Office 2.0

I've been enjoying getting reacquainted with Google docs this week. The first time I used these tools was in 2008 when I was helping with some volunteer coordination for the We Are Many festival. After some of the more tech-savvy coordinators introduced Google docs to me, I was quickly impressed by the collaboration and sharing features of these very useful tools. Speaking of We Are Many, the organization is still alive and well, with a number of inspiring projects under way around town.

I've noticed a few people discussing the differences between Google docs and Microsoft Office. Just today, I also noticed the recently launched Google Cloud Connect. This free toolbar (plug-in) for MS Office allows you to share and collaboratively edit MS Word, Excel or PowerPoint files, similar to how Google docs files are shared. Not sure what I think of this yet... especially as I have not tried it out. Mashable--a social media and technology news source--discusses it here.

End of Week 3 - RSS and beyond

Well, it seems that just about everyone has made it to the end of Week 3 relatively unscathed. I've been enjoying catching up with my RSS feeds. So much information, so little time. Here's one feed from Digg that caught my eye:

Obama to meet with Jobs, Zuckerberg, and Schmidt: Will the World Tilt on Thursday?

Looks like President Obama met with three very influential people yesterday. Apple, Facebook and Google will soon rule the world. ;) I enjoyed The Oatmeal comic linked at the bottom of that article.

And since I can't get enough of Portlandia, here's another video that seems appropriate for this Reader-themed week.

Tech overload

Suppose I choose not to Google

In case anyone is wondering why we have chosen to showcase the Google empire for this 23 Things program....

(1) There are a lot of tools and applications out there, but Google's products seem to be the most user-friendly and widely-used.

(2) With your Google account, you can sign into any of Google's products. And this limits the number of accounts you have to create. We all know how much fun it is to try and remember all those usernames and passwords.

(3) And well, Google has simply taken over. Sometimes resistance is futile.

Perhaps this is the second post

So I realized that I forgot to mention some crucial information in my Thing 3 post. Everyone needs to adjust their blog Settings to allow for comments to show up. Go to the Comments link under the Settings tab. There are three main things to consider here. First, click on "Show" as opposed to "Hide". Second, under "Who Can Comment?", I would recommend choosing Registered Users (anyone who is able to log into Blogger). And third, you will need to decide if you want to moderate comments. It seems unlikely that you will experience comment spam from outside sources, so I think it's fairly safe to click on "Never" or "Only on posts older than..." This way everyone's comments will show up immediately, and it will make the leaving of comments more satisfying.

Also, I forgot to mention that you need to separate your labels with commas. Labels become links and therefore need to be distinguished from one another by the separation of a comma.

And I furthermore forgot to mention that you will probably want to add the Labels gadget, if you want your labels to show up on your blog, as opposed to remaining "behind the scenes" so to speak.

Okay, now what do I think about blogging? I haven't had the chance to use it in a library context until now. A number of years ago, I started a blog. But since I was the only one who read it, it kind of defeated the purpose of having a blog. So this time around, I am looking forward to maintaining a blog that can actually be shared and read by others. Time to join that social media revolution.

This would be the first post

This is kind of an afterthought, but it makes sense to follow along with my own blog. After all, if I can't follow my own instructions, something is surely amiss.

Being a part of the 23 Things team has been an incredible learning experience. When I volunteered for this team, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And now as I look back upon these past few months, I am thinking that was likely for the best. Needless to say, I would have missed out on a good thing... a good 23 things.

I have had my iGoogle page for a while now, but it doesn't seem to be something that I prefer using on a regular basis. Kind of hard to explain. I enjoy the idea of a start page, but for some reason I continue to prefer my regular homepage and bookmarks. Still, I can see the benefit of having a one-stop shop as a starting point - especially if I am not using my own laptop or work computer.

Prior to joining the 23 Things team, I was familiar with the majority of the things we decided to include in this program, and I had used many of them... iGoogle, Google Docs, RSS feeds, Facebook, social bookmarking, podcasting, etc. However, I have already learned a great deal since then, and I am sure I will continue to learn much more as the next 11 weeks unfold.