Women’s Technology Network — WTN

My article about integrating technology into the curriculum with teachers on Kosrae has just been published:

International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning

http://www.apacall.org/ijpl/v4n4/

Online FREE storage space

Microsoft is offering free personal and secure storage on the Web of a whopping 5 gigabytes to users registered for its Windows Live services.
Users of its Hotmail e-mail service can access this virtual hard drive on the web using the same name and password. The service, which was in a beta
form with limited storage and went live last week across the world, can be accessed at

<http://skydrive.live.com/>

Users can upload and store their files in three folders: Personal, which they alone can access; Share with friends, which will be open to designated
friends who are also registered Windows Live users; and a Share with the World, where one can place files that are open to the wider public to
view. There is a generous limit of 50 MB for any one file.

You can read more on this piece by Anand Parthasarathy in ‘The Hindu’ dated 02 Mar 08 or browse it at:

<http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/02/stories/2008030252601100.htm>

Microsoft has developed an online workspace for FREE as a place where you can use it to group related information for work, school, or personal projects. This new set of online technology tools is similar in concept to Zoho [http://www.zoho.com] and Google Apps [http://www.google.com], both of which are also FREE.

Information from the website describes how to:

Organize a study group

•    Work together on assignments and share notes from class
•    Keep a shared schedule and task list for your group
•    Access them from almost any computer with a Web browser
•    No more flash drives or sending yourself documents via e-mail

Keep track of important school information
•    gather feedback on a document, report, or presentation
•    Manage schedules from sports to registration deadlines
•    Track your grades and progress toward degree requirements

Coordinate with club or team members

•    Post and manage schedules (for sports, clubs, organizations, etc.)
•    Share lists of who brings what (no more e-mails back and forth)
•    Open and save files directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Watch the tutorial videos for additional information: http://workspace.officelive.com/

From the Microsoft website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/future.mspx

The Future of Windows XP

“Last year you told us you weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to Windows XP. We listened. That’s why we delayed our plan to stop selling it until June 30, 2008.

We love that you love Windows XP. We’ve seen it on our website, in e-mails, and through independent online petition drives. Our engineers work hard to build innovative software that empowers our customers. It’s nice when you tell us we’ve made a difference.

But our commitment to innovation sometimes means making tough choices. This is one of them.

After careful consultation with our customers and industry partners, we’ve decided to proceed with our plan to phase out Windows XP in June. It’ll be a long goodbye. We plan to provide support for Windows XP until 2014.”
 

Documents, photos and other files accumulate on your hard drive. It is a safe bet that if you lost those files, you would not be able to replicate them very easily, if at all. Free online storage is available for you to store those important documents. Some website companies offer you the opportunity to upload, access, and share your music, video, photos.

Access one of the following sites to find out how to safely save your documents online for free.

Yahoo! Briefcase
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/

Notes from the website: “Yahoo! Briefcase is a tool that allows you to store files online and then access them from anywhere. Think of it as an extra hard drive that you can use from any computer connected to the Internet. It’s a tool for managing files from home, work, or any other location—and a great way to share files with family, friends, and co-workers. Yahoo! Briefcase provides 30MB of storage space for your files.”

Media Fire
http://www.mediafire.com/

Notes from the website: “MediaFire is a free and unlimited file and image hosting web site with no strings attached. Our goal is to help make the Internet a more interesting and media rich place by provide the fastest and most simple to use tool for sharing all kinds of files in almost any way imaginable… You can create an unlimited number of folders and sub folders to store, organize and share your files and images.”

Box
http://box.net/

Notes from the website: “Box.net is an online storage and sharing service that gives you access to your files from anywhere. With Box, you can access important documents from your desktop computer, laptop, or even mobile phone. Once you’ve uploaded your files to your online storage on Box, you can also share them with anyone, anytime — Box makes online web file sharing simple.” Small 1 gb accounts are free.

4Shared
http://www.4shared.com/

Notes from the website: “Actually, it is a big online storage where Internet users store their text, audio, video, photo, and other files and share them, if they wish, with other people. It is easy, handy, and free!”

After you have selected one website to use, post a ‘COMMENT‘ to this BLOG and let us know which one you chose and why.

Here are some places to start looking at BLOGs for librarians.

(1) Google Librarian Central
http://librariancentral.blogspot.com/
(2) Librarian
http://librarian.lishost.org/
(3) Librarian WebLogs in Yahoo! Directory
http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/Libraries/Librarians/Weblogs/?skw=librarian+blogs
(4) Librarian.Net
http://www.librarian.net/
(5) The Unquiet Librarian
http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/
Look at her presentation slides on her BLOG. Here, Arlene, is another difference you can note between listservs and BLOGs.
(6) Krafty Librarian
http://kraftylibrarian.com/2007/10/blogging-difference-between-academic.html
This topic is: Blogging the Difference Between Academic Medical Librarians and Hospital Librarians
(7) Top Librarian Bloggers
http://oedb.org/library/features/top-25-librarian-bloggers-by-the-numbers
This might be overkill, but there is a list of 55 blogging librarians!

