listible

My delicious account has been coming in handy lately. I have found a lot of sites from other people's list about blogs and how to make them cool. Tonight when I got off work, I logged in and was browsing through the list. I came across www.listible.com. It's a website full of list such as what you need for your wedding, how to cure certain things, and a list of the best facebook applications! (That one was a favorite.)

my blogging style

Today I added a few more blogs to my site. It's coming along. I found it interesting today how many people are writing out their blogs before they post them. It makes sense but I always post them and later come back to edit. For some reason seeing them posted and up makes me go back and reread them again. I'm horrible at editing my writing because I know what I mean to say. The only way I am able to edit is to write it out and come back two days later. (Usually this doesn't happen because I always seem to wait to the last minute with everything.)

the end of the night

So after countless hours of research and posting of many blogs, I convinced myself that it is time to go to bed and stop working on my blog for the night. One would think that after those hours I would be tired of working on the project, but oddly enough, I'm not. Writing about the things that opened my eyes to different aspects of life, came very easily. It was even enjoyable. Writing about my favorite novels that I read years ago, reminded why I loved them so much. Although I'm not even close to being finished, I am satisfied by what I got accomplished. 

My new rep

I reread Tim O'Reilly's article and found myself intrigued by Web 1.0. I kind of felt bad that I missed out on that era. (Or I just wasn't aware it was taking place.) Maybe I did. If it wasn't for this class, I would never have been aware that I was using Web 2.0.

One thing I appreciate the most about this class is that I honestly feel smarter because of it, at least when I am talking to my friends. I have never been very good with computers. But now that I am able to throw out phrases like "web 2.0" or discuss the role of a wiki, I have given off the impression to my friends that the computer and I are bff. I have been going along with this new label; however, I have been avoiding their request to take a look at the problems they have been having with their computers. I don't want to ruin my new rep or anything :)

my blog process

I spent most of this week posting books on the list. Right now I'm just giving a simple summary of the book along with a picture of its cover. I feel like just putting the picture of the book's cover makes my blog more visiually appealing. I still have quite a few more blogs to post. I've sent out emails to a couple of my friends, asking them to go post their comments on the blog. Once I have a few more post up, I plan on listing the web address on my facebook and maybe even creating an "event" under my facebook account asking people to comment.

a new blog with a new burst of energy

So, I'm really enjoying working on my new blog. I'm interested in the material and I am even more excited to start getting other people's responses. I just checked my email and I had over 10 responses from friends that I wrote to about the blog. Knowing other people are interested in the topic makes the blog ten times more exciting for me. Right now I'm trying to blog about as many books as I can on the list. I have been adding images of the book covers to some of the blogs. (For some reason the image loader would not work today.) Once I have at least 20 blogs in, I am going to go back and add more things to the blog itself.

Getting friends involved

Yesterday I sent out an email to many of my friends informing them of my new blog. I sent them of the list of books that some of my other friends I have made up and asked for their opinions about the books and if they had suggestions for other books. I gave them the blog website and told them to visit it at the end of the week when more blogs about the books were up to make comments.

My new blog!! :)

I can't explain to you how excited I am about my new blog. I feel like I have been refilled with a new burst of energy. I wish I would have started with something like this from the beginning. It is always helpful to do a project on something you are interested. As a bookworm, this new blog project seems to be a perfect match. I'm not too worried about making up for lost time. The rest of my classes don't have anything else do for quite sometime, so their shouldn't be much to get in my way of working on my blog. Plus, working on my blog project will not be on the bottom of my to-do-list anymore. I also decided to switch over to a blog b/c I feel like I can experiment with more visuals. Don't get me wrong. I still love my wikis. But as a wiki creator, let's face it, I'm not that swell. I plan on still working on it though; if at least for the mere experience.

My writing methods

I was thinking about our class from a week or two ago, when we stopped what we were doing every few minutes to pause. I took some class my freshmen year about different ways to study. One of the methods the instructor told us to do was stand up and stretch every 20 minutes. I thought the idea was crazy, but I had paid a lot of money to take the class and figured I might as well try it. Honestly, this method is very helpful when I have to study for a long period of time. After taking a few minutes to stand up and stretch, I get this sudden burst of energy. When I sit back down, I am able to look back and see what I have accomplished which also fuels the new energy in me. I do have to say that taking breaks while I am writing is a little harder. I am the type of person that has to be in the mood to write. And when I am in the mood to write, you better watch out. I can bust out dozens of pages in a snap. When I am in the zone, I am not stopping. I have tried to stop and stretch like I do when I am reading or studying, but the break interrupts my flow. Maybe I am doing something wrong. Or maybe I just have it in my head that I will loose my creativity if I take a break.

still in search

Today I feel like a loser b/c I spent the whole class period trying to find websites that would give me advice on how to make my wiki look cool. Not too much luck.... I did find some of my websites that I had saved on del.icio.us helpful. (Who would have known those would have come in handy?!) Although I have some pictures and videos, I still feel like my wiki is missing something.... Wikipedia did have a large selection of things that one could do with a wiki. Of course I came across the page when class is almost over so I'm going to have to save my exploration for this weekend.

Wiki Wiki

This is why the word wiki has a bad rep!!!!

just info

Today I went on a hunt for more information. I also took time today to look up articles on how to make your wiki more appealing. My design of my wiki is still pretty blah. (Actually there really is no decision at all yet.) I've tried to stay focused on getting as many different sources as possible about Greenpeace so it's not just the basics about them. I want a variety of both good and bad things. Thursday I plan to work more on the design.

a new name for the wiki

For one of my other classes, I had to meet with a group to discuss our group project. (I'm not a group project fan by any means.) We have to do a presentation and again I suggested a wiki. Maybe it's just the work wiki that scares people. Instead, my group decided to do a poster... Really? A poster? So instead of creating a fab and quick resource/presentation through a wiki we are going to do it on cardboard paper...
I was discussing the situation with my mom and she even said that a wiki sounds like it would be harder to do. Poor wikis. Such a weird name gives them a bad rep.

steroids for rhetorics

After re-reading the articles on Silva Rhetoricae, I noticed how helpful blogging is for rhetoric compositions. By using more visual tools, one is able to help bring their point across. Not only by the colors and the format of the blog, but the pictures and videos also help a great deal too. A wiki is also beneficial because it helps with organization. For example, when I first began my essay on Greenpeace, I had a very difficult time trying to get my point across. With so much information, it was hard to organize. The wiki made me stop and list my information under the different categories that I felt were needed. I enjoy the convenience of being able to go back and adding information. The information now flows together a lot smoother because with just one click, the visitor is able to change to a new topic on a new page. Wikis and blogs are the steroids of rhetoric compositions!

Whiteboard Friday - Wiki-Wiki-Wiki WHACK!

Interesting....

Wikis in Plain English

trying to remember where i came from....

Today I went in and added more information to my wiki. My biggest problem is that I will mess around with the wiki for awhile, just to see all the different things it has to offer, and then I forget how I got to the space that I am at. For example, I already forgot how to go back and add a source. During my search though I found out cool things you could do with your sidebar. I told myself I would go back and look for it after I found out how to add my sources but when it came time to go back, I had forgotten how I got there! I started looking for more pictures to make my wiki more appealing but first I have to enter all the information in which has been taking me awhile!