When asked to complete this lab I thought it would be a fun experience. I have been listening to Gender Talk Radio on-line for quite some time and thought it may be interesting to expand my on-line listening to other shows/podcasts.
When searching for podcasts I download 9 different podcasts and 2 video podcasts to see the difference and attempt to obtain a variety of shows.
Of the shows I listened to and watched my favorites / useful to my majors (Cultural Studies/ Women's Studies) were:
The L Word
www.sho.com/site/downloads/rss/lword.xml
The Planet
theplanetcast.libsyn.com/rss
Big Gay News
feeds.feedburner.com/BigGayNews
The Gay Parenting Show
gaypareenting.thepodcastnetwork.com/feed
Video: She Said What
feeds.feedburner.com/videoshesaidwhat
A few of the shows I listened to were only music, giving insight to new artists, up and coming bands etc. Although I decided that I enjoyed the talk-show based podcasts much better since I felt as thought I was doing a form of research to gain insight to topics being dealt with in my majors as well as becoming enlightened in news issues which do not necessarily make the headlines but are of interest to me.
I believe that through this experience I learnt a lot while also thinking critically about news issues. I believe that I would continue to listen to podcasts in the future since I am not really interested in TV. As well, I work at the school library where I am allowed to listen to music as I work and believe this may be a better use of my time rather than always listening to music.
The audio book I chose to listen to was Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis'. I chose 'The Metamorphosis' because I had just recently read the short and wanted to compare the accuracy and difference between reading 'The Metamorphosis' and listening to it. I found this version from {http://www.simplyaudiobooks.ca/Free_Audiobooks/dp/202/} Not bad and only slightly different however I could not stand the mans voice at all and was quite thankful when it was over. Having gone on long car rides since I was young I am no stranger to the audiobook and know that their are some very good ones out there.
I also examined two different price plans from two different online audio book sites. This is how they compare.
http://www.simplyaudiobooks.ca/Learn-More-Rent/dp/45/
Selections at a Time 12 month Annual* Monthly
1
$11.95
$14.95
2
$20.95
$24.95
3
$29.95
$32.95
4
$36.95
$39.95
Our rental members get:
Unlimited Rentals!
No Late Fees! No Due Dates!
FREE Shipping BOTH WAYS!
Over 8,000 Titles!
Cancel Anytime!
http://www.jiggerbug.com/
1: Create a list of all the audiobooks you'd like to listen to.
2: Receive your audiobooks in the mail & enjoy.
3: No Due Dates! No Late Fees!
Mail the books back when you're ready for the next titles on your list. (Prepaid Return. Mailer Provided!)
Most Populare Monthly Plan 2 books out at a time + 1 FREE rental download every 2 weeks. $24.95 per month with one year prepay.
I thought that all of the price plans were faire since this way you do not have books taking up space on your shelf and it is quite reasonable when you consider the average price of a book. The only downfall seems to be in the time you need to listen to the books. I also am of the belief that this does not exercise your brain and perhaps reading a novel on occasion would still be a positive idea.
I was very impressed with the free audiobooks and felt like this was a good idea however you must make sure that the reader is easy to listen to.
All in all I enjoyed this exercises and believe I will become a regular podcast listener.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
online generators
I have been using online generators since before I started my first blog about 4 years ago. They have always been a fun wast of time and a great way to differentiate your blog from others. For me it was a way to personalize my blog or to add some creativity to my blog. Between quizzes, online name generators and doll generators, you were able to differentiate you blog and perhaps give a little piece of your personality without too much overlap between your and others blogs.
For this blog entry I used http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/, I had a lot of fun with these online generators and enjoyed this exercises immensely. I found the majority of them very easy to use and very quick. The only time I ever had problems using them was due to the fact that my pictures tended to be much larger than were allowed. For me I liked the ones without pictures much better, as you can see these were the ones I chose to display in my blog. I thought they were not only useful to personalize your blog but could be useful on a website to display the websites name. Online name generators are helpful when creating a 'secret identity".
I got my name in lights with notcelebrity.co.uk
Later on while searching for other generators I made a doll which I posted below.
For this blog entry I used http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/, I had a lot of fun with these online generators and enjoyed this exercises immensely. I found the majority of them very easy to use and very quick. The only time I ever had problems using them was due to the fact that my pictures tended to be much larger than were allowed. For me I liked the ones without pictures much better, as you can see these were the ones I chose to display in my blog. I thought they were not only useful to personalize your blog but could be useful on a website to display the websites name. Online name generators are helpful when creating a 'secret identity".
