Since this is our last week, I have written several reflection blogs. In my other courses we have always written posts or papers looking back on our experiences during the semester. I figured I would keep the tradition alive with my blog. I have written a blog about this course and one reflecting on blogging. Now for my last post, I thought I would talk about the assignments we completed during the semester. There were several I liked and a few I was ready to pull my hair out while doing.
The first half of the semester I found out that I really did not like Google Reader. Then through this course I discovered the great book called Google The Lost Manual. I loved this book and my mom did purchase it for her library. Of course I later found out (during the ePrints 3 assignment) that the lost manual was a series and they had one about Facebook. I found that to be so cool and if I get a high school library position I plan on purchasing it. Of course Facebook may not be popular then, who knows!
The ePrints 3 assignment was one of my favorites. I thought it was really a great way to locate materials about social networking. I didn’t think I would like working on this assignment, but I was shocked that I did. Once you get the hang of using the website, it was easy. It created a list of resources and I think that is really beneficial for students and librarians. I would definitely use this type of technology in my library.
The Koha assignment was different in many ways from the ePrints 3 assignment. First, I found it really difficult to use and I was not too happy with it. I liked how we were able to use the virtual shelf and look at what everyone else had selected. This really helped me in the beginning when I was trying to figure out what to do. However, I do not think I will use this system in my own library, I found it confusing and I think students might as well, though I see the benefits of using this type of technology.
The Thoreau Fragment assignment was also one of my favorites. I think it was really interesting that we were asked to change the formatting around to look like an old version of the item. I have always liked playing around with the different font styles, so I found this really interesting. It also gave us a chance to become more familiar with the different font styles and sizes.
I also think the hyperlink assignment was fun and beneficial. It gave us a better sense of what to do with hyperlinks. This was beneficial because we didn’t have to start from scratch when completing this assignment. Hyperlinks are a great source for students.
The final assignment we had to complete was the webpage and this helped me to start an electronic portfolio. I think I may continue with this webpage and add my other courses to it, that way I will have an electronic portfolio for my time spent in the MLIS program.
I have really enjoyed this course and blogging about my experiences. I can definitely see myself using many of the different technologies in my future library. I am glad that I was able to work with so many different things over the last twelve weeks. I’m really excited about graduating but will miss this program. This is my last post, so I hope everyone has a great summer and next semester!! I'm off for vacation!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Goodbye Blogging
I hate to actually admit it but I’m going to miss blogging. In the beginning of this course, I hated the idea of just randomly sharing thoughts. I did not want to share my feelings or comments with anyone else. I was totally against others reading what I had written and I just did not want to do it.
You hear all the horror stories of people getting stalked on the internet by others and it’s kind of scary. Though in this case I wasn’t scared of being stalked, but it still gave me pause when starting out. I also had friends who blogged and they shared everything. So I was really hesitant about blogging.
When I started I resisted the urge to enjoy this part of the course. I put it off until I had to. However as the weeks passed I started enjoying writing these things. I was able to complain about having issues with the assignments and I wasn’t the only one. One person in our chat even called us all “emo.” So it was nice that everyone was able to help each other out. I also found it interesting to look over other people’s blogs and get a sense of how they were dealing with everything. I liked that we were able to share and talk in our blogs, but it didn’t have to be personal or invasive.
In my other classes, we have always been told to write everything out in a word document before posting them on courseweb, that way in case something happens and it doesn’t post, we haven’t lost anything. I have always done this because I like having records of what I’ve done in school, especially since we have to complete portfolios for our interviews. So I started to do this with my blogs. I would type them up on word and then cut and paste them into my blog. This way if something would happen I would still have all of my blogs. Plus I was able to catch my spelling mistakes.
After this week, I am done blogging. Though I am thinking about creating a blog for my library, when I get a job. I probably wouldn’t blog for an elementary school, but I have seen it done. However, I would create a blog for a middle or high school library, to talk about things we are doing in the library or books I have read and recommend. I would want students to interact with it and to add their own comments. I think this would be a great way to involve students and to get some publicity, among students, for the library.
Even though I am going to stop blogging, at least for a while. I have really enjoyed this experience and am glad that I did it.
You hear all the horror stories of people getting stalked on the internet by others and it’s kind of scary. Though in this case I wasn’t scared of being stalked, but it still gave me pause when starting out. I also had friends who blogged and they shared everything. So I was really hesitant about blogging.
When I started I resisted the urge to enjoy this part of the course. I put it off until I had to. However as the weeks passed I started enjoying writing these things. I was able to complain about having issues with the assignments and I wasn’t the only one. One person in our chat even called us all “emo.” So it was nice that everyone was able to help each other out. I also found it interesting to look over other people’s blogs and get a sense of how they were dealing with everything. I liked that we were able to share and talk in our blogs, but it didn’t have to be personal or invasive.
In my other classes, we have always been told to write everything out in a word document before posting them on courseweb, that way in case something happens and it doesn’t post, we haven’t lost anything. I have always done this because I like having records of what I’ve done in school, especially since we have to complete portfolios for our interviews. So I started to do this with my blogs. I would type them up on word and then cut and paste them into my blog. This way if something would happen I would still have all of my blogs. Plus I was able to catch my spelling mistakes.
After this week, I am done blogging. Though I am thinking about creating a blog for my library, when I get a job. I probably wouldn’t blog for an elementary school, but I have seen it done. However, I would create a blog for a middle or high school library, to talk about things we are doing in the library or books I have read and recommend. I would want students to interact with it and to add their own comments. I think this would be a great way to involve students and to get some publicity, among students, for the library.
Even though I am going to stop blogging, at least for a while. I have really enjoyed this experience and am glad that I did it.
The End is Near
Wow! Time really has flown this summer. I can’t believe we are on our last week. It seems like yesterday we were starting out and had the whole semester ahead of us. I am glad that I got to take this course, but I’m just as glad that it’s over. I cannot believe I am leaving this program. In a few short weeks it will be the “real world” for me. I’m definitely nervous.
When I started this course, I was quite scared. I had never worked with many of the technologies presented. I was panicking at the thought of not being able to complete my work and failing. It would be my luck, last semester and not able to graduate!
This was my first and only fast track course in this program, so it was nice to get this experience in, before I’m done. I liked the fact that we basically got to work at our own pace. We were given deadlines to meet, but we could do all of the assignments when we chose to do them. Some of my other classes, the professor handed out assignments one or two weeks before the assignment was due, so we had to make time to complete them. I like working ahead and getting everything done prior to when it’s due.
I also enjoyed the chat sessions although I was glad they were not mandatory. I tried to log onto each and every chat, but sometimes life got in the way and I was unable to do so. I also liked meeting everyone during Fast Track weekend. It was nice to finally put a face to a name. Even though that was only a few weeks ago, it seems like a lot longer.
Although I did not like every single technology/program we used during this course, I am glad I got a chance to use them. It was definitely an eye opening experience and I hope to put all of them to good use when I get my own library.
This is one of my last posts, which is odd because I’ve become slightly attached to blogging. But I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer and good luck with school! To those of you who are graduating, congratulations and good luck in the real world!
When I started this course, I was quite scared. I had never worked with many of the technologies presented. I was panicking at the thought of not being able to complete my work and failing. It would be my luck, last semester and not able to graduate!
This was my first and only fast track course in this program, so it was nice to get this experience in, before I’m done. I liked the fact that we basically got to work at our own pace. We were given deadlines to meet, but we could do all of the assignments when we chose to do them. Some of my other classes, the professor handed out assignments one or two weeks before the assignment was due, so we had to make time to complete them. I like working ahead and getting everything done prior to when it’s due.
I also enjoyed the chat sessions although I was glad they were not mandatory. I tried to log onto each and every chat, but sometimes life got in the way and I was unable to do so. I also liked meeting everyone during Fast Track weekend. It was nice to finally put a face to a name. Even though that was only a few weeks ago, it seems like a lot longer.
Although I did not like every single technology/program we used during this course, I am glad I got a chance to use them. It was definitely an eye opening experience and I hope to put all of them to good use when I get my own library.
This is one of my last posts, which is odd because I’ve become slightly attached to blogging. But I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer and good luck with school! To those of you who are graduating, congratulations and good luck in the real world!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I have no clue what to talk about…
This semester has been one of the toughest for me at Pitt. I’m almost done. I’m trying to do homework, work on my exit requirements, put my information up on PA Educator and I’m getting ready for interviews. I completed my webpage the other day and so I am out of assignments to talk about…haha. So this is the post that really has no point. Next week I plan on talking about the entire semester and what we did and how much I’ve enjoyed some of the technology and how I would like to throw some of the technology off a building!
I took a web design class in my undergraduate degree and I thought I had really learned a lot from that class. I had no clue there was so much more to learn. I figured I would be able to complete the last three assignments quickly and easily, no such luck. I had to re teach myself a lot of the web design information. I also learned a lot more from this course. I had no idea how to do externally linked style sheets and even though I am still confused a bit, I am able to do it.
I really like the idea of Google Sites and am thinking about using it to create an electronic portfolio for the MLIS program as well as one for my future library. I think it is a great way to introduce web design to students and staff. The only thing I did not like was including the Koha and ePrints 3 assignments because I was unable to post a direct link to the information.
I’m giving myself a few days away from my portfolio and then I am going to go back and look at it as a viewer to see if I really like the way it looks. From there I will make changes, if necessary. I have really enjoyed working with Google Sites!
I took a web design class in my undergraduate degree and I thought I had really learned a lot from that class. I had no clue there was so much more to learn. I figured I would be able to complete the last three assignments quickly and easily, no such luck. I had to re teach myself a lot of the web design information. I also learned a lot more from this course. I had no idea how to do externally linked style sheets and even though I am still confused a bit, I am able to do it.
I really like the idea of Google Sites and am thinking about using it to create an electronic portfolio for the MLIS program as well as one for my future library. I think it is a great way to introduce web design to students and staff. The only thing I did not like was including the Koha and ePrints 3 assignments because I was unable to post a direct link to the information.
I’m giving myself a few days away from my portfolio and then I am going to go back and look at it as a viewer to see if I really like the way it looks. From there I will make changes, if necessary. I have really enjoyed working with Google Sites!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
My Electronic Portfolio…
The final assignment for this course is the HTML webpage. After much debate I decided to use Google Sites to create my electronic portfolio. I really liked the background and simplicity of the Google site. Also, with all my courses, homework, graduation, and getting everything ready for interviews, I really didn’t have as much time to devote to my webpage as I would have liked.
So after I made the decision to use Google sites, I went and made my website public. Next, I added the link to my Pitt homepage (http://www.pitt.edu/~anh55/) and I checked to make sure that the linked worked and it did!
The next step was also easy. I started by creating several different subpages, one for each assignment, ePrints 3, Jing, my blog, Scopus, WorldCat, Koha, and the two Thoreau fragment assignments. I kept them in alphabetical order. The next step was to start filling in the subpages with information. For this step I had to decide what I wanted to do for each assignment, did I want a link; it actually posted there, or make it an attachment. I used each of these ways to incorporate all of my information into my website.
For the Koha assignment I made two subpages, this way the reader can see the master collection as well as the cataloguing information. Originally I wanted to have a link to the Koha webpage, but the reader may not be able to sign in and view my virtual shelf. I found this cut and paste way much more user friendly. I faced a similar problem with ePrints 3. I ended up just cutting and pasting my master list into the Google Site.
Finally, I wrote out information that described what each assignment was. Overall, I really like the way my webpage looks and I think I might use this website for my entire online portfolio!
