VoiceThread

I just ran across this really neat program called VoiceThread. I originally read about it in Book Links e-newsletter and went to the site to check it out. It has some great potential for teleconferences and online classes or social networking. And of course, my brain is trying to come up with ways that I can incorporate this somehow in our website or tween wiki. Anyway, here's the site, http://voicethread.com/#home. Check it out.

And yes, I said tween wiki. We changed plans because it's more secure and has more possibilities for interaction. I'm so glad that More Things on a Stick was on a wiki, because now I know what can be done with that type of program.

Thing #47: Survey

Well, that's the easy part, right? Done. No seriously, done. So not believing that, and thinking my boss is suddenly going to wonder why I have so much more time on my hands. Shhhh...

Guess I'll just have to keep exploring. Gotta keep up with all these tweeners for the upcoming tween blog. Yah, that's the reason. :)

Thing #38: Screencasting

Ah. Finally. Here's the one that was hard for me because it involved a download, and recording something, and putting in sound. Yah, you try that with a one-year-old and a three-year-old running around. I wasn't sure about doing this one at work either. I think in order to eliminate background noise, I would have had to book a meeting room. Also, an issue. But I took some time at home after the kiddos had gone to bed and it's done!

I chose to explore Jing because I have seen other tutorials done with Jing and really liked them. In fact, several of the classes were from JessicaSprague.com on digital scrapbooking. So fun!

I had set up a wiki on pbworks.com for my Maud Hart Lovelace reading group which represents SELCO/SELS. And it's kinda new for some of the people, so I did a little tutorial on how to add a comment. Here it is!

Hope it works for you. When I try to bring it up on my conputer, it's huge. Maybe I need to edit. Ah, but I tried. I get points for that, right?

Thing #46: Webjunction Minnesota

I really like Webjunction. I've been a member for a while. I used to get frequent e-mails on our MN Reforma listserv group from Bruce Pomerantz about things going on there. It has great information on outreach to Spanish-speakers for libraries. And I've taken a few webinars at our library through Webjunction. I'm glad it was one of the Things. I revisited. I haven't been in a while. I think the last time I really explored, they were in the middle of changing the site to its current look. So, I went, I updated my profile, friended some of my colleagues, signed up for a few courses, checked out a discussion on book displays, and spent a good amount of time just browsing. I found a course for PowerPoint. One of my co-workers was going to teach a class on that, and I was supposed to assist. I'm wondering now if we couldn't just sign up for that course instead. I'll have to check in with my co-worker on that. It could be a real time-saver! So, cool beans and thanks!

Thing #45: The Cloud

I guess I've been familiar with cloud computing for a while now. I ran into an article while I was doing 23 things that referred to that term and looked into it a little bit more. My mental response was to think, Oh, so that's what they're calling it. I recently had a conversation with my husband about backing up our files online. It seems scary to me, but he made a good point. What if the house burns down. It's all gone. Everything. Backup CDs. External hard drive. Gone. And that would be just horrible, because we would loose so many memories. Almost all of our photos are digital. We didn't decide on whether to do it or not. I see another conversation on that topic in the making.

And I guess I also knew about being able to control your desktop from another computer. My dad, who loves gadgets and had a second career as a web developer, had a client who needed daily maintenance on their website. He used this technology to access his server computer at home when he vacationed to my house (a mere 800 miles away). And I could be totally wrong, but I think my husband may have used this technology as an IBMer before he was issued a laptop for work purposes.

It's such a weird intangible concept, and yet, cool! What's next?

Thing #44: Economy

Here's another Thing virtually done. My family does online banking, so I'm familiar with a lot of the features there. My husband was recently "worried" about one of the grocery bills I brought home, so the other night I was surfing coupon sites to find printable coupons. Found a few, and some recipes too! Some of the other links were pretty interesting. We do pretty good with gas, are spoiled with our cell phones, so those I didn't explore too much. I've heard of and browsed CraigsList and Freecycle. Any tips on saving money are welcome, so I'm going to really peruse some of the stuff in there. I was a little disappointed that the weekend treasure site didn't show anything for Rochester. And I've always been interested in raising a chicken or two. We'll see about that one. I heard you had to get a license to do that in Rochester within the city limits. Fun stuff. Thanks for including it.

Thing #43: Online TV & Video

I use Hulu for online TV viewing. I missed an episode of one of my favorite shows, Saving Grace, because of a recording mishap. Watched it on Hulu. It's very convenient and a lot of the major television companies are just putting their shows on their websites. I also use Netflix where you can watch movies online instead of having the disc shipped to your house. It's awesome. My husband watched the first season of Heroes that way. I haven't caught up to him on that show yet, but one of these days...