23 Things @ UL

Home Page 2010

2020-07-06T11:40:00.002+01:00

Week 6 Online Photos and Images

Thing 9 Share your photos online using Flickr . image

Thing 10 Play around with an online image generator.

Thing 11 Have some Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & third party sites.

Week 7 Social networking

Thing 12 Learn about Social Networking

Week 8 Communication

Thing 13 Discover Instant Messaging and Skype.

Thing 14 Video Conferencing

Thing 15 Ceative Commons access to licenced work you can share remix and reuse

Week 9 Collaborative Work

Thing 16 Doodle - scheduling made easy

Thing 17 Learn about Online Office applications e.g. Zoho writer and GoogleDocs.

Thing 18 Learn about Wikis.

Thing 19 Share presentations online using SlideShare

Week 10

Thing 20 Explore Widgets.

Thing 21 Play around with Google maps.

Thing 22 Google Books

Week 11 Social Bookmarking

Thing 23 Learn about Tagging and discover delicious (a social book marking site).

Week 12 Finale

Thing 14 Video conferencing

2010-08-26T12:24:00.017+01:00

Communicate with others by collaborating over the web.

You can:

Use web conferencing services to conduct meetings and meet colleagues online
Collaborate in real-time like you were "there" with anyone, anywhere in the world.
Share docs, whiteboards - even record your sessions - with no software to install!
Save money and travel time with video, voice and phone conferencing.

Discovery Resources:
1. View this short news item on video conferencing

2. Below is a list of site you might like to check out

Dimdim is a free web conferencing service where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required to host or attend meetings.

Elluminate vRoom. What you get is: Two-way VoIP, Interactive whiteboard, Application sharing, File transfer, Synchronized web tour, Live webcam. What you can do is: Meet online with up to three people.

Fonomo. Free Video Conferencing. This is about as easy as it gets. Click on start session, choose if you want to chat or use a webcam, send an invitation by phone or URL, wait for the other person to arrive and you're pretty much done. Very simple and basic, but it's free.

spreed: FREE Web Conferencing. For up to three people. Live audio/video, present PPT and Office docs, screen sharing, integrated telephone conferencing, live recording, white board. Commercial version available for 4+

Tinychat - Free online video chat rooms. Nice little resource, allowing the use of video and sound. Save your room, customise it, add moderation and so on...

Discovery Exercises:
1. Explore the free trials provided on one of the many video conferencing sites.
2. Blog about the experience

Note: You will need a web camera for this exercise

Thing 16 Doodle

2010-08-26T10:35:00.040+01:00

What is Doodle? Doodle is a great way to schedule any event which includes several people – whether it’s a work meeting or a personal social engagement. You don’t need to register to use Doodle and it’s simple to use.

Discovery Exercise:
Step-by-step instructions
1. Just go to http://www.doodle.com/.
2. Click on the Schedule Event button.
3. Follow instructions for Steps 1-4 each time clicking ‘next’ to get to the next page. Decide on the dates that you are free and the time slots within each date that you are free and add them in the chart.
4. At Step 4 you need to decide whether you want to send an email to your colleagues yourself or whether you want Doodle to do this. I normally select to send it myself but it’s up to you!
5. When you’ve completed your poll you should see something like this (click to enlarge):

6. If you have chosen to send the poll out yourself then check your emails from Doodle and follow the clear instructions in them.
7. Send the link out and wait for responses.

8. And, of course, blog about Thing 16.

Optional extras
1. Explore some other ways of scheduling meetings
Meet-o-matic
Tungle.me
or check out other free online meeting schedulers at I love free software

2. Add Doodle to other Web 2.0 tools
Add Doodle to your iGoogle page, or to Facebook or you might like to try and connect Doodle to your Google or MS outlook calendar

3. Doodle or other scheduling devices are really all about helping with time management. If you’re feeling really keen have a look at JISC’s infokit on time management.

Thing 15 Creative Commons

2010-08-19T11:37:00.038+01:00

Creative Commons, the best thing to happen to Copyright since, well, ever... Share, Remix, Reuse — Legally
Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from 'All Rights Reserved' to 'Some Rights Reserved.'

Discovery Resource:
Watch this explainatory video on what is creative commons

Discovery Exercise:

1. There are four different types of Creative Commons licences. To discover more about these go to Flickr-Creative Commons

2. Blog about Thing 15

Thing 19 SlideShare

2010-07-23T11:43:00.019+01:00

SlideShare is to presentations what YouTube is to videos — a place where you can post your work and benefit from what is shared by others.

Before SlideShare, posting PowerPoint presentations to the Internet was not an easy task. Now, it’s as simple as can be — after creating a free account, upload your presentation and get a unique URL so others can view it online.

One of the best features of SlideShare is being able to search for and view the work of others. There are some great presentations available that can be used as is or to generate ideas for your own. Like YouTube, you can comment on and rate the presentations.
SlideShare presentations can be downloaded or embedded into other sites, such as blogs. Here’s an embedded presentation that you can click through using the arrows at the bottom (notice its great use of graphics, color, and text!)

Discovery Exercise:
1. Go to SlideShare and search for presentations on subjects of your choice. Be sure to click the links at the top to see the “Most Viewed” and “Most Downloaded” and have a look at some of the presentations listed. You can also take the SlideShare tour.
If you are a PowerPoint (or other presentation software) user, feel free to create an account and upload your own presentation.
In your blog post covering SlideShare you could discuss whether you found any useful presentations?
How might Slideshare be useful in the classroom?

Home Page

2010-07-14T14:59:00.093+01:00

Welcome to 23 Things @ UL, an online learning discovery programme about Web 2.0 tools that encourages exploration and learning about new technologies. This programme is for faculty and staff at the University of Limerick and is being co-ordinated by the 23 Things @ UL team at the Glucksman Library.

This is a self directed, collaborative programme, the ethos of which is to foster life long learning and familiarity with 7.5 habits of highly successful life long learners.

The 23 Things
Listed below are 23 things that you can do to explore and expand your knowledge of the internet and Web 2.0 tools. The programme commences in November 2009. Once you've signed up, discovery exercises will be emailed to you on a weekly basis and you're encouraged to complete all 23 things within the 12 weeks time frame. You'll be asked to write about your experiences of each 'thing' on your blog which you will create in week 2 and everyone who finishes the programme will be awarded a certificate of completion.

Week 1 Introduction

Thing 1 Find out about getting started with the 23 things programme.

Thing 2 Set up a Google account .

