2/21/2007

Great Blog Jenisfamous

I'm not sure how I came across this blog http://www.jenisfamous.com/blog.html but I'm finding it fascinating reading. It has nothing to do with libraries or the Internet but is just plain fun. Jenisfamous is a comedienne who also has considerable writing experience. Many bloggers try to get messages across or just ramble through their thoughts but this blog has something about it that makes it different.

2/19/2007

Web 2.0 Search

I've been having fun with Web 2.0 but didn't realise that it had spawned so many new search engines. How is a gal supposed to keep up? This list of the Top 25 Web 2.0 Search Engines published by OEDB is an eye-opener. The names, the applications, are all quite delicious (now where have I seen that word before?) and range through mashups, picture search, video search, tag clouds, social networks - and that only in the top 25!

Just Google it

Looking at last weekend's Dilbert comic strip I was reminded of a minor furore caused by a comment by West Australia's Education Minister last year Don’t learn it, just Google it: Ravlich.
Before emigrating to Australia I taught geography, English and art in schools in South Africa's Transvaal and Natal and, in order to get a post here, had also to teach history (with no previous knowledge of Australian history whatsoever), politics (ditto), law (ditto) and other social sciences. One thing my crash course in those subjects did achieve was give me a better background knowledge about my new country than many Australians. When I decided to leave teaching and obtain my Librarian's diploma some of that knowledge stood me in good stead as my first position was in a law library. I doubt if I could have swung that by a reliance on Google.

2/12/2007

Lapse in fundamental Google product

Laughed myself silly over this comment on the latest Google flatline.

2/05/2007

Open Source Software

Recently I had to clean up my old laptop and reload all the programmes. I do actually have legal copies of everything but get annoyed that, after uploading from a legal disc, I still have register various Windows programmes. I'm seriously considering ditching the Microsoft Office Suite altogether and switching to free, open-source software. Zoho has been well recommended in many blogs and I want to try that. The only problem is that my computer-challenged husband wouldn't trust anything that that he doesn't already use. When I downloaded Firefox to his snazzy, up-to-date laptop his comment was that he didn't need Firefox, all he wanted was Google!!

Open Source Teaching and Learning

OER Commons is a teaching and learning network offering a broad selection of materials that are free and open to use.
Subject areas currently covered are
Arts, Business, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology and Social Sciences and the resources are divided into Primary, Secondary and Post-secondary levels. When I looked the top sites were:
Evolution 101,Case Studies in Terrorism Response, Masses & Springs, Introduction to Music Theory and Causal Reasoning.