Technorati

Technorati does not seem to have much relevance for me. I found that there were 30,696 hits in the Blog Posts, 30,674 in the advanced search and 554 in the tags only search. This was fine but I am not sure what I am looking for. I suppose it would be great if I had something specific to search for but at present I am too occupied trying to find my way around all this stuff. One thing I did find a little disconcerting is that Scientology is constantly advertising on many of the pages I went to. Well, I will keep trying but I dont think I am a very social being when it comes to the blogesphere - perhaps more time spent on the computer might make a difference, do you think?

Del.icio.us

Looking around Del.icio.us has made me even more frustrated than ever. I can see enormous potential for it to be a very useful tool in many ways ie at the library, in the office. It would be a great help for someone doing a large amount of legal research and having to put all the cases on one topic in one bookmark with appropriate tags to the cases. It would keep everything very clear, conscise and available at the touch of a key. All this would be great if I could only see how to create a "tag". Am I completely thick? Have others had the same problems as I have? These tools are great so long as you are able to get into them! I will just have to ask someone when the time is right but it is not at all clear from the site just how to create a tag. I had better not go on about it, had I.

Have just been spending time searching for feeds for my RSS. Unfortunately they all seem very American which I suppose is understandable as most of the websites seem to be American. I found the Blogline search tool okay although the National Geographic sites kept telling me they were expired. Pity - they could be rather interesting. Tired the latest movie site which could be fun if you were interested in the latest hot shot from the states. Doesnt really do much for me so I didnt bother trying to find my way around it any longer. Did manage to get the NZ Herald on board. Pity they cant put it on a screen in the bus - then I wouldnt have to spend any time in the morning catching up with the news. The BBC should be a goodie when there are specific things happening around the world. It will be great being able to catch the news as it happens while at work. Sometimes it seems as though we get cut off from the world until the news at 6 on TV.
The site I really enjoyed just for the sheer pleasure of looking at the images etc was http://flowerpress.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss. Probably not very inspiring if you want some academic enhancement but if they keep up the good work then the little shop in Sydney with its embroidery and flowers etc could just be one of the happy sites that might entice me to spend a little more time in front of this rather monotonous screen.

News feeds.

After lots of help and some time fiddling around trying to work out just what to do with RSS I have finally managed to get my head around it. The first website I visited was the BBC. I watched the One Minute World News. How fantastic is that being able to get the up to the minute news so quickly. I will watch this one with interest. I love the way there is no advertising as well. The site looks reasonably easy to find my way around. I also booked into "Quote of the Day" and thought this one by Bill Clinton to be very appropriate to my situation trying to come to grips with all this web stuff. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31751.html

Exercise #6 Dictation

We recently bought a new digital dictaphone system which enables the transcribee to either type the information or enables the author to use voice recognition. It is a very useful device which makes the author's job so much easier and quicker even if it means they must speak much more clearly. Unfortunately it eliminates the need for a secretary - I am doing myself out of a job but it is so good being able to quickly understand what is being said at the push of a key.

Exercise #5 Flickr fun

I loved this image as it is exactly the colour of my favourite hydraenga in my garden. Reminds me it is time for pruning!
I have just been back into Flickr and found many places I have visited over the last few years. So easy to flick onto a cathedral in Melbourne or a site in Bangkok. Who needs a camera when the shots are so beautiful. I loved looking at the map of the world and choosing a place to go. Keeps the itchy feet at bay!! I could spend all day browsing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlavecchia/24328206/

I have tried again to answer the question!!!
I went into Bubblr which I think could be great fun when composing greeting cards or posters etc with the speech bubbles. A sense of humour would be required to make the most of this site.
Spell with Flickr was a little tedious. Dont think I would use this very often. Both sites were a little difficult to read. Must remembr to use these sites when organising functions.

#4 Exploring /flickr

I am finding exploring Flickr a little difficult but the more I look the more I am finding!! It does take quite a lot of time though. This is one of my favourite photos of a very happy trip to Te Anau.

Authors

As I think about how much enjoyment I get from my reading experience I find it difficult not to think of the authors of all those books. Hundreds of books are published every day of every year, fiction and non-fiction, childrens' picture books and adult text books. What an enormous amount of time and effort goes into each item! I admire authors so much as I struggle to put together 50 words for this blog. All credit to those wonderful people who bring such joy to our lives - where would we be without them?