So after I made the decision to use Google sites, I went and made my website public. Next, I added the link to my Pitt homepage (http://www.pitt.edu/~anh55/) and I checked to make sure that the linked worked and it did!
The next step was also easy. I started by creating several different subpages, one for each assignment, ePrints 3, Jing, my blog, Scopus, WorldCat, Koha, and the two Thoreau fragment assignments. I kept them in alphabetical order. The next step was to start filling in the subpages with information. For this step I had to decide what I wanted to do for each assignment, did I want a link; it actually posted there, or make it an attachment. I used each of these ways to incorporate all of my information into my website.
For the Koha assignment I made two subpages, this way the reader can see the master collection as well as the cataloguing information. Originally I wanted to have a link to the Koha webpage, but the reader may not be able to sign in and view my virtual shelf. I found this cut and paste way much more user friendly. I faced a similar problem with ePrints 3. I ended up just cutting and pasting my master list into the Google Site.
Finally, I wrote out information that described what each assignment was. Overall, I really like the way my webpage looks and I think I might use this website for my entire online portfolio!
Monday, July 20, 2009
I found another form of technology I am not a fan of…
When I started this assignment, I thought all we had to do was put hyperlinks into the fragment assignment. Piece of cake, I actually knew how to do this part of the assignment. I was looking forward to it, actually, and was quick to start looking for words to use and websites to embed. Of course, things are never that simple. Then I realized we had to create an externally linked style sheet. Gulp! I was in trouble!
After reading over what I had to do in order to complete this type of style sheet I was horribly confused. I had used CSS in my Seton Hill University webpage, so I was somewhat familiar. However, when we wanted to create the same background/format for each page we simply cut and pasted. We did not have to create an externally linked style sheet. So my past experience was not going to be any help.
So, I did the easiest part, for me, first. I went through and created 12 hyperlinks for different words in the text. I tried to give more information for words/places people might not be familiar with. I also tried to put at least one hyperlink in each paragraph. When I was done I went to the web address..http://www.pitt.edu~anh55/Thoreau_fragment_2.html to check and double check that all the links worked.
Then I started working on the style sheet. I created my .css file (like it said in the book) and added all of my rules into it. Then I typed the appropriate link information into the Thoreau file, removed certain tags and prayed. The moment of truth had arrived and it was time to see if my style sheet had linked properly and would work. I typed the web address in and hit enter. Of course, it did not work and my fragment assignment was a complete mess. It didn’t work the next 12 times I tried to do it, either. I also tried @ import linking and that didn’t work. I kept playing around after an hour of failing, I was pretty mad. Also in my works, sort of deleted the entire assignment off of my unixs file. I panicked, because I had erased everything, all of my hyperlinks and the majority of my work. In a moment of clarity, I typed in the web address and by some miracle the website was still there with all of the hyperlinks. I opened the source information and copied and pasted it into a new file. Everything had been saved!
I ended up turning to the internet for help. I eventually found a website that helped me to figure out what I was doing wrong. Even now I’m still not sure what happened. But it worked and my style sheet linked up to the webpage.
Once, I figured that out I quickly completed the assignment! Now only a few more blogs and an electronic portfolio and I’m done!
After reading over what I had to do in order to complete this type of style sheet I was horribly confused. I had used CSS in my Seton Hill University webpage, so I was somewhat familiar. However, when we wanted to create the same background/format for each page we simply cut and pasted. We did not have to create an externally linked style sheet. So my past experience was not going to be any help.
So, I did the easiest part, for me, first. I went through and created 12 hyperlinks for different words in the text. I tried to give more information for words/places people might not be familiar with. I also tried to put at least one hyperlink in each paragraph. When I was done I went to the web address..http://www.pitt.edu~anh55/Thoreau_fragment_2.html to check and double check that all the links worked.
Then I started working on the style sheet. I created my .css file (like it said in the book) and added all of my rules into it. Then I typed the appropriate link information into the Thoreau file, removed certain tags and prayed. The moment of truth had arrived and it was time to see if my style sheet had linked properly and would work. I typed the web address in and hit enter. Of course, it did not work and my fragment assignment was a complete mess. It didn’t work the next 12 times I tried to do it, either. I also tried @ import linking and that didn’t work. I kept playing around after an hour of failing, I was pretty mad. Also in my works, sort of deleted the entire assignment off of my unixs file. I panicked, because I had erased everything, all of my hyperlinks and the majority of my work. In a moment of clarity, I typed in the web address and by some miracle the website was still there with all of the hyperlinks. I opened the source information and copied and pasted it into a new file. Everything had been saved!
I ended up turning to the internet for help. I eventually found a website that helped me to figure out what I was doing wrong. Even now I’m still not sure what happened. But it worked and my style sheet linked up to the webpage.
Once, I figured that out I quickly completed the assignment! Now only a few more blogs and an electronic portfolio and I’m done!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Finally a Google Apps I actually like….
The last assignment for this course is to create an online portfolio of the work we did throughout the semester. At first, I was freaking out over this assignment. I had to create a website from scratch and make it a working portfolio. I could never do that in the amount of time left. So I did what I’ve been doing this semester, I put it off and put it off. After the Thoreau assignment though, I have calmed down and plan on using both my personal website at Pitt and Google Sites to complete it.
We have learned in my other courses that some school districts like the idea of electronic portfolios. It shows that you are tech savvy and able to use different technologies. I was not too thrilled about this and was not looking forward to creating one. However, I think this class has helped me to better understand web design and I actually cannot wait to complete this portfolio.
I started looking at Google Sites, I figured I would hate it as much as I did Google Reader. However, I found that it really works and is easy to use. Everything is set up for you and you just need to punch in your information. I started adding in some of my assignments already. I have copied and pasted one into the web site, another I added as an attachment and the third is a link to another web page. I am still playing around and trying to figure everything out. I am also not sure how I am going to upload the ePrints 3 assignment or the Koha assignment. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
I’m still not sure if this is exactly what I am going to use as my portfolio or if I will just create a web page on the unixs server. I may try both and see which turns out better. Either way I think it is beneficial to learn different techniques and applications that are out there. I’m glad I finally found a Google application that I actually like!
We have learned in my other courses that some school districts like the idea of electronic portfolios. It shows that you are tech savvy and able to use different technologies. I was not too thrilled about this and was not looking forward to creating one. However, I think this class has helped me to better understand web design and I actually cannot wait to complete this portfolio.
I started looking at Google Sites, I figured I would hate it as much as I did Google Reader. However, I found that it really works and is easy to use. Everything is set up for you and you just need to punch in your information. I started adding in some of my assignments already. I have copied and pasted one into the web site, another I added as an attachment and the third is a link to another web page. I am still playing around and trying to figure everything out. I am also not sure how I am going to upload the ePrints 3 assignment or the Koha assignment. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
I’m still not sure if this is exactly what I am going to use as my portfolio or if I will just create a web page on the unixs server. I may try both and see which turns out better. Either way I think it is beneficial to learn different techniques and applications that are out there. I’m glad I finally found a Google application that I actually like!
I Heart the Help Desk….
When I was working on the Thoreau assignment, I could not figure out where my personal website was supposed to be. I tried everything to get to the unixs.cis.pitt.edu and nothing seemed to work. I read of the discussion boards and e-mailed others asking for help. Nothing seemed to work and I was at the point of tears because I just knew I was going to fail the assignment.
Around this time was when I figured I would e-mail the help desk and see if someone could e-mail instructions. A few minutes after I sent the e-mail I received a phone call from them. One of the workers quickly walked me through the steps to finding the help guides to log onto the unixs site and to help me figure out how to load my web page onto it. I was thrilled! Finally something that actually helped me and did not make me want to take a baseball bat to my computer. I asked him a few more questions and he assured me that the help desk would answer all of my questions, but would not do my homework for me. I would never have asked, but it was nice to know I had someone to deal with my technical questions without having to go to campus.
Of course things did not go smoothly, I was able to log on and see my files, but no matter how many times I saved the document and typed in the address nothing was coming up. I kept getting the error page. So I ended up calling the help desk two more times before I finally figured out my error.
I am so thankful to them for helping figure out what was wrong and why I could not get onto the server. If anyone ever has a problem, call them they will help you in a quick and efficient way. I had never used them before, because I had heard people complain about them, but I would recommend them for any and all computer related problems. Thank You!!!
Around this time was when I figured I would e-mail the help desk and see if someone could e-mail instructions. A few minutes after I sent the e-mail I received a phone call from them. One of the workers quickly walked me through the steps to finding the help guides to log onto the unixs site and to help me figure out how to load my web page onto it. I was thrilled! Finally something that actually helped me and did not make me want to take a baseball bat to my computer. I asked him a few more questions and he assured me that the help desk would answer all of my questions, but would not do my homework for me. I would never have asked, but it was nice to know I had someone to deal with my technical questions without having to go to campus.
Of course things did not go smoothly, I was able to log on and see my files, but no matter how many times I saved the document and typed in the address nothing was coming up. I kept getting the error page. So I ended up calling the help desk two more times before I finally figured out my error.
I am so thankful to them for helping figure out what was wrong and why I could not get onto the server. If anyone ever has a problem, call them they will help you in a quick and efficient way. I had never used them before, because I had heard people complain about them, but I would recommend them for any and all computer related problems. Thank You!!!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thoreau’s A Week of Pain and Confusion….
When I started the Thoreau fragment assignment, I was not sure what or where my personal web page was located. I went to the discussion boards and found out I was supposed to use a server unixs.cis.pitt.edu. So I typed this into the URL and it came up an error page. I went back to the discussion board to figure out my issue. I did not really understand the directions that were given and I eventually had to go to the help desk to figure out my issues.
Once I was able to get onto the server, I thought it was actually kind of fun to create and view my own webpage. The next problem was trying to figure out what an early edition of Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. I worked on changing font size and family. Then I decided to change the background color. In the end, I was actually really happy with what I created. I also went back and added a link from my home page (www.pitt.edu/~anh55) to the Thoreau assignment. This way there are two ways of accessing my webpage. I liked trying out different fonts and other techniques on this webpage. It helped me to become more familiar with web design and the unixs server at Pitt. (Too bad I will never use it again, since I’m graduating in a few weeks!)
This assignment, though hard at the beginning gave me a better sense of how to create a webpage. I enjoyed playing around with the website and trying to see if I could create something that looked like an early edition of the work.
My only question for the hyperlink assignment is how are we supposed to save it. The first assignment was Thoreau_fragment_1.html and the directions for the second one say to save it as the same. Should we make it fragment 2 or what? Who knows? I guess that is just something to discuss in another post.
Once I was able to get onto the server, I thought it was actually kind of fun to create and view my own webpage. The next problem was trying to figure out what an early edition of Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. I worked on changing font size and family. Then I decided to change the background color. In the end, I was actually really happy with what I created. I also went back and added a link from my home page (www.pitt.edu/~anh55) to the Thoreau assignment. This way there are two ways of accessing my webpage. I liked trying out different fonts and other techniques on this webpage. It helped me to become more familiar with web design and the unixs server at Pitt. (Too bad I will never use it again, since I’m graduating in a few weeks!)
This assignment, though hard at the beginning gave me a better sense of how to create a webpage. I enjoyed playing around with the website and trying to see if I could create something that looked like an early edition of the work.
My only question for the hyperlink assignment is how are we supposed to save it. The first assignment was Thoreau_fragment_1.html and the directions for the second one say to save it as the same. Should we make it fragment 2 or what? Who knows? I guess that is just something to discuss in another post.