Attendees: Dr. Matilda Rivera, Arlene Cohen, Rose Lemmers, Suzanne T. Bell, and Dr. Jacqui Cyrus

 We had an in-depth discussion of BLOGS. We looked at 2 ways that they are being used for education purposes. We viewed one set of BLOGs from one of Dr. Matilda Rivera’s graduate classes. A BLOG from one of her students offers an example of how discussions can be continued from face-to-face classes to the online venue, complete with classmate interactions and reactions to the readings and each other [http://norman-ed630.blogspot.com/]. Dr. Jacqui Cyrus showed another example of using a BLOG for research and information gathering that can be extended outside of the classroom to include other technology-using colleagues [http://cyrustech.blogspot.com/].

Dr. Suzanne Bell took the lead with BLOG suggestions and posed the possibility of creating a BLOG for library database information FAQs (frequently asked questions). We all thought it was a great idea. We can support her initial venture as she sets it up and begins to tinker with it until she gets it to function just right for her and her clientele.

Arlene Cohen posed the question topics: (1) differences in listservs and BLOGs, and (2) distinctions between HTML coding and programming. Via email, I sent a few definitions and web links that might answer the questions. If necessary, I can post those queries on this BLOG. Let me know what you wish to see archived here.

The group discussion touched upon del.icio.us lists, which we will tackle in more detail at our next meeting, at which time we can immediately subscribe to a new list and begin to incorporate posts. We can also learn about the merits of networking and practice creating tags and bundles.

If you glance back to our February WTN notes, we discussed 4 areas of discussion and support. For our May meeting, we might decide to look at how to create a MOODLE for the Summer or Fall semesters. Give me some feedback; what are your preferences?

What is a browser?

“A web browser is a software application which allows an user to access, display and interact with text, images, videos, and music, for example, that are located on a web page at a website on the World Wide Web” Retrieved from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browsers].

Text and images on a web page can contain hyperlinks to other web pages at the same or different website locations. Web browsers allow a user to quickly and easily access information provided on web pages at many websites by accessing these links.

Common browsers:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
Firefox 2.0
Netscape Navigator 9.0
Safari 3.0
Opera 9.6
Camino 1.5.2

Upgrading your browser may enhance your web pages so that they display the way designers intend them to display. In addition, your security may be improved. Best of all,  these browsers are FREE for you to download and install.

Additional information exists here: http://technotes.edublogs.org/

Attendees: Dr. Matilda Rivera, Arlene Cohen, Maria Ovalles, Suzanne T. Bell, and Dr. Jacqui Cyrus

We met in SoE, room 108 to discuss how we wanted to continue to connect and network. Dr. Cyrus gave all attendees an overview of the Mac OS (operating system) on the new INTEL 20-inch iMacs — how to access the HD, looking at the Dock (playing with Photo Booth), creating folders, putting items into the trash, and shutting down.

We discussed what we wanted our next few sessions to include in order of importance: (1) creating and using BLOGs for coursework and librarianship, (2) creating and using a del.icio.us list, and (3) understanding the benefits of group participation in a MOODLE.

We discussed the following technology tools with which to get proficient:

(1) del.icio.us lists http://del.icio.us/

(2) zotero  http://www.zotero.org

(3) WTN BLOG   http://jacqui.blogsome.com/

(4) UoG MOODLE   http://campus.uogdistance.com/

Our next WTN meeting will be Friday, 28 March at 4:00p in SoE, room 108.  

Our second tutorial/networking meeting on Friday, 21 September concerned BLOGging. Present were the following participants:
Rose Lemmers, Arlene Cohen, YeKyong Kim, Cat Stoicovy, Matilda Rivera, Jacqui Cyrus and later, Maria Ovalles.

Matilda and I have used BLOGs (weB+LOG) in our classes for a few years, so we coordinated this session about academic uses of BLOGs. Matilda took the lead and gave an overview of BLOG activities and created handouts for us. Participants created their own BLOGs using the GMAIL product, Blogger. The participants worked on their BLOGs before we ended the session around 6:00p.

Are there any questions that you have about your brand new BLOG? One participant, Rose, suggested that we might consider using our new BLOGs to communicate with each other as a way of getting comfortable with our new tools. Let me know if you wish to participate in this way for a few weeks.

Since 4 women were unable to attend this session, would you care to have the next session in October include (a) a catch-up session to create a new BLOG, (b) activities to demonstrate including images and video clips, and (c) examples of academic BLOGs?

For those whose BLOGs have already been created, you might want to read the following article.

Online article re: Blogging as an educational technology:

http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/issues/october2006/index.html#_Toc148658493

Be sure to copy and paste if the URL wraps to the next line. I look forward to your reply.