Week 2 Blogging

Thing 3 Set up your own blog and add your first post.

Week 3 RSS Feeds & Newsreaders

Thing 4 Learn about RSS Feeds and set up your own Newsreader account.

Week 4 Downloadable videos & Podcasts

Thing 5 Discover YouTube and other sites that allow users to upload and share videos.

Thing 6 Learn about podcasts.

Week 5 Online photos and images

Thing 7 Create a Flickr account.

Thing 8 Have some Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & third party site.

Thing 9 Play around with an online image generator.

Week 6 Tagging, Delicious and Technorati

Thing 10 Learn about tagging and discover delicious (a social book marking site).

Thing 11 Explore Technorati (a search engine for searching blogs) and learn how tags work with blog posts.

Week 7 Office 2.0

Thing 12 Learn about online office applications e.g. Zoho writer and GoogleDocs.

Thing 13 Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list, play with it and write a blog post about the findings.

Week 8 Your own digital library

Thing 14 Learn about eBooks, eBook readers and eAudiobooks.

Thing 15 Google Books.

Thing 16 Use LibraryThing to create a catalogue of your favourite books.

Week 9 Wikis

Thing 17 Learn about Wikis.

Week 10 Social networking

Thing 18 Learn about Social Networking, including Facebook, BeBo and Twitter.

Thing 19 Discover Instant Messaging and Skype.

Week 11 Personalised homepages & Google maps

Thing 20 Discover social personalised home pages e.g. Pageflakes, Netvibes and iGoogle.

Thing 21 Explore widgets.

Thing 22 Play around with Google maps.

Week 12 Final thoughts on 23 Things

Thing 23 Finale. Summarise your thoughts on the 23 Things @ UL programme.

Thing 23 Social Bookmarking

2010-07-13T09:44:00.013+01:00

Tagging is an open and informal way of allowing users to describe online content (webpages, pictures & posts) by associating keywords. Please watch this short video to explain Social bookmarking in plain English (A YouTube video created by Common Craft).

The Horizon report (2007) has this to say: "A little group of Web 2.0 technologies—tagging and folksonomic tools, social bookmarking sites, and sites that make it easy to contribute ideas and content—is placing the power of media creation and distribution firmly into the hands of the people formerly known as the audience” (Rosen, 2006). No longer satisfied to be consumers of content, today’s audience create content as well. Producing, commenting, and classifying are just as important as the more passive tasks of searching, reading, watching, and listening." We’ll be looking more closely at Web 2.0 applications that take serious advantage of tagging (we've already looked at some - Flickr and blogs both use tags). Tagging, remember, allows you to describe and categorise online content - webpages, pictures, posts, etc. It is considered a folksonomy, aka an unstructured categorisation scheme, unlike the more formal taxonomies that require adherence to strict rules and vocabularies.

This week we’ll look at still more innovative applications that take great advantage of tagging – Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that lets you save bookmarks to a central location (so you can access your web favourites regardless of the browser or computer you're using) and then describe them all with tags so that you can easily find them again.
How is that social?
Well, in addition to tagging your bookmarks, you can see how other users have tagged the same links and see related websites are important to them. This is an excellent way to find websites that may be of interest to you.
Del.icio.us even offers RSS feeds {link to blog} - you can create a shared bookmark site (say, for your team) and receive news every time a new link is added (say, when one of your colleagues add a new link). It is also being used to assist with collaborative online reference.

Discovery Exercise:

1.Take a look around Del.icio.us using the 23 Things @ UL account we have created for this project. (You will find it here, under the user "23ThingsUL").
Note: In this account you will find lots of resources that have been highlighted or used throughout the course of the 23 things programme.
Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by alot of users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorise this reference?

2.How would you use a del.icio.us in your work environment, would you find it useful, what are the advantages?
Optional

3.Create your own Del.icio.us account, add your own bookmarks and explore the site.

Thing 6 iTunesUniversity

2010-07-06T12:13:00.014+01:00

What is iTunes U?

iTunes U is a unique location on Apple’s iTunes Store that allows Higher Education Institutions make available audio and video content to view or download.

A user must have iTunes installed on their computer to access iTunes U.

A user can subscribe to iTunes U via iTunes which will download new content on the subject that the user has selected.

iTunes can be downloaded from the Apple site at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

iTunes U allows a user to listen or view content on their computer or on the move by downloading the content to a mobile device such as an iPod.

Discovery Exercise:
Explore Oxford University which has had over 3 million downloads from its iTunes U site. This free site features public lectures, teaching material and interviews with leading academics, and much more.

2010 Workshops Timetable

2010-07-06T11:25:00.025+01:00

Workshops will be held in the Large or Small Training Room in the Library from 1-2

Workshop 1 Tuesday 21st September 2010

Introduction, setting up your own blog and downloading stuff

Find out about getting started, what is Web 2.0 and what it can do for you
Set up a Google account.
Set up your own blog and add your first post.
Discover YouTube and other sites that allow users to upload and share videos.
Learn anything any time any where, explore the resource that is iTunes University.
Learn how to download a podcast.

Workshop 2 Wednesday 6th October 2010

It is yours, you can do what you want

Design your own homepage and have all your favourite web pages and information at your fingertips.
Get the daily, up-to-the minute news delivered to your desktop. Learn about RSS Feeds and set up your own Newsreader account.
Share your photos on the web by creating a Flickr account.
Turn your photos into trading cards, posters, jigsaws, make photo collages in seconds.
Enhance your presentations. Play around with an online images and add your own touches.

Workshop 3 Thursday 4th November: (Venue - Small Training Room)

How to make the connections

Social networking. Get yourself on Facebook

Twitter or be Tweeted
How to phone for free - discover Skype and Instant Messaging.
What’s a WIKI and how it can help in collaborative work . Doodle for schedules.

Workshop 4 Tuesday 16th November (Venue - Small Training Room)

Access anywhere any time

Learn about sharing documents with online office applications such as Zoho writer and GoogleDocs
Explore widgets/gadgets.
Play around with Google maps where you can find locations and businesses by typing in the address, or searching by name.
Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places, and share with others.

Workshop 5 Tuesday 7th December (Venue - Small Training Room)

And for a finish

Learn about tagging and discover delicious (a social book marking site). Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them.
Wrap-up session

Benefits of using Zoho writer

2009-09-18T16:21:00.010+01:00

Welcome to Zoho Writer

This document was created by me ( 23 Things @ UL Administrator) using Zoho Writer, based on the original Helen Blowers Welcome to Zoho writer document. Zoho writer is a free web application that is part of a suit of online office and productivity applications.

