Week 5, Thing #11

I went through the categories of the Web 2.0 Awards list and looked at several different sites. Here are my thoughts on what I saw.

I had looked at LibraryThing. I heard about this at NECC and decided that eventually I want to begin cataloging my personal library. I particularly like the idea of being able to check my LibrayThing while standing in a bookstore. How many times have I bought a book only to start reading it and realize that not only have I already read it, but I also already own it? I think librarians and students would love the BookSuggester which gives them names of books similar to one they like.

I looked at Judy's Book. I didn't see anything that really caught my eye, but I decided to add it to my blog for future reference.

I've heard several people talk about Craig's List, so I decided to check it out. I was amazed at how diverse it was. My husband had me looking for older Mustangs. This site is also blocked by my district's filter.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets could be used as an alternative to purchasing the Office suite for all students when every student has a laptop. I had not looked at it, so I decided to take a peek. It was very easy to use. At the moment this site is not available to the students in my district because it is blocked.

Google Maps is available to the students in my district. I decided to use the satellite feature to look at our home and at the our lake lot. I realized that almost everyone of our future neighbors have a pool. This is an excellent educational site.

I created a del.icio.us account at work, but stopped when I was asked to install buttons. I decided that it would be better if I installed the buttons at home, so I changed my account information and installed them on my home computer. I found some wonderful information and added it to
my favorites. This would be a wonderful way for students to collect information and store it for evaluation later.

I looked at Kayak and realized that I had used it before. I added the Kayak Buzz feed to my Google Reader.

I spent some time looking at SpringWidgets. I downloaded the widget platform and got more widgets than I wanted, so I've unstalled the program until I have more time to explore. When I checked, this site was blocked by my district.

I joined Joyce Valenza's Ning. I had received an invitation and had never taken the time to join. As usual, I spent way too much time exploring. Once I get started, the time flies by. I added a feed to one of the forums that I wanted to read.