We've extended the due date for your 'Things' to be completed to Saturday, May 8th. This will give you all a chance to catch up on those lessons! Whether or not you've completed the entire program, we'd like to ask you complete Thing 21: Complete the 21 Things Evaluation Survey by clicking here.
We hop you'll join us for a dicsussion on Saturday May 8th, 2010 at 2:00pm. There will be prizes, refreshments and discussions. Hope you can join us!
Over the past few months, you have familiarized yourself with many Web 2.0 applications: Flickr, podcasts, RSS feeds, social networking sites, and, of course, blogs. What do these applications have in common? They encourage user interaction with the program and other users, they require user input, and they're constantly changing and updating. Remember the video from Week 1, which illustrates how Web 2.0 has changed how we create and access information? Watch it again to see if the terms and applications featured in it are more familiar to you now:
What is Library 2.0?It’s a term that describes a new way of delivering information to users.The above description of Web 2.0 also applies to Library 2.0:a focus on user interaction and contribution, an ability to change as necessary, as well as ease-of-use.Libraries want to make information and materials easy for users to find and use, both online and in the library building, and also want patrons to have the best possible experience with the library. A café, pleasant seating areas, movie screenings, and digital screens that display upcoming and ongoing events are just a few of the ways that Darien Library applies Library 2.0 ideas to the physical library space.
Have you noticed any Web/Library 2.0 applications on the Darien Library website?
You can see Library 2.0 in action on the Darien Library website in our blogs, Twitter account, YouTube account, and Flickr account.And those are just a few of the ways we get information to you!We also want to hear what you think and like, so every blog post and item record offers you the chance to leave a comment, give a book a star rating, or write a review. At the bottom of each item's page, there's a Community Reviews section and a link to "Write a Review."
THING 19:Write a review of a book, DVD, or audiobook you’ve recently read or listened to in Darien Library's catalog.
E-books and e-readers are another way libraries are improving information delivery.With digital book downloads, you don’t even have to be in the library to find new reading material, and the titles can be read on a variety of gadgets, including iPods (the full list of compatible devices is [here http://www.oclc.org/audiobooks/techspecs/devices.htm]).Darien Library uses [NetLibrary] and it’s a snap to set up an account and start downloading books:
Come to the Darien Library.
Log on to one of our public computers.
Open a web browser (Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) and go to netlibrary.com.
Fill out the short account form, selecting a username and password.
Click on Create Account when done.
If you’re curious about e-readers, the Darien Library has two first-edition Kindles, a Kindle DX (the reader with a larger screen), and a Nook available for you to check out and experiment with.Our tech ninja, Judy, has written a post on our e-readers, which is a fast introduction to what’s available and policies, check it out here.The Children’s Library will have the Nook and a Kindle DX available, come in and ask a librarian about borrowing one.We also have an iPad!This new gadget may revolutionize reading e-books the way that the iPod changed how we listen to music.
THING 20:Create a NetLibrary account and download an e-book OR come in and play with an e-book readeri n the Children's Library.
Now that you’re Web 2.0 savvy, the internet is your oyster!We hope you, and your kids, feel more comfortable using the internet for work and play.There are endless ways to personalize and improve your web experience and the ones we have introduced here are just a few of your many, many options.Keep exploring and learning!
You scheduled a dentist appointment at the same time as your son's soccer practice? Forgot to remind your husband that school conferences are tonight? How many times has this happened to you?
Even with all of the technnology surrounding us, it seems harder and harder to keep all of our busy schedules straight. The kitchen calendar on the wall, the palm pilot, the day planner, none of them seem to do the trick anymore. You may use the calendar function on your cell phone, or on your work computer, but how can you get it all in one place, where the whole family can keep track of it? Never fear, there are lots of online tools to keep everything organized! These are a few of the best.
Google Calendar is a great place to start. Google Calendar is not only a great tool for your work life, but can be used for families as well. You can set up a calendar for each member of the family, and have it all linked to one place. You'll get reminders of upcoming events, and can share the calendar with anyone you want. Got a 'smart phone'? You can synch google calendar to your phone and keep your calendar with you wherever you go! Google now includes Tasks so you can also create your own to-do list. Watch this video to get started.