Friday, July 10, 2009
CSS
This week we were supposed to read chapter eleven and twelve from the web design book. I have really started to like this book; I find it much more interesting than the previous text. I also like it because it has helped me in creating my website for this course. I’m starting to think that I actually will not sell this book back when I graduate from this program at the end of the month. I am still looking for my other web design book from undergraduate. Still unable to locate it, of course, this happens whenever you clean.
Chapter eleven was about cascading style sheets and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I actually remembered them from my other course. I thought it was funny that one of the benefits of CSS was that it was less work. I don’t know why I thought this was funny, but I did. I had liked this concept in my other course and it made editing and changing appearances so much easier. As with the other chapters, this one broke down the steps to creating a CSS. This was a really easy way to understand what you had to do.
I also liked the examples on page 189. They showed the same XHTML document, but with several different designs. This was a great way to illustrate the benefits of CSS. If you create a webpage and dislike how it looks, CSS helps you to change it as many times as you want in a short amount of time.
When the book listed the steps to creating a CSS it was very brief. But when you moved onto the next few pages it broke down each step in a more detailed description. They also included several notes that would help explain information. Tips were also included in this chapter. I really like how they include all these extract items in the sidebars. I think this makes this book more than just a manual, but a complete guide to web design.
At the end of the chapter they give you other resources for CSS information. I also liked this because it was a way to help readers locate more information, without having to go to the back of the book for a list of resources used in creating it.
Even though I am not completely done with my webpage I feel that I am better able to complete it, by using this book. I have actually recommended it to several people outside of this program.
Chapter eleven was about cascading style sheets and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I actually remembered them from my other course. I thought it was funny that one of the benefits of CSS was that it was less work. I don’t know why I thought this was funny, but I did. I had liked this concept in my other course and it made editing and changing appearances so much easier. As with the other chapters, this one broke down the steps to creating a CSS. This was a really easy way to understand what you had to do.
I also liked the examples on page 189. They showed the same XHTML document, but with several different designs. This was a great way to illustrate the benefits of CSS. If you create a webpage and dislike how it looks, CSS helps you to change it as many times as you want in a short amount of time.
When the book listed the steps to creating a CSS it was very brief. But when you moved onto the next few pages it broke down each step in a more detailed description. They also included several notes that would help explain information. Tips were also included in this chapter. I really like how they include all these extract items in the sidebars. I think this makes this book more than just a manual, but a complete guide to web design.
At the end of the chapter they give you other resources for CSS information. I also liked this because it was a way to help readers locate more information, without having to go to the back of the book for a list of resources used in creating it.
Even though I am not completely done with my webpage I feel that I am better able to complete it, by using this book. I have actually recommended it to several people outside of this program.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
More about Koha
When I read the instructions for the Koha assignment I was excited that we were able to pick the topics for our 25 items. I originally set out to find items based on blogging, since it is something that we are working with in this class. However, I ended up changing my mind and topic to vampires. I like them and I thought it would be fun to choose a different topic, something not related to technology.
With that in mind I set out to find 25 items that would be useful to me. I started by looking at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. I thought it would help me to figure out what books, magazines, movies, etc. I would want to include. Then I moved onto Access PA and the Library of Congress, in order to complete my task. After I had gathered my 26 items ( I like even numbers) I logged onto Koha, which in itself was a task.
I remember getting the e-mail about Koha and logging on when I got it. However, a few weeks had passed since that e-mail and I couldn’t remember which Koha server I was on or my name and password. I thought I had written those down and had saved the web address in my favorites. I was wrong on both accounts. So, as I usually do, I panicked! I figured I had deleted my e-mail with this information because I like to keep my e-mail fairly clean. The thoughts going through my head were all about how I was going to have to e-mail Dr. Tomer and tell him I had no idea my username, password, or which Koha server to use. Luckily, when I got on my e-mail account, I discovered that I had panicked for nothing. I had kept the important e-mail and was able to log onto Koha.
Of course, things did not get any better from there. I logged on and was soon faced with the dilemma of where to click to add these items. But since I sort of knew the assignment I was able to locate the Cataloging tag with ADD MARC under it.
Even though it was easy to locate the materials it was very time consuming putting them in Koha. I started this assignment around eleven in the morning and finished about four thirty in the afternoon. The other item that threw me off was the Virtual Shelves. I thought it was called, “lists” and was upset that I could not find where to load these items too. I’m just glad I am done with that assignment.
It was interesting using Koha and seeing a different way of cataloging; however, I am pretty sure I will never use this item ever again. I found it really time consuming and at points difficult to understand. I’m glad I got to try it, but don’t expect me to become a fan!
With that in mind I set out to find 25 items that would be useful to me. I started by looking at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. I thought it would help me to figure out what books, magazines, movies, etc. I would want to include. Then I moved onto Access PA and the Library of Congress, in order to complete my task. After I had gathered my 26 items ( I like even numbers) I logged onto Koha, which in itself was a task.
I remember getting the e-mail about Koha and logging on when I got it. However, a few weeks had passed since that e-mail and I couldn’t remember which Koha server I was on or my name and password. I thought I had written those down and had saved the web address in my favorites. I was wrong on both accounts. So, as I usually do, I panicked! I figured I had deleted my e-mail with this information because I like to keep my e-mail fairly clean. The thoughts going through my head were all about how I was going to have to e-mail Dr. Tomer and tell him I had no idea my username, password, or which Koha server to use. Luckily, when I got on my e-mail account, I discovered that I had panicked for nothing. I had kept the important e-mail and was able to log onto Koha.
Of course, things did not get any better from there. I logged on and was soon faced with the dilemma of where to click to add these items. But since I sort of knew the assignment I was able to locate the Cataloging tag with ADD MARC under it.
Even though it was easy to locate the materials it was very time consuming putting them in Koha. I started this assignment around eleven in the morning and finished about four thirty in the afternoon. The other item that threw me off was the Virtual Shelves. I thought it was called, “lists” and was upset that I could not find where to load these items too. I’m just glad I am done with that assignment.
It was interesting using Koha and seeing a different way of cataloging; however, I am pretty sure I will never use this item ever again. I found it really time consuming and at points difficult to understand. I’m glad I got to try it, but don’t expect me to become a fan!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Koha = Evil
I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend! Luckily this week I was able to get all my homework done before the holiday and so I was able to sit back and relax. Even though I did put the Koha assignment off until the last minute again! I plan on completing the next assignment as early as I can, but since I have class all day Tuesday, it makes me wonder if I won’t be rushing to complete it again.
When I initially read the assignment I thought we had to add a link to our own personal website. So I started working on my website, hoping I would be able to make it work and that I would be able to add the hyperlink to connect my website to the Koha assignment.
So I started the assignment and kept thinking to myself, how was I going to get this on my personal website. No clue! I was pretty much stumped and figuring I was going to fail the assignment because I couldn’t figure out how to hyperlink it. I finally finished the assignment around 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon and I was getting ready to go away for the weekend, so I was pretty upset that I still hadn’t put it on my website.
So I went back to the syllabus and decided I would reread the instruction, hoping there were instructions on how to put it on the webpage. Well, I was pretty surprised that I did not have to actually create a webpage for this assignment but for the Thoreau assignment, which came next. I reread the assignment instructions again, just to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Then just to be safe, I asked my mom to read them and look. I was shocked (and thrilled) that I had actually completed the assignment and didn’t need to do anything else. I was going to be able to go away and not have this giant black cloud hanging over me, because I hadn’t been able to complete the assignment.
The silver lining in this whole mess is that I have the basis for my webpage down and it will be easy to just link my Thoreau assignment to it!
When I initially read the assignment I thought we had to add a link to our own personal website. So I started working on my website, hoping I would be able to make it work and that I would be able to add the hyperlink to connect my website to the Koha assignment.
So I started the assignment and kept thinking to myself, how was I going to get this on my personal website. No clue! I was pretty much stumped and figuring I was going to fail the assignment because I couldn’t figure out how to hyperlink it. I finally finished the assignment around 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon and I was getting ready to go away for the weekend, so I was pretty upset that I still hadn’t put it on my website.
So I went back to the syllabus and decided I would reread the instruction, hoping there were instructions on how to put it on the webpage. Well, I was pretty surprised that I did not have to actually create a webpage for this assignment but for the Thoreau assignment, which came next. I reread the assignment instructions again, just to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Then just to be safe, I asked my mom to read them and look. I was shocked (and thrilled) that I had actually completed the assignment and didn’t need to do anything else. I was going to be able to go away and not have this giant black cloud hanging over me, because I hadn’t been able to complete the assignment.
The silver lining in this whole mess is that I have the basis for my webpage down and it will be easy to just link my Thoreau assignment to it!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Creating a simple page…this will probably be hard to do!
Chapter four of the Learning Web Design book deals with creating simple page. As I have written previously I have worked with creating websites, but really do not remember what I am doing. I hoped this chapter would be a great refresher and I would be able to start work on my own personal webpage.
I really like when books give you step by step instruction on how to complete something. It just makes life so much easier and this book did not disappoint. In five easy steps this chapter stated it would demonstrate the steps that “cover the basics of page production.” It started with a brief overview of the steps. Then the chapter went into creating the word document, one section for Mac users and one for Windows. This was nice, especially since I do not know if I will always have a PC or if I’ll switch to a Mac later on. After walking the reader through this process the book starts in on a detailed look at each step.
Even though this book does not have the colorful and sometimes entertaining pictures that our other text has, the pictures here are way more helpful. The exercises and sidebars are also helpful in designing a webpage. I especially like the tip about slash vs. backslash. During my practicum some of the students had problems figuring this out and it nice to have something to use to explain it to them.
The other helpful sidebar was the one dealing with some typical problems. It is always nice having a place to go to answer some of the questions you may have, especially when you are new to the material. I have decided that I really like this book and it might be one of the few I do not sell back at the end of the semester. Especially since library web pages are becoming popular and it would be nice to be able to design and update my own! Even though I have yet to start my webpage, I will do that before the end of the week. I have class tonight and all day tomorrow and I hate starting something that I can’t finish in the same day. So it looks like Thursday and Friday are my days to complete this part of the course. Next week I’ll start detailing my experience with creating this webpage, bet it won’t be as easy as I hope! Have a great weekend everyone!
I really like when books give you step by step instruction on how to complete something. It just makes life so much easier and this book did not disappoint. In five easy steps this chapter stated it would demonstrate the steps that “cover the basics of page production.” It started with a brief overview of the steps. Then the chapter went into creating the word document, one section for Mac users and one for Windows. This was nice, especially since I do not know if I will always have a PC or if I’ll switch to a Mac later on. After walking the reader through this process the book starts in on a detailed look at each step.
Even though this book does not have the colorful and sometimes entertaining pictures that our other text has, the pictures here are way more helpful. The exercises and sidebars are also helpful in designing a webpage. I especially like the tip about slash vs. backslash. During my practicum some of the students had problems figuring this out and it nice to have something to use to explain it to them.
The other helpful sidebar was the one dealing with some typical problems. It is always nice having a place to go to answer some of the questions you may have, especially when you are new to the material. I have decided that I really like this book and it might be one of the few I do not sell back at the end of the semester. Especially since library web pages are becoming popular and it would be nice to be able to design and update my own! Even though I have yet to start my webpage, I will do that before the end of the week. I have class tonight and all day tomorrow and I hate starting something that I can’t finish in the same day. So it looks like Thursday and Friday are my days to complete this part of the course. Next week I’ll start detailing my experience with creating this webpage, bet it won’t be as easy as I hope! Have a great weekend everyone!
