Do you believe in love at first sight?

When it comes to Web 2.0, I do not believe in love at first sight. I now realize that I need time to explore and I also need some encouragement from my peers.
My initial reactions to Technorati were negative, as were my initial reactions to Twitter and Second Life. As I spend more time talking to classmates and using the technology, I begin to see positive aspects and valid applications. As instructional designers we will be faced with this same initial skepticism. I am happy to be on the journey now so that I can better assist clients as they see and use Web 2.0 technologies for the first time.
So, I will keep an open mind about Technorati. I now see a valid use in searching blogs for new and changing information. Yvonne shared her experience with searching Technorati for information about “user centered design” and listed interesting blogs that discuss this topic. This enhances the “static” information found in articles and journals that are available online.
I want to keep exploring and experiencing different technologies. This will help me be an informed consumer/ produser and eventually I will be able to support others as they look for new technologies to enhance and improve their work.

Blogging 101

After about 5 days of “blogging” I have learned some new things, but still have some questions. I am excited about having a blog, because I don’t think that I would have started a blog without the extra push from this course.
Question 1: How did I end up with 2 accounts? Somehow I have two accounts and there are 2 Eirins following the class blog. You can tell because there are 2 different profile pictures. I can’t figure out how to put them together.
Question 2: What happened to the RSS feeds? When I was first experimenting with the RSS feed buttons, I was just pushing the button and apparently “subscribing” to the feeds or sites. Then I learned that I actually had to subscribe to the feed reader. But those original sites are not there. Where did they go?
Some things that make blogs better…
- Shorter posts. Some of my posts are a little intimidating. I think readers would not want to commit to so much work.
- Bulleted lists, graphics and even embedded videos make the blogs interesting.
- The blog name. I have started following 27 blogs to keep up with the different electronic journals in the class. Some blogs, like “crystal’s web 2.0 summer 2009 blog” or “sri’s web 2.0 journal” are a lot easier to remember, while the other names make it difficult to remember whose is whose.Looking at other blogs out there, people use them for many different purposes. I appreciate those that have actual usable information. Gifted crafters post project ideas and directions on blogs, complete with patterns, photos and even videos. Accomplished cooks also blog about new recipes, and different foods they are cooking. Those blogs that people use to write about their normal, everyday life need to have something extra to make it interesting.

My First Post

Here we go! I am writing my first post on my first blog. I look forward to learning all the features of the blog-o-sphere.