Remember the Milk is another fun tool. You can set up your account to receive reminders in your email box, via text message, SMS, IM's. It allows you to set up lists, and can also be linked to Google Calendar.
BackPack is a site that would allow you to treat your family like a business! Share information, documents and discussions all in one place.
Is your desk filled with little yellow sticky notes like mine is? You might find MyStickies to be useful then! You can overlay a virtual sticky note on a website to come back to it later! Very cool and very easy.
We have already introduced you to some productivity tools like RSS and igoogle that allow you to streamline your news and information into one place. There are even more sites out there to help, but we don't want to overwhelm you. If you'd like to explore more, check out LifeHacker, or this article, Free Web Tools for more suggestions. in Week 7: Collaboration's lesson, we introduced you to some tools like ZOHO and GoogleDocs. You can take a moment to review some of those tools as well.
Thing 17: Try out a new online productivity tool to help streamline your family's busy life.
Now, it's time to play!
Playing games online is not just for the kids! It's a great way to relieve stress and free your mind of everyday worries. Most adults spend most of their computer gaming time playing solitaire; but there are many other great brainbuilding games to play online, like Soduku, word searches or crossword puzzles. Here are some links:
In 2003, adults spent 9 BILLION hours playing solitaire online. Computer geek Luis von Ahn (inventor of the Captcha) was inspired by this figure to create Games With Purpose (GWAP) - a site that combines game playing with creating useful information about images tom improve search results (creating metadata). Have fun playing games and know that you are helping the Internet be a better place!
Many of the classic arcade games from the 70's and 80's are available to play online! Who could forget playing Pacman, Aestoriods or Donkey Kong? Re-live your childhood and some of those great arcade games online. Here are a few links to get you started.
Thing 18: Explore some online games for fun! Are there any games you can share with your child?
In your blog posts for this week, here are some thoughts that may help you get some writing going:
Did you find a tool that has use for your family at home or for you at work? Which would you recommend to others?
Have you been using any of the tools from previous lessons? Which ones?
Which games did you play? Did you play any with your kids?
How are you handling the balance of time with your real life and your virtual life? Are you spending more time on the computer than usual? How do you feel about that?
Did you notice the advertising? Do your kids notice the ads? Do you think your child would know the difference between clicking on an ad or clicking on a game button?
Extra Credit: Embed the COUNTDOWN widget into your blog so you can watch the days, hours & numbers countdown to the end of the 21 Things program!
(HINT: I had to adjust the year to make it work. The site is off, proving that not everything on the Internet is always right. That is why it is crucial to teach our kids how to evaluate and think critically!)
Hey parents, I hope you've got your thinking caps on - this is going to be a big lesson!
This week we're talking about social networks. You've heard the terms before, "friending," "adding," and "posting on your wall." We are going to start with the basics and the first thing we want to do, is understand exactly what social networks are. Watch this short video to get an idea of what they are and how they work:
Kids and teens have always (and will always) explore their identity. It is part of growing up. Technology now allows kids to explore their identity in a whole new way - increasingly through online social networks. They play with their visual identity through photos and avatars, they negotiate friendships in both physical and virtual worlds, and their online social networks are important to their social status. Some of your kids may already be on these social networks and many will be in the near future. Generally, MySpace and Facebook are the two most popular social networks out there, but we'll focus on Facebook for the first part of this lesson followed by more online communities centered around specific area of interest & styles.
Facebook has more than 400 million active users. The average user has 130 friends, sends 8 friend requests per month, and spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook. That is a LOT of people and a LOT of time. Facebook can now be accessed though mobile devices and statistics show that people who use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users. Who is on their phone all the time? Chances are, your teenager is. Is your teen on facebook? It is clearly a powerful tool, but there are lots of horror stories out there. How can you feel safe about your child engaging in this online network? That's easy - learn about it and engage in it yourself!
Facebook claims that it provides users with tools to control the information they share and with whom they choose to share it. They also say members have the ability to share and restrict information based on specific friends or friend lists. However, under Facebook Policies they disclaimed that all the content posted by any Facebook user is legally own by Facebook. Here is a video that explains some of these settings, limitations and how to help you and your family be safe while social networking! If you don’t have Facebook and would like to register, this is a short video showing you how.