Crossovers…they’re not just for TV shows
I’ve noticed that a lot of what we are learning overlaps in many of my classes. Last fall all of my classes had at least one section that overlapped. This had happened to me in my freshman year of college at Duquesne University. I thought it was odd, but helpful in many ways. Still I hadn’t really expected it to happen during graduate school, but I’m not complaining it usually is really beneficial!
This semester the concept of metadata has been the overlapping idea in this course and in my Organizing Information class. We had one week devoted to learning about this concept and I will admit I was still a bit confused on what it was and why we used it. So when metadata was mentioned as part of the ePrints 3 assignment, I was not too happy.
Here I was with no clue as to what I was supposed to find out about this metadata, so I kept putting the assignment off. I guess I figured I would have some sort of epiphany and I would actually understand the subject matter. Of course this did not happen.
When I finally sat down to do the assignment, I found a new article and began working through the steps to complete the upload. I was happy to find out that ePrints 3 actually has marked areas for all of the metadata information. I could actually understand what was being asked of me to locate! This made me very, very happy! Some of the information was not present in any of the articles or books I decided to upload, so I left those boxes blank.
This exercise really helped me to better understand the concept of metadata. Without it, I still would probably be a little confused on this idea and would never have had firsthand experience using it.
This semester the concept of metadata has been the overlapping idea in this course and in my Organizing Information class. We had one week devoted to learning about this concept and I will admit I was still a bit confused on what it was and why we used it. So when metadata was mentioned as part of the ePrints 3 assignment, I was not too happy.
Here I was with no clue as to what I was supposed to find out about this metadata, so I kept putting the assignment off. I guess I figured I would have some sort of epiphany and I would actually understand the subject matter. Of course this did not happen.
When I finally sat down to do the assignment, I found a new article and began working through the steps to complete the upload. I was happy to find out that ePrints 3 actually has marked areas for all of the metadata information. I could actually understand what was being asked of me to locate! This made me very, very happy! Some of the information was not present in any of the articles or books I decided to upload, so I left those boxes blank.
This exercise really helped me to better understand the concept of metadata. Without it, I still would probably be a little confused on this idea and would never have had firsthand experience using it.
Monday, June 29, 2009
ePrints 3…finally done
Two weeks ago I wrote how I was going to complete the ePrints 3 assignment. I ended up putting if off until this past Saturday. Truthfully, it scared me, I thought I had no clue what I was doing. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was the easiest assignment I had completed this semester, of course, by saying this I have just cursed myself. I probably did it wrong!
Initially, I had no clue how to log onto ePrints 3. I wasn’t even sure where to find it on the internet. Luckily, someone else had asked this exact question during our weekly chat session. Soon I found ePrints 3 and began exploring the site. I tried to upload an article but it didn’t work. After a few attempts, I got fed up and quit, vowing I would finish it in a few days. Of course that didn’t happen, for one reason or another. I made up a lot of excuses to put off doing this assignment, which is very unlike me, including going to see Transformers 2.
So, Saturday I figured I had to complete the assignment or it would never get done. I regretfully sat down and planned on putting in a good four hours on this assignment. I was dreading my Saturday afternoon. I started by going through EBSCOhost and finding several articles about computer networking. I ended up saving the articles to my computer before uploading them. I wasn’t sure if this was what we were supposed to do or if we were just supposed to upload the metadata.
After uploading the articles I couldn’t decide which type of display I wanted to do. Was I supposed to make it so that everyone could see it or one of the other two options? I quickly figured out the metadata for all of the articles and then it came time to put it up. Of course this part confused me a bit too. I had to make sure that all of my items were active. I almost missed this during my first time through ePrints 3.
After I was finished with my articles I went and looked for books on-line to help complete this assignment. I did not upload the books, because many of them were hardback, so I just quickly put in the metadata so anyone looking could find out the information about the books.
In the end, I’m still not sure if I completed this thing correctly or not. I guess when grades are given, I will find out. I’m just crossing my fingers until then!
Initially, I had no clue how to log onto ePrints 3. I wasn’t even sure where to find it on the internet. Luckily, someone else had asked this exact question during our weekly chat session. Soon I found ePrints 3 and began exploring the site. I tried to upload an article but it didn’t work. After a few attempts, I got fed up and quit, vowing I would finish it in a few days. Of course that didn’t happen, for one reason or another. I made up a lot of excuses to put off doing this assignment, which is very unlike me, including going to see Transformers 2.
So, Saturday I figured I had to complete the assignment or it would never get done. I regretfully sat down and planned on putting in a good four hours on this assignment. I was dreading my Saturday afternoon. I started by going through EBSCOhost and finding several articles about computer networking. I ended up saving the articles to my computer before uploading them. I wasn’t sure if this was what we were supposed to do or if we were just supposed to upload the metadata.
After uploading the articles I couldn’t decide which type of display I wanted to do. Was I supposed to make it so that everyone could see it or one of the other two options? I quickly figured out the metadata for all of the articles and then it came time to put it up. Of course this part confused me a bit too. I had to make sure that all of my items were active. I almost missed this during my first time through ePrints 3.
After I was finished with my articles I went and looked for books on-line to help complete this assignment. I did not upload the books, because many of them were hardback, so I just quickly put in the metadata so anyone looking could find out the information about the books.
In the end, I’m still not sure if I completed this thing correctly or not. I guess when grades are given, I will find out. I’m just crossing my fingers until then!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The other text…not as much fun as the first?
The other text book we have for this class is smaller, which in my initial opinion made it better. However, after cracking it open and actually reading it, I miss the other one. Learning Web Design lacks the colorful images and sidebars that Discovering Computers 2010 had. Still I hope this book will get me through creating my own webpage for this course!
This week we were supposed to read Chapter 2, 3 and 10. Chapter 10 was the most informative, I thought. It paralleled what we learned in DC chapter 13. But it seemed to break each topic down a little further. Each page contained sidebars that included information that might be beneficial to the reader. Even though this book lacks the colorful images, it seemed to have more humor in its writing. I have no clue if that was just me or if that was what the author wanted. Either way, I think I might enjoy this book more. Reading boring books was the least of my worries this week.
This is very unlike me, I usually get all my homework done as early as I can, but I have put off doing the ePrints 3 assignment. I am going to have to complete it tomorrow or else it will end up being late. I am not looking forward to spending my Saturday doing homework, but it is my own fault. The only thing I can be thankful for is that I got all of my reading done early.
Well that’s all for now. Next week I will have posts that are definitely better and if not better at least more interesting. Thanks for bearing with me this week. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
This week we were supposed to read Chapter 2, 3 and 10. Chapter 10 was the most informative, I thought. It paralleled what we learned in DC chapter 13. But it seemed to break each topic down a little further. Each page contained sidebars that included information that might be beneficial to the reader. Even though this book lacks the colorful images, it seemed to have more humor in its writing. I have no clue if that was just me or if that was what the author wanted. Either way, I think I might enjoy this book more. Reading boring books was the least of my worries this week.
This is very unlike me, I usually get all my homework done as early as I can, but I have put off doing the ePrints 3 assignment. I am going to have to complete it tomorrow or else it will end up being late. I am not looking forward to spending my Saturday doing homework, but it is my own fault. The only thing I can be thankful for is that I got all of my reading done early.
Well that’s all for now. Next week I will have posts that are definitely better and if not better at least more interesting. Thanks for bearing with me this week. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
Unlucky Chapter 13....
On page 675, I found a table that was about the classic programming languages. I figured this would be really helpful and lead me to a better understanding of the material I was reading, since chapter 13 is like a different language. I think you need a degree to just read about these different types of programming languages.
The one section I did understand was the HTML and XHTML information. I took a course at Seton Hill University that was dedicated to creating web pages and both HTML and XHTML. I will admit once I was done with this course, I promptly forgot everything that we learned. I figured I would never need it in my future career; of course this was before I decided to become a school librarian. If I had known this was my career of choice, I would have tried to remember everything I learned. Lucky for me I still have my notebooks somewhere in my house.
Even though I’m not sure I understood the information in Chapter 13, I really liked the examples they showed us, as well as the program development life cycle. This cycle is very beneficial and it is nice that they had a visual to accompany the text. They also went into great detail on each step which helped me to better understand the material being talked about. I am a visual learner and this break down was something that I might use in my future classroom for other topics.
I liked this chapter and found it actually sparked my memory from that class two years ago. Even though I am not really excited to create a website, I think it might be fun this time around. Who knows I might actually remember this stuff when I get a job or else I will be asking for student volunteers!
The one section I did understand was the HTML and XHTML information. I took a course at Seton Hill University that was dedicated to creating web pages and both HTML and XHTML. I will admit once I was done with this course, I promptly forgot everything that we learned. I figured I would never need it in my future career; of course this was before I decided to become a school librarian. If I had known this was my career of choice, I would have tried to remember everything I learned. Lucky for me I still have my notebooks somewhere in my house.
Even though I’m not sure I understood the information in Chapter 13, I really liked the examples they showed us, as well as the program development life cycle. This cycle is very beneficial and it is nice that they had a visual to accompany the text. They also went into great detail on each step which helped me to better understand the material being talked about. I am a visual learner and this break down was something that I might use in my future classroom for other topics.
I liked this chapter and found it actually sparked my memory from that class two years ago. Even though I am not really excited to create a website, I think it might be fun this time around. Who knows I might actually remember this stuff when I get a job or else I will be asking for student volunteers!
Websites....
I took a course at Seton Hill University and it required me to create a website. After I was finished with that course, I swore I would never create another one, it was just too hard and I did not understand what I was doing. Well here I am two years later, working on another website for a different class.
We were allowed to use a template in my other class and I did, because creating a website from scratch was more difficult then I had expected. My website was dedicated to an honor society that I was President of and we were planning on using it on the official website. This of course put a ton of pressure on me to complete it perfectly. I really wish they would have asked someone else to complete it, because mine was not that great.
The first problem I ran into was changing the font and background colors. I swear I followed the directions and did everything I was supposed to do, but alas the color never changed. This made me really upset and so I asked my professor to help me, which she did. I eventually mastered this technique and was able to move onto something else, which of course gave me trouble!
The two worst problems I had were the picture page and the hyperlinks. I ended up having to ask a student at my mom’s high school to help me because I could not get my hyperlinks to work and thus my pages would not connect. By this I mean if someone was on the homepage, they could not get to the FAQ page or the picture page. This student did not really help me, because he couldn’t figure out the problem. Eventually I was able to locate the typo error and fix the problem. The other problem was the picture page, since the template I used already had a table in it, it messed up the table I tried to put insert. It was not very pretty!
To make a long story short and avoid the gory details of my creation, I finished my webpage and I got a good grade on it. However, I am not looking forward to constructing another one!
We were allowed to use a template in my other class and I did, because creating a website from scratch was more difficult then I had expected. My website was dedicated to an honor society that I was President of and we were planning on using it on the official website. This of course put a ton of pressure on me to complete it perfectly. I really wish they would have asked someone else to complete it, because mine was not that great.
The first problem I ran into was changing the font and background colors. I swear I followed the directions and did everything I was supposed to do, but alas the color never changed. This made me really upset and so I asked my professor to help me, which she did. I eventually mastered this technique and was able to move onto something else, which of course gave me trouble!