Using Zoho writer is similar to using word, if you have a look around you will notice that many of the tool bars are similar, in fact you can do a lot more, a handy hint is to read the welcome page and learn what you can actually do:

This is my first time using Zoho Writer so below are some examples as to what is good about using Zoho Writer;

1.Documents can be saved online, so you do not have to carry a USB drive around.

2.I can post this document to the 23 Things @ UL blog, I can add tags if I want!

3.This document can be published as a public file, like a webpage (so anyone can read it, like what you are doing now).

4.It is so easy to share, import, export and email documents.

5.You can give read or write permissions for each sharing participant and an added chat functionality.

6.There is a handy HTML Code view, you can even email this document using the html.

I'm sure there are lots more handy options for creating, sharing, publishing documents, so take a look around!

Thing 17 Office 2.0

2009-07-16T12:38:00.021+01:00

What is Office 2.0?
Office 2.0 refers to online productivity web-based applications (think word processing and spreadsheets). These applications provide users with the ability to create and share documents over the internet without the need for installed desktop applications.

Some speculate that this emerging trend may mean the death of Microsoft Office and other software-based productivity tools, while others think web-based applications have their place, but not in the office.

One benefit of such web-based applications is the elimination of different software versions and file types when emailing documents or moving from PC to PC.

Collaboration is also facilitated by allowing multiple users to edit the same file and providing users with the ability to easily save and convert documents as multiple file types (including HTML and pdf). And, you can even use many of these tools, such as Zoho Writer, Writeboard and Google Docs to author and publish posts to your blog. It’s this type of integration with other web 2.0 tools that also makes web-based applications so appealing.

Discovery Resources:
A short list of web-based productivity applications – (authored by Helen Blowers in Google Docs).

Read through the Google Docs tour or watch Google Docs in Plain English. With Zoho, Google Docs and other web-based applications, the possibilities are endless.

Discovery Exercise:
1. Create a free account for yourself in Google Docs or Zoho Writer.

2. Explore the site, try out some of the features and create a test document or two, email it to a friend. Create a blog post about your discoveries.

Optional: If you're up for the challenge, try the publishing options to post to your blog.

Thing 7 Personalised Home Pages

2009-06-30T09:05:00.047+01:00

You can, if you wish, have a personalised or customised start page that allows you to bring all sorts of gadgets and web tools onto your homepage. It is your digital dashboard, presenting only the information that interests you.
You can read news and blogs, check email, check out the stock market or local weather reports, start web searches, access a variety of services such as Delicious, Flickr, or YouTube, and much, much more, all conveniently from one page. There are various sites that allow you to achieve this, providing you with thousands of gadgets.

Discovery Resources:
Have a look at this YouTube video on "How to set up a Google personalised homepage"
Check out these videos also on Youtube, on Netvibes , Pageflakes , MyYahoo (adding an RSS Feed).

Discovery exercises:
1. Set up your own personalised homepage in iGoogle, MyYahoo, Netvibes or Pageflakes.

2. Add some gadgets, widgets, flakes or modules. Include (if possible) one of the tools you have discovered so far in the programme.

3. Blog about the exercise.

Thing 2 Google Account

2009-06-29T09:39:00.013+01:00

Thing 2 is to set up a google account, which you will need to access the various web 2.0 tools throughout the 23 Things @ UL programme. You will be asked to set up various accounts using your google password, it is also a good idea to write your username and password down.

First of all take a look at this YouTube video on Setting Up a Google Account and then following the instructions, set up your own account in Google.

Web 2.0 Helpful Hints

2009-06-17T14:35:00.019+01:00

Here are some helpful hints that may help you to get started or solve a problem as you work through the 23 things:

Remember to keep a record of all your user names and passwords! Throughout this programme you will be required to register with various web sites e.g. Google, Blogger, Flickr, facebook etc.
Flash is required to view many of the applications. Chances are this is already installed on your computer, but if it is not, click here for a free download.
Adobe Reader is required to read a few of the links. If you do not have it, you can get it free here.
Always read any instructions the site offers regarding uploading, exporting, labelling, or whatever you are trying to do.
Not all sites like all browsers equally so switching browsers may solve your problem. Most sites seem to work best with the latest versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Clicking on the Refresh/Reload button in your browser can make a stubborn tool wake up or, alternatively, try closing the site/browser/program and re-opening it. This often solves the problem.
Not all links work all the time. Since there are often multiple links on a page to get to where you want to be, try clicking on another link. This often works in Blogger.
Firewalls and filters can limit access to sites or block actions on sites. Try clicking on a different link to that screen or just click again. You may need to work on a different computer if you can’t do what you want.
Check your browser settings - make sure pop-up windows are enabled, allow cookies, and make other setting changes to see if that solves the problem. Many sites require plug-ins like Flash to operate. Be sure you have the most up-to-date versions installed on your computer. Do a search on the plug-in name to find the download, then follow the directions to install.
Most sites like Blogger, Bloglines, Google, Flickr, & YouTube will have a Help or FAQ section. Use these to solve your problem.
Many Web 2.0 tools are in beta which is not the final version of a product or Web site, but close enough to show in public and work the bugs out. But the bugs may still pop up when you are using a site.
To retrieve your missing blog - Search Google cache at the following web address and copy and paste it into your web browser.

http://74.125.132/search?q=cache:http://blogsname.blogspot.com&irl=8strip=0

Check if your blog is viewable through Dashboard, and if it is not click on the link view blog. It should then automatically reappear.

Thing 20 Widgets/Gadgets

2009-06-17T12:07:00.075+01:00

What is a Widget?

In the world of Web 2.0, a widget or Window Gadget refers to a small application; a piece of self-contained code opening a doorway to a much larger application. Widgets are very easy to add to social networking sites and bloggers commonly use them to make their blogs more interesting, relevant and fun for their users. A widget can, for example, organise a blogger's posts by topic, provide stock quotes and news, search boxes for Google, eBay and other popular search-based web sites, as well as provide clocks, counters, games, feeds and more.

Note: widgets are also referred to as gadgets, depending on the source browser, for example in Yahoo the term used is a Widgets , and in Google its Gadgets.

Gadgets can be found under layout when editing your blog.
For additional widget, there are directories you can go to, such as Widgetbox, where you can search for a specific type of widget, customize it for your own use, then copy and paste the code to your own pages. Other free Web widget directories include yourminis and Google Gadgets for your Web page.

