late additions- 5b.

The deadline may already have passed for assessment, but Im still going to go back and add the bits I havent done yet.

Here is 5b. - add a link from a photo sharing site.

I couldnt decide on which photo to pick, so I decided to just show the results page!

Flicka loves Bonsai (click here)

Finally......

Well folks, despite not having totally completed everything in time for the blog submission deadline (even with an extension) I finally feel a lot more confident using more interesting stuff on the net. I was previously only using it for FB, writing reports & sending emails - a couple of times over the years Ive outsourced to friends to do a web page for my classical quartet SareZian. Its always ended in the dust either because of the web company, or we couldnt have the page the way we wanted. Now, Im really looking forward to being able to have more direct creative control over what we present digitally for our business. These skills are really important for musicians to market themselves and we just arent taught them & if youre not a geek, well then youre kind of screwed. I just didnt know where to get them and I dont like mucking around with things that 'sort of' work or are 'sort of' along the right track.

This course has been ideal for me with the things its taught me and although Ive just not had enough time to absorb it properly within the time frame required, so far its had just the kind of ingredients that have

kept me interested. Ive had to find out a few things in my contact classes at uni - and its the little things that having someone show you that can make all the difference. (Thanks Vonny!) A friend showed me how to add gadgets (or that I was having trouble finding them and it should be on my page but wasnt for some reason) and how to highlight text before hyperlinking it - took all of 20 seconds, but it was a catalyst that has made all the difference to this blog, and was just what I needed to know, but couldnt quite find that info whilst going through the weekly tutorials. We all need a bit of human contact time occasionally and someone else to see what youre actually doing on the screen, not just the end result. She also showed me that on Twitter her contact tute class had added a hashtag #ISYS1166 so they could all Tweet with each other - but I only found that out last week and now its all over, so Ive kind of missed the boat, but can just use their previous tweets to catch up on things.

The main problems Ive encountered have been getting technology to work properly, (eg. online lectures), and TIME, most of all. I was working full time, doing the course full time and it took the first 4 or 5 weeks to sort my schedule out, deal with life (rellies visiting, etc) and get going solidly. What would have helped me in the first instance is a phone call confirming that I was actually doing the course online, as just learning how to navigate around the course website, find my course materials and make sure that I had found everything I had to do was daunting enough, and that alone took loads of time for me in the first few weeks, without even doing any subject work. Ive been about 2 weeks behind the eight ball right from the start and had the circumstances been different, I think I could say that Id have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. :)

Being on a Mac without Microsoft Office has also presented problems with the tutorial exercises and I just cant get them done past a certain point, or at all. For the sake of getting on with the re

st of the course, Im at a point where Im just choosing to say 'bugger it' and go on with something else. We really need the tutorials to be Mac friendly too, as there are so many of us using them.

Ive enjoyed the social interaction with my group members & reading their blogs - which have provided helpful examples for me, and their support has been a big help and given much relief to know that theyre in the same boat. Id love to take more time to finish off this blog. Ive enjoyed all the web activities presented and need to take more time to continue with them so I can use them properly as theres so much for me to benefit from professionally and personally. Theres also soooo many to chose from, which is why I need soooo much more time.

Woo-hoo!!!

Google Maps

I hope this works - I couldnt find some of the places I wanted to mark & I didnt trust my geography! I tried a couple of times to do this, as I found that the markers didnt show up once I embedded the map. I wanted it to just show the island of Bali, but its gone out to show Indonesia - if you keep clicking on the + sign the trip & markings will soon show up. If I had more time I could embed photos & videos in the map, but to begin with Ive got nothing on Flickr or YouTube, so Id need a couple more days just for this project.

MASH-UPS: I dont get them yet. Ive looked at Yahoo Pipes (and dont know where to start), read the articles, and guess that if Id have time to put a video or pics into this map, then Id have a mash-up? Im sure I can do it, theres just not been the time for me to fully understand this idea. I just need more time.

View Bali holiday - motorbike trip. in a larger map

Some groovy music & scenery

This is one of my favourite clips of music and visual - grim though the colour scheme is - its from the end credits of Lemony Snickets Series of Unfortunate Events. I think its utterly beautiful.