On the surface, this general social network is connecting *millions* of people every day, but it can also be a great tool for students to use. It presents students with choices about using technology in new and creative ways. For a biography research assignment, perhaps your child could create a facebook page for their historical figure. Even as a purely social activitiy, it is an opportunity for students to be learning about digital citizenship, which is becoming increasingly important.
MySpace and Facebook aren't the only social network by any means! There are social networks centered around subjects of interests and appear inmany different ways. What is the important part of idenitfying a social networking site is if it provides you the ability to 'friend' others and share!
Job/Career - LinkedIn is the most popular site for professional networking (sharing your resume, finding other professionals in your field, etc.). Here is some info about LinkedIn, how people use it and why it works.
By now most of us are probably familiar with YouTube videos. Who hasn’t clicked on a clink to see Susan Boyle singing, or to see the latest “viral” video?With the advent of YouTube, everyone can be a star of the online community. YouTube is one of many sites that let you watch and upload videos for free. You can search for clips from your favorite tv show, favorite music videos from the 80s, famous political speeches and almost anything else you can imagine or dream up! To understand where youtube comes from, how it works and why it is so powerful, watch this video (on youtube!) of a talk that Professer Michael Wesch gave to the Library of Congress, An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube.
There are millions of youtube contributors and it is generally a self-policing site, but if you’re concerned about security, you should know that your children can run into questionable content on youtube.There are many other sites, that allow sharing of videos including Vimeo, Totlol, TeacherTube, and Hulu. Some of these offer safer content alternatives for viewing for young children. There are lots of resources about online safety, specifically about video-networking like this pdf from wiredsafety.org and surfnetkids.com. Google now owns YouTube and has posted some safety tips for parents in partnership with Common Sense Media.
The uses for these sites are endless! This can be a great tool for teachers and classrooms, as well as parents.You can upload videos of your own to share with family and friends. If you have family that is far away, and Grandpa would like to watch your daughter at her dance recital, or see Junior hit a homerun, you can create privacy screenings so that only your family and friends can log in and see the videos you’ve posted. Sites like Speekabos are great for the younger set; featuring digital storytelling, and there is a feature where you can also create and upload your own digital stories.
Thing 13:Explore YouTube and some of the other video sharing sites and find a video to embed in your blog. Can you think of some ways that you can use these sites to communicate with friends and relatives or for educational purposes? Can you see how it is considered a web 2.0 tool?
Podcasts are kind of like radio shows, but available in digital format! They are non-musical audio or video broadcasts that can be subscribed to using RSS or commonly accessed through free audio sharing software like iTunes. Podcasts vary in length. They can be short (many clock in under 10 minutes) or long (some may be an hour or more), but there is a podcast out there for almost every interest imaginable! Did you know that right here at Darien Library, the teens create and publish their own podcasts each month!We're going to focus on audio podcasts in this lesson.
Thing 14: Explore audio podcasts and subscribe to one. Write about it in your blog.
You don't need to download special software to subscribe to podcasts though. You can use the RSS aggregators that you chose in Week 4: Keeping Up. You simply look for the RSS feed icon and follow the directions! The trick is finding a good podcasts to listen to. To get you started, here are a few directories (like an interactive White Pages) that you can search for topics that might interest you:
There are so many podcasts to choose from. There are some that share stories for kids like StoryNory, some are educational like Grammar Girl, some are for learning languages like the Learn Spanish - Survival Guide! Search for something you are interested in. What about knitting? Or animals?
You can listen to podcasts on your computer (speakers or headphones will definitely make it sound better), or if you download the MP3 file, you can listen to podcasts on an MP3 device. The most popular one the kids use is the iPod, but any MP3 Player will do the trick!
EXTRA CREDIT: Make your own podcast!
Do an Internet search for "podcast tutorial" and find out how easy it is to make one! Accodring to GCast, it is so easy your grandma could do it!" If you have a computer, microphone and the internet, you can make a podcast! If you do, please make sure to send it to us. We'd LOVE to listen and share it!
Good luck on this week's lesson. As always, if you have any troubles, please contact your mentor and make sure to post about your lessons on your blog! There are only 3 weeks left in the course so there is still plenty of time to catch up if you've fallen behind!