Discovery Resource:
Take a look at this short YouTube video on Adding a Google gadget to your blog.
Robin Good's video entitled What is a Widget gives a quick and simple overview of Widgetbox and Google gadgets.

Tips:
To add widgets from a directory you will need to copy and past a snippet of code to display the widget which is hosted on the developers server. The following are the steps you need to take:
a. Go to the directory for example Widgetbox and select the widget you want to add
b. Click on the selected widget
c. Click "Get Widget"
d. Copy the embed code given
e. Back at your own blog in the page elements page, click "Add a Gadget"
f. In the "Add a gadget page" select HTML/Java Script and add the code, also give the gadget a name
g. Press save et voila, your done.

Discovery exercise:
1. Add a Google gadget to your blog.

2. Explore some widget directories such as Widgetbox or yourminis, and then add one of these gadgets to your blog.

3. Write a post about your experience.

An optional exercise!
5. Create your own avatar by experimenting with Voki.

What is Voki?
Voki enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using a talking character. You can customize your Voki to look like you or take on the identity of lots of other types of characters… animals, monsters, anime etc. Your Voki can speak with your own voice which is added via microphone, upload, or phone, or you can type text into the programme and choose a voice to speak your text. Very nifty!
Voki lives on your blog, social network profile and will soon be integrated in various instant messaging platforms. You will also be able to download it to most video supported phones.

Have a look at some of the options at Voki.

A short YouTube vidoe on How to add an avatar to your blog - it's child's play!

Don't forget to blog about your experience!

Why use Zoho Writer

2009-05-12T12:06:00.006+01:00

Welcome to Zoho Writer

This document was created by me (LNSS Administrator) using Zoho Writer, based on the orinigal Helen Blowers Welocme to Zoho writer document. Zoho writer is a free web application that is part of a suit of online office and productivity applications.

Using Zoho writer is similar to using word, if you have a look around you will notice that many of the tool bars are similar, in fact you can do alot more, a handy hint is to read the welcome page and learn what you can actually do:

This is my first time using Zoho Writer so below are some examples as to what is good about using Zoho Writer;

1.Documents can be saved online, so you do not have to carry a USB drive around.

2.I can post this document to the Learning 2.0 LNSS blog, I can add tags if I want!

3.This document can be published as a public file, like a webpage (so anyone can read it, like what you are doing now).

4.It is so easy to share, import, export and email documents.

5.You can give read or write permissions for each sharing participant and an added chat functionality.

6.There is a handy HTML Code view, you can even email this document using the html.

I'm sure there are lots more handy options for creating, sharing, publishing documents, so take a look around!

Thing 10 Tagging, Folksonomies & Del.icio.us

2009-03-18T12:21:00.034Z

Tagging is an open and informal way of allowing users to describe online content (webpages, pictures & posts) by associating keywords.

Please watch this short video to explain Social bookmarking in plain English
(A YouTube video created by Common Craft).

The Horizon report (2007) has this to say: "A little group of Web 2.0 technologies—tagging and folksonomic tools, social bookmarking sites, and sites that make it easy to contribute ideas and content—is placing the power of media creation and distribution firmly into the hands of the people formerly known as the audience” (Rosen, 2006).

No longer satisfied to be consumers of content, today’s audience create content as well. Producing, commenting, and classifying are just as important as the more passive tasks of searching, reading, watching, and listening."

We’ll be looking more closely at Web 2.0 applications that take serious advantage of tagging (we've already looked at some - Flickr and blogs both use tags). Tagging, remember, allows you to describe and categorise online content - webpages, pictures, posts, etc.
It is considered a folksonomy, aka an unstructured categorisation scheme, unlike the more formal taxonomies that require adherence to strict rules and vocabularies.

This week we’ll look at still more innovative applications that take great advantage of tagging – Del.icio.us and Technorati.

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that lets you save bookmarks to a central location (so you can access your web favourites regardless of the browser or computer you're using) and then describe them all with tags so that you can easily find them again.

How is that social? Well, in addition to tagging your bookmarks, you can see how other users have tagged the same links and see related websites are important to them. This is an excellent way to find websites that may be of interest to you. Del.icio.us even offers RSS feeds {link to blog} - you can create a shared bookmark site (say, for your team) and receive news every time a new link is added (say, when one of your colleagues add a new link). It is also being used to assist with collaborative online reference.

Discovery exercise:

1.Take a look around Del.icio.us using the 23 Things @ UL account we have created for this project. (You will find it here, under the user "23ThingsUL").
Note: In this account you will find lots of resources that have been highlighted or used throughout the course of the 23 things programme. Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by alot of users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorise this reference?

2.How would you use a del.icio.us in your work environment, would you find it useful, what are the advantages?

Optional
3.Create your own Del.icio.us account, add your own bookmarks and explore the site.

Thing 13 Instant Messaging & Skype

2009-01-06T11:29:00.047Z

Instant Messaging

IM allows participants to communicate via a small text-box on their computer screen and it tends to be informal. Wikipedia has a description of the development and nature of Instant Messaging.

What software is needed?

There are a lot of different packages available that allow people to IM. In fact, you may have such a package on your own computer and if you use Windows you will almost certainly have MSN Messenger available to you.

Windows live messenger
Google talk
Skype Chat

Discovery Resources:

Examples of using IM in a teaching and research environment:

Instructional use of instant messaging (IM) during classroom lectures
Instant Messaging on Campus: Use and Integration in University Students' Everyday Communication.

Library reference support:
Libraries use Instant Messaging to provide reference support to users - have a look at the 2 links below from Dundalk IT and UCD:

http://ww2.dkit.ie/library/library_news/new_online_help_service

http://www.ucd.ie/library/services_&_facilities/chat/index.html

Running Searches:
An example of using IM to run searches can be found in the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia which has an IM interface. If you add Encarta@botmetro.net to your list of contacts, you can open up a reference session and query the encyclopedia without reference to your browser.

Contacting Colleagues:
IM can be a very effective alternative to e-mail. For example, when setting up a meeting, it may be quicker to IM the person and say "how is 3pm for you?".

Discovery Exercise:

1. For this exercise we just want you to think of how IM could work in your department or how it could work for you. What benefits would it bring to your job?

2. And of course write a blog about you thoughts!

Play around with Skype

Skype is a software application that allows you to communicate by way of the internet to another Skype user, anywhere in the world, for free. Your computer works as your phone. Skype setup and configuration are easy and it is generally a very user-friendly application.

