Technorati is another one of those places where I could end up spending hours just surfing around. Anyone else out there sometimes feel voyeuristic?
First, let me give a little summary of what Technorati is in my own words to be sure I have it right. It's a search engine to find a particular topic in the millions of blogs in the blogosphere. You can search for blogs, blog posts, or simply by tags. Unlike Del.icio.us, where users/readers create the tags (post-publishing), bloggers/publishers create the tags in Technorati (pre-publishing). It's a way to find what the "unwashed masses" are talking about, what they think is news. It's a way to keep up with your favorite blogs (but don't I already have Google Reader for that?) or to see what everyone else's favorite is?
How can this be useful to me? Well, I do like to keep up with current events, and as a long-ago anthropology student, I'm interested in culture and pop culture, so I'm fascinated by what everyone is blogging about. I guess that's why I can get lost for hours poking around, moving from link to link. More specifically, though, I can search the topics that interest me and see what other "real people" think rather than "elitist" news, review, and publishing sources. AND, with the nature of blogging, I can actually converse with the writers! It's almost as if, rather than being consumers of news and information prepared by small numbers of people, the masses are actually the news MAKERS and information CREATORS now. I think that's very cool.
Can I see a use for this in the classroom? Not so much, at the moment, but then I haven't given it full thought, I'll admit. It WOULD be great to show students that "real people" write everyday, that there IS a purpose for being able to express oneself. No, we're not ALL going to be Judy Blumes, Stephen Kings, or Stephenie Meyers. But we ARE all writers in some form or fashion. Also, I can see myself using it to find appropriate topic-related blogs for students to follow. Say, birds again. Surely there are some bird-watchers and bird-lovers out there who have blogs about, well...birds. I could turn students on to those. Real-life learning through real-life interests.
As for tagging, I think it's great. I see benefits to both Del.icio.us type tagging and Technorati type tagging. I think bloggers should be able to categorize their own work with tags, but I think it's important for users/readers to be able to create their own meaningful tags, too. Now that I've explored tagging, I'll be doing much more of it!
And you may notice, dear reader, that I have added an "Add this to my Technorati favorites" button in the upper righthand corner of this blog. :-)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Thing #13: Exploring Del.icio.us and Tagging
Del.icio.us is awesome! I'm such a dunce. I'd heard so much about it that I actually created an account several weeks ago, but I still didn't really understand how to use it. I've been saving favorite websites just like I used to do with Favorites in IE or bookmarking in Netscape. I couldn't figure out why I'd want to use it over those tools already built in to my web browser. DUH. Double DUH. *slaps forehead*
It's the TAGGING and ability to connect to what other people are also saving. You see, I thought of the tagging as just for me, so I could categorize MY stuff for MY benefit in finding it later. Hello? McFly? Now that I realize it's about searching the tags of other Del.icio.us users, I see the limitless possibilities. The only thing I don't like about tagging is the extra time it takes upfront. I don't always have the "get-up-and-go" to tag the things I'm saving. Or at least that was true up until now. Now that I see what a benefit it can be...well, it seems little effort. I like the way Del.icio.us gives suggestions for tags. I didn't see that at Furl, but I did like Furl's interface. I have both of them and I'm still experimenting with both to see which one I'll eventually start using exclusively.
The tutorial video for Del.icio.us was helpful, for sure, but I really had to concentrate. I felt it was over my head sometimes. I got the gist of it, though. I like the idea of using a tagging tool like Del.icio.us or Furl for shared reading lists. I can see students doing research and tagging good information so that other students researching the same topic can easily find it. Especially if they use a specific unique tag. I'll use the infamous second grade bird unit as an example. All of second grade is researching different kinds of birds. Student A in Mrs. Smith's class has chosen the hummingbird as her topic, and she finds a good article about hummingbirds. If she tags it with the template type of bird-school's name, then other students researching hummingbirds in the other second grade classes can find it. It's collaboration across the classes or even across the district. Not only are the students working to find information for themselves, but they are building a "toolbox" for others. I love it.
As for myself, personally, I found some neat stuff on vintage crochet, which has become my latest interest, especially doilies. I'm amazed by how "small" our world is becoming with our ability to connect with other people and their interests from across the world.
