thing #14 technorati

I tried to do the key word search and was not very successful. I did a blog search for teenage obesity and did not have very successful results. I search the category for sports and found that there was not very much there that interested me. I have stated once before, unless someone is famous or I know them, I really don't want to read their blog. Why would I want to read some one's thoughts that I don't know or care about? I can see the advantage of being able to tag things yourself instead of using the user tags. I don't think that this would be something I would use.

thing #13 tagging

I found that making my around and setting up an account with del.icio.us was fairly simple. I like the idea that information can be accessed from any computer. It is farily easy to organize and publish collections of bookmarks. I also liked the idea in the del.icio.us site that once the bookmarks are imported, the bookmarks are all shared. I can see how classroom teachers can use this by referring students to certain bookmarks for research projects. As for me, being a PE teacher, it really doesn't help me much since we don't do research.

thing #12 creating community

You show the blog author that "you hear them" - I think this is probably one of the most important pieces of advice. It is good advice in any type of give and take; be it face to face or online. Don't be afraid to comment. I think this is a good piece of advice also. I know that many times I feel this way. I like the comment invite questions. The first blog I visited was The Obesity Facts Blog - http://obesityfacts.biz/
The reason I chose this is because I am a middle school PE teacher and I see overweight teens everyday. I feel that this is a major problem today that is really not being adressed. Now that the Board of Education has seen fit to eliminate the health requirement for high school students, I wonder where these kids are going to get the information they need. SUCCESS 4 HEALTHY LIFE - http://success4healthylife.blogspot.com/
This is the second blog that I visited because of the aforementioned reasons.

I have also gone through and made comments on others blogs.

thing #11 library things

I went to the site and created my book list. I am a PE teacher so I am not sure if I would use this thing. I can see how it would be beneficial to classroom teachers; setting up book clubs, research lists and the like. However, I do not see a real benefit to use this in the gym. As for me, I don't read very many novels; I have a hard enough time keeping up with my athletic journals. When I do read a book, it is usually about coaching techniques for the sports that I am involved with.

Thing #10: On line image generator

The comic strip site was very easy to manipulate. I like browsing through all the images. Fun to pick out one. I see that this site would be fun for a classroom to use to encourage students to engage in imaginative thoughts. I used this weblink for my image: http://www.comicstrip.com/

Then I went to the Trading Card image program at http://www.tradingcards.com/ and made a trading card from a picture of us from last summers vacation.

The trading card image maker was extremely easy to manipulate and use. I liked that a lot. My only obstacle was a lack of pictures downloaded on this computer.

thing #9 related blogs and news feeds.

Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
Google blog search was the easiest for me to use; it is pretty straight forward.

Which was more confusing?
The Syndic8 was the most confusing for me; I really did not understand it or its purpose.

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
I really did not find very much that interested me. I guess I am not one that is really into reading blogs. Maybe I will after doing this, but at this time, I still am not. If I want information, I still just go to the website, like HGTV or the food network. I still find them easier to use than this other stuff. These have links to blogs so if i feel like reading Bobby Flay's blog, I can just find it from there. But, as I said, I am not really into reading blogs, especially from people that I don't know. That was one of the things about the blog searches; I kept wondering, who are these people and why do I care what they think!

thing #8 RSS

What do you like about RSS and readers?
What I like best about the rss and reader is that you get the websites that you know you can trust. There are so many bogus websites out there today that sometimes, when searching online, you are not sure if the information is legitimate.

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?
This will help me in doing research and keeping track of the latest news in the field of health and personal fitness.

How can libraries/teachers/administrators use readers or take advantage of this new technology?
I can see how this could be of great use to teachers who have students do research papers. It will narrow a student's search and a teacher can be sure that they are using correct and up-to-date sources.

I created my reader with sources that I can use for my PE classes. I have linked up with sites that we let me know about the latest advances in my field.
I have added a link to my reader on my blog at the bottom of the page.