Discovery Resources:
How Skype Works

The main advantage of Skype is free phone calls to other Skype users and here's how the process works:
a. Download the software
b. Install the software. It automatically configures itself for your computer and network
c. Register as a Skype user. (Finding a unique name will be the tough part)
d. Get a headset for your computer. Using external speakers and a microphone is possible but not practical
e. Locate another Skype user - you can search for this
f. Click on a Skype contact name. You can do this from a variety of places within the client application.

Thing 8 RSS Feeds & Newsreaders

2009-01-01T12:09:00.057Z

In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionising the way news, media and content creators share information, but it is also changing the way everyday users are consuming information.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to check for new information on those sites. Imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time, without having to search each site for new information. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

Please look at this video presentation to explain RSS Feeds (a YouTube video created by Common Craft).

This week’s discovery exercises focus is on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account or a Google news reader account for yourself to bring your feeds together.

Note/tips:
It is up to you to decide which newsreader account to use.
If you already have a Google account you can use the same login and password for the Google newsreader account.

Discovery Resources:

Using Bloglines Tutorial (how to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday) – This online tutorial walks you through how to setup a Bloglines account and add newsfeeds.

An introduction to Google Reader - A short YouTube video, created by Common Craft.

Adding RSS Feeds to Bloglines - A short YouTube video that PLCMC (original project) created showing how to add feeds.

Discovery Exercise:

1.Follow the discovery resources above to learn more about RSS and newsreaders.

2.Create a free online Bloglines account or Google Reader Account for yourself and subscribe to some RSS Feeds. Look for the orange RSS logo/button on your chosen sites, or you may even see a handy button saying: "subscribe to itunes, googlereader, bloglines" etc.

3.Subscribe to this blog using the RSS feed, (look for RSS Feed logo).
Also, as part of this project, you are asked to subscribe to other colleagues' blogs - this is an easy way to keep up to date and network with each other, also a good way to get handy hints!

4.Have a look at some websites and blogs you like to see if they have an RSS feature. You could also have a look at a few of the sample websites & blogs listed below. Check for the RSS Feeds and subscribe to one or more.

The Irish Times
BBC News
The Irish Independent
Phil Bradley's "I want to" page

5. Finally, don't forget to write about your experiences with RSS feeds in your blog!

Helpful Hint from 23 Things @ UL Team.
Take a look at Frequently Asked Questions section of this Blog.

Thing 12 Social Networking

2008-12-18T13:52:00.053Z

To begin, have a look at this online video presentation on social networking.

What is social networking?
Social networking is a broad term referring to the entire Web 2.0 phenomenon, but what we will be focusing on this week are usually referred to as social networking sites.

Many of you will already be using or aware of sites, such as Facebook, Myspace or Bebo.

To use these sites, you need to set up an online account (yes, another login & password) and then build a profile to reflect yourself and your interests. You can then add friends and contacts who can see your profile and with whom you can share photographs etc. There are many other features and activities such as joining various groups, writing public and private posts, chatting online, playing games and setting up birthday reminders for your friends.

Each site has its advantages and disadvantages - if you are not using one at the moment, it’s worth taking a look at a couple to see what you think.

Popular social networking sites include facebook and myspace and, for teens and younger adults, bebo. Sites with a professional networking or business focus include LinkedIn and, in Ireland, igopeople. Others you will hear about, and that are being used in a university context for teaching, are Ning, and Elgg.

How universities are using social networking sites:
There are lots of examples of social networking tools being used in higher education in Ireland. Academic departments, students' unions and university societies have set up Facebook or Bebo pages and actively use them to update people about activities and events. In TCD, the Trinity Access Programme uses Ning to create an online classroom environment for students - participants refer to it as "their own Bebo". UCC's Science Society uses Facebook for online student discussions, and NUIG's Facebook group has proved popular, with membership exceeding 1,700 people. UL has many groups on Facebook, including the UL Alumni Association and the UL Club. (you will need to be signed into Facebook to access theUL sites). To join any of these groups you will need to first set up a Facebook account. Meanwhile, you might also like to check out the following links:

Discovery Rescoures:

Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?

Imperial College London on Facebook (you will need a Facebook account for access)

The Pedagogical Potentials of Social Networking Sites

AWAI: The Power of Social Networking to Fast-Track Your Success

Discovery Exercise:

1. Take some time exploring mySpace, facebook & bebo.

(Optional)
2.If you are interested, join one social networking site, create a profile for yourself, add 3 friends, and search for an old colleague, college or school friend or family member who lives abroad.

Note: exercise 2 is optional - not everyone will be interested in joining a social networking site.

3. What did you learn or do that surprised you? Did you identify ways that you might be able to implement features or components of this tool in your work?

4. And finally write a blog post about your experience. How could your department use social networking as a tool? What are the advantages of having a social networking account? Would you be interested in getting together with colleagues and setting up a social networking account for your department?

Twitter

2008-12-11T15:01:00.009Z

Most of you will have heard of Twitter by now. It has become very popular in Ireland and all over the world in the last few years and if you tune into your local radio station on the way to work you don't have to listen long until someone mentions Twitter.

So what is Twitter?

Look at this short video presentation to explain what Twitter is:
Twitter - in plain english (a youtube video created by Common Craft).

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default).
Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Examples of twitter users include Barack Obama, The Library of Congress, The Limerick Leader, Dublin tourism, 98fm.

Discovery Task:
1. Explore twitter and set-up an account (this is an optional task). Do a search to see if a friend or a library you know has a twitter account.

2. Write a blog post about your experience. Do you think twitter could be relevant to your library? How would it help your customers?

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a twitter account for your library?

Thing 21 Google Maps

2008-12-11T14:39:00.025Z

Play with Google around the World

Google Maps allows you to find locations and businesses by typing in the address, or searching by name. It also allows you to view satellite images in great detail. You may be able to see your house, or even your car parked outside! When viewing any map in Google Maps, click on 'Satellite' or 'Hybrid' to view the satellite photo. You can zoom in on any area by gradually rolling your mouse wheel, or using the controls on the left of a map. Google Maps is only one of a whole suite of applications Google now provides. These products include Gmail (web-based email), Google Calendar and Google Talk to name just a few.

Discovery Resources:
Tour of Google Maps

Discovery Exercise:
1. Try to find the University Campus or, somewhere you lived previously, in Google Maps.

2. Use Google Maps to find directions from one location to another. For this, you'll need to know both the start and finish addresses as street locations.