As parents I'm sure you have an abundance of photos from countless sports games, birthday parties, vacations, and other joyous times spent with your children. If you have yet to become a Facebook member and haven't spent time searching through online albums of your "friends," then you are in for a virtual treat with this week's topic!
Photo sharing websites have made creating digital photo albums and sharing pictures with family, friends, and members of other online communities a breeze. Whether for personal or professional use, such websites allow their members and the public to enjoy the beauty of photography.
Flickr, the most well known of all photo sharing websites, is considered an online photo management and sharing application. A basic Flickr account is free, which makes it a practical alternative to other websites such as Snapfish or Kodak Gallery.
Some of the unique qualities that have distinguished Flickr among other photo sharing options are as follows:
Tags - Names and keywords that you create to describe photos
Assigning tags makes photos easier to locate on Flickr. For instance, if you've visited New York with your kids recently you may want to assign tags like "empire state building" or "statue of liberty" to some of your shots. **It is important to remember that phrases or multiple words are placed "in quotes" to keep terms together.
To read more about using tags on Flickr, click here.
Groups - social networking on Flickr
Groups allow users to connect with other members through common interests and passions. It's simple for users to create their own groups if not already available through Flickr, and groups can either be public or private.
Here is a search for Parent Groups on Flickr. View all the groups that appeared using the search term parent.
Creative Commons
What is Creative Commons and how is it beneficial to you as a parent?
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that makes it easy for the public to use creative works without violating the laws of copyright. This allows creators to change their copyright terms from "all rights reserved" to "some rights reserved." This makes work free and easy to use and share, as long as one complies with the specified conditions within the Creative Commons licenses.
This short video clip, starring Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes, explains the origin and the benefits of using Creative Commons.
Flickr provides a section of users who have decided to offer their photos under a Creative Commons license. This makes certain works available for your use, as long as you adhere to the designated licenses. Read about the various licenses available through Flickr: Creative Commons, and search the photos that have listed such licenses.
Thing 12 - Explore Flickr and Creative Commons. Can you think of how these licenses may be useful to you as a parent? Blog about how they may aid or protect your children.
It is also important to be aware of the photos you post online, especially with regards to your children. Flickr makes it easy to control who you share photos with by setting privacy and safety levels. Much like educating kids about using "words they are proud of," parents should also discuss the relevance of this phrase for online photos.
The success of Flickr has prompted the establishment of other photo-sharing websites such as Picasa Web Albums created by Google and Photobucket. You can browse some of these websites without the hassle of setting up an account.
The phenomenon of Wikipedia has led to the development of other collaboration tools online. As Google searchers, I am sure you have come across Wikipedia entries with almost all of your findings. If not, check out this Wikipedia entry for Web 2.0. Wikipedia is an open-source encyclopedia found online that allows members to contribute and edit content. A brief overview of Wikipedia is provided in this video created by the North Carolina State University Libraries.
There are many additional Web 2.0 tools, as well as web-based applications available that allow users to share information and collaborate on various projects online. As a parent you may find these tools extremely helpful in your daily lives. Do you belong to a parent group or social committee? These tools can easily streamline your communication and participation with all social groups and group members. Goodbye email attachments and thumb drives! Members have the ability to contribute information virtually, and retrieve everyone's work with a few simple clicks. Here are a few of the common collaboration tools that we will explore this week.
Google Docs
Google Docs is a free web-based resource created by Google to offer users the ability to save documents, worksheets, and presentations safely and securely. Your work can be uploaded easily to Google Docs, shared and edited by users who have access to your account. To see how easy it is to have friends or colleagues contribute content, view this humorous video entitled Google Docs: A Love Letter.
Thing 10: Create your own Google Docs account and begin to upload a document you have created. Now try editing the document. Do you find it easy to add/edit information to your document? Would this tool be a useful and practical way of sharing information with colleagues and friends? Blog about your discoveries and how you can use collaboration tools effectively.
Zoho Office
Zoho provides web-based applications designed for business, productivity and collaboration purposes. Gone are the times when one had to spend money and time learning the ins and outs of many different types of software for their own personal or business needs. Zoho provides a variety of low cost applications on their website, eliminating the need for constant upgrades and maintenance. Here is more of what Zoho Office can offer its users.
Wikipedia, which was mentioned at the top of this post, is probably the world's most popular wiki.
