Thing 7

The online collaboration tools were kind of cool. I know when I was in school we would always have group projects and it was difficult to all get together. I can only imagine how much easier having these tools will make group projects. I didn't find one tool better than the other. I did like the Google tool that makes one person an administrator and have to be invited so no one else can mess with your stuff.

Thing 6

Digg seems like it could be a useful tool. They have things broken down in to catagories and subcatagories. I could see this taking a lot more time than utilizing the library sources. It seems like it could take a lot of time to narrow things down as well as check the credibility of the source. To establish a reputation or credibility Digg can be used to post articles that you have found and are interested in. The more educational, credible sources you post the better you would look.
Honestly I don't know that Reddit using Twitter would really save a lot of time. So often I see people getting really frustrated with how often they get updates on these various sites. Not to mention I can't imagine it would be easy to sift through all of the twits (or whatever you call them). Again this is another time when you would have to research the post or information to ensure credibility. I could go onto one of these open sites and say I am a brain surgeon and post stuff about neurosurgery. Everything I would post would be under false pretence. You would have to verify the original source, then verify that the source is who they say they are, then you would have to verify the accuracy. It all seems like a waste to me.
Really I don't care enough about Tila or Nikki to know who would treat the dogs well. I also have no idea who this baby lotion lady is. So, maybe it would be best for them to share...

Thing 5

I set up a Twitter account for this thing. I don't really have a good reason for choosing Twitter, to be honest. I just figured it would probably have more networking potential than the less complex choice. Twitter appears to more about the updates and not so much about the applications that most social networking sites seem to be focusing on. I guess that is the biggest difference I can see. I didn't get that in depth with this though, as I am not a fan nor do I really plan on using this twitter account unless absolutely necessary. Personally I don't see that this would be practical for school or work as it is so public there is too much potential for bad things to happen.

Thing 4

This is something I have, again, already completed. I set up a MySpace account some time ago and switched to Facebook about a year ago. I found the MySpace platform was more difficult to use after they overhauled it. I am actually getting to the point of frustration with Facebook that I was with MySpace. I am using these tools to network with people I meet at AI. It has come in handy a few times when I have had questions. I don't think this is the most optimal way to network with people in general. For a "networking" site there is a lot of crap to sift through. All these games and apps cloud up the feed and it is becoming a pain to find actual updates from people. It took me a long time to get onto any of these sites as I didn't want to deal with all the apps and people constantly wanting you to join their farm while running a mafia or something. I keep the information I share pretty vague. I figure if people want to know details about me at this point then I can meet up with them or e-mail with them. I do not want detailed information about myself all over the Internet.

Thing 3

I have been using the student portal for most of my communication for school. I had already set up the e-mail when I first started here. I have had online classes as well as looked around a lot on the portal. I don't remember any real problems I have had. The only thing that is frustrating is that the portal site logs you out so quickly. I am sure I will use the link to the library as well as all the registration tools. Most of the updates are about things happening during the day when I am at work so I don't really use that. I have found it useful to keep all my school information contained in my AI student e-mail account. I have used sites like this in previous educational and professional experiences so it isn't really new to me at all.

Thing 2

I chose to use the bloglines tool for my RSS feeds. I had seen the letters RSS before but had never really looked at what they stood for. I had to laugh a little that they stand for "Really Simple Syndication." May as well tell it like it is. This tool only took me a few minutes to set up. I spent more time looking through other blogs and trying to decide what to subscribe to. I really like the set up. I used to use a few different blog type sites and I wish I would have known about this then. I think that this will be useful as you can subscribe to so many types of sites it will be nice to use this to follow a number of topics I enjoy learning about. It will also be helpful in the crafting groups I try to follow. I have just been logging on periodically to see if other people had updated anything.
I think that if instructors and media specialist libraries could make good use of this tool. When I was at SCSU there were a number of times that I would get all the way to class to find out that it was canceled. Had sites like this been utilized someone could have posted that the instructor was ill and the students could have learned this before getting to campus. Also media libraries could keep people informed of any updates or changes they have made. With our lives as busy as they are, it would be nice to get updates without having to take a lot of time to find out that nothing has changed.

Thing 1

About 4 weeks into the quarter our Computer Apps instructor told us about the 16 things project at AI. I am fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to work on my homework while at work. I take incoming phone calls and the volume is so inconsistant they can't add anything to our work load. Doing the 16 Things has been keeping me busy during dead times. Setting up this blog was fairly simple and did not take me much time. I may go back and do some of the optional steps at a later time.