Sheherazade

Its a bit unusual to see a bunny roll over - it means they really trust you. This is one of my pet buns having himself a time on the couch. :)

Ubud, Bali 2010

I wanted to add these pics as a slide show - but theyre on my computer. After a lot of mucking around I still couldnt find the right way of doing it. I dont yet have any pics on Flickr, which would solve the problem - easy peasy. It may not be done yet, but I have no fear! :)

Random Joys of Social Bookmarking

What is DELICIOUS?

I chose Delicious because this seemed like a good starting point for me - I loved the tutorial clip on it and what it proclaimed to do: clean up all my website bookmarks and make them accessible from the internet, not just my own computer. I added it to my toolbar and imported my existing bookmarks, which are not organised. Starting up on Delicious was easy - it was almost done automatically as I have a google email account, and off I went! Thank you Lee LeFever! I made the mistake of using the automatically assigned popular tags instead of creating my own, so now I have a second set of bookmarks that need cleaning up. Joy.

I havent managed to make my bookmarks social yet as I dont know people on Delicious per se, - have to find some. This could be great for people in music ensembles & instrumentalists - my fellow flute colleagues could share a collection of the worlds websites on flute and our artists. I do think that professionally this is a really useful way of sharing information for me. All the user needs is the URL, and a compatible web browser - it doesnt support AOL or Internet Explorer, but offers downloadable connections to help. I havent used EndNote yet unfortunately, so the only bibliographic item I can compare it with is iTunes - (you may laugh, but its a really important tool for me as it has my entire music library on it). Visually I still prefer my Mac's bookmarking interface as it can display the pages in a gallery, and in file format, which I also like. I guess this blue & white site will just take a bit of time for me to adjust to.

LIBRARYTHING

LibraryThing is a vehicle to help create a catalog of users books, so they can access it anywhere. It is a social site so people can connect and share if they have similar lists, and the reader can glean suggestions for further reading or additions to their collections. It appears to be a website unto itself, so no extra software is needed, provided your web browser works. Users can have an account for up to 200 books, afterwhich there is a small fee per annum or lifetime. The creator includes a very off-putting line in the starting up section: “I conservatively predict the revenue will enable me to recline all day on an enormous pile of gold.”

This is a site for the more serious reader or information collector, with the option to use LOC or Dui systems for cataloging.

I already use GoodReads (occasionally) on my Facebook, and currently dont see the use of operating multiple systems for my books– so I just joined up and entered 4 books as I had time, but would love to see what happens further – Ill do about 10 more & let you know if theres any developments. It was really easy to begin – just a user & password. Im looking forward to linking up with people who have similar lists. I think that once I get going with this site, it could be very useful socially.

GURULIB

Upon first glance, I thought "now this is my kind of library site!" (sorry Nuggen!) - it appeals to me visually as its bright & colourful, and is a global library facility so I can catalog my CDs & DVDs here as well. A one stop shop. Yessss!

AND the big bonus is how you can input the data – via your webcam with barcodes!! Its just like being at work in the bookshop only at home!!!

I tried to upload my iTunes files whilst checking some other sites , however I wont know if its successful or not for the next 6 days – as its saying thats how long it will take to check the items. Joy. So I guess I cant try it with books just yet as the uploading file is still going on the CDs. Bummer - I did things the wrong way around.

Its a lot simpler looking than the other sites – almost as if its made for kids (probably was!) This site is very bright and appeals to the visual user. I tried to use the webcam to scan in a book but it made my Safari suddenly quit twice, so for me, its not as convenient as it looked at first. Ill be getting a little barcode scanner I reckon – I dont like mucking around. This is a free site, and Im losing interest in it the more I try to use it. The social features are the same as LibraryThing, where your library is matched up with other users – the thing is, I guess each site attracts different users and it would be interesting to see what kind of people you meet on each site and how many people you match with.

Many more days are needed just to explore all the options and use these sites properly to find the right ones for me, but Ill keep on it because when the day comes that Ive got all my books, cds & dvds catalogued then everything will be perfect. I will sit very still and enjoy listening to the silence of everything being in order :)