A wiki is a website that allows users to easily add, edit, and delete content - essentially pooling their knowledge together. The term comes from the Hawaiian phrase, "wiki wiki," which refers to something fast.
Wikis are being used today in many venues both professionally and personally. Did you know that your child may be using wikis in their classroom? Some of the reasons I feel wikis are an asset to you as a 21st Century Parent are as follows:
Members can add, edit, and delete content on the website
Creators can make wikis private or public
Wikis are easy to use and there is no need for members to know HTML, a fancy markup language for web pages
Thing 11 - Learn more about wikis and how students and teachers are using them. Read the below articles and visit some of the listed wikis. Blog about your findings. Do you think wikis can be an asset to teaching and learning?
Web 2.0 tools can make communicating across time and space a breeze! This week we are going to look at some of the newer communication tools and ask you to think about how your kids and family could use, or already are using them.
Way back when...people used to marvel at the speed of email communication. It would revolutionize the world! Want to send a letter to your cousin in Germany? Just click send! No hassle, not hidden fees. In time, you could even attatch photos and insert links. Email was once 'cutting-edge' and has now taken a back seat to other means of communicating in your child's life. The tools we will briefly explore this week are:
Chat (online conversation between two or more parties)
IM (Instant Messaging, text-based conversation)
Video Chat (chatting online through use of video)
SMS (Text Messaging on mobile devices)
Gaming & Virtual Worlds
These are all quick and easy ways to connect with your kids on the go, but make sure you have the right plans to avoid surprise charges! Since these are the preferred methods of communicating for most teens, it is important to make sure you are familiar with them as well.
CHAT:
There are many ways of chatting online now. For young people, the days of the anyonymous chat rooms are long gone and the ability to chat with friends online now comes in many forms. Kids can use Instant Messaging, set up private chat rooms using sites like tinychat, chat through their email (Google Chat) and even within social networks like Facebook.
IM:
There are many different providers of IM services. The most popular are:
*AOL Instant Messenger (download free application & web-based, account is free)
*Google Talk (web-based application built into GMail, account is free)
*Yahoo! Messenger (download free application, account is free)
These applications are fantastic for allowing you to live-chat with others who have accounts with the same providers, but that does not mean you need to keep track of lots of different accounts in all those different places! Programs like, Meebo and Pidgin act like an aggregator (remember that phrase from the RSS lesson?), which allows you to add multiple accounts into one application to chat with anyone in your Buddy Lists! For Mac users out there, accounts can also be added into iChat for free chatting. Here is a great overview of how Instant Messaging works.
Some university professors are using these chat services to create a 'backchannel' and chat allows students to discuss lectures in real-time without actually saying a word in the classroom. I've used Chatzy at conferences before with great success and has served as a record of sorts. Another popular backchannel is Twitter, a micro-blogging site that will be covered in Week 10's lesson.
VIDEO:
Many of these chat clients allow you to type with another person, but additionally, now allow you to use video to communicate with others! This has been fabulous for me since all of my family live in different states. I am able to chat with my sister and nieces in AZ as well as my dad in MN and friends in TX - all for free! Many video chatting services are free, but not all. Some companies like Skype have free downloads for the applications, but may have rates applied when using it in substitution for phone service. Oovo is a competitor to Skype.
Video chatting is relatively new, but catching on quickly. A new site called, Chatroulette is garnering attention for both good news (created by a 17 year old!) and bad (Dangerous Website Parents Must Know About). Video conferencing has been used by businesses, but the market is expanding to the everyday computer user now. Admittedly, it was awkward seeing myself on camera at first, but I got over it. Having a strong relationship with my 4 year-old niece despite only seeing her once a year - is worth it! Do you have family spread around the country or globe? Why not give free video chat a try?
SMS (Text Messaging):
SMS, stands for Short Messaging Service and is a service that allows people to send short messages of up to 160 characters via cell phone. There are costs involved and many different plans available from your service provider to both send and receive texts. With around 500 *billion* text messages being sent per year, it is a powerful means of communicating and kids love it! Given the schedules teenagers keep, is it any wonder that they appreciate the convenience, speed and privacy of texting? You don't have to be text-illiterate though. Read up on how teens use mobile phones, texting while driving, and the dreaded phrase, "sexting."
