Getting Social

This final unit if the Taste of Web 2.0 Program introduces a number of programs which I do not have much inclination to use. After looking at Facebook, Myspace and SecondLife I found that the amount of information which I would be encouraged to put out there is not what I want to do. I believe that using blogs limited to my friends or using email to communicate is more the way I would like to interact with people, rather than putting things in the public domain (even given aspects such as inviting people to be 'my friend').

I can see that they are useful for some people, but they are not the vehicle which I would choose to use.

The final program which is covered is Skype. I have found this to be a very useful program. It certainly cuts the cost of communication and is very flexible. For instance, we were recently speaking to friends of ours while they were waiting for a flight in Vancouver airport. We were able to catch up on their trip (they had also kept a blog while travelling) and arrange to pick them up at the airport when they arrived home. However they almost missed their flight because they were talking to us - they had to run through the airport lounge with their open computer under their arm to get to the departure gate on time!!

A Taste of Web 2.0 has certainly opened my eyes to a host of opportunities for using the internet much more than I was aware of before working through the program.

Downloads and being social

Web 2.0 certainly encourages a lot of social interaction and facilitates exchange of information very well. However it uses a lot of upload and download to do it. My internet connection has a limit of 1Gb and I have found that this gets used up very quickly once you start loading your iGoogle page each time you log in, or start sending or receiving videos. I will need to upgrade (at added expense) to a bigger capacity if I am to continue using these features.

my google world

I think it would be impossible to comment on all of Google - it is so varied and covers such a large range of opportunities. What I know of Google has changed a huge amount in the last few weeks just be being exposed to new ideas. I found that creating and changing my iGoogle page was very simple and there are lots of ideas of things to include - I am particularly enjoying my added gadget of a Sudoku puzzle.

Working at Google appears to be the perfect workplace - it is hard to imagine how a company could be competitive in the business world and still able to operate like it does. Staff must have other pressures that weren't shown in the video

Project Gutenberg

The concept of downloading books onto my computer caused me to have a couple of concerns. Firstly, because I have a limited download facility on my internet connection, I was concerned that downloading a book would take a large amount of my capacity. Secondly, I was not sure how easy it would be to read a book on the screen.

I downloaded Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll from Project Gutenberg. Because the book was text only, with no illustrations, it was a relatively small file (249kb) and hence was very quick and did not use a lot of my download capacity. Also the text is very clear, and using different magnifications on the screen, I was able to read it easily.

Project Gutenberg is a very useful site: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

using an ABC podcast

The ABC certainly make it easy to listen to or watch programs which you might have missed in the normal programming. The podcast which I listened to was actually broadcast on 22/11/2001 on Late Night Live with Philip Adams. It was an interview with David Day, the biographer of former Prime Minister Ben Chifley. David spoke to Philip about the book, gave extra background about Ben Chifley and gave a good understanding of politics in the immediate post war era.

Because I already have the book in my collection, the podcast made it particularly interesting and encouraged my to read the book again.

I recommend the ABC podcasts - particularly as there is such a large range of topics to choose from

using youtube

Today at Ivanhoe we had a look at YouTube. There is a huge range of videos there. Using the search bar I found beautiful videos of Cornwall. There were also videos protesting against the proposed tunnel coming out in Holland Park, Kensington.

online image generator 2

I have put my photo in a frame using an online image generator