Really Simple Syndicated Sampling

The RSS feed was quite user friendly to set up and I managed to find a blog to subscribe to - National Geographic as well as staff blogs. I haven't taken note whether or not my favourite sites are RSS compatible but I will certainly keep my eyes open. It seems like a really neat, convenient way to get your info especially if you don't surf the net very often or forget what you were interested in keeping an eye on.

Google Gambol

I have used a lot of the Google products before and often show some of them to my Cyberseniors (along with the directories) as a hook to keep them interested in the internet. Google Earth, Sky, Moon and Mars are really fun way to practice playing around with the mouse, etc.

Facebook Flirtations

Facebook, like most 2.0 sites on the net, can be very seductive. I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with the physical appearance of the site (which seems to be constantly morphing as soon as you've figured it out) but rather the content. Just like a personal blog, facebook allows you to "creep" the pages of acquaintances and plunder the photos and personal information they lay bare whether you "friend" them or not. For the virtual voyeurs out there or the reality TV fanatics, Facebook is a playground offering hours of enjoyment. I don't know if it's up me to be to judge if it's a time waster or not - certainly there is a time and place to discover your 6 (or 2) degrees of separation from the man who you saw on the train 8 days ago -but if you've got the time and people have put that information out there, it's a free for all. On the flip side of the coin, Facebook can be used effectively to connect people. Invitations to events can be organized quickly and effectively, you can join groups and news forums on topics of interest all over the world and connect with friends and family internationally. However, for those of us who try very hard to remember we have a Facebook account, a phone call is much appreciated or we miss all the parties.

Wonderful Wiki

I know Wikipedia sometimes gets a bad rap for having unconfirmed information but it can be useful to a least get a lead to investigate particularly obscure topics. I like the idea of pooling people's collective knowledge and the fact that it can be refined (rarely do we, as people, get everything right the first 'go round). I've used Wikipedia before but have never actually edited anything. It was surprisingly easy and I didn't realize before that you didn't have to sign up for an account in order to add your two cents - this was great because I don't use any of my online accounts very often and have trouble remembering what passwords, names, etc I signed up with. I played around with some of the features at the top of the editing page ( like line break, etc.) just to see what they did because online text formatting seemed to behave differently from Microsoft Word. I also noticed the discussion tab where "editors" could write about or explain the changes they were making.

Delicious Debates

I have to be honest, Delicious is not a site that I use very often but when I do need to pin point cetain websites it's handy. The most common questions it helps me to answer are "Where can I find government forms?", "What are some good job websites I can search for postings?", "Where can I find information on tenant laws?", Citizenship questions, etc. Having these sites bookmarked and categorized makes for easy access to valid information. If you try to Google some of this information, you can end up sifting through a lot of information or following a whole bunch of links that leave a trail you can't be bothered to retrace or try to lead someone through. I'm sure there is a lot more infomation on Delicious that I'm missing but, as useful as the bookmarked pages can be, I don't find the host site to be very user friendly and it can be very difficult to explain the organization to a second party, especially one unfamiliar with the internet. The previous incarnation made more visual sense and was more user friendly in its word choice.

Virtual Voyeur

Welcome to my first blog!
I find blogging both intriguing and scary which is most likely because the contact I have had with blogs are those of an acquaintance who shares a little too much of her personal life. It is very intriguing to read the details of her various romantic mishaps and inner misery but at the same time it has an unsettling sense of voyerism and opportunity to sit back and judge without an empathetic emotional connection to that person. I think I might start a blog if I took an extended trip to a foreign country and family back home wanted to know what I was up to but other than that I would have to say I would be an ineffective blogger - I barely remember to sign on and check my e-mail and the only up-dates my facebook profile gets is from other people. However, I can now say that I know how to set up a basic blog if ever I should be asked - which is actually very likely after everyone figures out how to send a resume online. I am also curious about RSS feeds, I think that is something that could be very useful and Vista seems to come with the RSS feed on the desktop. For somebody like me who doesn't turn on the computer very often, it would be great to get all your updates at once instead of going 50 different places.