GAMING & VIRTUAL WORLDS:
Virtual worlds and online games are abundant, growing, and slowly merging into each other as sites incorporate the social elements of online communication with the activity of playing games. Choose carefully what is approriate for your child's age and your pocketbook!
For younger kidsClub Penguin, ToonTown and Webkinz still rule the market for moderated, safe online communities for kids while sites like Teen Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Runescape have the Teen virtual market cornered. XBox and other gamling platforms have taken playing games from one-on-one to global communities! The TeenAngels are an extreme and organized example of how teens are good at self-moderating. If you show them right from wrong, they will often choose right.
SAFETY:
With all online communications, please make sure to talk with your child, no matter how old, about online behavior. Review safety precautions with your children, including:
1. Never give out personal information, such as your real name, age, location, phone number, or school.
2. Never share your password with anyone except your parents and legal guardians. Someone else might use your password and pretend to be you, or give out your personal information or do something that may get you into trouble.
3. Tell your parents and legal guardians if someone says or does something on the Internet that makes you uncomfortable, or if someone asks you for personal information.
4. Choose a username that does not reflect your real identity. Avoid names that are in any way suggestive, even if they seem innocent to you. (Parents, sound like familiar advice?)
Communicating through technology has gotten a whole lot more sophisticated, but if you apply the same rules and guildlines online that you would if were sending your child to the mall alone, they will have an enjoyable and safe experience. The advantages for you as a parent are numerous! You can also have real-time communication with your kids! Other than the clicking of the keyboards, chatting and texting are quiet activities that allow your child to feel connected to other people and are is not disruptive to other people. But with those advantages comes the responsibility to show and teach your kids how to navigate this world that is free, open and uncensored. Remember that there is no 100% fool-proof way to shield anyone from offensive or questionable content online, but you can establish an open conversation with your child about what your behavioral expectations are.
Now, finally, we come to...
THING #9 - Use one form of chat or text and write a blog post about it.
Tell us what you think of Instant Messaging; Do you like it? What concerns do you have using a tool like Instant Messaging? Does your child use it? What about the faculty at his/her school? Have you ever used it while performing a transaction shopping online?Try chatting with your child in another room then talk about how it was different.How did you feel about the speed?
If you're nervous and not sure where or who to start with, you can IM the Darien Librarians! You can contact the Knowledge and Learning Services Librarians through the Contact Us page OR you can IM us in the Children's Library on AIM! Our handle is "DeweyDarienKids" and we're happy to talk books, programs or answer any questions you may have!
Remember that for the duration of your program, you will be recording your experience through your own personal blog. If you haven't sent your link to the Children's Librarians yet, please do so - childrenslibrarians@darienlibrary.org - and we will assign you a mentor! See Week 2 for more information.
Social bookmarking sounds fancy-pants, but it's pretty easy! You save websites you like and "tag" them in an account. I think of it as putting sticky notes on my favorite sites.
The question deserves to be asked: why do social bookmarking if you like the bookmarks you already have on your home computer? I asked that myself. I am not one to jump on the bandwagon of anything and everything. But once I started using it, I found it had lots of practical uses. One of the most well-known social bookmarking sites is delicious.com (and it's free.) We are going to focus on this social bookmarking site this week; many teachers use it, so your kids might be familiar with it. At the end of the post, others will be mentioned if you're interested!
Here are the reasons why I find delicious.com useful:
1. You can search your bookmarks from any computer just by logging onto your delicious account. This way, if you have certain bookmarks saved on your home computer, and others saved on your laptop, you don't have to worry. Now you'll have all your bookmarks in one place.
2. Delicious allows you to see sites that have been tagged by other people.This is where the social part comes in. You can search the words "children technology," just to see what comes up on that topic. It's great, b/c you don't have to worry about finding lots of websites all by yourself, you can rely on others' really good bookmark finds! Take a look at the delicious account for the Children's Library, to see what we've tagged on topics ranging from preschool games to homework help.
3. Here's something key...delicious doesn't tell you who has tagged websites, unless you want it to. It's a preference thing. If you want people to see that "happy girl" (if that's your username) has tagged things...go for it, if not and you'd rather keep it private, that is good too! No one will be able to see your tags unless you'd like to share. This is able to be done in settings once you're signed in.
