Week 7 #11 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

So now that you’ve been blogging for awhile, you might be wondering just how big the blogosphere is. Well, according to Technorati, the leading search tool and authority for blogs, the number of blogs doubles just about every 6 months with over 51 million blogs currently being tracked by the site. If the blogging trend continues, it is estimated that Technorati will have tracked its 100 millionth blog in just 5 months.Yes, these numbers are astounding, but as you’ve already seen for yourselves, blogging is so easy that these publishing tools are being taken advantage of by almost every industry, including libraries.So how does a person get their blog listed as part of the blogosphere and how can you tag your posts with keywords to make them more findable through a Technorati search? The answer to the first question is that your blog is probably already being captured by Technorati due to the fact that you're already using Blogger, the most popular blogging tool. But if you want to join the party and have your blog officially listed on Technorati and also take advantage of the watchlist and other features, you’ll need to claim your blog yourself. As for tagging posts with Technorati tags? This is easy, too. All you need to do is add a little bit of HTML code to the bottom of your post (see my example below) and Technorati will pick up these tags when it spiders (or web crawls) your site. There are a lot of new features that have been added to Technorati this past summer, including new ways to search for blogs. You can search for keywords in blog posts, search for entire blog posts that have been tagged with a certain keyword, or search for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject (like photography or libraries).Discovery Resources:Technorati Tour – videocast of new features & new lookTechnorati Discover & Popular featuresDiscovery Exercise:
Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?
Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.OPTIONAL: If you're up for a challenge, learn how to tag your posts by with Technorati tags so they can join tag searches. Create a post about something. It can be anything you want and add the HTML code to the bottom to tag it as “PLCMCL2.” You may also want to consider claiming your blog and creating a watchlist.NOTE: When adding HTML code, you'll want to make sure you're in Blogger's Edit HTML window.

Week 7 #10 Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarking in Del.icio.us

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts). Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data anyway they want. In the past few weeks, we’ve already explored a few sites – Flicker and LibraryThing to name two --that allow users to take advantage of tagging. This week, in addition to exploring Technorati tagging, we want to also take a look at a popular social bookmarking site called Del.icio.us (typed in as http://del.icio.us).Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorize your bookmarks.Many users find that the real power of Del.icio.us is in the social network aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. You can think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network.For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool. Discovery Resources:
Otter Group Del.icio.us tutorial (8 min video) - Highly recommended!!!
Us.ef.ul: A beginners guide to Del.icio.us
Several Habits of wildly successful Del.icio.us users Discovery Exercise:
View the 8 minute Del.icio.us tutorial to get a good overview of its features.
Take a look around Del.icio.us using the PLCMCL2 account that was created for this exercise. Note: In this account you will find lots of resources that have been highlighted or used throughout the course of the Learning 2.0 program.
Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorize this reference?
Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool. Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?
Don't forgot to log you experience on this bloog in the comments section under Week 7 number 10.

Week 6 #9 Rollyo

#9 Roll your own search engine
Listen to this podcast [1:32]-->powered by ODEODo you have a group of websites that are your favorites? Or a set of online resources that are similar that you frequently use to answer homework or reference questions? Well Rollyo may be the tool for you. Rollyo allows you to create your own search tool for the just the websites you know and trust. Take a look at some of these search rolls that have already been created:
Public Domain e-Books Search
Rare Book Library Search
Free Photos
Quick Quotes
Explore other rolls here.Here’s a searchroll I created to search ten of PLCMC’s family of websites:Try a search for broad terms like "homework” or “history” to see results listed from multiple sites.Discovery Exercise:
Explore Rollyo and create an account for yourself.
Create a search roll for any subject you like.
Create a post in your blog about your experience and link to your search roll. Can you see a potential use for tools like this?

Week 5 #8 LibraryThing

Are you book lover or cataloger at heart? Or do you enjoy finding lost and forgotten gems on the shelf to read? Then LibraryThing may be just the tool for you. Developed for booklovers, this online tool not only allows you to easily create an online catalog of your own it also connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes. Add a book to your catalog by just entering the title -- It’s so easy that you don’t even need MARC record training to do it – or connect with other users through your similar reading tastes. There are lots of ways to use LibraryThing. You can even view your books on a virtual shelf, add a widget (see sidebar for sample) to display titles that are in your catalog or install a LT Search box on your blog.So why not join the ranks and create your own library online. With over 65,000 registered (BTW: LibraryThing also has group forum for librarians users and over 4.7 million cataloged books, you're bound to discover something new.Discovery Resources:
About LibraryThing
Library Thing tour
MoBuzzTV Review (3rd story in the 5 min broadcast)
LibraryThing blog (updates & news) Discovery Exercise:
Take a look around LibraryThing and create an account.
Add a least 5 books to your library.
Blog about your findings and be sure to link to your LibraryThing catalog.

Week5 #7 Online Image Generators

Thing 6. Online Image Generators
Most of us don’t have the time or the artistic talent to create specialized graphics or logos for projects. Enter the Online Image Generator! These handy-dandy tools let you create many types of images – framed pictures, slide shows, comic-style captions, trading cards, calendars, and much more.Why use this tool?Create trading cards of authors, scientists, historical figures, or even concepts you’re trying to teach or promote. Media specialists can support teachers by helping students create images around astronomy, algebraic equations, historical figures (“I’ll trade you two Ben Franklins for an Eleanor Roosevelt!”). Students and staff can create trading cards of themselves to help them get to know each other. Other possibilities include creating a calendar with an image related to what you’re promoting that month, or a mosaic with multiple images related to your books, videos, or other resources. Use the images generators in summer reading programs, book clubs, training, and more. Librarians at Carleton College are using trading cards as a way to reach their students. The possibilities are endless! As is the time you can spend playing around with these sites—beware!
1. Go to Big Huge Labs.
2. Choose Trading Card from drop down list.2. Create a trading card and save it to your computer.
3. Create another image or two to illustrate your 23 Things.
4. Upload the your trading card and images to your blog to share with others.

ResourcesBig Huge Labs Image Chef Toon Doo Graphics are a great way to convey information and can add some fun and creativity to your Web sites. Create customized images for your PowerPoint presentations, Web pages, and other projects. This is also an opportunity to think about copyright and licensing issues–some image generators use characters from popular TV shows (The Simpsons, South Park, etc.)–is this legal or part of the Internet free-for-all?

Record you thoughts on this blog as a comment under Week5 #7