The two worst problems I had were the picture page and the hyperlinks. I ended up having to ask a student at my mom’s high school to help me because I could not get my hyperlinks to work and thus my pages would not connect. By this I mean if someone was on the homepage, they could not get to the FAQ page or the picture page. This student did not really help me, because he couldn’t figure out the problem. Eventually I was able to locate the typo error and fix the problem. The other problem was the picture page, since the template I used already had a table in it, it messed up the table I tried to put insert. It was not very pretty!
To make a long story short and avoid the gory details of my creation, I finished my webpage and I got a good grade on it. However, I am not looking forward to constructing another one!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Google does have a book that actually helps you understand its apps!
This week we were asked to read Chapters 2-4 and 8-9 of the Google Apps: The Missing Manual. At first I had no clue where to locate this resource, so I tried using Google. Then when that failed, I moved onto the ULS, which is where I ended up finding this manual. I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot out of this, but was willing to read it. Now I finally know where to go when I have a question about Google; it’s the Google for dummies that I have been waiting for!
Chapter two talked about Google Docs and I felt this chapter was important because of the usefulness of Google Docs. My group in my Multicultural class is using this program to interact with each other, when we cannot meet face to face. This has been nice since I live 45-minutes away from campus and the other three members live in Pittsburgh.
In this chapter the first sentence really summed up what I like about Google Docs, “accessibility” and “collaboration.” It’s a great way to send information and read what others have written. It also documents everything, so my group can share with my professor as well as each other. The manual continues by stating that everything is stored on Google’s computers and can be accessed “from anywhere with an Internet connection.” This is really beneficial to those who use multiple computers throughout the week. I know when I meet with my group I use a computer on campus and if I forget my jump drive I’m in big trouble. I can e-mail it to myself, but that can cause a variety of problems. By loading a document onto Google Docs, I do not have to worry I just log in and there is my item. When explaining the benefits, the manual says that a person does not have to worry about losing a flash drive, which is very, very easy to misplace. When I was at Seton Hill, I was in a hurry to leave my class at the end and I accidently left my flash drive in the computer. When I realized I had left it, I went back to school, only to discover my flash drive had been taken. Google Docs eliminates that problem.
I did not realize that Google Docs allowed ten people to edit the same document at the same time. I thought you just loaded it and people looked over the document whenever they got a chance, similar to e-mail. I find that to be remarkable and a great tool; groups can have meetings and work on projects, in real time, without having to leave their houses. What the manual states is true, Google Docs is “redefining the whole concept of working together.”
After I was done looking over the chapters we were required to read, I went back to the table of contents to see what else the manual had to offer. I really liked how they broke everything down for you, especially with the chapter on Google Docs. It gave you the browser requirements as well as a step by step walk through of what Google Docs does, how to do, and what to expect. I really liked this manual. I even told my mom about it and she is thinking about purchasing one for her library.
I sincerely wish I would have known about this manual prior to starting all of my assignments, I think it would be a great introduction to this course and how to approach and use the applications for Google. I would recommend this to anyone who has never used the Google applications before. It is a great resource!
Chapter two talked about Google Docs and I felt this chapter was important because of the usefulness of Google Docs. My group in my Multicultural class is using this program to interact with each other, when we cannot meet face to face. This has been nice since I live 45-minutes away from campus and the other three members live in Pittsburgh.
In this chapter the first sentence really summed up what I like about Google Docs, “accessibility” and “collaboration.” It’s a great way to send information and read what others have written. It also documents everything, so my group can share with my professor as well as each other. The manual continues by stating that everything is stored on Google’s computers and can be accessed “from anywhere with an Internet connection.” This is really beneficial to those who use multiple computers throughout the week. I know when I meet with my group I use a computer on campus and if I forget my jump drive I’m in big trouble. I can e-mail it to myself, but that can cause a variety of problems. By loading a document onto Google Docs, I do not have to worry I just log in and there is my item. When explaining the benefits, the manual says that a person does not have to worry about losing a flash drive, which is very, very easy to misplace. When I was at Seton Hill, I was in a hurry to leave my class at the end and I accidently left my flash drive in the computer. When I realized I had left it, I went back to school, only to discover my flash drive had been taken. Google Docs eliminates that problem.
I did not realize that Google Docs allowed ten people to edit the same document at the same time. I thought you just loaded it and people looked over the document whenever they got a chance, similar to e-mail. I find that to be remarkable and a great tool; groups can have meetings and work on projects, in real time, without having to leave their houses. What the manual states is true, Google Docs is “redefining the whole concept of working together.”
After I was done looking over the chapters we were required to read, I went back to the table of contents to see what else the manual had to offer. I really liked how they broke everything down for you, especially with the chapter on Google Docs. It gave you the browser requirements as well as a step by step walk through of what Google Docs does, how to do, and what to expect. I really liked this manual. I even told my mom about it and she is thinking about purchasing one for her library.
I sincerely wish I would have known about this manual prior to starting all of my assignments, I think it would be a great introduction to this course and how to approach and use the applications for Google. I would recommend this to anyone who has never used the Google applications before. It is a great resource!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
iPhones the next generation of communication or just a glorified toy?
Over the weekend my parents received our cell phone bill. Once again Verizon had screwed it up. My mom wasn’t too happy and neither was I, because we had called them multiple times before about problems with our bill and those same problems seem to keep recurring. I even did billshrink.com to see if we were getting the best service at Verizon or if we should switch companies. I won’t lie, I’m really interested in getting an iPhone. One of my friends has one and it’s pretty cool. So I started looking around online to learn more about it and then I remembered I had seen information in our textbook about the iPhone.
Usually when I purchase textbooks, I really can’t figure out why I did it. I use them for the class and then they sit in my closet because I have no use for them. This was the first time I had actually used my book for something not related to class. The iPhone offers its users a chance to use the internet away from their computers. You can get applications for it to play games and you can use it as an iPod. What more could you really want from a phone?
Each iPhone has its own operating system that was developed by Apple. It’s all touch screen so there isn’t a key pad. The book even says that “users can manage contacts and notes, send and receive e-mail and text messages, take pictures, record videos, connect to the Internet wirelessly and browse the Web, check stocks, access maps and obtain directions, listen to music, watch movies and videos, and display photos.” Not many phones can do all that.
It’s truly amazing to see what technologies have come up with over the past several years. We have gone from the large cell phones that Zac Morris used to use (Save by the Bell reference) to phones that are literally ten things in one. I’m not sure if my mom, my dad, and I will switch from Verizon to A T& T or if I’ll have to wait until the iPhone becomes available through Verizon, either way I will have one, one day.
Usually when I purchase textbooks, I really can’t figure out why I did it. I use them for the class and then they sit in my closet because I have no use for them. This was the first time I had actually used my book for something not related to class. The iPhone offers its users a chance to use the internet away from their computers. You can get applications for it to play games and you can use it as an iPod. What more could you really want from a phone?
Each iPhone has its own operating system that was developed by Apple. It’s all touch screen so there isn’t a key pad. The book even says that “users can manage contacts and notes, send and receive e-mail and text messages, take pictures, record videos, connect to the Internet wirelessly and browse the Web, check stocks, access maps and obtain directions, listen to music, watch movies and videos, and display photos.” Not many phones can do all that.
It’s truly amazing to see what technologies have come up with over the past several years. We have gone from the large cell phones that Zac Morris used to use (Save by the Bell reference) to phones that are literally ten things in one. I’m not sure if my mom, my dad, and I will switch from Verizon to A T& T or if I’ll have to wait until the iPhone becomes available through Verizon, either way I will have one, one day.
Monday, June 15, 2009
ePrints 3...what happened to the first 2
Over the weekend, I took my last two Praxis exams! Thank goodness that is out of the way. Now I actually have time to focus on my four classes for this summer. I decided to start and hopefully complete the ePrints 3 assignment, between today and tomorrow. Who knows if this will actually happen, knowing my luck it will take me three or four days.
Well, it took me a while to figure out how to actually log onto ePrints 3. I had to go back to last week’s discussion and find the web address. Once that was done, I felt like I was all set to start. Except, I had no idea what ePrints 3 did. Was it a search engine or a place to store materials? After a few minutes of exploring I figured it out. So it was on to step two, finding sources. I went directly to the VPN network at Pitt and began looking through EBSCOhost, in hopes of locating some great articles. I found my first one pretty quickly, but I had no idea how to up load it to ePrints 3. So after poking around ePrints for a few more minutes I thought I had it figured out. I saved the article to my computer and then began the process of uploading it. It took forever for the system to upload and after ten minutes I closed the web browser and started over again. This time I was successful in uploading the article, the next step was to include extra information, but by that time I had lost the article (since I had to close out my other browser) and start looking for the article again. That’s where I’m at right now and I decided to take a break because it’s driving me crazy. I figured I would write a post and then go back and find at least ten items today. We’ll see if that happens, because ePrints might make me so stir crazy that I’ll give up for the day.
Looking over the rest of the week I’m guessing that I will complete the ePrints assignment and begin the next one. My hope is to get everything done well before the end of the course. The only problem with that is I’m not quite sure what I would blog about then! Okay, well I am off to work on this ePrints thing and do some other work. Have a great day everyone!
Well, it took me a while to figure out how to actually log onto ePrints 3. I had to go back to last week’s discussion and find the web address. Once that was done, I felt like I was all set to start. Except, I had no idea what ePrints 3 did. Was it a search engine or a place to store materials? After a few minutes of exploring I figured it out. So it was on to step two, finding sources. I went directly to the VPN network at Pitt and began looking through EBSCOhost, in hopes of locating some great articles. I found my first one pretty quickly, but I had no idea how to up load it to ePrints 3. So after poking around ePrints for a few more minutes I thought I had it figured out. I saved the article to my computer and then began the process of uploading it. It took forever for the system to upload and after ten minutes I closed the web browser and started over again. This time I was successful in uploading the article, the next step was to include extra information, but by that time I had lost the article (since I had to close out my other browser) and start looking for the article again. That’s where I’m at right now and I decided to take a break because it’s driving me crazy. I figured I would write a post and then go back and find at least ten items today. We’ll see if that happens, because ePrints might make me so stir crazy that I’ll give up for the day.
Looking over the rest of the week I’m guessing that I will complete the ePrints assignment and begin the next one. My hope is to get everything done well before the end of the course. The only problem with that is I’m not quite sure what I would blog about then! Okay, well I am off to work on this ePrints thing and do some other work. Have a great day everyone!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
I’m starting to really not like technology…
I used to be a great lover of technology. I own a cell phone, an iPod, a TV, a DVD player and all the other basic items that make life interesting. However, when it comes to stuff online, I am clueless, which then makes me feel even worse. It’s a never ending cycle.
So after a few more hours of studying I decided to take a break and start the next assignment, so I would have something to actually blog about. However, I am clueless as to what the heck I am doing. This is the assignment for class, “A collection of 25 items should be built on a local instance of ePrints3, with appropriate metadata for all items. The subject matter should be related to social computing and/or social networking. The assignment is due June 28. (20 points)” I understand I am supposed to use ePrints3, but am I using it to locate the information or just to store it. So I am pretty much lost. I am looking for anything dealing with social computing and/or social networking on what the internet, in databases, or in a library. I’m just very confused and again have to wait until Thursday to discuss with the group. Of course, the second I am done writing this post I am headed over to the discussion board to see if anyone else is having issues. Oh, well. I guess I will try to figure it out, hopefully I completed it right.