Which leads us to Thing 8...create a delicious account and bookmark 3 websites; any ones you'd like. Take a look at this delicious "how to."
As mentioned before, delicious is not the only social bookmarking website out there. Google has Google Bookmarks. There are also some social bookmarking sites that are "amped up." On these sites, you can vote for your favorite articles that have been bookmarked by other people that day. Examples of these are Digg, and Reddit. These are fun to look through if you like to see what people online are talking about right now. Some of the articles are quirky or about topics you might not necessarily gravitate towards, but that's what makes it so interesting!
Extra Credit: Add Delicious Bookmarks to your Firefox browser for convenient bookmarking while you're using the Internet!
On a side note...check out this post for some guidance about starting your own blog from Week 2.
This week is all about RSS, which stands for "Real Simple Syndication." If you are starting to feel a tad overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information that is available on the internet and in the Web 2.0 world, you are not alone! There are so many blogs, websites, new tools, and interesting articles. How can one person possibly keep up with it all? How can you weed out the stuff you don't want from the information that you do?
One way to keep up is by using an RSS reader which allows you to subscribe directly to the content that interests you. Some people call them "readers," "feed readers," or "aggregators." Whatever you call it, the idea is to bring the information to you- rather than have you go to the information!
First, watch this short CommonCraft video that neatly explains all about RSS:
Thing 7: Setup an RSS Reader add some feeds to your reader, including a feed to the Darien Library 21 Things page, and blog about your experience.
There are several great ones to choose from: Google Reader, Bloglines, Newsgator, or My Yahoo. If you already have a Google account, you will find it easy to use the Google Reader. Likewise, if you are a Yahoo! user, My Yahoo! might be the best choice. But don't be afraid to try a few and see which one is the best fit for you. Like setting up a blog, you need to first create an account and then explore the tools, settings, and particular interface of the program you choose. Click here to watch a quick video on adding feeds (aka "subscriptions") to GoogleReader.
Maybe you'd like to put an RSS feed subscription on the Darien Public School website or your child's teacher's website. Or maybe you'll love reading a local mom blogger, like Nicole Lyons from All About Darien, who blogs about events in and around town. Did you know that there are lots of websites that share local information through Feeds including FairfieldCountyChild, Darien Patch and even the local newspapers!
Maybe using a Reader is still just ONE MORE THING to have to check and follow. Maybe you check your email regularly and think that having the information sent right to your inbox is preferrable and more convenient. Try setting up an RSS Feed that will send updates directly to your email account with Feed My Inbox. Watch an explaniation of how it works here.
After you've set up a reader and added a few feeds, write a blog post about your experience using RSS. Which RSS Reader did you choose and why? What do you like and/or dislike about RSS? Do you think this is a helpful tool for parents?
No matter how it looks, that orange icon is changing the way we manage all the content out there on the Internet.
Extra Credit: Alerts
Create an Alert using Google Alert. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Just want to see how it works? Try putting an alert on "Darien Library" and see who's talking about our library online!
If you’re curious about e-readers, the Darien Library has two first-edition Kindles, a Kindle DX (the reader with a larger screen), and a Nook available for you to check out and experiment with.
Now, it's time to play!
Podcasts are kind of like radio shows, but available in digital format! They are non-musical audio or video broadcasts that can be subscribed to using RSS or commonly accessed through free audio sharing software like iTunes. Podcasts vary in length. They can be short (many clock in under 10 minutes) or long (some may be an hour or more), but there is a podcast out there for almost every interest imaginable! Did you know that right here at Darien Library, the 
Creative Commons
The success of Flickr has prompted the establishment of other photo-sharing websites such as 
Zoho Office
Social bookmarking sounds fancy-pants, but it's pretty easy! You save websites you like and "tag" them in an account. I think of it as putting sticky notes on my favorite sites.
![Robot holding RSS symbol. Image courtesy of Flickr user Rafa[EU]](/sites/darienlibrary.org/files/users/user240/rss.jpg)
This week is all about RSS, which stands for "Real Simple Syndication." If you are starting to feel a tad overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information that is available on the internet and in the Web 2.0 world, you are not alone! There are so many blogs, websites, new tools, and interesting articles. How can one person possibly keep up with it all? How can you weed out the stuff you don't want from the information that you do?
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