Reflections on 25 Things
Posted on: February 26, 2009
So long, farewell, Auf Widersehen etc. I’ve really enjoyed doing 25 Things and am feeling a bit sad that it’s finished now! Although I sometimes found it hard to set aside the time to do it, I always felt quite excited when I knew I was going to have some time to spend, wondering what I was going to learn about. Most of the things we covered were quite new to me. Some were just a bit of fun, from my point of view (Mashups and Image Generators) but some turned out to be tools which I have kept going back to and intend to keep using long term, in particular Flickr and LibraryThing, both of which I love to bits. One thing I haven’t done yet is to think much about how I can use these tools in my work, beyond the obvious of using Flickr to find images to include in Powerpoints etc. Maybe I will set myself the task of going back over all the things I have discovered and thinking a bit more about practical applications for them in this respect. I can use all that staff development time that will now be sloshing around in my week (not!) Anyway, a big thank you to the 25 Things team (if any of you read this!) for organising it, it’s been fab.
Podcasts
Posted on: February 12, 2009
- In: Podcasts | The Archers
- 1 Comment
Due to lack of time and (well, let’s be honest) inclination, I’ve never really got into podcasts – the few I had listened to had seemed a bit unworthwhile. But I am now a convert having had a good look at the BBC site and seen all the fabby things I could get by podcast. I have to admit to being a bit of a closet Archers fan, but often miss it as it’s on at getting the kids into bed time, so I was really pleased to see that I can catch up on it by podcast, a bit like the BBC i-player for radio really. Here is a link to the RSS feed if you are interested – watch out for that cow!
I love You Tube – there are some truly fab clips, such as this one of pregnant women breakdancing, made by Oxfam. I was slightly appalled at first, but soon realised that though many of the women in the film are truly pregnant, the ones doing the really scary moves had cushions shoved up their T-shirts. I think we can assume that no unborn children were harmed in the making of this film anyway. The film is to make a serious point about the ridiculously high number of women worldwide who still die in pregnancy or childbirth because of lack of access to basic medical services. I’ve pasted the link here – hope it works!
<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Cs0s_K1IIAg&hl=en&fs=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Cs0s_K1IIAg&hl=en&fs=1” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>
Google Docs and Librarything
Posted on: January 29, 2009
I’m short of time this week, so this will be more of a twitter than a proper post. I like the idea of Google Docs and can see that it would be a great way of collaborating on things (outside work of course!) It seems to be v. easy to use, the only thing I had trouble with was finding someone’s google mail address by the recommended means (in the end I asked Bryony and she gave me hers).
I love Librarything and will hopefully add more to my page and spend more time playing around with it. It’s a really good way of getting ideas for what to read next as well. Next time I’m on I want to see how many other Sara Paretsky fans are out there and pick up on any of her books I’ve missed! The most popular of the books I’ve added so far is The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy which has been added by 7,045 people.
Here is a link to my Librarything page, in case you are interested! http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Katemcg
South Park Image Generator
Posted on: January 29, 2009
Hee hee, this is quite fun. I like South Park characters and this lets me design my own – I hope you like him. Hmm, I’ll have to think of a name for him now. I liked the comic strip generator as well – could use that to produce birthday cards with humourous quotes. I didn’t like the Happy Face generator at all, it took me back to Manchester in the late ’80s and early ’90s (and not in a good way).
Posted on: January 23, 2009
I have to say tht I think Twitter is a bit of a waste of time. Most of the posts I read weren’t saying much and those which were didn’t have enough depth, I wanted more. I think I’m just not a Twitter kinda girl. In the spirit of Twitter though, I’m keeping this very short.
Showing my face on Facebook
Posted on: January 22, 2009
I’d considered setting up a Facebook profile for a while but it was one of those things I’d never got round to, so it’s good to have a kick up the backside to make me actually do it! I think it’s great generally but some of the searching is a bit dodgy, for instance when I searched for people who left my school the same year as me, there were lots of people in the list who I didn’t recognise and I found that they hadn’t actually been to my school at all! I did find one friend who I haven’t heard from for ages though so it wasn’t an entirely fruitless search. I’ve only joined one group so far (How many mums are there on Facebook – yes, it is a bit sad) but will try to spend a bit more time browsing and find some more. Must put some more information on my profile too as it’s a bit boring at the moment. I’ve invited a couple of people to be my friends, but as they haven’t responded yet at the moment it says on my profile that I have no friends (sob!)
Google Street View
Posted on: January 15, 2009
There has been a lot of press coverage relating to potential infringements of individuals’ privacy following the launch of Google Street View. So far, this is only available in the US, but it is due to be launched in other European countries and Google camera cars have been seen in the UK. I would be concerned, as many are, that face blurring technology is not enough to disguise people and that it would be possible to identify individuals despite these measures. Also, I’d be concerned that Google may continue to hold images with the faces of passers by/number plates etc. unblurred, or would at least hold these images for a limited period until the face blurring technology can be applied. This would be a particular concern for people who have a good reason to keep their location secret, for example people who have fled a violent relationship or witnesses to violent crimes. As Google has already discovered, the whole project is a potential minefield! I imagine that groups such as Liberty would also be concerned about Street View, though a quick look at their website hasn’t uncovered anything on this. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds, particularly if there are further legal actions against Google.
Well it is, so there!
I love Google Maps! I’ve already had a play around with this in the past, but hadn’t had a good look at our house in Honley. Looking at it now I’ve realised that this photo was taken ages ago as the extension isn’t shown and that was built (by the previous occupants) in 2004! So the photo must be at least 5 years old, which surprised me, I would have thought that Google would update more regularly than that, but I suppose the world is a big place! Here’s the link if you want to have a look.
I seem to have hit a bad time for viewing Google Moon, Mars etc. – I waited a while and nothing happened, but I will try again another time. Also, Google Maps didn’t like me asking for directions from Huddersfield to Madrid, but did later allow me to ask how to get from Honley to Cheadle Hulme in Stockport (where my parents live). Google Maps reckoned it would take roughly 52 minutes which is pretty accurate, snow and fog permitting.
Wikipedia
Posted on: December 11, 2008
I found an interesting article about a British lesbian couple, Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson, both academics. They were married in British Columbia, Canada in 2003 shortly after the marriage of same sex couples became legal there. On returning to the UK, they were surprised to find that their marriage had no legal status! Two years later, when the Civil Partnerships Act was passed, their marriage was automatically recognised as a civil partnership, but still not as a full marriage. They have launched a test case in the British Courts to try and get their marriage recognised as such, but have so far been unsuccessful, their case having been rejected by the High Court in 2006.
The page on Wikipedia includes details of both women’s careers and publications and a link to their campaign website.
The news story which caught my eye was the one about Sark, which has just held its first ever democratic elections, ending centuries of feudal rule. Apparently the inhabitants of Sark were quite happy to continue living in what was effectively a dictatorship, but those pesky bureaucrats in Brussels went and forced them to start holding elections.
My Wobbly Weblog 