I just completed the Week 4 adventure and have to report just how simple it was to follow the instructions...and I now have ABC News for the Illawarra region on my blog - although I did edit the position of the News element to be at the bottom after my posts and profile rather than the top....
I followed the instructions as outlined below:
Find the URL of the feed you're interested in (copy the URL)
Sign in to your blog
Go to layout
Click on 'add a page element'
under the heading Feed, click on Add to Blog
Enter the URL (using copy and paste feature)
Click Continue
Tada!
You may then Click and drag the page element to the position you would like it to be.
Click Save.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Week 4 - RSS - Bloglines
I registered with Bloglines and probably went a little overboard in setting up 14 feeds including the recommended Powerhouse Museum's Picture of the Day blog (which may be found at Picture of the Day); however, some of the feeds I did subscribe to relate to literature, books, libraries/librarians, dogs and comedy etc.
Imagine my little surprise today when I logged back in (close to 1 week from initial registration) and clicked on Google Blogs and searched for Dapto to only find on page 2 my post for Flickr - Sharing Images from my blog - yes, this one! Interesting... But in investigating Google, I have now registered for 2 Google Alerts that will send an email to my Gmail account for Google Blog Alerts...wonder how many alerts will be blasted into my Gmail account?
So, I then added on my Bloglines account a few blogs (including this one), the NSWPLN Learning 2.0, Jo's as well as another experimental blog using the Add button in Bloglines and entering the URL of the blog into this screen Add Screen [please note: you will need to log in]
My thoughts on RSS and Bloglines...
Although I can see some benefits of having "everything" you want in the one place, I don't know whether I would regularly log in for it to be beneficial to me - although for Learning 2.0, I will make an effort to continue to log in. I guess I'm more likely to go directly to the source of the information I'm wanting to view - even with the blogs that I have added - especially the NSWPLN Learning 2.0 blog - I will probably go directly to the blogspot.com rather than logging into Bloglines.
However, I can see the benefits in a work environment or somebody wishing to keep up-to-date with their news, views etc. I currently subscribe to a literature email service which literally overloads my inbox - should I be able to use Bloglines for this particular literature service, that would free up my inbox dramatically. As for using Google Alerts for my Gmail account, I could see that inbox being bombarded with emails galore...
But something interesting I found on Bloglines was the search facility of tracking future web articles through creating a search subscription [again, you will need to log in] - perhaps you would like to click on it and give it a try if you haven't already....I clicked on it and thought I would do learning 2.0 as the search - of course, there are plenty of results!
It is also fantastic to note that there are plenty of blogs from other participants of learning 2.0 - I must admit I have not looked at each and every one - I'm sure that they are all fantastic and fascinating - even doing a search in Flickr for nswpln2008 found 170 photos (earlier today) of various libraries!!!!!!!!!!! I will look at some more blogs!!! I really like the ones that I've already seen!!!
Imagine my little surprise today when I logged back in (close to 1 week from initial registration) and clicked on Google Blogs and searched for Dapto to only find on page 2 my post for Flickr - Sharing Images from my blog - yes, this one! Interesting... But in investigating Google, I have now registered for 2 Google Alerts that will send an email to my Gmail account for Google Blog Alerts...wonder how many alerts will be blasted into my Gmail account?
So, I then added on my Bloglines account a few blogs (including this one), the NSWPLN Learning 2.0, Jo's as well as another experimental blog using the Add button in Bloglines and entering the URL of the blog into this screen Add Screen [please note: you will need to log in]
My thoughts on RSS and Bloglines...
Although I can see some benefits of having "everything" you want in the one place, I don't know whether I would regularly log in for it to be beneficial to me - although for Learning 2.0, I will make an effort to continue to log in. I guess I'm more likely to go directly to the source of the information I'm wanting to view - even with the blogs that I have added - especially the NSWPLN Learning 2.0 blog - I will probably go directly to the blogspot.com rather than logging into Bloglines.
However, I can see the benefits in a work environment or somebody wishing to keep up-to-date with their news, views etc. I currently subscribe to a literature email service which literally overloads my inbox - should I be able to use Bloglines for this particular literature service, that would free up my inbox dramatically. As for using Google Alerts for my Gmail account, I could see that inbox being bombarded with emails galore...
But something interesting I found on Bloglines was the search facility of tracking future web articles through creating a search subscription [again, you will need to log in] - perhaps you would like to click on it and give it a try if you haven't already....I clicked on it and thought I would do learning 2.0 as the search - of course, there are plenty of results!
It is also fantastic to note that there are plenty of blogs from other participants of learning 2.0 - I must admit I have not looked at each and every one - I'm sure that they are all fantastic and fascinating - even doing a search in Flickr for nswpln2008 found 170 photos (earlier today) of various libraries!!!!!!!!!!! I will look at some more blogs!!! I really like the ones that I've already seen!!!
