Week Two: Making It Personal

Designing Your Own Blog

Blog is short for weblog and is a public personal online journal which allows for interaction with others via comments or posts. Postings are usually frequent, brief, and of a somewhat personal nature. Watch this short video about blogs from Common Craft.

Homework Assignment:

We will begin setting up our own blogs.You will need a Gmail account in order to use the blog hosting site Blogger.

* If you do not have a google email account (Gmail) go here and register for one.

* Login to Blogger here.

*Click "Create a Blog" and follow the steps.

* You will be asked to name your blog. It could be "Smith Family Blog" or "Sam's Technology Workshop" , etc.

(If you prefer more privacy this is when you will make up a mock name.)

* You will then have to select a blog URL address. Try and make this short and easy to remember. Write this down as you will need to email this address to us later.

*Go to the "settings" link on the blogger page and click the option to enable comments. Click save settings.

* Now be creative and select your template. Go into the design link and add some gadgets - make it your own.

*Include all team members as contributors if your are working as a family or group.

* Go to the "settings" link again and select blog log. Enter our class blog URL which is:

http://patronweb20project.blogspot.com

* Email your URL address to libraryyouth@largo.com. We will then add you to our blog list. Now all participants in the workshop will be able to see each others blogs. Remember that they will only see your blog name and not your real name.

*You are now ready to start posting your comments to your blog about our adventures and to read other's comments. The problems you encounter and solve may help someone else and they may lead you to explore web sites you never knew existed. This is the fun part of the web 2.0 experience.

* Remember that your blog will grow and change. Have fun and experiment with it!

Personalizing Your Online World With RSS and IGoogle

RSS - Really Simple Syndication

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is not only revolutionizing the way news, media and content creators share information; it is also changing the way everyday users are consuming information. It is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit everyday. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn't it? Wouldn't it be much faster and easier to be able to see the content from these sources in one place at the same time.

First let's watch another Common Craft video explaining more about RSS.

There are several different Readers available but since we all have Google accounts we will use the Google Reader for this class.

*Go to your Google home page and login. At the top of the screen, next to the Gmail account link is a link called "more". Open this and you will see a line of options, one is Reader. Click into reader and set up your newsreader.

*Now start adding some feeds and/or blogs to your reader. Try looking at your favorite web sites and see if they have the orange RSS icon. Or look here at Bloglines List of Top Feeds for some ideas. Your goal is to add at least four newsfeeds.

Homework Assignment:

Create a post in your blog about your experience with RSS. Was it difficult to subscribe? Do you think this tool could be useful in your work/personal life? You might even share one of the feeds your selected. Remember that these postings are brief and informal. You are not writing a term paper, just sharing your experiences with the group.

IGoogle -

IGoogle lets you create a personalized homepage that contains a Google search box at the top, and your choice of any number of gadgets below. Gadgets come in lots of different forms and provide access to activities and information from all across the web, without ever having to leave your iGoogle page. You can include gadgets like your Gmail messages, the current time and weather, news alerts. You can also select different colors and images for the background under "themes". This short video illustrates the process.

Homework Assignment:

Personalize your IGoogle page with a new background and add at least one gadget.

Welcome to week one. Let's get started!

What is Web 2.0?

Welcome to the Family Online Technology Workshop. Let's start off by defining the term Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is commonly associated with sites and applications that allow for information sharing and collaboration on the web. Web 1.0 was a passive platform in which we viewed information provided by others. Web 2.0 is interactive and always changing. It allows you to become involved in the exchange and add your personal content to the mix. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs and folksonomies.

To get a better idea of how information is changing watch this video from Cultural Anthropologist Professor Michael Wesch.

The Web 2.0 applications we will explore in this workshop encourage sharing and collaboration which create a sense of community, sometimes with people you will never meet face to face. Schools, libraries and businesses are more and more integrating these applications into their world.

Here is another fun video on the topic of Web 2.0 and what it's really all about!

Who are Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants?

Marc Prensky introduced these terms in his 2001 article "Digital Natives. Digital Immigrants". A digital native is a young person born around 1980's and on who has always been surrounded by digital technology and is very comfortable with it's concepts. A digital immigrant is generally someone born prior to the existence of digital technology, prior to late 1970's. They tend to experience new digital tools using the language and associations from their past experiences similar to someone learning a new language and culture.