3. Find directions from one location to another by using 'Get directions' mode.

4. Finally, create a post in your blog and share your experience!

Google Earth
Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite images, maps, terrain, 3D buildings...from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your visited places, and share with others.

Discovery Resources:
Google Earth tour.
Google Earth user guide
This short clip shows how you can Explore the Sky.

Thing 22 Google Books

2008-12-11T14:27:00.023Z

Google's mission is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". Since 2004, Google has been working with some of the world's largest libraries to digitise their book collections and make them available through Google Books. Many classics that are out of copyright are available in full text, some can be downloaded as pdfs, while newer titles are available in parts to preview.

Discovery Resources:
Google Books

Agreement between Google and US publishers

Implications of the agreement

Discovery Exercises:
1.Explore Google Books.

2. Find a title that is available in full, for example a classic novel by Dickens, Austen or Shakespeare. If it is available as a pdf, try downloading it.

3. Search for a modern title and see how much of it is available for you to read.

4. And finally blog about your thoughts on Google BOOKS and what impact it might have on you and your students.

Thing 23 Finale

2008-12-08T11:56:00.008Z

Congratulations! Well done, you have reached the 23rd thing and you have now almost completed the programme.

Before signing off, there is one last discovery post for you...for your final exercise for this programme please reflect on your learning journey and post a few thoughts.

Here are some questions to prompt you if you're drawing a blank...

What were your favourite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
How has this programme assisted your lifelong learning goals?
Were there any unexpected outcomes from this programme that surprised you?
What could we do differently to improve the programme format or concept?

And finally…
If we offered another discovery programme in the future, would you chose to participate?

Online Image Generators

2008-12-03T09:56:00.019Z

Now just have a bit of fun!

http://www.signgenerator.org/

Have a look at http://www.imagegenerator.org/.

Play around with the site and create an image to add to your blog.

Photobox FD Toys

PICFONT
Add text to a picture. Insert text, add comments to picture, canvas, shape very simply in 10 seconds...You can simply add text on 3 differents mods : over a picture (uploaded from computer or from an Url) over a canvas (which represents a space where you can select a background color), or over a shape (badges, signs....)

Thing 14 eBooks, eBook readers and eAudiobooks

2008-11-27T15:08:00.044Z

eBooks and eaudiobooks are digital versions of printed books that are available for downloading from the web. Some titles are freely available, others are subscribed to by the Glucksman library, and many are available for individual purchase from booksellers' websites.

One of the advantages of ebooks is that you can search within an individual title or across a collection of titles whereas searching the print version of a title is confined to the index and table of contents.

One disadvantage of ebooks has been the nature of the devices used to store and display them, such as PCs and laptops. However, the development of ebook readers, such as the Sony ebook reader and the Kindle, has made downloading and reading ebooks a more user-friendly experience.

Have a look at this YouTube video on ebook readers

eAudiobook are books that are narrated and downloadable from the web as sound files. You can listen to them on a PC or transfer them to an MP3 player, iPod etc.

Discovery Resources:
EBook sites:
UL Library ebooks
Booksonboard
Waterstones.com

eAudiobook sites:
http://libribox.org/
Booksonboard
iTunes Store (you need an iPod and iTunes on your PC for this).

For this discovery exercise you just need to familiarise yourself with some downloadable ebooks and get an idea of the different titles and formats you can find.

Discovery Exercise:
1.Explore the ebook collections at UL Library by looking at a collection of eBooks such as Early English Books Online (EBBO) or Safari.

2. Search Dawsonera for individual eBooks that the library has purchased, then see if you can download and read one.

3. Create a blog post about your findings.

Optional:
4. Take a look at eBooksellers' websites like Booksonboard, which offer eBooks and eAudiobooks for individual purchase.

5. Talk to your faculty librarian about buying eBook versions of your reading list titles.

Thing 5 Podcasts

2008-11-20T15:35:00.036Z

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the last few years, it's easy to see why.
Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries (like the podcasts that have been created for this Learning 2.0 program) to much longer talks, interviews, group discussions etc. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them.
Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portal device) with headphones or a speaker. iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple, is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.

Discovery Rescources:
Have a look at the Blog created by Podcasting Ireland which explains podcasting.

This short video presentation (by Common Craft) also explains podcasting.

Some podcast directories:
http://www.podcastingireland.ie/
http://www.podcastdirectory.com/
www.learnoutloud.com/podcast-directory

Optional advanced resources: (for those who want to learn how to create a podcast of their own)
Beginner's guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts
How to podcast tutorial

Mailing List:

JISCmail also have a podcasting mailing list which is designed to foster a network for researchers and practitioners working with podcasting in any subject area within higher learning institutions.

Discovery Exercise:
1. View this short video demonstrating how to make a podcast by Joan O'Sullivan a Language Centre Teacher, in the School of Languages, Literature, Culture and Communication, .

2. Take a look at itunes or one or two of the podcast directories listed above and see if you can find a podcast that interests you.
Have a listen to podcasts which were created by Stephen Kinsella, lecturer in the Department of Economics, Kemmy Business School, for his students.

3. Do a search for your favourite radio station and find a podcast that interests you, for example have a look at RTE radio.

4. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account.

5. Finally, create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?

Optional: If you're very ambitious, why not try down loading Audacity and create a podcast of your own and then add it to your blog.
Note:
Click on download Audacity 1.3.6 (Beta)
Lame MP3 Encoder will allow you to convert your recording into an MP3 file.

Map of my travels

2008-11-20T13:22:00.003Z

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php

Frequently Asked Questions

2008-11-19T12:25:00.040Z

Question:
How long do I have to complete the program?

The programme will start the end of September and you will have 12 weeks to complete the programme.

Question:
How do I track my progress for each of the 23 Things?

Each staff member who participates in this program will be required to set up a blog (details in Week 2 of the programme) to track their progress.

Question:
Will there be any training classes offered to show staff what to do? If I need help who do I call?

During the programme we intend to run a series of five lunch time workshops on topics covered in the programme.

You can also write a comment on the main 23 Things @ UL blog or send an email to 23things@ul.ie.

Question:
I've seen the list of 23 Things on the website, but how do I know what to do with them?

Each week, an email will be sent to highlight the weekly task or tasks, the reason for this staggered approach is to allow participants the opportunity to focus each week on a different area without feeling overwhelmed.

Question:
Can I work ahead through the list of items on my own?

Yes, of course. As this is a self-directed, discovery process, you are encouraged to work ahead on your own. However, if you do work ahead on some items, be sure to write about the exercises in your blog so you can receive full credit for its completion.

