Thing 14 - Technorati

I watched the video of Technorati's new features and did quite a bit of searching, but I have to say that this blogging tool did not appeal to me. I found the ads to be "in the way" of some of the information that I was trying to read. The constant motion of some of them was distracting.
Searching blogs discussing "Learning 2.0" using Technorati reinforced my ideas about how lifelong learning in technology, education, and business has always been necessary for personal growth and new discoveries in these fields. Libraries are a great help for the resources of lifetime learning.
I viewed the popular blog and used tags to find information about the presidential candidates. There were some interesting articles, but no websites that I wish to revisit at this time. I don't think that I will be visiting Technorati in the near future.

Thing 13 - del.icio.us

When I first went to the del.icio.us site, I was not too impressed, but as I spent more time exploring different bookmarks I could see more of its potential. It does save a lot of time following tags already set up by others who have already been to sites that could be useful to your research and I came across additional sites that interested me that had nothing to do with my original topic. Now I believe it to be a useful tool for information gathering. I enjoyed using staffordbranchlinks from our oclwebthings account.

Thing 12 - NetLibrary and WorldCat

I think that NetLibrary is fairly easy to use. You do have to wait a little longer changing pages than if you manually did it. I could show a customer how to use it. It seems to be a good source for non-fiction books. WorldCat was also easy to use. It gave me an idea of what the employees in the Inter Library Loan Dept. go through to find books. This would be a good help in filling out the ILL form.

Thing 11 - LibraryThing

Here's a link my LibraryThing catalog - . http://www.librarything.com/catalog/outdoorzygirl I would like to keep track of what I read and can always use suggestions recommendations for new reading material. My favorite author is Harlen Coben and he appears to be very well-liked. I found interesting reviews on his books.

Thing 10 - Technology Blogging

I believe that GPS (Global Positioning System) is one of the most useful technological discoveries of our time. It is fascinating that satellites that are so far away can help in determining our location through electronic devices. Getting to your destination by car, boat, etc. without getting lost is valuable in a world where time is a luxury. Lives have been saved by rescue teams where GPS made all the difference in finding someone in distress quickly.

Thing 9 - Finding Feeds

I explored the different search tools for finding feeds listed in Thing 9. The one that I liked the best was Topix.net because it was easiest for me to find the feeds that I was interested in. I liked that it focused on the news and media, rather than weblogs. I'd rather deal with the facts than opinions of people I don't know. I also liked the way it starts out with local news and works its way up to world news on the main page.
Technorati was more confusing for me for finding feeds, mainly because it was so opinion based, that I didn't find feeds that I wanted to use.

Thing 8 - Make life really simple with RSS & a Newsreader

I found it easy to sign up with Bloglines. It is a good thing to be able to choose what you want to read from the top headlines. I would use this account mostly in my personal life to keep up with current events. Click on this link to access my Bloglines Account:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/Outdoorzygirl

Thing 7 - Using the Scanner

This is a 320 lb. Mako Shark that Dave, his father, and uncle caught some time ago. This picture of Dave, Scott, and David was taken around 1990.