This is 1 year old Digital Native Joey:

The goal of this class is to help parents feel more comfortable with the technology your children will be using in life. As we help them with reading, we will need to also help them learn to use technology and computers. We are moving away from just "literacy" and moving toward Transliteracy; the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.

This is the world your child will need to learn to navigate so why not learn Web 2.0 tools along with them?

Listen to this digital native...

Browsing and Searching

Browsers are the applications that we use to search the web and we usually use whatever one came with our computer; Internet Explorer for PCs and Safari for Macs. There is another browser called Mozilla Firefox that we would like to introduce to you. You can read more about it here. Mozilla is free and is an open source technology which is free for the public to view, use and distribute. Click here to download Mozilla. Modzilla has some nice applications you can add on but one that parents might be interested in is KidZui. It turns Firefox into a kid-safe browser with games, videos and websites.

Search Engines

A search engine is a web site that collects and organizes content from all over the Internet based on your query.We will use Google a lot in this class but there are some kid friendly search engines:

• Yahoo Kids
• FactMonster
• AskKids
• KidsClick

Let's Be Safe Online

As with anything that is free and uncensored it pays to be aware of dangers that you might encounter in the online world. Just as you would help your child make good decisions in life you can help them navigate the web 2.0 world in a safe and smart way. Here are some sites that provide information on how to protect yourself and your children.

Netsmartz

All of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative member libraries, including the Largo Public Library, are now offering the NetSmartz Internet Safety program on designated computers in the libraries for grade levels: K-2, 3-6, and 7-12 Once you complete the NetSmartz program on a public library computer, you are eligible to receive a incentive prize of a free pair of ear buds.

GetNetWise

Sponsored by the Internet Education Foundation, GetNetWise provides resources and information to help educate young people about privacy and safety online.

That's Not Cool

Your cell phone, IM, and social networks are all a digital extension of who you are. When someone you're with pressures you or disrespects you in those places, that's not cool.

Social Networking Sites: Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens

A short and useful list of reminders for staying safe on social networking sites (and online in general). Includes a list of resources for finding out more.

Homework:

This will be our class blog where I will be posting weekly activities. Soon you will be building your own blogs and we will post your blog link so everyone can visit each others work in progress.

For homework this week, go back to the home page of our blog. At the bottom of the "Week One" posting you will see a comment box.

It will look like this: Posted by Mercedes at 6:45 PM 0 comments

Then...

Register for a library card (in case you don't already have one). There will be some activities in this workshop that you will need a library card to complete. If you have any questions please email me at libraryyouth@largo.com.

Welcome!

Join us for an 8 week self-directed technology learning program designed to help you learn about, and how to use, Web 2.0 technologies. In addition to the traditional reading, writing and arithmetic that structured our education the new media environment includes skills like digital video production, pod casting, video game design and more. As a parent, and your child's first teacher, you are an important guide through this new digital world. If you are feeling overwhelmed, relax! You can't be expected to learn it all because it is always growing and changing. This program is designed to create a group environment for families to learn together in a fun relaxed format. We will post weekly tasks highlighting some new media technologies and then share our experiences as we learn through play.

As an incentive to complete your lessons in the eight week time span we are giving all registrants who complete all lesson assignments a 2GB USB storage flash drive. They will then be entered in a chance drawing for an Apple IPOD Shuffle.

Here's how it works:
Register now by going to the section on the right of this page entitled "Followers". Click on the icon "Followers". You will be asked to log in using a email account. Then you will be asked to give your name. You can use your name or an anonymous one. You will then select whether to follow publicly or privately. It doesn't matter either way. (Having difficulty or questions about signing up? Email mbleattl@largo.com or call 727-587-6715 Ext 2508.)
As a follower you will be able to read the weekly assignments and make comments.
I will send out weekly email reminders to visit the blog for that weeks assignments.
After you have created your family blog I will add your blog link to the class page so we can all view each others work.

Our hope is that through blog postings you will develop an online learning friendship with fellow students. At the conclusion of the eight weeks we will host a graduation party where all participants can then meet face to face and also learn the winner of the grand prize.



This program is inspired by the Learning 2.0: 23 Things program developed by Helene Blowers of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County (PLCMC) as well as Darien Library's 21 Things for 21st Century Parents and Minnesota Multicounty's 23 Things on a Stick. Content and style for this project have been borrowed and duplicated under a Creative Commons license.