Now that I have skyrocketed my frustration, I’m headed back to studying only a little time left before I take these tests. I’m still really nervous, so next week will definitely be better. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
So after a few more hours of studying I decided to take a break and start the next assignment, so I would have something to actually blog about. However, I am clueless as to what the heck I am doing. This is the assignment for class, “A collection of 25 items should be built on a local instance of ePrints3, with appropriate metadata for all items. The subject matter should be related to social computing and/or social networking. The assignment is due June 28. (20 points)” I understand I am supposed to use ePrints3, but am I using it to locate the information or just to store it. So I am pretty much lost. I am looking for anything dealing with social computing and/or social networking on what the internet, in databases, or in a library. I’m just very confused and again have to wait until Thursday to discuss with the group. Of course, the second I am done writing this post I am headed over to the discussion board to see if anyone else is having issues. Oh, well. I guess I will try to figure it out, hopefully I completed it right.
Now that I have skyrocketed my frustration, I’m headed back to studying only a little time left before I take these tests. I’m still really nervous, so next week will definitely be better. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Memories…
This week has been crazy so far. I am taking my last two Praxis exams, content knowledge and the library science, on Saturday. All of my free time has been taken over by studying. I’m still freaking out, no matter how much I study. So word to the wise, if you are taking the Praxis, take them early and start studying at least two months beforehand.
For this week I planned on writing two posts on the Jing assignment, but it didn’t take me as long to do as I thought! Well, this left me with a blog to write and nothing to talk about, which happens to be a new concept to me! In the end I decided to reflect on the past several weeks and the assignments we have already completed.
Honestly, I do a lot of reading in my classes. This class does not have as much to read as some of my other courses, but it sometimes takes me longer to get through the material. I love using technology, but I’m not as keen on reading about it. I really have a hard time getting into the readings. It still makes me feel good that I actually have a clue what the book is talking about. However, I sometimes put off the readings as long as I can.
Before I started this course I had never heard of or used many of the applications. Scopus, was one of those, I had seen it but never used it to locate sources. I found it easy to work with and it located what I needed quickly, which is a plus. What came next was not a friendly relationship with Google Reader. However, even after the little bump in the road during the WorldCat assignment, I like Google Docs. It has made group work so much easier for me. I am an on campus student, but I live about forty-five minutes away, and with gas prices on the rise I do not always want to drive in for a brief meeting. Google Docs has allowed my group to work effectively from our homes and still get the assignment completed and turned in on time. Even though I have continuously played around with it, I still do not get or like Google Reader (and I will leave it at that.)
The WorldCat assignment was really interesting. I have never used WorldCat before; however, over the last three semesters I have used PittCat. WorldCat did not have some of the features I liked about Scopus, but it did give the user places they could locate the material. But I did end up having trouble exporting it as an RIS format and as an excel file. I posted to the Discussion Board and everyone was very helpful. I’m still hoping that I completed it properly. I guess I will find out when I get my grades!
The Jing assignment was really frustrating, since I kept having to rerecord due to outside noise and my own flubbed lines. I really found it interesting that we can record what is on our screen and create our own tutorial videos. I’m actually thinking of using this source in my future library. It would be an easy way to demonstrate items that children might have trouble with. The only other problem I faced was deciding how to embed it into my blog. Again, I will find out if I did it correctly when I get my grade.
I’ve actually come to enjoy blogging, which really surprised me. I will never have a personal blog, because I’m not really interested in others reading about my life, but I have found it interesting doing it for this course. I can now write about my frustrations with all of the assignments. I’ve found that I complain less when things go wrong and I do not feel like the only one who doesn’t understand.
Well, I’m about out of time (I’m on a study break) so I’m off to study!
For this week I planned on writing two posts on the Jing assignment, but it didn’t take me as long to do as I thought! Well, this left me with a blog to write and nothing to talk about, which happens to be a new concept to me! In the end I decided to reflect on the past several weeks and the assignments we have already completed.
Honestly, I do a lot of reading in my classes. This class does not have as much to read as some of my other courses, but it sometimes takes me longer to get through the material. I love using technology, but I’m not as keen on reading about it. I really have a hard time getting into the readings. It still makes me feel good that I actually have a clue what the book is talking about. However, I sometimes put off the readings as long as I can.
Before I started this course I had never heard of or used many of the applications. Scopus, was one of those, I had seen it but never used it to locate sources. I found it easy to work with and it located what I needed quickly, which is a plus. What came next was not a friendly relationship with Google Reader. However, even after the little bump in the road during the WorldCat assignment, I like Google Docs. It has made group work so much easier for me. I am an on campus student, but I live about forty-five minutes away, and with gas prices on the rise I do not always want to drive in for a brief meeting. Google Docs has allowed my group to work effectively from our homes and still get the assignment completed and turned in on time. Even though I have continuously played around with it, I still do not get or like Google Reader (and I will leave it at that.)
The WorldCat assignment was really interesting. I have never used WorldCat before; however, over the last three semesters I have used PittCat. WorldCat did not have some of the features I liked about Scopus, but it did give the user places they could locate the material. But I did end up having trouble exporting it as an RIS format and as an excel file. I posted to the Discussion Board and everyone was very helpful. I’m still hoping that I completed it properly. I guess I will find out when I get my grades!
The Jing assignment was really frustrating, since I kept having to rerecord due to outside noise and my own flubbed lines. I really found it interesting that we can record what is on our screen and create our own tutorial videos. I’m actually thinking of using this source in my future library. It would be an easy way to demonstrate items that children might have trouble with. The only other problem I faced was deciding how to embed it into my blog. Again, I will find out if I did it correctly when I get my grade.
I’ve actually come to enjoy blogging, which really surprised me. I will never have a personal blog, because I’m not really interested in others reading about my life, but I have found it interesting doing it for this course. I can now write about my frustrations with all of the assignments. I’ve found that I complain less when things go wrong and I do not feel like the only one who doesn’t understand.
Well, I’m about out of time (I’m on a study break) so I’m off to study!
Monday, June 8, 2009
I’m ready for my close-up
After a nice weekend of studying for my praxis exam (which is next Saturday), I realized that I needed to get started on my Jing assignment. I did not go into this assignment thinking I would get it done quickly. So today after I finished doing some other work, I set aside a few hours to work on this assignment. Lucky, I did, because I had several problems!
First things first, I had to hook my microphone and headset up to the computer. So I moved my computer desk out and went looking for the corresponding colored holes. After a few seconds of searching I found both and was able to hook it up to my computer. After I finally got everything back in its place, I realized that I could have easily plugged my headset into the front of my computer. This made me very upset, since I had taken time to move things in order to hook up the microphone! So when was all said and done I ended up moving the microphone connection to the front of my computer. I figured it would be the easiest way to unhook it when I was done.
One problem fixed several more to go! Now it was time to practice using Jing with the microphone. I quickly recorded something, just to see if it would work and of course it didn’t. So I went back and realized that I had left the microphone on mute, so it didn’t record. After fixing this problem I started my recording for this assignment. And 20 times later, I was still messing up the first few sentences. And if I got through those, I messed up in the end. I was feeling really bad about this assignment, and pretty angry that I just couldn’t complete it quickly. Each time I did the assignment, I had to uninstall Zotero again and again. Well, that must have made both Firefox and Jing upset, because they both shut down and refused to load again. Both desktop icons disappeared as well. Now I was really angry and pretty much sat and threatened to destroy my computer by taking a baseball bat to it. Of course, this did nothing. So I restarted the computer only to have it freeze. I had to restart it twice more and wait at least 10 minutes between them before it would work. By this point I was ready to just give up and quit for the day, but I couldn’t. I have to study for the praxis all week, so I have been trying to get all of my homework done today. I continued on, upset and dejected.
This time through, it only took me two takes before I completed the assignment. I was thrilled!!! I quickly saved and uploaded it to screencast. When I logged onto screencast, I was not too happy to learn that it did not save. To make a long story short (too late) I ended up embedding it as a screencast URL onto my blog. I really hope this works! Onto the next assignment…yeah!
First things first, I had to hook my microphone and headset up to the computer. So I moved my computer desk out and went looking for the corresponding colored holes. After a few seconds of searching I found both and was able to hook it up to my computer. After I finally got everything back in its place, I realized that I could have easily plugged my headset into the front of my computer. This made me very upset, since I had taken time to move things in order to hook up the microphone! So when was all said and done I ended up moving the microphone connection to the front of my computer. I figured it would be the easiest way to unhook it when I was done.
One problem fixed several more to go! Now it was time to practice using Jing with the microphone. I quickly recorded something, just to see if it would work and of course it didn’t. So I went back and realized that I had left the microphone on mute, so it didn’t record. After fixing this problem I started my recording for this assignment. And 20 times later, I was still messing up the first few sentences. And if I got through those, I messed up in the end. I was feeling really bad about this assignment, and pretty angry that I just couldn’t complete it quickly. Each time I did the assignment, I had to uninstall Zotero again and again. Well, that must have made both Firefox and Jing upset, because they both shut down and refused to load again. Both desktop icons disappeared as well. Now I was really angry and pretty much sat and threatened to destroy my computer by taking a baseball bat to it. Of course, this did nothing. So I restarted the computer only to have it freeze. I had to restart it twice more and wait at least 10 minutes between them before it would work. By this point I was ready to just give up and quit for the day, but I couldn’t. I have to study for the praxis all week, so I have been trying to get all of my homework done today. I continued on, upset and dejected.
This time through, it only took me two takes before I completed the assignment. I was thrilled!!! I quickly saved and uploaded it to screencast. When I logged onto screencast, I was not too happy to learn that it did not save. To make a long story short (too late) I ended up embedding it as a screencast URL onto my blog. I really hope this works! Onto the next assignment…yeah!
Jing Assignment
http://www.screencast.com/users/anh55/folders/Jing/media/3ba09fc4-d729-4d88-aab1-7dc5068a8f95
Here is my Jing assignment....hopefully it will work!
Here is my Jing assignment....hopefully it will work!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Microphones…need I say more
For the Jin assignment we need to purchase a microphone. So today I decided to actually go out and buy mine, since the assignment is due next Sunday. I figured I would go to Best Buy and get mine, come home and do the project. Finding the microphone happened to be the easiest part.
I really assumed it might be difficult to find one of these microphones, since I figured you have to fit the microphone to your computer. However, I was wrong and the salesperson at Best Buy was able to help me locate and find the perfect microphone for me. Best Buy has several different makes and models ranging from cheap to expensive. I ended up purchasing one that looks like it belongs to a telemarketer. It’s a headset and microphone in one. This will be nice when we do live chats, that way I will have no distractions while I work.
Now I just have to figure out where to plug it into my computer. Then I will be able to actually get to work on this assignment. I am really nervous about doing it, since I have a tendency to talk really fast when I am nervous. So, we will see how this goes.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
I really assumed it might be difficult to find one of these microphones, since I figured you have to fit the microphone to your computer. However, I was wrong and the salesperson at Best Buy was able to help me locate and find the perfect microphone for me. Best Buy has several different makes and models ranging from cheap to expensive. I ended up purchasing one that looks like it belongs to a telemarketer. It’s a headset and microphone in one. This will be nice when we do live chats, that way I will have no distractions while I work.
Now I just have to figure out where to plug it into my computer. Then I will be able to actually get to work on this assignment. I am really nervous about doing it, since I have a tendency to talk really fast when I am nervous. So, we will see how this goes.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
DIMDIM…sounds more like a video game than a way to communicate
Last week we had our first chat session using DIMDIM. Once again I had never used this type of online communication before this course. It was definitely a new experience. DIMDIM offers users a live video chat, a public chat session and other interesting features. At first, no one knew where the public chat sessions were located, but afterwards it seemed to flow smoothly.