It's the TAGGING and ability to connect to what other people are also saving. You see, I thought of the tagging as just for me, so I could categorize MY stuff for MY benefit in finding it later. Hello? McFly? Now that I realize it's about searching the tags of other Del.icio.us users, I see the limitless possibilities. The only thing I don't like about tagging is the extra time it takes upfront. I don't always have the "get-up-and-go" to tag the things I'm saving. Or at least that was true up until now. Now that I see what a benefit it can be...well, it seems little effort. I like the way Del.icio.us gives suggestions for tags. I didn't see that at Furl, but I did like Furl's interface. I have both of them and I'm still experimenting with both to see which one I'll eventually start using exclusively.
The tutorial video for Del.icio.us was helpful, for sure, but I really had to concentrate. I felt it was over my head sometimes. I got the gist of it, though. I like the idea of using a tagging tool like Del.icio.us or Furl for shared reading lists. I can see students doing research and tagging good information so that other students researching the same topic can easily find it. Especially if they use a specific unique tag. I'll use the infamous second grade bird unit as an example. All of second grade is researching different kinds of birds. Student A in Mrs. Smith's class has chosen the hummingbird as her topic, and she finds a good article about hummingbirds. If she tags it with the template type of bird-school's name, then other students researching hummingbirds in the other second grade classes can find it. It's collaboration across the classes or even across the district. Not only are the students working to find information for themselves, but they are building a "toolbox" for others. I love it.
As for myself, personally, I found some neat stuff on vintage crochet, which has become my latest interest, especially doilies. I'm amazed by how "small" our world is becoming with our ability to connect with other people and their interests from across the world.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting
I enjoyed reading the articles about commenting. I've commented on blogs before but never really thought about WHY I was commenting. It just seemed natural, as if it were "conversation." I guess I'm a basically nice person because it's never occurred to me to be less than courteous when commenting on others' posts. Most of my commenting has been to encourage others or to share my similar experiences with the blogger. Doug Johnson at Blue Skunk says, "Don't be a troll." I'd never heard the term before, but I don't know why not. Now that I think about it, I've seen trolls in my travels through the blogosphere.
The two things that stuck out to me as I read about "commenting conventions" is that 1) comments should contribute something to the discourse, and 2) they should be courteous. I panicked a bit when considering the first one because I've left the "You go, girl!" kind of comments that don't add anything new. I think it was Cool Cat Teacher who advised staying away from those. After I reconsidered, I felt a little better, though, because I came to the conclusion that CCT didn't mean that we can't leave simple words of encouragement. She meant that we shouldn't just leave it at that. We should be specific. Just as in teaching when we give students feedback. "Good job!" is not that helpful. It needs to be followed up with "You recognized every pattern correctly on your first try!" or something like that. When I was helping students develop their writing, I would say things like, "You've captured the moment here perfectly with your vivid verbs and the sentence structure you've chosen," (and I'd name that structure). It WAS a good job, and I admired the way they'd crafted their work, but I had to tell them specifically what made it work. It's the same if I leave a "You go, girl!" I need to point out exactly why I agree or feel the encouragement is deserved. As for the second thing that struck me, courtesy...well, even when we disagree, we can do it constructively. I hope that with this group of people, I don't have to explain that one much.
I have a question about time. What time frame is considered "still okay" when commenting on a blog post? For example, let's say I happen upon Blog XYZ and see a post that was made two weeks ago that I'd like to respond to. Is it too late? What's the "expiration date" on these things? Or maybe it doesn't have to do with time but how many posts have been made since then. What if there are 2 or 3 newer posts? Does it mean I shouldn't comment on the older post because it's lost currency? Help!
The two things that stuck out to me as I read about "commenting conventions" is that 1) comments should contribute something to the discourse, and 2) they should be courteous. I panicked a bit when considering the first one because I've left the "You go, girl!" kind of comments that don't add anything new. I think it was Cool Cat Teacher who advised staying away from those. After I reconsidered, I felt a little better, though, because I came to the conclusion that CCT didn't mean that we can't leave simple words of encouragement. She meant that we shouldn't just leave it at that. We should be specific. Just as in teaching when we give students feedback. "Good job!" is not that helpful. It needs to be followed up with "You recognized every pattern correctly on your first try!" or something like that. When I was helping students develop their writing, I would say things like, "You've captured the moment here perfectly with your vivid verbs and the sentence structure you've chosen," (and I'd name that structure). It WAS a good job, and I admired the way they'd crafted their work, but I had to tell them specifically what made it work. It's the same if I leave a "You go, girl!" I need to point out exactly why I agree or feel the encouragement is deserved. As for the second thing that struck me, courtesy...well, even when we disagree, we can do it constructively. I hope that with this group of people, I don't have to explain that one much.
