Social Bookmarking - Delicious!

I see Delicious as a very useful tool. I often find a bookmark at work that I want to follow-up at home and vice-versa. I carry by bookmarks back and forth on a flash drive but occasionlly forget to update at one site or the other and then lose my MOST IMPORTANT new find.

In a school setting I could see the teacher listing some sites that would be appropriate for research that students might be doing. Extra-curricular work could be listed from sites that are meaningful for the subject matter. A group or club may be making items for a charity and sites could be posted with suggestions for things to make. A suggested reading list could be posted by using the URLs for reviews in order to help the student select one that is of interest.

My Delicious name is knotthere2000

Sing Like a Birdie

Today I posted my first Tweet and Retweeted several times. (Excuse me, I need a drink to help clear my throat after all that tweeting!). My twitter name is knotthere2000.

I am following NY Times books, Google Books, The Yarn Harlot and work_matters by Bob Sutton. I love to read and enjoy finding "good" books that others think are worthwhile. The Yarn Harlot is humorous and talks about fiber arts, particularly knitting. Bob Sutton is a professor at Stanford and always has insightful comments on the world of work.

I'm not sure that I would tweet much but I certainly will enjoy reading what others have to say. I can see the value in getting quick responses to questions one might have. I was very impressed, a number of years ago on Usenet, when I asked a question about WordPerfect and received an answer from Israel. I think its a great way to keep up with new innovations in my field and provide opportunities to learn about topics of which I might be unaware.

Without this assignment, I don't think I would have ventured into Twitter.

Scamp

Scamp
Originally uploaded by knotthere2000

I am an inveterate lover of animals, but especially of cats. A neighbor knocked on my door to ask if this kitten belonged to me. He did not, then; but he does now.

His name is Scamp, both because he is one and because he scampers around. He loves to cuddle and sleeps on my laptop when I am working.

Saranne, my 13-year-old, is not sure what to make of this active little one who jumps on her and wants to play. She has been hiding under a chair and he respects her space. I suspect that she swatted him one time and he knows better than to get too close.

Online Photo Sharing

I do not have any experience sharing MY photos with others but quite a bit of experience looking at the knitting projects others have posted.

I can definitely see the value for both personal and work purposes. Families are all over the world and this is an easy way to post one picture for many people to view. For work purposes, a screen shot of some instructions could be posted as a solution to a common problem.

I think the main benefit of posting to such a site is that you don't have to worry about whether the viewer has the proper software or can receive an attachment of this size. Since you can decide who views it, there is still some control over privacy. This is becoming more important as prospective employers are checking out social media sites to get a better idea about the persons they are considering hiring.

Following Blogs

I found this assignment challenging -- figuring out how to comment and also getting the combination of letters right so that my comments could be posted.

I think commenting is important so that there is some actual communication taking place. In order to communicate you not only need to say what you have to say, but you need to make sure that your audience is understanding your meaning and can act on it.

Commenting lets one express your understanding of what is being said and gives you a new perspective on a topic, whether you agree with it or not.

I am following individuals whose blogs appeared to have something in common with my interests. I chose tags that I thought explained what my posts were attempting to explain.

The Truth about Pocahontas

I have not had a chance to use wikis but can see the usefulness of doing so. In my case, I could add some tips for using various software and ask others to contribute ways they make use of the program or different shortcuts that help them do things more quickly or efficiently.

Another option I see is family history. Right now I am working on the genealogy of my family and have several questions about the location of my ancestors and whether, or not, I really am related to Pocahontas. I could invite others to read what I had researched and they could add and correct the things I found.

By using Wikipedia I found that she never married John Smith and I appear to be related to her husband, John Rolfe.

Using Google in the Cloud

I have used Google Docs to begin work on a document at work and continue working on it at home instead of using a flash drive or making an attachment to an e-mail. (Since I have a dial-up connection at home, it is faster to work with Google Docs than to download an attachment.)

I use Google Reader extensively, both to keep up-to-date on the latest upgrades to Google and Microsoft products and to read more about other topics that interest me.

I also use Google Calendar for my personal appointments and to keep track of items that are important to our department.