I got my name in lights with notcelebrity.co.uk
Later on while searching for other generators I made a doll which I posted below.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Flickr
I had heard of Flickr before but had never bothered to use it since I already have two photobucket accounts. However, now that I have played around with it I feel that I may use it in the future, if only to receive inspiration for my own photo shoots or examine different techniques used by other Flickr users. Unfortunately I do not know if I would be willing to upload any of my artwork yet since I have still not gathered up enough courage to post my artwork anywhere on the web.
I found Flickr very easy to use however, this may be slightly unjust since I was given many of the links. When examining Flickr on my own I was able to navigate easily throughout the page. The only issue I had with Flickr was having to set up a Yahoo account in order to use it but the website was amazing and as of yet I don't have any complaints.
Although I have not searched for any other mashups as of yet in my free time I plan to see what interesting ones I can find. I think it is a really cool idea. Of the 5 examples we were given This is how I feel about each one...
***Evaluation of 5 mashup websites.***
http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/
~fun to play with
~displays interesting photos
~cool idea but how usefull is it?
~amazing if attempting to find an image in a particular colour
http://flickrvision.com/
~very entertaining (most entertaing of all 5 mashups)
~not very useful
~interesting idea
http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr (use your mouse to draw
in the box)
~fun!
~interesting search results
~drawing rarely march images
http://randomchaos.com/games/fastr/
~interesting idea although did not find it that amusing
~had a difficult time guessing the tag (maybe that says something about me?)
~could be a good waste of time
http://www.beckysweb.co.uk/sudoku/flickrsudoku.asp
~I'm not going to lie... I don't understand sudoku
~I'm not going to lie... I'm not good at sudoku
***A few of my Fav/interesting Pic's I found on Flickr***
Note~ These are not my photo's
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afflictionmurder/500903397
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mylakent/23989896
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yomofo/791388
http://www.flickr.com/photos/annatheodora/496043936
http://www.flickr.com/photos/annatheodora/247430749
http://www.flickr.com/photos/etgalim/502188481
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajpscs/500895057
I found Flickr very easy to use however, this may be slightly unjust since I was given many of the links. When examining Flickr on my own I was able to navigate easily throughout the page. The only issue I had with Flickr was having to set up a Yahoo account in order to use it but the website was amazing and as of yet I don't have any complaints.
Although I have not searched for any other mashups as of yet in my free time I plan to see what interesting ones I can find. I think it is a really cool idea. Of the 5 examples we were given This is how I feel about each one...
***Evaluation of 5 mashup websites.***
http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/
~fun to play with
~displays interesting photos
~cool idea but how usefull is it?
~amazing if attempting to find an image in a particular colour
http://flickrvision.com/
~very entertaining (most entertaing of all 5 mashups)
~not very useful
~interesting idea
http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr (use your mouse to draw
in the box)
~fun!
~interesting search results
~drawing rarely march images
http://randomchaos.com/games/fastr/
~interesting idea although did not find it that amusing
~had a difficult time guessing the tag (maybe that says something about me?)
~could be a good waste of time
http://www.beckysweb.co.uk/sudoku/flickrsudoku.asp
~I'm not going to lie... I don't understand sudoku
~I'm not going to lie... I'm not good at sudoku
***A few of my Fav/interesting Pic's I found on Flickr***
Note~ These are not my photo's
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afflictionmurder/500903397
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mylakent/23989896
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yomofo/791388
http://www.flickr.com/photos/annatheodora/496043936
http://www.flickr.com/photos/annatheodora/247430749
http://www.flickr.com/photos/etgalim/502188481
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajpscs/500895057
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us
Once again Computer Studies 280 has introduced me to a new website. After hearing about Del.icio.us in class I was looking forward to signing up for a Del.icio.us account of my own. I found the website much more straight forward than some of the other websites we have examined in COST 280. I found signing up for an account very easy as the instructions were well laid out. Adding my book marks to my Del.icio.us account was more than easy and fun, especially to make up tags for the links. I also found it more than interesting to see which pages others had bookmarked. The only issue I had with Del.icio.us was when it came to the ‘links for you’ portion of the exercise, since I had already uploaded all of my bookmarks and had to ‘go back’ and ‘edit’ to change my links to ‘links for you’. Adding friends to my network was also a very easy exercise as well as browsing the sight for other person’s bookmarks. Where Del.icio.us impressed me the most however was in its ‘linkrolls’. I love being able to display my bookmarks on my blog! All in all I would have to say Del.icio.us is currently one of my favourite sites we have examined within the class and I plan to add a ‘linkroll’ to my other blogs later on this week.
