UUC calendar

The Twentieth Thing

Reflections on 20 for 2.0
What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I enjoyed both the recreational and the more directly work-related exercises. My favorites were YouTube and the Music Networks.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? It's helped me learn about sharing photos, music, video clips, websites, and favorite books with others. I'm able to find more information about my current interests, such as learning more about Korean culture and learning the Korean language, bundling searches of my favorite websites, and accessing SIL's downloadable media with greater ease.
Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? Through the facebook exercise, I got connected to old high school buddies, friends from my son's preschool, and my nephews and nieces who are more tech-savvy than I am. It's strengthened my social network!
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I thought the concept and the execution were top-notch. The only thing that I didn't think was all that helpful was gaming, avatars, and second life. However, our patrons are interested in these things, so it will probably help me provide better customer service. The thing I appreciate most about this is that the blog was really well written, clear, easy to follow, and written in a fun, friendly tone. Great job!

And last but not least…

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? I'd love to! Bring it on.

Gaming

I have used Yahoo! games in the past to play word games. I had serious addictions to Text Twist, Book Worm, Flip Words, and another one I can't recall. I also like free cell. They are fun and seem pretty harmless to me, except when I keep wanting to play for a long time to break my high score.

I don't know if the more elaborate games build certain skill sets. I would like to think that video games instill persistence in young addicts. I haven't found that to be the case in playing word games.

Google Earth

Google Earth is amazing and exciting. Also maybe a bit scary in the "Big Brother" sense. I found what I was looking for. I was a little disappointed that zooming in results in blurry lines and indecipherable smears of color. I *loved* the opening tour, but somebody was looking over my shoulder and they were feeling a little "seasick" just watching.

A very cool tool! Thanks for assigning this.

Avatar.. avaricious... I feel a hostile vibration!

Here's my avatar. I have a bat on my head.

My thoughts regarding virtual selves vs. our “real” selves: I would like to think that these virtual worlds let us try on new personas, lead us to new insights about ourselves, and on to enlightenment. However, I think it's interesting that in the virtual world, a lot of the women are parading around in bikini tops, while there are a certain number of men that are clearly on steroids or else "guitar heroes". I didn't see anybody who looked like the Dalai Lama. I have to admit that I think this is a way to escape one's own self and live out some media-created idea of the "right" way to be. I think it's better to come to terms with ones self and accept life. If life is really bad for someone, (chronic pain, terminal illness, whatever) then why not float off and be some kind of jungle vixen or Indiana Jones to while away your time. But I don't think it makes your unplugged reality any better. I think it's like other addictions: you feel pretty good while you're out of your body, but once you come back, you've just sat in a chair doing nothing for an hour, and you're even farther from being the jungle vixen.

Answer these questions in your post as well.

Do you already live in Second Life? No.

If you don’t already live in SL, would you like to live in Second Life? If there were a holodeck I could wander off into, I'd do that. However, I don't want to strain my eyes and sit in a chair staring at a computer screen. It is pretty mind-blowing to try to project into the future and wonder how close we are to the holodeck. However, if the holodeck is full of jungle vixens and guitar heroes, no thanks.

Why or why not? There's a saying: "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." I think both the self-actualization AND the wood-chopping are good for human beings. I think living in the computer world is a kind of limbo or stasis or vacuum in which neither enlightenment nor wood-chopping happens. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but you asked. :-)

O Thank Heaven for 7-11

Today's topic: Online Applications.
I really liked using Google Docs and Zoho. It's easier than using Microsoft 2007. I created documents on both sites and shared them with my husband.

I can see a lot of ways to use this: building booklists, planning budgets, crafting documents, etc. Fon example: take Banned Books Week: you could 1) build a list of books to display, 2) have a sign-up sheet for props, poster ordering, etc; 3) use a spreadsheet to track use of budget; 4) build a list of PR contacts; 5) craft a FAQ for patron inquiries (such as answers to questions like, "why are you promoting these "bad" books?").

I'm still trying to figure out what situations would be best served by email, which by shared docs on sno-isle servers, and which using an Online Apps.

What a great lesson! Thanks--