Finished!!

I have just finished week 12 - I have found the whole process very useful in all, despite the regularly occuring technical hitches, the interuptions etc. I thought that I was quite computer literate, but in all honesty, I have found out that there is heaps I did not know about. I guess that I end to use computers as a tool, to achieve a desired end, and tend not to spen ages just "mucking around" to see whats out there. I am really pleased to have improved my knowledge of all these 'toys' - and some of them will be very useful. I doubt that I will ever wind up using many of them for private use - I just can't cope with the level of 'sharing' that seems to be a part of many of them - maybe it's generational - I feel old now!

Google Docs

Wow - I had no idea that all these great free apps were out there - so easy to use - I am particulary impressed with Zamzar - we constantly run into problems with people wanting to open documents that we don't have capacity for, and I was only asked the other day about converting a file to a PDF - I will be able to do it next time

I can see this one tool making life much easier

Mashups

This is a great photo of the library interior that I played with at big huge labs - what fun!

Podcasts etc

Ah - the joy of being able to find and listen to the type of info & music I want, when I want. What a shame that the reality in country areas is that connection speed is often so slow that you could go and make a cuppa (and drink it) in the 'gaps' between bursts of audio....

Perhaps one day we will hve good connection speeds - probably around the same time the bush gets decent mobile phone coverage

Answer Boards

I think that answer boards are quite useful, and have often read the answers on various boards / blogs / forums that relate to a topic that I am interested in (found some quite good comments on a particulat type of makeup, for instance, that influence by buying decision) I haven't ever been involved in "slam the boards" - time is certainly an issue, but I will try in the future.

A "local knowledge" answer board could be quite useful, for local history applications - trouble is that those with the local history knowledge are not necessarily the people with the "computer savvy" who would be checking out the board!

Del.icio.us

Have just finished setting up del.icio.us, which was not difficult, although it seems a bit "arificial" to try and think of sites to link on the spot. However, it could certainly be very useful for a work based tool to manage useful sites for reference enquiries - another think to add to the "to do" list