Once again Computer Studies 280 has introduced me to a new website. After hearing about Del.icio.us in class I was looking forward to signing up for a Del.icio.us account of my own. I found the website much more straight forward than some of the other websites we have examined in COST 280. I found signing up for an account very easy as the instructions were well laid out. Adding my book marks to my Del.icio.us account was more than easy and fun, especially to make up tags for the links. I also found it more than interesting to see which pages others had bookmarked. The only issue I had with Del.icio.us was when it came to the ‘links for you’ portion of the exercise, since I had already uploaded all of my bookmarks and had to ‘go back’ and ‘edit’ to change my links to ‘links for you’. Adding friends to my network was also a very easy exercise as well as browsing the sight for other person’s bookmarks. Where Del.icio.us impressed me the most however was in its ‘linkrolls’. I love being able to display my bookmarks on my blog! All in all I would have to say Del.icio.us is currently one of my favourite sites we have examined within the class and I plan to add a ‘linkroll’ to my other blogs later on this week.
Friday, May 11, 2007
technorati
Technorati.com, what to say? Until computer studies 280 I had never heard of technorati.com. After subscribing today and clamming my blog, I am still quite unsure of how I feel about this site. I believe that it is a useful tool to quickly check your blogs. However, I believe I am biased due to my long love and preference with Livejournal. Since in LiveJournal I am also able to subscribe to blogs I like as well as to syndicated blogs. Where Technorati.com prevails is in its ability to access blogs from many different sites, such as LiveJournal, Blogger, and MySpace.
I find however, that in comparison to LiveJournal, Technorati fails only in its ability to seach. I find it quite difficult to search for particular bogs. I also found it difficult at first to distinguish between subscribing and adding to my favourites. Although I found this difficult it may be unfair to say LiveJournal is necessarily easier since I am biased to the ease of LiveJournal.
I must say however that like Blogger, Technorati was very easy to set up and sign into a new account. I found the instructions very well laid out and easy to follow. I also appreciate being able to read a large portions of my blogs from one site. Perhaps with more exploration of Technorati I may find it a very useful tool, however I am still confused exactly to its use. I am also unsure as to if I will use Technorati over the long term since I primarily only read LiveJournal blogs, or syndicated blogs through LiveJournal.
I find however, that in comparison to LiveJournal, Technorati fails only in its ability to seach. I find it quite difficult to search for particular bogs. I also found it difficult at first to distinguish between subscribing and adding to my favourites. Although I found this difficult it may be unfair to say LiveJournal is necessarily easier since I am biased to the ease of LiveJournal.
I must say however that like Blogger, Technorati was very easy to set up and sign into a new account. I found the instructions very well laid out and easy to follow. I also appreciate being able to read a large portions of my blogs from one site. Perhaps with more exploration of Technorati I may find it a very useful tool, however I am still confused exactly to its use. I am also unsure as to if I will use Technorati over the long term since I primarily only read LiveJournal blogs, or syndicated blogs through LiveJournal.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Blogger Vs. LiveJournal
My original perception of blogger was that it would be a very simple, easy to use blogging system. As I began to create my blog, other than deciding on whether to use my traditional on-line identity or to create a new one, creating a blog through blogger was an easy, guided experience. It was only when I began to attempt to modify my blog that I began to have difficulties. For some reason blogger will not allow me to upload photos or change anything other than the basic settings.
In comparison to my traditional blogging system, LiveJournal, as well as to MySpace, and Facebook, Blogger was one of the easiest to set up. Changing the settings was fairly straight forward and the site is easy to navigate. Although, I find it by far easier to upload my images on LiveJournal and Facebook.
Posting in Blogger also seems straight forward, however the extra options such as user pic's, tag's, ect. do not seem as cleanly laid out as on LiveJournal where their are scroll down menus for all excess posting options.
Although, I enjoy the cleanliness of the site, along with the easy maneuvering, I prefer LiveJournal for its extended options.
*Edit*~ Now that Blogger has frozen my computer (twice) I have decided that LiveJournal is by far a better blogging tool. This may seem harsh but as other Mac users know, freezing a Mac is a difficult thing to do!
In comparison to my traditional blogging system, LiveJournal, as well as to MySpace, and Facebook, Blogger was one of the easiest to set up. Changing the settings was fairly straight forward and the site is easy to navigate. Although, I find it by far easier to upload my images on LiveJournal and Facebook.
Posting in Blogger also seems straight forward, however the extra options such as user pic's, tag's, ect. do not seem as cleanly laid out as on LiveJournal where their are scroll down menus for all excess posting options.
Although, I enjoy the cleanliness of the site, along with the easy maneuvering, I prefer LiveJournal for its extended options.
*Edit*~ Now that Blogger has frozen my computer (twice) I have decided that LiveJournal is by far a better blogging tool. This may seem harsh but as other Mac users know, freezing a Mac is a difficult thing to do!
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