Week 4: RSS and Newreaders - Thing #9

I looked at Merlin and made it one of my 10 feeds. Copying the URL and using the "Add" designation in the Bloglines account was the my method of choice. I found the search tools a bit confusing--just too much. I liked Technorati the best because it seemed to have a more organized format.

The Bloglines account and the feeds seem like a really great way to put together the sources that I frequently use. I found it to be a bit like grocery shopping; if you don't have a list to know what you want, it's easy to end up with a cart full of spur-of-the-moment purchases that you really don't want or need. I can see where this time-saving tool could easily become just another means to information overload.

Week 4: RSS & Newsreaders - Thing #8

This is my bloglines account.

The Bloglines newsreader account is really great. Once you have selected the sites that you want to regularly track, it is such a time-saving approach to use the Bloglines account rather than enter the URL for each site.

For my first 10 sites, I selected 4 news sites (ABC News, Bloglines-News, Time, and Reuters: Top News); 2 library news sites (Merlin and Library Bytes); a book review (NYT); and (for personal growth) a dictionary and This Day in History.

I then added feeds to the blogs of 3 other participants in Learn 2.0 - 23Things. I also added 3 additional types of news feeds--Library Journal News; It's All Good (OCLC blog); and (for fun) Unshelved-Library Cartoon Feed.

Week 3: Photos & Images - Things #5 & #6

I love the Flickr Color Pickr!!! This is the high-tech version of the always mesmerizing kaleidoscope toy of childhood--an online toy at one's fingertips.

Week 3: Photos & Images - Thing #7

I am interested in the ongoing advances in wireless capsule endoscopy--called by gihealth.com as "The Camera in a Pill." Although the idea began in 1981, usage required technology that was unavailable. Now, technology is enabling a variety of uses--diagnostic and therapeutic for this device. You may hear it called the "Given Video Capsule," with the capacity to take 50,000 color images during its 8-hour movement through the digestive tract. Then there is Johns Hopkins' "Fluoropill," which uses magnetic coils to control movement of the capsule and a molecular camera that can release fluorescent probe compound or therapeutic drugs--with a possible capability of securing and storing harvested tissue samples. This pill-sized technology can examine areas of the digestive system (especially in the small intestine) that are currently not able to be satisfactorily seen--and without the discomfort and sedation required for traditional endoscopic examinations.

Week 2: Blogging - Things #3 & #4

Well, imagine that! I'm the proud owner of a blog! Trek on!

Week 1: Introduction & Lifelong Learners - Things #1 & #2

The 7 1/2 Habits of Successful Lifelong Learners certainly seems logical. The easiest habit for me would be to "accept responsibility for my own learning." The most difficult habit would be to "begin with the end in mind."

I was not a traditional age college student. Attending college was a goal that I held for many years. When I actually registered for one class at a community college, I found that the goal of completing one semester at a time seemed more attainable than the seemingly too-large goal of completing a 4-year-degree.