weeme - weeks 7 & 8

Since I had difficulties with Twitter timing out yesterday, I decided to create an avatar. First I used Mr. Picassohead, which I really liked and made an all blue, abstract avatar. The problem is I can't figure out how to save a copy to use as my blog profile picture. I can go to Mr. Picassohead and look at it, but not save it :-(
http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=8d7f98b&skin=original

Then, I decided to try the WeeMe app, and made an odd avatar in bunny slippers which I have now loaded as my blog's profile photo! This was fun. I think that I'll put the WeeMe on my Facebook page too.

Play Week, application #2

So the second app that I decided to play with was Twitter. I heard about microblogging at the MLA webcast on Web 2.0 yesterday, and didn't really get it -- so I thought that would be a good choice for play week! Hummmm, not going so well -- I created an account with no problems, but having trouble adding contacts. My computer is extremely slow, so I'm thinking it might be a "timing out" problem. I'll keep working on it.

Play Week - online image generator

So this assignment is to play with some of the various options our kind Blue 2.0 instructors have listed. The first one I tried was "Free Online Image Maker." Interesting, but since I know very little about editing photos it wasn't too helpful to me. It was very easy to load a photo though, and if I knew much about photography it's great that the tools are there online (and free!). So then I went to Photo Spread Effect Generator, and did this.

The assignment: Write a brief summary of your experiences with either del.icio.us or google docs or both.

I LOVE del.icio.us -- the whole idea of it is great for outreach activities from our library, and it is soooo easy to create and manipulate. I only wish I could spell -- that's the hardest part for me (spelling delicious).

Google docs so far is working quite well.

del.icio.us account

OK - I now have a del.icio.us account, the address is http://del.icio.us/lmcdavison

I was really pleased with how easy it is to create & manage. I think this is a great tool - especially for reference, and outreach.

PBwiki creation

Well, I finally was able to create a pbwiki. I started on Sunday, but had a lot of problems -- in order to create the account, you must get a confirmation message in your email. My work email wouldn't deliver the message (it wouldn't even put it in spam folder), and my hotmail also filtered it out without letting me see it. So, I finally had to create a gmail account, and it worked fine. The address for my wiki is
http://pickiroro.pbwiki.com

I named it for my cats, Pickles and Rosie (big suprise huh?) ;-)

I looked at some of the Albany County Public Library wiki and also at Librarian Sarah's wiki. They are definitely good examples of using a wiki for work. I was especially impressed with the public library staff's wiki; and I recently learned that two of our ILL folks at the MCL have created a wiki about ILLiad! It's great!

Bloglines account created

I've successfully created a Bloglines account as the next part of our Library Blue 2.0 assignment. I added the Blue 2.0 Blog, the About Cats Blog, and the Dilbert Blog (I've always been a fan of Dogbert's Top Secret Managment Handbook).

I also added Michael Stephens "Tame the Blog" site - I often go there to view it, but think this will be easier having it in Bloglines.

This was a good experience setting up this account. I'm still working on creating a pb wiki though - for some reason I'm not receiving the email confirmation message that I have to have to finish the wiki...