Captivating Craft & Inspirational Ideas...by Julie and Kat
I've uploaded just 6 photos to Flickr and I was hoping to be able to create a link between all of my photos on Flickr to my blog...it seems as though this will show just this photo....but I'll find a way, I'm sure!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Week 4 - RSS
It's been a little while since I've last posted and I must admit that I still haven't uploaded my photos onto Flickr (the Adventure part of Week 3) - they are on my USB which is currently at work but I will upload my photos and submit an additional Week 3 post once I have done that.
I've been learning more about RSS - I have heard about RSS previously and have seen the commonly-used icon on many websites. I'm patiently waiting for the YouTube RSS in Plain English to finish loading fully so that I can watch it in one sitting rather than catching glimpses of 2 seconds here and there - the several interrupted seconds I have seen however appear to be extremely useful in learning more about RSS - oh the joys of dial-up!!!
Additionally, I did find the explanation from Wikipedia helpful too - so much so that I will quote a little from it "...RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content including, but not limited to, blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts...An RSS document (which is called a "feed" or "web feed" or "channel") contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays.
RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader" or an "aggregator". The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds..."
Wikipedia entry for RSS
YouTube video: RSS in Plain English
RSS in Plain English
This informative video did explain succinctly what RSS is and the benefits of RSS in an upbeat manner - basically there are 2 things a user must do:
1. Sign up for a reader eg GoogleReader (www.google.com/reader) - this will enable you to list all of your favourite news sites and blogs - these will display on the left hand side panel and on the right hand panel, you will be able to scroll through all the new posts - thus all the NEW information from YOUR favourite sites are in the ONE place!
2. Set up the connection between YOUR reader and YOUR favourite sites ie Subscribe. To subscribe, you will need to click on the RSS icon - the most common is the orange/white icon; however, there may be other icons such as an orange RSS or XML rectangle; + Add to Google; + My Yahoo!; + Newsgator; Sub Bloglines etc. Once you find one of these icons, click on it and you'll then be able to subscribe. You will either get a page with one-click access with the icons, or the page will display code. If the page displays code, copy and paste the URL into your reader using the Add Subscription or Add Feed button - click on the Add link and then paste the URL into your reader - TaDa!!!
The benefits of using a reader? You will be informed of any updates on your favourite sites rather than you having to visit your favourite sites to check whether there has been an update - all this saves you TIME! As with most things, you need to invest time to save time further down the track as you'll need to set up your reader - but the benefits would have to make it worthwhile!!!
Now I shall discover Bloglines!
I've been learning more about RSS - I have heard about RSS previously and have seen the commonly-used icon on many websites. I'm patiently waiting for the YouTube RSS in Plain English to finish loading fully so that I can watch it in one sitting rather than catching glimpses of 2 seconds here and there - the several interrupted seconds I have seen however appear to be extremely useful in learning more about RSS - oh the joys of dial-up!!!
Additionally, I did find the explanation from Wikipedia helpful too - so much so that I will quote a little from it "...RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content including, but not limited to, blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts...An RSS document (which is called a "feed" or "web feed" or "channel") contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays.
RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader" or an "aggregator". The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds..."
Wikipedia entry for RSS
YouTube video: RSS in Plain English
RSS in Plain English
This informative video did explain succinctly what RSS is and the benefits of RSS in an upbeat manner - basically there are 2 things a user must do:
1. Sign up for a reader eg GoogleReader (www.google.com/reader) - this will enable you to list all of your favourite news sites and blogs - these will display on the left hand side panel and on the right hand panel, you will be able to scroll through all the new posts - thus all the NEW information from YOUR favourite sites are in the ONE place!
2. Set up the connection between YOUR reader and YOUR favourite sites ie Subscribe. To subscribe, you will need to click on the RSS icon - the most common is the orange/white icon; however, there may be other icons such as an orange RSS or XML rectangle; + Add to Google; + My Yahoo!; + Newsgator; Sub Bloglines etc. Once you find one of these icons, click on it and you'll then be able to subscribe. You will either get a page with one-click access with the icons, or the page will display code. If the page displays code, copy and paste the URL into your reader using the Add Subscription or Add Feed button - click on the Add link and then paste the URL into your reader - TaDa!!!
The benefits of using a reader? You will be informed of any updates on your favourite sites rather than you having to visit your favourite sites to check whether there has been an update - all this saves you TIME! As with most things, you need to invest time to save time further down the track as you'll need to set up your reader - but the benefits would have to make it worthwhile!!!
Now I shall discover Bloglines!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Week 3 - Exploring Flickr!
I decided to search for Rocky Mountaineer as I have already been on this magnificent train and will be travelling on it again in just several weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did an advanced search on Flickr to limit the search for photos within Creative Commons-licensed photos for Rocky Mountaineer and found this great photo!
I registered with Flickr which enabled me to post photos from Flickr directly to my blog by setting up a connection between Flickr and Blogger and "hey presto! Photoblog!"