Question:
How do I find other blogs?

Try Google Blog Search at:
http://blogsearch.google.com/

Question:
How do I control who can view my blog?

The following link explains how to manage permissions and keep your blog private if you wish.
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42673

Question:
How do I embed a Youtube video in my blog. The following link will explain how.
http://poindextrous.blogspot.com/2009/07/embed-youtube-video-in-your-blog.html

Question:
How Do I add an RSS feed to my blog?

Go to website you are interested in and click on RSS facility.
[If available click on mygoogle link (will add feed directly to google reader)]
Other wise copy and paste desired RSS link into add a subscription box in Google Reader.
Choose Manage Subscriptions.
Click on Send To tab and tick blogger from menu which appears.
Click Subscriptions tab to return to previous screen.
Copy RSS subscription link you wish to add to your blog.

Log into Blogger
Brought directly into your Dashboard and click on Layout.
Add Gadget
Choose Feed
Paste RSS subscription from Reader into feed url box.
Press continue
Click Save
View Blog
Feed should now appear in your blog.

Question:
How do I add the following gadget to my blog

Go to http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=141483 for detailed instructions.

Question:
Why has my blog been disabled?

If your blog is disabled, it will be listed on your Dashboard, but you will not be able to click on it to access it. If this is the case, there will be a grace period during which you can request that it be reviewed and recovered. The disabling is the result of Google's automated classification system marking it as spam. Because this system is automated, there will necessarily be some false positives, even though Google is continually working on improving their algorithms to avoid these. If your blog is not a spam blog, then it was one of the false positives and Google apologises. If this is the case, please write to Blogger Support (you will need to sign in to Blogger) and we will manually review and restore your blog. Be sure to give us the URL (address) of the affected blog.

Thing 11 Technorati and learn how tags work

2008-11-06T13:08:00.033Z

Technorati is the leading search tool and authority on blogs, the number of blogs doubles just about every 6 months with over 51 million blogs currently being tracked by the site.
The IrishBlogDiretory is a directory of blogs of Irish content and of Irish interest, the directory is not solely for Irish people but for anyone who might have an "Irish blog".

So how does a person get their blog listed as part of the blogosphere and how can you tag your posts with keywords to make them more findable through a Technorati search?
The answer to the first question is that your blog is probably already being captured by Technorati due to the fact that you're already using Blogger, the most popular blogging tool.
But if you want to join the party and have your blog officially listed on Technorati and also take advantage of the watchlist and other features, you’ll need to claim your blog yourself.

As for tagging posts with Technorati tags?

This is easy, too. All you need to do is add a little bit of HTML code to the bottom of your post (see my example below ul23things) and Technorati will pick up these tags when it spiders (or web crawls) your site.

There are a lot of new features that have been added to Technorati, including new ways to search for blogs. You can search for keywords in blog posts, search for entire blog posts that have been tagged with a certain keyword, or search for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject (like photography or libraries).

Discovery Resources:
Technorati Tour – videocast of new features & new look .
Discovery Exercise:
1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?

Explore:
2. Explore popular blog, searches and tags.
Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?

3. Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.

OPTIONAL: If you're up for a challenge, learn how to tag your posts with Technorati tags so they can join tag searches.

Create a post about something. It can be anything you want and add the HTML code to the bottom to tag it. You may also want to consider claiming your blog and creating a watchlist.

Note: I just added the code through Blogger's Edit HTML using Technorati help. (Don't forget to label your post ul23things)

Example:
Technorati Tag; ul23things

Thing 16 LibraryThing

2008-11-06T13:05:00.012Z

Developed for book lovers, LibraryThing lets you create a personal catalogue or index of all the books you've ever read and connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes.

There are lots of ways to use LibraryThing. You can review your favourite books, read other people's reviews or see which books get the top reviews. You can even view your books on a virtual shelf, add a widget to display titles that are in your catalogue or install a LT Search box on your blog.
So why not join the ranks and create your own library online?

Discovery Resources:
LibraryThing tour
LibraryThing blog (updates & news)

Discovery Exercise:
1.Take a look around LibraryThing and create an account.

2.Search for the last 5 books you have read and add them to your library.

3.Review one of the books in your library.

4.Blog about your findings and be sure to link to your LibraryThing catalogue.

Thing 10 Online image generator

2008-11-06T13:02:00.019Z

Generators? No, I’m not talking about those gas powered back-up things. The generators I’m talking about allow you to easily manipulate image and graphics to create fun images like this:

For this discovery exercise;
Just have fun. Find a few fun image or text generators to play around with and write a post in your blog about one of your favorites and display the result. Often adding the image you mocked up to your blog is as simple as copying and pasting code that the page provides. If not, you may just need to right click on the image and then save it to your hard drive before using Blogger’s image button to add it to your post.
If you’re having difficulty getting your image added to a post in your blog, ask a co-worker for help.
In looking at several staff blogs, it’s easy to see that we have lots of people in the system who have figured out how easy it is to add images to their blogs.

Discovery Resources:

The Generator Blog FD Toys
Sites to play with: Dummies Book Generator, FD Toys , Comic Strip Generator, Custom Sign Generator, Magazine Cover
Also try searching for online generators, text generators or image generators!

Discovery Exercise:
1. Play around with some image generators and find one that you like.

2. Post the result of your discovery process in your blog.

Note:
Be sure to include a link to the image generator itself, so other participants can discover it too.
So take some time and have fun with this exercise.
And remember to be tasteful too!*

Thing 11 Flickr mashups & 3rd party sites

2008-11-05T09:34:00.018Z

Like many Web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged people to build their own online applications using images found on the site.
Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups that use Flickr images.
Mashups are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like Montager).

Here are just a few examples …
Flickr Color Pickr - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.
Montager – creates a photo mosaic from photos found on Flickr.

Discovery Exercise:
1.Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there.

2.Create a blog post about one that intrigues you.

3.Have a look at FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker.

4.Create a map of your travels using Mapmaker
or
Create a jigsaw example of map of my travels
or
Create a mosaic of your favourite photos on your desktop using Montager.

Why not have some fun with Smilebox.

Thing 4 YouTube

2008-11-05T08:35:00.048Z

In this exercise we will be looking at the video hosting site YouTube.

Here's Wikipedia's description of YouTube.

You may already be familiar with YouTube - possibly before you began 23 things @ UL but we've also been using it throughout the programme. YouTube is currently the most popular site allowing users to upload their own video content easily. It also allows you to embed clips into your own blog or website.

Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from Web 2.0 to the Evolution of dance to Mr Bean's revolution of dancing. Of course, like any free site, you’ll find a lot of stuff not worth watching but see for yourself what the site has to offer.
You might like to play this YouTube video of the Party on the Plaza celebrating 20 years of UL as a university!

Discovery Resources:

Thing 18 Wikis

2008-11-05T08:31:00.050Z

Please listen to this short video presentation which explains Wikis.

A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well known of these knowledge sharing tools.
With the benefits that wikis provide, the use and popularity of this tool is increasing.

Some of the benefits that make wikis so attractive are:
Anyone (registered, or unregistered if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content.
Tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up with what has been changed and by whom.
Earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed.
And users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content.
In most cases simple syntax structure is used.
As the use of wikis has grown over the last few years, organisations all over the country have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge.

Discovery Resources:

Use these resources to learn more about wikis:

Tutorial on Wikis by Gabriel Avram
For information on how to create a wiki, using wikispaces, visit - http://www.wikispaces.com/.

This article from BusinessWeek magazine illustrates how companies are using wikis.

How to use wikis for business projects - gives advice about choosing the right wiki for your organisation.

Discovery Exercise:
1. For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at some wikis and blog about your findings. Here are a few examples to get you started:

http://flu.wikia.com/wiki/Flu_Wiki - tracks the swine flu epidemic
http://wikileaks.org/- publishes anonymously leaked sensitive documents
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Main_Page - provides free geographic data about maps
http://visualblooms.wikispaces.com//- Bloom's Taxonomy of Hierarchy using web 2.0 tools.

http://www.idc.ul.ie/idcwiki/index.php/Wikis_for_teaching#Free_wiki_spaces_available - an example of a lecturer's teaching wiki.

2. Consider different ways your organisation could use a wiki and blog about your thoughts.

Optional:
3. Try setting up a wiki that would be useful to colleagues within your department.

Resource
7 Things You Should Know About Wikis

Thing 9 Discover Flickr

2008-11-04T11:25:00.033Z

Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Within the past few years, Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword “tags” to create descriptions and links to other photos.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a good look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer.
Find out how tags work, what groups are, and what other universities use flicker for.

Discovery Resources:
Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps)
Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups) and let’s not forget to look at some other universities on Flickr Discovery Exercise

Discover Exercise:
1.Create a free account in Flickr* .

2.Take some photos using a digital camera, or your mobile phone and upload these photos to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images "23 Things @ UL" and mark it public.

3.Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post.

(Once you have a Flickr account, you have two options for doing this: through Flickr's blogging tool or using Blogger's photo upload feature.)

So go ahead, explore the site and have some Flickr photo fun.

PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) it is advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit where credit is due for the photo.

*An alternative to Flickr is Picasa, you may like to explore it.

Thing 3 Blogging

2008-11-04T10:16:00.055Z

Now that you’ve done some exploring around this website and understand how this program will work, it’s time to setup your very own personal blog so that you can begin recording your thoughts, discoveries and exercises.

Please look at this video presentation to explain Blogs in Plain English (a YouTube video created by Common Craft).

Wikipedia's explanation of a blog.

Discovery Resources:

Blogger’s Quick Tutorial

Discovery Exercise:
Part 1
For this program, we recommend that you use Blogger, a popular, free online blog hosting service that is easy to use. There are however other applications available such as Wordpress, you might like to try.

Creating a blog using Blogger takes just three steps:

1. Create an account.

2. Name your blog.

3.Select your template.

For those wanting to give their blog a bit of a design overhaul - try this blog tutorial on Blog Templates using Photoshop. In it they talk about how to design header banners/logos, give photos borders, make button etc. They also give a lot of useful links to help in the process.

Tips:
Once you’ve created your blog here are two important things to know:
1. To add posts: The maintenance interface that you will use to add posts, edit or change the step-up of your blog, is accessed online at http://www.blogger.com/. Be sure to take note of your login and password.

2. To view your blog: Your blog address is http://(xxxx).blogspot.com, (xxxx)=the unique identifier you entered in Step 2. Be sure also to take note of your blog address.

Part 2:
Now that you have created your blog, write a post about the experience. Please remember to email the 23things@ul.ie with the title of your new blog.

Thing 1 Getting Started with the 23 Things

2008-11-04T10:01:00.047Z

Welcome to the 23 Things @ UL programme, an online learning discovery programme about Web 2.0 tools that encourages staff to explore and learn about new technologies. This programme is for staff at the University of Limerick and is being co-ordinated by the 23 Things @ UL team at the Glucksman Library. It was first developed for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and has since been used by organizations all over the world.

Please listen to this podcast explaining how the 23 Things @ UL programme works.

How does the programme work?
Over the next 12 weeks or so this website will highlight "23 things" (small discovery exercises) to help you become familiar with tools like blogging, RSS news feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting, video and image hosting sites. All of these tools are freely available through the web and are often collectively referred to as Web 2.0 tools.

As this is a self-learning programme each participant will be asked to track their learning journey online through their own blog (which you will create in week 2). This is also how we will know that you have completed each week's activities and that you have completed the programme.

As several of your colleagues will be working on this programme, you are encouraged to support each other and questions and queries can also be posted to the comments section at the bottom of this post. There will also be library staff from the 23things@ul team who will answer any queries by email.

Getting Started:

(Please Ignore this step if already registered for programme)
1. To register for the programme please sign up by sending an email to 23things@ul.ie .

2. Once you have signed up, an email containing a link to the week's discovery exercises will be sent to you at the beginning of every week of the 12 week programme.

3. Each participant will will be asked to set up a Google account to take part in the programme. (Remember to make a note of your login and password).

4. The basis of the programme involves you setting up your own blog (week 2 of the programme). Once this is done you will need to email the link to your blog (i.e. its address or url) to 23things@ul.ie so that we can list your blog on the main 23 Things @ UL blog and keep track of your progress. Remember - we will just add your blog's name to the main 23 Things @ UL blog - if you have chosen to blog anonymously, your own name will not appear.

5. You'll be recording your progress and experiences each week by updating your own blog and considering how you could apply Web 2.0 tools in your own working environment.

Please take a good look around this site before you get started, be sure to read the Frequently Asked Questions.

Once you have done this, you can congratulate yourself - you'll have completed the very first discovery exercise in the 23 Things programme!

Finally we hope you enjoy it and have fun.

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