Thing #12

This was a very fun and interesting activity to explore because before now I did not know how many different applications Google was set up with. Even though I have had experiences with using Google Translate in my Spanish classes in high school as well as in college, and Google Earth was another application I have used before and I think it is very cool because it gives you the opportunity to view in depth picture via satellite anywhere on the planet.
Some things that I took a look at though were Google Calendar and Google Sites. Google Calendar was an alright application but I do not believe it would be useful for me because I pretty much remember anything important that is going to happen in the near future. But on the other hand I found Google Sites to be very interesting this is an application to create your own website, or wiki groups for conversation. Ever since I signed up for Facebook back in middle school I have always wanted to create my own website but just really did not know how, but by using this app it makes it easy to set up your very own personal website.

Thing #11

This activity of finding goods feeds to me was a lot less enjoyable than the previous "things" we have had to complete. I seemed to be just wandering around random sites after searching on Google, but I did find that there are some very well put together blogs throughout the internet on subjects ranging from sports to insects.
I found the Google blog search to be the easiest of the group because our "Reader" we sat up in the last activity is already linked with Google.
Technorati was the most difficult for me to use because it seemed to just bring up random blogs with no considerable link to what I was trying to search so I didn't stay on that site to long.
Even though I am not very fond of this method I believe it is useful for keeping in touch with topics related to what an individual is interested in. It is also a good tool for organizing these blogs and different feeds someone is following.

Thing #10

I like the RSS because it gives individuals a chance to organize their favorite sites or sites useful in everyday teaching efforts. As well as it is a quick and easy way to get to things that are most interesting to yourself for your reading pleasure whenever necessary.
In the classroom it can be used to organize sites by subject matter so when teaching the instructor doesnt have to get off task to find the website they want to display, and through using RSS the resource is already there and all you have to do is click on the link you want to use.

Thing #9

My experience with making these signs and using these online generators was a lot of fun. Pretty much anything you want to put on a sign or say you can whether it be funny, sad, clever, intelligent, or idiotic you can generate whatever you want.
The process I went through in creating my sign was just really playing around with all the different tools and resources available on the site. I chose the beware sign with aliens because who wouldn't be scared and on alert if you seen a sign that said aliens on the loose. Plus I just wanted to do something humorous because that is my personality.
This could be a very helpful tools for teachers as well because creating these signs could be a tool that could be used as decoration on the walls of your classroom to display rules or to post quotes from famous people in history. There is just a wide variety of things this sign generator site can be used for.

Thing #8

When looking over these mash-ups by Flickr I noticed that someone can do a wide variety of things with just a single photo. I chose the puzzle app because since I was young puzzles have always been a big hobby of mine and just to see my girlfriend and I as a puzzle is quite amusing.
These mash-up tools serve as a wide variety of resources that can be used by teachers in the classroom through making puzzles of likes maps or something or maybe combining several different elements to create something totally new to use with your students.

Thing #7

This was my first real experience using Flickr.com and I can now say that it is a very interesting and cool web 2.0 tool. There is just about photos of everything you can imagine on this website I went from looking at music groups and guitars to theatrical stages and operas in no time just by clicking on the different tags each group and each picture has linked to it. But the image I have chosen to display in the post is a picture from the group Los Angeles and I chose this place because it has always been somewhere that I greatly want to visit, just not for the weather but because my favorite basketball player ever, Kobe Bryant plays 42 home games a year in L.A. And this is why I have decided to share a photo of the Lakers home arena the Staples Center. And the following link is where I have taken the picture from for your personal viewing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63257315@N06/5793486139/

Thing #6

The Web 2.0 award nominee that I chose was www.Answers.com  because this is a resource that can be used in both a library setting as well as in the classroom because if your students are doing a project in class and need a simple answer quickly answers.com is great for that. From personal experience I can vouch for this site as being a good quick resource to use. What I like about it is that no matter the question you type it it will give you a response very near or spot on to what you are looking for. And it also will give you references and links to other sites where you can further your answer if their website does not suit you liking. Overall Answers.com is a very good Web 2.0 tool to use for pretty much any question or situation an individual has.

Thing #5

Several of these articles listed stood out as interesting to me the two main ones being Web 2.0 is not about version numbers or betas, as well as Web 2.0 A Guide for Educators. To start I want to talk about what Web 2.0 means to me, and that is that I believe Web 2.0 is meant to be a foundation for a network that expands the entire internet as the author of the first article I stated believes. Everyday new websites and social networking sites pop up everywhere and this is where the heart of the web 2.0 idea comes from, everyones opinion can be heard and anyone's dreams could come true just by setting up a website for a business they want to start.
The technology that is coming out today will define generations to come because so much of the new things being introduced can be used for technology. The iPad is just one of many things that can be used in the classroom to enhance students learning abilities as well as just keeping them interested. Because being a college student now I know how boring lectures can be, and how hard it can be to stay awake but with these new Web 2.0 tools students will hopefully be more engaged in class and take initiative to want to learn and better themselves. 

Thing #4

Commenting can create a sense of community in a couple different ways the most important being that without comments and interaction between users there is just a blog with no real response to it. It becomes independent and the main goal of any blog is to create a bubble so to speak in where many individuals can give their opinion to what is going on, and commenting does this.

One of the points I want to discuss from the reading comes from the Comment like a King section which talks about making comments that have meaning. This is very important because like most websites such as Yahoo or CNN users just get on there and really just say nonsense and nobody really likes to deal with insane comments. So whenever someone goes to post on a blog they should first stop and take the time to think about what they want to say instead of popping off at the mouth with the first thing that comes to mind.
And the second point that I really liked had to do with being controversial in the 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on your Blog. This is a really neat point because it raises eyebrows to an extent. Being controversial can lead to a widespread conversation on your blog and this is really whats blogs are all about and that's getting people to express their opinions. And through bringing up a controversial topic more people may be inclined to join your discussion.

Grant Brashears, Janelle Ferrier, Nick Caudill, Hayli Wrigley, and Nicole Gardner were the classmates that I chose and this was really just random thinking I was just clicking on random names and reading their material and decided to comment on the ones I felt like best related to myself.