I'm hoping that this enables the photo to be viewed automatically - as I had attempted to use Blogger's Add an image from the web - this worked fine as far as a hyperlink once the 'blank' area was clicked - but unfortunately there wasn't any sort of thumbnail to indicate the picture existed.
Just goes to show - where there is a will, there is a way!
Week 3 - Flickr - Sharing images
I just knew that I would love Flickr - I enjoy pouring over photos but have been somewhat slow in uploading my holiday photos for others to see - and that was the holiday in September 2006! But for this learning experience, I have visited Mosman Library and of course found another idea for Library Lovers Day and I knew that there were photos of the Wollongong Central Library following the refurbishment.
I also did the vegemite, peanut butter and Dapto Library search - I knew that Jo had posted some photos of Dapto Library and realised that searching for Vegemite or Peanut butter found too too too many photos to view as a slideshow when one is using dial-up!!! So, I have this week saved some photos onto my USB of Dapto Library, namely the mural in our storytime pit (fantastic mural done by Dianne Guy) as well as our Library Lovers Day displays - I am just yet to load them onto Flickr - that will be later this week...
NLA Our Town http://www.flickr.com/groups/pa_ourtown/
An interesting concept - and I quote from the above site
"Help us to capture past and present reflections of Australia and its people and add them to the nation’s richest online pictorial resource www.pictureaustralia.org. The National Library of Australia invites Flickr members to add your perspective on Australia’s rural and urban spaces. Assist us to keep the national collection current by taking contemporary location shots of historical images already in Picture Australia. "
I did an Advanced Search - with all of these words: wollongong library and left the default of Show images from: as All contributors (Wollongong City Library is a contributor) and found 16266 images. I then changed the All contributors to Flickr and returned 0 results. A bit of a surprise - I would've thought that I would've found some.... I then did a search for wollongonglibrary to see whether that retrieved any results - but, no.
However, there is probably a logical reason for this as stated in the Flickr: Picture Australia: Ourtown site - "Group Tagging and Titling guidelines. Please tag and title the images you add to this group as these become searchable fields in Picture Australia. Please include the following information: subject, event, location, geographical feature, date and photographer (if not your image). To keep multiple words as one tag, use quotation marks, for example: “Opera House” rather than Operahouse..." Not to mention the information under the Potential acquisition...
Lansing Public Library photographic competition for teens - what a great idea - we've had photographic competitions in the past - I'm certain the entrants would love to see their works (which then becomes the property of the library) on Flickr!
Flickr Groups
Clicking on the link demonstrated that there are currently 2 483 groups about libraries and one group that caught my eye on the first page was Library Artworks http://www.flickr.com/groups/libraryartworks/ - contains works of art in libraries around the world - I also did a search for libraries and australia and found 118 groups....
The above was a very interesting Discovery project and now I shall Explore!!!
I also did the vegemite, peanut butter and Dapto Library search - I knew that Jo had posted some photos of Dapto Library and realised that searching for Vegemite or Peanut butter found too too too many photos to view as a slideshow when one is using dial-up!!! So, I have this week saved some photos onto my USB of Dapto Library, namely the mural in our storytime pit (fantastic mural done by Dianne Guy) as well as our Library Lovers Day displays - I am just yet to load them onto Flickr - that will be later this week...
NLA Our Town http://www.flickr.com/groups/pa_ourtown/
An interesting concept - and I quote from the above site
"Help us to capture past and present reflections of Australia and its people and add them to the nation’s richest online pictorial resource www.pictureaustralia.org. The National Library of Australia invites Flickr members to add your perspective on Australia’s rural and urban spaces. Assist us to keep the national collection current by taking contemporary location shots of historical images already in Picture Australia. "
I did an Advanced Search - with all of these words: wollongong library and left the default of Show images from: as All contributors (Wollongong City Library is a contributor) and found 16266 images. I then changed the All contributors to Flickr and returned 0 results. A bit of a surprise - I would've thought that I would've found some.... I then did a search for wollongonglibrary to see whether that retrieved any results - but, no.
However, there is probably a logical reason for this as stated in the Flickr: Picture Australia: Ourtown site - "Group Tagging and Titling guidelines. Please tag and title the images you add to this group as these become searchable fields in Picture Australia. Please include the following information: subject, event, location, geographical feature, date and photographer (if not your image). To keep multiple words as one tag, use quotation marks, for example: “Opera House” rather than Operahouse..." Not to mention the information under the Potential acquisition...
Lansing Public Library photographic competition for teens - what a great idea - we've had photographic competitions in the past - I'm certain the entrants would love to see their works (which then becomes the property of the library) on Flickr!
Flickr Groups
Clicking on the link demonstrated that there are currently 2 483 groups about libraries and one group that caught my eye on the first page was Library Artworks http://www.flickr.com/groups/libraryartworks/ - contains works of art in libraries around the world - I also did a search for libraries and australia and found 118 groups....
The above was a very interesting Discovery project and now I shall Explore!!!
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