative time with your children, and wonder how they grew up so fast.
As I delve into these new technologies, I can't help but wonder what will be around by the time Jacquelyn is a teenager, and the level of amazing information sharing and skills she and her friends will find commonplace and take for granted.
I remember when the Internet didn't exist, and WWW didn't mean anything. My children don't know life without computers and DVD's, and I can't begin to imagine what things will be like for their children, because things seem to be developing and changing so rapidly. It will be extremely interesting to watch and keep up!
Discussions and reflections part-way through...
If nothing else, managing to do this program or not has generated lots of discussion in our team. In particular we have come across problems with multiple people using the same computer, which has resulted in all the posts going to one blog! Perhaps a shared blog would have been a better idea.
Pretty much all of these technologies are new to the team, so it is a steep learning curve, and takes much longer than we had anticipated. I think this has disheartened some people, and put them off getting to the really fun bits of the program.
However we have had some interesting discussions on some of the technologies, and how they could be applied in the workplace. We definately see a use for Wikis, RSS feeds, and blogs. I have also seen some posts on other blogs about using the image generators for Powerpoint presentations, which would certainly take them to another level. I can see the potential for this, and probably Uni students are already tapping into this resource.
Pretty much all of these technologies are new to the team, so it is a steep learning curve, and takes much longer than we had anticipated. I think this has disheartened some people, and put them off getting to the really fun bits of the program.
However we have had some interesting discussions on some of the technologies, and how they could be applied in the workplace. We definately see a use for Wikis, RSS feeds, and blogs. I have also seen some posts on other blogs about using the image generators for Powerpoint presentations, which would certainly take them to another level. I can see the potential for this, and probably Uni students are already tapping into this resource.
Play week
I really like the image generators - I could see people spending hours playing with this! It seems to be incredibly easy to create something very clever. Here is just one little one that I did...
I'm not so sure about Library Thing. Maybe I just need to spend more time playing with it, but so far I have not discovered my inner cataloguer! however I can see it would be a great reference tool to use, but obviously needs people to contribute to make it useful.
Rollyo, well. I'm sure this would be great, but I didn't really get it - and now I'm running out of time to look at it for a lengthy time. I guess that is the consequence of leaving this to the last minute, and getting easily distracted early on by Flickr not doing exactly what I wanted!
I'm not so sure about Library Thing. Maybe I just need to spend more time playing with it, but so far I have not discovered my inner cataloguer! however I can see it would be a great reference tool to use, but obviously needs people to contribute to make it useful.
Rollyo, well. I'm sure this would be great, but I didn't really get it - and now I'm running out of time to look at it for a lengthy time. I guess that is the consequence of leaving this to the last minute, and getting easily distracted early on by Flickr not doing exactly what I wanted!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thing 7 - RSS feeds
I've subscribed to Bloglines, and signed up for some RSS feeds. I signed up for some on scrapbooking and cooking, as well as one for Incite, so I should now be able to keep up with both professional and pleasurable info at the same time!
I'm not sure, realistically, how often I would go to 'Bloglines' to check for new stuff though. If the info popped up somewhere, like in my email, I might read it. Although it will probably become a bit addictive, like reading email and also friends blogs!
Watch this space!
I'm not sure, realistically, how often I would go to 'Bloglines' to check for new stuff though. If the info popped up somewhere, like in my email, I might read it. Although it will probably become a bit addictive, like reading email and also friends blogs!
Watch this space!
Moving on...
Well, I never did quite manage to get Flickr to do what I wanted, but it is time to let get of that, and move on, otherwise I will have only learnt 5 things, instead of 23, and I don't want miss out on the other 18 things!!!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Thoughts on adding photos
Things I have learnt from adding photos to my blog:
1) This adding photos caper isn't as easy as it sounds...
2) Do any manipulation of your photos (like rotating them) BEFORE you add them to the blog!
3) Put your photos into Flickr, don't just add them to your blog from your hard drive, otherwise people will be accessing your hard drive every time they load your blog.
4) When adding your photos you should select the layout of 'none' otherwise you won't be able to move the photos around on the page properly.
5) Friends who blog are wonderful helpful people
1) This adding photos caper isn't as easy as it sounds...
2) Do any manipulation of your photos (like rotating them) BEFORE you add them to the blog!
3) Put your photos into Flickr, don't just add them to your blog from your hard drive, otherwise people will be accessing your hard drive every time they load your blog.
4) When adding your photos you should select the layout of 'none' otherwise you won't be able to move the photos around on the page properly.
5) Friends who blog are wonderful helpful people
Thing 5 - adding photos
I decided - why use someone elses photos when I can add my own? So I've taken some photos of the area we work in. 
I wonder who can guess where I am from???
Some of my other team members might also add the photos
to their blogs too, which might help you work out who we are...
Some of the tools we use:
And where we sort out...
I'm not going to tell you that - it would give us away!
My Son's favourite thing at Mummy's work
- the sticker maker (spine label printer!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8820306@N08/535317747/
I wonder who can guess where I am from???Some of my other team members might also add the photos
to their blogs too, which might help you work out who we are...
Some of the tools we use:
And where we sort out...I'm not going to tell you that - it would give us away!
My Son's favourite thing at Mummy's work
- the sticker maker (spine label printer!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8820306@N08/535317747/
Thursday, May 24, 2007
7 1/2 habits...
Well, creating a blog was certainly easy - no wonder so many people are doing it around the world!
Of course my favourite habit was no. 7 1/2 - Play. How can playing and having fun be difficult? I also really liked habit 3 - learning from challenges. What a wonderful frame of mind to live by. Easier said than done, but definately worth giving a go.
The hardest for me is the very first habit - begin with the end in mind (setting goals). I much prefer to 'go with the flow', and see where I end up, rather than being really focussed on set steps towards a goal. However as long as I set a fairly non-specific goal, I should be fine!
Of course my favourite habit was no. 7 1/2 - Play. How can playing and having fun be difficult? I also really liked habit 3 - learning from challenges. What a wonderful frame of mind to live by. Easier said than done, but definately worth giving a go.
The hardest for me is the very first habit - begin with the end in mind (setting goals). I much prefer to 'go with the flow', and see where I end up, rather than being really focussed on set steps towards a goal. However as long as I set a fairly non-specific goal, I should be fine!
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