The UKY Wide World of Wikis....

Part 1: The Thrill of Victory

Wikis--whew! Who would have thought that 'wiki wiki' means something really fast in Hawaiian? (I like vocabulary and etymology!)

I looked at some of the articles that explained what they are and some of their uses. I've also looked at some of the wikis that are used by various libraries. Of the wikis I looked at, I liked librariansarah's wiki the best because that wiki looked more like a wiki that I would actually use, especially with my part time job.

I can see some uses for wikis...being able to post files and links is a nice feature, although many of those features are available in Blackboard. The nice thing about the wiki, though, is that it is open to everybody while Blackboard is restricted to people who are registered in the class. I'm not sure how I feel about wikis, since I'm new at this. Time will tell if wiki is a tool that I'll use consistently or not.

Part 2: The Agony of Defeat? (this was actually a sucessful venture, but the title sounds kind of catchy...)

I've finally set up a 'wiki', after a few false starts. I'm a UK Wellness Advocate and one way we contribute to the Health and Wellness program is by helping to publicize the offerings of the Wellness. I set up a wellness wiki to kill 2 birds with one stone! Here it is: http://ukwellness.pbwiki.com/

RSS Feeds--or, so far, so good

The "really simple syndication" was really simple to set up. I went to http://www.bloglines.com/ and set up my account. Of course, the first blog I subscribed to was http://connectedlibrary.blogspot.com/ I've always seen that little RSS icon in my Internet Explorer toolbar, and now I know what to do with it!

I'm a newbie to the whole blogging thing, but so far my favorite blogs are Blue 2.0, BoingBoing and the Classic Tales Podcast. There are a lot of other podcasts that I enjoy, but not all of them have RSS feeds.

What fun to learn about new (for me!) tecnologies to keep connected and up to date.

AIM Express--the adventures continue

Today I logged in to AIM Express, and one of my buddies was on line at the same time. I got to chat for the first time ever with this interface, and it works pretty well. I think I prefer my Yahoo account, though. I guess having the software installed on the computer you're chatting from works a little more smoothly. I think being able to chat in real time with coworkers or library persons is an alternative way to communicate because it would be a good way to reach out to people who embrace technology.....

Online chat adventures with AIM Express

It turns out I already had an AOL messaging account from several years ago that I hadn't used in a while. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising after all) when I went to AIM's home page, my ID was already up! At first I was unable to launch AIM Express until I turned off my pop up blocker. For some reason, adding the AIM Express to the list of allowed pop up sites in my blocker didn't work. I didn't find anyone online at the time, but I did get an invitation to be added to someone's list! I sent out some invites too, and now I have one friend that shows up on my AIM Express. The only thing I don't like is having to remember to turn my pop up blocker off and on. I usually use Yahoo chat, which seems to be simpler to use.

Chatting can be really useful at work, especially for quick questions, or simple issues where you want to clarify things in real time, but don't necessarily have time to schedule a meeting in person. I'll post again when I actually chat on AIM Express.

Hello Blue 2.0 participants!

Setting up this blog was easy--I logged in using my Gmail account. Who would have thought that my Gmail account would come in so handy?

Now the only issue is thinking of something to say. I went to Saturday's KY vs. Vanderbilt basketball game. Was it ever a nail biter with the double overtime! Why talk about UK's game? Well, we're participating in Blue 2.0, Kentucky is known as Big Blue, blue is my favorite color.....

Thus ends my first blog post ever. I'll have to think of something interesting to say for next time.