Thing#23: Week 9: Copyright, Creative Commons, and Congratulations!

I was so immensely entertained with the "Fairy Use" video on Copyright. It was a pleasurable learning experience. The only lament that I have is that I want to have more play time. I particularly enjoyed ZohoWriter and its versatility. I really liked the endless possibilities of wikis and blogs. Simply put, this class was enlightening!!

Thing #22 Week 9: eBooks and Audio eBooks

While searching in the World EBook Fair's site, I was amazed at the different types of books I could read. I read and selected books from the Children's Room of the New York Public Library with copyrights of1916 and others of different years. I was amazed at the ease and versatility that I could "turn" the pages without causing the pages to crumble. To be able to use these materials in a read only online format is unbelievable. I had never been to this particular site, but I can see how extremely useful this place can be for accessing books that could not be used before. I had visited LibriVox last year as part of a TWU course requirement, and what I like about this site is the beauty and richness of so many volunteers reading the selections. I then went to the "Best Places to Get Free Books" and I was absolutely amazed at the extent of the sites that offer book swaps. There is even a site called Wikibooks that allows you to have access to free educational textbooks. There are sites arranged by category, and the list is definitely endless as I have just realized that I have been peeking at all these different sites and it is already way past midnight. I seem to lose track of time because the play is certainly wonderful!

Thing #21 Week 9: Podcasts

I browsed the Educational Podcast Directory, but the directory that I liked the most was podcastalley.com It was easy to navigate to. After looking at the various categories, I decided to subsribe to the New York Front Page on Podcast alley. Just from looking at this particular place, I can see how current and caught up I will be on the latest weekly news updates. I have included the RSS feed for this particular podcast site on my blog reader account already.

Thing #20 Week 9:YouTube

I had a delightful time navigating around YouTube. I was thinking at the same time what a wondeful tool TeacherTube is and the potential for our students using these two sites for academic purposes. I like the immediacy and instantaneous ability to create and publish and finally to share with interested audiences. I particularly liked the March of the Librarians. I could not stop laughing at this one, but two that I enjoyed so much were the Mary Tyler spinoff entitled "Libraries are Gonna Make it After All" and the heart-wrenchin news story entitled" "Libraries Offer Free Relief from Tough Times

Thing #19: Week 8: LibraryThing

I created an account on Library Thing; it is http://www.librarything.com/home/Carmen57

I added 5 books, and I am happy to report that my titles were indeed popular. with only the Marc Aronson book receiving 3 stars. The richness of this site is that it is so interactive; you have recent posts, links to cataloguing sources such as WorldCat. The tagging feature enables me to have access to so many other titles. The overall content is richly layered with announcements, easy to use help buttons, and helpful links to other sites, including great library blogs.

Thing #18, Week 8:Online Productivity Tools

I started looking at ZohoWriter and word processing. Being aware of 2.0 tools allows me to feel quite empowered at instantly creating information that will be readily seen and enjoyed at once by so many. I am going to start using Zoho this evening as my godson sent me some articles that he wants me to review. What a better way than to use Zoho to collaborate online instantly with him and allowing him to get instant feedback.

Thing #17, Week 7: My Own Wiki and the Region One Sandbox

Since Alexander High School students have been participating in our annual TAYSHAS voting, I wll be setting up a wiki where students can vote for their favorite book and leave comments, critiques to justify their selelctions. Having this wiki alongside with the one that I will implement in March on a wiki reference unit will allow my community of some to multiply to many. Prior to wikis, I had felt so ineffective in reaching my students all at once, but now I feel like I am returning their voices back to them; very democratic. Additionally, I like the idea of a sandbox where I get to play some more and learn more about these Web 2.0 apps!