I have a question about time. What time frame is considered "still okay" when commenting on a blog post? For example, let's say I happen upon Blog XYZ and see a post that was made two weeks ago that I'd like to respond to. Is it too late? What's the "expiration date" on these things? Or maybe it doesn't have to do with time but how many posts have been made since then. What if there are 2 or 3 newer posts? Does it mean I shouldn't comment on the older post because it's lost currency? Help!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Thing #11: LibraryThing
My favorite Thing so far! How awesome to be able to keep track of your books at home, but most of all, share them with others. That little YouTube video hit the nail on the head. It's a way for me to share the books I've read and how I felt about them with others as they do the same with me. I catalogued some of my books at home...couldn't do all of them, of course...that's a BIG project, and it was SO easy (especially what "cataloging" usually means to us librarians!) I loved to instantly be able to see how many other people have the same book I do, especially if it was a more obscure book than, let's say, Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer.
LibraryThing is a great way to network about books...like one big book club or book party. I'll use it to find suggestions for my next book, for sure. And here is the avenue for getting kids to share and talk about what they're reading. I used to have kids keep a list of the books they'd read over the course of the school year in the back of their journals. The reluctant readers were usually shocked and proud of themselves as they saw their lists grow. Wouldn't it be cool to have them keep track of that at LibraryThings? And the way it prompts them to dialogue about what they've read. Wow! I used to give students "talk time" after silent, sustained reading so that they could share their books with partners. This is even better.
So here are my questions:
1. What's involved in getting kids into this? I mean, what are the legalities of it? How would it ACTUALLY work? (I'm a big-picture person, so sometimes the details elude me.) What about parent permission to use it, and things like that?
2. Anybody out there worried that this is a government conspiracy to keep track of what people are reading? (Just kidding!)
LibraryThing is a great way to network about books...like one big book club or book party. I'll use it to find suggestions for my next book, for sure. And here is the avenue for getting kids to share and talk about what they're reading. I used to have kids keep a list of the books they'd read over the course of the school year in the back of their journals. The reluctant readers were usually shocked and proud of themselves as they saw their lists grow. Wouldn't it be cool to have them keep track of that at LibraryThings? And the way it prompts them to dialogue about what they've read. Wow! I used to give students "talk time" after silent, sustained reading so that they could share their books with partners. This is even better.
So here are my questions:
1. What's involved in getting kids into this? I mean, what are the legalities of it? How would it ACTUALLY work? (I'm a big-picture person, so sometimes the details elude me.) What about parent permission to use it, and things like that?
2. Anybody out there worried that this is a government conspiracy to keep track of what people are reading? (Just kidding!)
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Thing #10: Image Generators
First, let us celebrate...
My first double-digit Thing! WOO HOO!
I had to explore it in several sittings because this Thing overstimulated me like an espresso nightcap! So many options as far as what TYPE of image generator and then even more options within each one. Whew! I turned my son into Indiana Jones and created a National Geographic magazine cover with owls using the comic strip generator tool, and I put this mosaic together at Big Huge Labs simply by using Flickr tags.
My first double-digit Thing! WOO HOO!
I had to explore it in several sittings because this Thing overstimulated me like an espresso nightcap! So many options as far as what TYPE of image generator and then even more options within each one. Whew! I turned my son into Indiana Jones and created a National Geographic magazine cover with owls using the comic strip generator tool, and I put this mosaic together at Big Huge Labs simply by using Flickr tags.
Oh! And I created an irreverent little cartoon with Abe Lincoln asking for the location of the nearest Starbucks (comic strip generator). I won't share it, though. :-) I did notice that with the comic strip tool, many of the options weren't "kid-friendly."
These image generators are a great way for students to express themselves creatively on a variety of topics. It also requires them to sort/categorize, etc.
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