The chat session was nicely formatted as well. We had an agenda that we kept to and it helped keep everything organized. I was glad I was not the only one having issues with the WorldCat assignment. I have since (hopefully) figured it all out! The live chat feed of Dr. Tomer was also a good idea. For those who had never had him before it was a chance to “meet” him. The only problem with this is the feed sometimes froze and it would take a minute to come back online. The chat session was just like a discussion in class and they help us to communicate and get to know one another. Another tool that we use in this course is the discussion boards in Courseweb.
The Discussion Boards have been great. They allow us to ask and answer each other’s questions. When I had a question concerning the WorldCat assignment I posted it in the discussion board and within a few hours I had an answer. The only issue with the discussion board is that the feedback takes time. With the chats that feedback is instantaneous. Still, if you have a question on Monday (and the chat is on Thursday) the discussion board is a great place to go!
This week’s discussion is on a game night! EEK! I know some of my friends want to go and I can’t because we have the discussion. Hopefully it will be quick and we won’t miss too much of the game. GO PENS!!
Hope everyone has had a great week so far, I will talk to you all tonight during the chat!
The chat session was nicely formatted as well. We had an agenda that we kept to and it helped keep everything organized. I was glad I was not the only one having issues with the WorldCat assignment. I have since (hopefully) figured it all out! The live chat feed of Dr. Tomer was also a good idea. For those who had never had him before it was a chance to “meet” him. The only problem with this is the feed sometimes froze and it would take a minute to come back online. The chat session was just like a discussion in class and they help us to communicate and get to know one another. Another tool that we use in this course is the discussion boards in Courseweb.
The Discussion Boards have been great. They allow us to ask and answer each other’s questions. When I had a question concerning the WorldCat assignment I posted it in the discussion board and within a few hours I had an answer. The only issue with the discussion board is that the feedback takes time. With the chats that feedback is instantaneous. Still, if you have a question on Monday (and the chat is on Thursday) the discussion board is a great place to go!
This week’s discussion is on a game night! EEK! I know some of my friends want to go and I can’t because we have the discussion. Hopefully it will be quick and we won’t miss too much of the game. GO PENS!!
Hope everyone has had a great week so far, I will talk to you all tonight during the chat!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sometimes I feel like I’m just treading water and really not getting anywhere…
The first day of class, whether it was in high school, undergrad or at Pitt, I always have that freak out moment. You know the one where you are hearing about everything you need to complete and what is required of you to do during that semester and suddenly you feel like “Oh crap, I so cannot complete everything you are asking me to do.” Yeah, that moment is one of the worst. But by the end of the semester you have finished everything and have passed. Well, for this class, I feel like that moment has been stretching on and on for the past two or three weeks.
I’ll be honest, I’m totally freaking out over these assignments. I start out being confident that I will be able to complete them fairly quickly, but then comes the moment of dread and anger when I hit a brick wall and have no clue what I’m doing. The chat sessions are a great way for us to get answers to our questions, as are the discussion boards, but I feel like I need a flashing neon sign telling me when I am on the right track and when I’m headed for a dead end.
When I was in high school or at Seton Hill I always based my assignments on the first assignment or test. This first test/assignment always gave me an idea on how to approach the remaining ones. Did I need to make more flashcards, read deeper into the questions, etc. However, we have yet to get feedback or grades on our first two assignments, so I feel completely lost in the next one. Grades are extremely important to me and I do not want to lose points because I have absolutely no clue what I am doing.
So with that in mind let’s explore the next assignment. I had never heard of Jing prior to this class. I am realizing that I am not as tech savvy as I originally thought I was. This is actually quite disappointing. But anyway back to Jing. I am going out tomorrow to purchase a microphone for my computer (which I will probably never use again). I really have no idea what I am looking for and again wish for the neon sign that points directly to the item I need to purchase. Then after I do that I must create a demonstration and save it to screencast. Now I really shouldn’t comment on whether or not I think this will be easy, because with my luck it will just be really really hard. Then I get to embed the presentation into my blog. This is so not a good idea for me, but I will try it. Hopefully, it will work but I am not holding high hopes. Tune in soon to see how well this goes over, but expect complaining and tears. Good luck everyone else!
So after I cringed over Assignment four, I turned to assignment five. My thinking was that I would be able to complete it before I went in search of the perfect microphone. Boy was I wrong again. The hyperlink to local instance was broken (Does anyone know where the hyperlink was supposed to take us?) and I’m actually not quite sure what this assignment is about. Nevermind, I just re-read the assignment and now get what I am doing, this could all change very very quickly. Until next time!
I’ll be honest, I’m totally freaking out over these assignments. I start out being confident that I will be able to complete them fairly quickly, but then comes the moment of dread and anger when I hit a brick wall and have no clue what I’m doing. The chat sessions are a great way for us to get answers to our questions, as are the discussion boards, but I feel like I need a flashing neon sign telling me when I am on the right track and when I’m headed for a dead end.
When I was in high school or at Seton Hill I always based my assignments on the first assignment or test. This first test/assignment always gave me an idea on how to approach the remaining ones. Did I need to make more flashcards, read deeper into the questions, etc. However, we have yet to get feedback or grades on our first two assignments, so I feel completely lost in the next one. Grades are extremely important to me and I do not want to lose points because I have absolutely no clue what I am doing.
So with that in mind let’s explore the next assignment. I had never heard of Jing prior to this class. I am realizing that I am not as tech savvy as I originally thought I was. This is actually quite disappointing. But anyway back to Jing. I am going out tomorrow to purchase a microphone for my computer (which I will probably never use again). I really have no idea what I am looking for and again wish for the neon sign that points directly to the item I need to purchase. Then after I do that I must create a demonstration and save it to screencast. Now I really shouldn’t comment on whether or not I think this will be easy, because with my luck it will just be really really hard. Then I get to embed the presentation into my blog. This is so not a good idea for me, but I will try it. Hopefully, it will work but I am not holding high hopes. Tune in soon to see how well this goes over, but expect complaining and tears. Good luck everyone else!
So after I cringed over Assignment four, I turned to assignment five. My thinking was that I would be able to complete it before I went in search of the perfect microphone. Boy was I wrong again. The hyperlink to local instance was broken (Does anyone know where the hyperlink was supposed to take us?) and I’m actually not quite sure what this assignment is about. Nevermind, I just re-read the assignment and now get what I am doing, this could all change very very quickly. Until next time!
Friday, May 29, 2009
The Hunt for the Perfect Computer
While I was looking over the required reading for this week, I realized I know a whole lot less than I thought I did about computers. Wow! Yes, the reading was semi-boring and it took me a while to really get through it, but in the end I feel like I appreciate my operating system a heck of a lot more. The fact that the author reminded patrons to properly save their material was definitely a plus. I usually try to save my work every few minutes, but sometimes you get so caught up in it that you forget. I never use the computer during a storm in case the power goes out, but you can’t always control when that happens. But I’ve noticed that now my computer has autosave and when the computer is rebooted (at least in word) it will ask me to if I want to open any of the saved material. But again you can’t always trust that either. The autosave goes off, what about every five minutes. So from the time it saves until the next, your work could be in danger of being lost. This has happened to me a few times, but what can I say live and learn.
Another thing I learned from this week’s reading is about the different managing programs and how some computers have “single user/single tasking.” I am not sure how anyone could stand to have that type of computer. I know at the moment I have six word documents up and two web browsers. If I had this type of operating system I would never get anything done! I would be constantly going back and forth trying to do work. Luckily I do not have to deal with that, which is a blessing!
I really used to get annoyed with the little pop ups that occur at the bottom of the screen, letting you know that there are updates for your programs. I usually ignore them because I’m in the middle of something. Luckily my computer always provides the chance to update prior to shutting down, which makes updating that much easier.
My dad put Norton Antivirus on the computer to help protect it from potentially damaging programs. I think this is a good idea because otherwise my computer most likely would have crashed. But sometimes Norton gets a little confused and tells me some sites I use for school are not safe and it red flags them. The only other bad thing about Norton is that when it performs its weekly diagnostics test it makes my computer run slowly. We also use a pop-up blocker on the computer. This again is very nice to use and allows us to decide whether or not to allow pop-ups.
When we got our computer it had Windows media player already installed on it and every once and a while it opens when I place a CD in the computer. I still use it for watching videos, but for music I use iTunes.
I found this chapter to be extremely interesting and useful in learning about the different types and function of operating systems. This book is very easy to follow and understand and I like the review at the end of each chapter. These few pages give a brief overview of what was learned in each chapter and helps students to better understand the material that was provided.
I guess until next week, have a good weekend everyone!
Another thing I learned from this week’s reading is about the different managing programs and how some computers have “single user/single tasking.” I am not sure how anyone could stand to have that type of computer. I know at the moment I have six word documents up and two web browsers. If I had this type of operating system I would never get anything done! I would be constantly going back and forth trying to do work. Luckily I do not have to deal with that, which is a blessing!
I really used to get annoyed with the little pop ups that occur at the bottom of the screen, letting you know that there are updates for your programs. I usually ignore them because I’m in the middle of something. Luckily my computer always provides the chance to update prior to shutting down, which makes updating that much easier.
My dad put Norton Antivirus on the computer to help protect it from potentially damaging programs. I think this is a good idea because otherwise my computer most likely would have crashed. But sometimes Norton gets a little confused and tells me some sites I use for school are not safe and it red flags them. The only other bad thing about Norton is that when it performs its weekly diagnostics test it makes my computer run slowly. We also use a pop-up blocker on the computer. This again is very nice to use and allows us to decide whether or not to allow pop-ups.
When we got our computer it had Windows media player already installed on it and every once and a while it opens when I place a CD in the computer. I still use it for watching videos, but for music I use iTunes.
I found this chapter to be extremely interesting and useful in learning about the different types and function of operating systems. This book is very easy to follow and understand and I like the review at the end of each chapter. These few pages give a brief overview of what was learned in each chapter and helps students to better understand the material that was provided.
I guess until next week, have a good weekend everyone!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
WorldCat vs. Scopus vs. Me…Which one do you think will lose?
Though I have never used WorldCat prior to this assignment; I found it very easy to navigate. Honestly, after the debacle with Google Reader, I was not really excited to begin using another new form of technology. But I found it was really easy to use and I was able to quickly locate 50 resources for this assignment.
However, as much as I enjoyed using WorldCat, I think I liked Scopus better. When using Scopus, it offered the user a chance to read the abstract to the articles they were looking at. This made deciding if the article was relevant to my needs much, much easier. In WorldCat, the abstract/ summary of the material was not always present. In WorldCat, a patron could see which libraries the information could be located at in relevance to their location. This was a nice feature, but at the same time it seemed to make an extra step for the patron. Also, if after all that searching and clicking, you find out the material was not relevant to you, well you just wasted a lot of time. I for one really don’t have a ton of time to waste. I like being able to click on the title of the article and find out if it’s something I should look deeper into. In today’s society everything is about time and if a program takes too long or has too many steps people, even librarians may not use it. Another thing I do not like about WorldCat is that when you go to save items to a list or delete them you have to go to the top of the page. I think it would be easier if that toolbar was located at both the top and the bottom. It’s more convenient for everyone.
When I was saving items to a list, I just kept checkmarking the items I wanted and going to the next page. So I was pretty surprised when on the fourth or fifth page I decided to send them to a list that way I could see exactly how many resources I had, and only two showed up in the list. I did not know you had to send each page separately or it deleted the checkmarks. I guess you live and learn!
