Wikis

Before participating in Discover 2.0 the only wiki I head ever heard of was wikipedia. I had always liked wikipedia--it took a topic and thoroughly, but simply explained it. That was my rather limited view of wikis. I didn't realize how useful they could in business settings, libraries, or just among friends.
Now that my wiki knowledge has broadened (a little bit) there are other wikis that fascinate me. Such as wikibooks--they have cookbooks and recipes on there. I also enjoyed wikihow and wikitravel.

Google Docs

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d7kw446_0f6j2htcd


OK, The only way I could figure out how to post my google doc to my blog was to publish it and paste the url. I mostly liked google docs, but I could not get the 'post to blog' button to work for me.

Cool Stuff

So I tried the blog readablity test. The first time I did it my blog read at a college level, now it's at genius level. =) I'm pretty sure it usually says either college or genius.
I also tried the sketchcast. I couldn't quite get it to work, but it was interesting watching other people's sketches.
I really liked the wordshoot. I started out at an easy level and progressed to a harder level. I think I probably played it for about 15-20 minutes.

Library Thing vs. Good Reads

OK, I think this was my favorite exercise so far. I'm constantly looking for good books to read and I had previously found Librarything to be helpful. However, after signing up for Good Reads I think I like them better. I like the fact that it was kind of like Facebook where you could invite all your friends on your email list to join. It seems a bit more interactive to me. I also like the way Good Reads lets you review your book lists and so on. I wish that Good Reads would have the recomendations like Librarything does, but overall I like Good Reads the best.

www.goodreads.com/review/list/992030

www.goodreads.com/user/show/992030

Tagging and Delicious

It took me awhile to figure out how to navigate around delicious--but once I figured it out I really like it. I can see how delicious would be an asset to many professions--like teachers and librarians. I also think it could take forever to sift through all the bookmarked websites to see which ones are actually useful. I would be totally lost. But then again I never fully realized how many millions of websites there are out there.

So, can I see the potential of delicious as a research tool? Sort of. But it is definitely a good way to bookmark your websites and access them anywhere.

Fun with Generators

So playing around with the generators was interesting. To be honest I'm not how much I would actually use it, but it was certainly entertaining. These are a few of my favorite generators:

TV PITCH GENERATOR

"TV is a vast wasteland, but that's going to change. The problem is that a bunch of network suits and hack writers have been copying and pitching each others' bad ideas since TV began. Generator Land suggests a new approach.
With the TV Show Pitch Generator you can generate hundreds of original TV show ideas—starring actors that a rational person would never yolk together. Just sit back in your La-Z-Boy, click the button repeatedly, and enjoy unique and ridiculous TV show pitches."

These are a few of the pitches it came up with:

" a retarded surfing champion with a false leg woos a supreme court judge who only speaks in pig latin. Stars F. Murray Abraham and Lindsey Lohan. Genre: Comedy"

" a super hero who is a former child star is forced to work for a drug lord who runs a chocolate shop. Stars Fred Savage and Jim Backus. Genre: Mini-Series"

"A lounge singer with a magical hat falls in love with a personal shopper with claws for hands. Stars Katherine Helmond and Mary Tyler Moore. Genre: Action"


CHINESE NAME GENERATOR

Here is my name in Chinese:

Sarah 莎拉 - prononciation (PinYin) : shā lā

Of course I also liked the puzzle generator, among others. All in all it was pretty fun.

Social Networking

I don't see a problem with libraries using Facebook and/or Myspace. In fact, I think it is a good idea. Some of the articles I read suggested that maybe teens wouldn't like libraries 'invading' their social networks. I think that is a really weak arguement for not getting involved in social networking. If these teens don't like it, they don't have to click on the profiles. I took a look at some of the different library Myspace pages and I think they have useful information on them, not just for teens, but for any library user.