Still, even though I seem to favor Scopus, I appreciate and like WorldCat. I think it is a great program that is very useful to educators and librarians. I like how you can export your list of references into numerous formats or send the entire list to RefWorks. I also liked how you can make your list private or public. I really believe WorldCat has a lot to offer.
Of course, I spoke too soon! I was working on both this blog and my WorldCat assignment and let me tell you I’m ready to scream. In the assignment we are asked to export the list using the RIS format. This took me a little time to figure out where to convert the information and export it. However, when you export using the RIS format it is not in the spreadsheet format. So now I have a massive problem. How do I get the list into a Google Docs spreadsheet without having to cut and paste a million times! I am so confused and just really have had enough with Google Docs. So I have to wait until this evening to discuss this with the group in the chat room. Hopefully, someone will be able to help me figure out my issue. I don’t want to lose points on this assignment, just because I am confused!
However, as much as I enjoyed using WorldCat, I think I liked Scopus better. When using Scopus, it offered the user a chance to read the abstract to the articles they were looking at. This made deciding if the article was relevant to my needs much, much easier. In WorldCat, the abstract/ summary of the material was not always present. In WorldCat, a patron could see which libraries the information could be located at in relevance to their location. This was a nice feature, but at the same time it seemed to make an extra step for the patron. Also, if after all that searching and clicking, you find out the material was not relevant to you, well you just wasted a lot of time. I for one really don’t have a ton of time to waste. I like being able to click on the title of the article and find out if it’s something I should look deeper into. In today’s society everything is about time and if a program takes too long or has too many steps people, even librarians may not use it. Another thing I do not like about WorldCat is that when you go to save items to a list or delete them you have to go to the top of the page. I think it would be easier if that toolbar was located at both the top and the bottom. It’s more convenient for everyone.
When I was saving items to a list, I just kept checkmarking the items I wanted and going to the next page. So I was pretty surprised when on the fourth or fifth page I decided to send them to a list that way I could see exactly how many resources I had, and only two showed up in the list. I did not know you had to send each page separately or it deleted the checkmarks. I guess you live and learn!
Still, even though I seem to favor Scopus, I appreciate and like WorldCat. I think it is a great program that is very useful to educators and librarians. I like how you can export your list of references into numerous formats or send the entire list to RefWorks. I also liked how you can make your list private or public. I really believe WorldCat has a lot to offer.
Of course, I spoke too soon! I was working on both this blog and my WorldCat assignment and let me tell you I’m ready to scream. In the assignment we are asked to export the list using the RIS format. This took me a little time to figure out where to convert the information and export it. However, when you export using the RIS format it is not in the spreadsheet format. So now I have a massive problem. How do I get the list into a Google Docs spreadsheet without having to cut and paste a million times! I am so confused and just really have had enough with Google Docs. So I have to wait until this evening to discuss this with the group in the chat room. Hopefully, someone will be able to help me figure out my issue. I don’t want to lose points on this assignment, just because I am confused!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I was born in the 80s, but I’m not sure I’m ready for the technologies of today
The title to this entry is very true; I was born in 1985, and grew up with many different technologies. I’m the one who shows my parents how to work certain things. So how come when confronted with some of the newer stuff I feel like I need written instructions to help me? Also, when you search for help on the internet, other people just confuse you with their answers. So after last week, I definitely wasn’t sure I was ready for this course. We all know I had a lot of problems with Google Reader and it is still not my favorite form of technology. I highly doubt it ever will be, but I understand that it can be useful to those who have an idea of how to use it. So someone should write a Google Apps for Dummies book, so the rest of us can have half an idea on how to work some of these things! Because obviously I am not one of those people and I would be one of the first to purchase the book. I understood Scopus and Google Docs, but Google Reader still eludes me. Who knows maybe I will eventually be a whiz on it, but until then, I’m pretty sure I will never use it ever, ever again. Now onto WorldCat!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Blogging...what am I doing?
Well, I was finally able to get back on Google Reader and it let me send four links to Dr. Tomer, then it quit allowing me to do that. Maybe it’s just me! Hopefully, Google Reader will eventually allow me to finish e-mailing my links!
I will admit, I never had the desire to have a blog. Actually, if it wasn’t required in this course, I still would not have a blog. And after I am done with this course, I will probably never post again. I really have no desire for others to read my posts and know stuff about me. I have had friends who have written blogs and sometimes they have gotten way too personal and other times they just whined. That’s what I usually associate with blogs, whining. And I will probably, if I haven’t already done so, whine in my blog.
So when I sat down the first time, to figure out what I was going to type, it took me quite a while. I’m used to writing papers for class, researching, answering questions, and working in groups, what I’m not used to is the freedom to choose what to discuss (in context of this course) and how long it should be. Which makes me nervous, I like having guidelines to my papers, for me, it makes the assignment easier. I don’t have to think, will this be enough or did I over do it with this many pages. My first post was an introduction, I figured that was the best place to start. My next post was about my frustration with Google Reader. So how was I going to end my week, I figured I would talk about my issues with blogging! Next week, I plan on posting information about our text book and stuff I find on line. These first three initial posts are to get me acquainted and comfortable with blogging.
One thing my teachers in school and my professors in undergraduate and graduate school have always taught me was to never write how you speak and don’t use contractions in your papers. Blogging is different. You’re supposed to write how you speak, act like you are actually talking to a person. You can use contractions and don’t have to worry about looking unprofessional. After all those years of not writing how I spoke, it was really difficult to change that. When I write these blogs, I always want to go back and change my don’ts to do nots and to make my writing sound more professional. I of course, stop myself and remember this is blogging, not a research paper. I feel like occasionally I will forget and my blogs will sound more like an edited research paper for class, but hopefully by the end of this course, I will actually be able to just blog. Who knows, maybe by the end I will actually enjoy blogging. I highly doubt that, but who knows stranger things have happened.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!!!
I will admit, I never had the desire to have a blog. Actually, if it wasn’t required in this course, I still would not have a blog. And after I am done with this course, I will probably never post again. I really have no desire for others to read my posts and know stuff about me. I have had friends who have written blogs and sometimes they have gotten way too personal and other times they just whined. That’s what I usually associate with blogs, whining. And I will probably, if I haven’t already done so, whine in my blog.
So when I sat down the first time, to figure out what I was going to type, it took me quite a while. I’m used to writing papers for class, researching, answering questions, and working in groups, what I’m not used to is the freedom to choose what to discuss (in context of this course) and how long it should be. Which makes me nervous, I like having guidelines to my papers, for me, it makes the assignment easier. I don’t have to think, will this be enough or did I over do it with this many pages. My first post was an introduction, I figured that was the best place to start. My next post was about my frustration with Google Reader. So how was I going to end my week, I figured I would talk about my issues with blogging! Next week, I plan on posting information about our text book and stuff I find on line. These first three initial posts are to get me acquainted and comfortable with blogging.
One thing my teachers in school and my professors in undergraduate and graduate school have always taught me was to never write how you speak and don’t use contractions in your papers. Blogging is different. You’re supposed to write how you speak, act like you are actually talking to a person. You can use contractions and don’t have to worry about looking unprofessional. After all those years of not writing how I spoke, it was really difficult to change that. When I write these blogs, I always want to go back and change my don’ts to do nots and to make my writing sound more professional. I of course, stop myself and remember this is blogging, not a research paper. I feel like occasionally I will forget and my blogs will sound more like an edited research paper for class, but hopefully by the end of this course, I will actually be able to just blog. Who knows, maybe by the end I will actually enjoy blogging. I highly doubt that, but who knows stranger things have happened.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!!!
My Love/Hate Relationship with Google Reader
I will admit when I started working on the Scopus assignment, I figured I would be done in an hour, an hour and a half tops. However, three and a half hours later, when I was still working on it, I was not too happy. Since I wanted to make sure the resources coming up were about my topics, I made sure to read over the abstracts. I also wanted to make sure that I did not cite the same source twice, so after I had gathered my 100 citations from Scopus I went back through (on Refworks) and made sure there were no repeats. I found several repeat entries and deleted them. Then it was back to Scopus to find several new sources to replace the duplicates. I repeated this same process with Google Scholar. Finally, I finished collecting all of my resources and was ready to go to onto what I considered the easiest part. Boy, was I wrong, again! Using Google Docs was a breeze, I uploaded my word document and quickly shared it with Dr. Tomer. Then I went to use Google Reader, figuring I would be done in a few minutes. I was able to subscribe to several Scopus RSS feeds, but could not figure out how to share all of them with Dr. Tomer. I read directions on how to share material, however, when I tried their “easy” way, all it allowed me to share was one piece of information, not the entire RSS feed. So, next I put everything into folders and made them public and sent out invites for people to view my profile. I sent an invitation to myself, but never received it on my other e-mail. I then e-mailed my boyfriend an invite, since he has a g-mail account, again it was never received. Frustrated, I took a ten minute break, to calm myself down, before I attempted anything else. When I returned to Google Reader, I was still clueless on what I should do, but I tried to work with it. Next, I decided to e-mail my folder to Dr. Tomer, it worked once and then Google Reader proceeded to tell me that it could not send the e-mails. Now if this had been a cartoon, smoke would have poured out of my ears from how angry I was. So I logged off of Google Reader and attempted to log back on, only this time it told me I was unable to get back onto my account. This was when I gave up for the day. I am about ready to make another attempt to get on Google Reader, we’ll see how this goes.
From this project, I have not only learned how to actually use RefWorks, but I am also able use Google Docs. Google Reader is another story, but hopefully with some practice I will master this new form of technology! Hope everyone else is not having as much trouble as I am.
From this project, I have not only learned how to actually use RefWorks, but I am also able use Google Docs. Google Reader is another story, but hopefully with some practice I will master this new form of technology! Hope everyone else is not having as much trouble as I am.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Introduction Post
Hello, I’m Allyson Hepler. I currently live in Youngwood, Pennsylvania, where I have resided all my life. This is my fourth and final semester in the LIS program at Pitt. I plan on graduating at the end of this semester. I took a Web Design course in my undergraduate program, but it only briefly looked over web design and the other aspects of web communication. Truthfully, I am a little nervous about this course for a few reasons. This is my first fast track/online course at Pitt (and my first attempt at a blog) and it feels weird not to be meeting everyone face to face in class. I have three other courses this semester and two are on campus, so I am still driving to Pitt two nights a week.
My anticipated graduation is this coming August and I cannot wait! I’m excited to begin the job search and hopefully will obtain a position in either an elementary or high school library. I love reading and want to help others discover the joy of books. My favorite authors include Meg Cabot, Kate Brian, Cassandra Clare, Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer and many others. I also love TV, especially One Tree Hill, Supernatural, Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, and Gossip Girl. When I’m not working on school work I enjoy crafting, reading, watching TV, listening to music, hanging out, and going to concerts.
I’m looking forward to this semester and working with all of you!
My anticipated graduation is this coming August and I cannot wait! I’m excited to begin the job search and hopefully will obtain a position in either an elementary or high school library. I love reading and want to help others discover the joy of books. My favorite authors include Meg Cabot, Kate Brian, Cassandra Clare, Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer and many others. I also love TV, especially One Tree Hill, Supernatural, Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, and Gossip Girl. When I’m not working on school work I enjoy crafting, reading, watching TV, listening to music, hanging out, and going to concerts.
I’m looking forward to this semester and working with all of you!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Introduction
Hello everyone,
I am hoping this will work. I look forward to working with everyone throughout this semester.
I am hoping this will work. I look forward to working with everyone throughout this semester.
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