Week 9 - Cameras both still and video
 
This weeks class was sadly the last in theVirtual Revolution series.  I have loved watching this series as it has given me so much of a better understanding of the way social media works in the world and the people behind these.  Their orignal ideas and reasons for coming up with these various forms of media such as You Tube, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Ebay etc. all seem to stem from genuine interest in technology, to push it's limits further in the way it can make everything accessible and easy for people around the world to use. And of course, they also get to make a huge pile of money out of it at the same time - bonus! 

All of this is still only in it's infancy.  There are so many teething problems still - some, in the case of Facebook, are really big ones!  Most forms of anything in the world have rules that need to be set and abided by for things to run smoothly, safely and fairly for everyone.  Facebook seems to  have exempted itself of any sort of responsiblities and hides behind the "freedom of speech" cry for just about everything that happens.  Even journalists have rules to abide by.  Humans use this form of media, humans are really fallible, humans will always make human like mistakes and do and say stupid things.  They need some sort of rules, guidelines and protection in place to follow instead of flailing about on there doing damage to themselves and to each other.  Once the world gets the hang of it all, rebels and has a change in attitude to the ways in which it is being used (and I believe this WILL happen) social media can be a powerful tool for doing a lot of GOOD in the world.

On to the topic of cameras, I'm looking forward to this area.  I love using Animoto and want to know more about using and making all this photo/video stuff.  I have not used Window Movie Maker yet but can't wait to have a go.  I love those little flip cameras, small and convenient. But choice comes down to what you want to use a video camera for when considering buying, which now I know about Animoto and Movie Maker, I would really like to do.  This course is not healthy for my bank balance.
This is a good topic to cover, especially for work in a school library situation as I see the students borrowing the cameras from Beaconhills library quite often for various projects and they really enjoying using them.

Week 7 - Multimedia File Types

I found this class helpful.  I knew a lot of the file extensions but not all of them and their variations.  I never realised that the operating system you choose, say google chrome, also changed on the files in My Documents. I think I will keep the information in your blog on these file extensions.  Chances are I won't remember all of them and it may be a handy reference. I understand now the differences between different types of audio files and different types of image files.  Now when I look at the file extensions they seem self explanatory.  Not looking at these anymore and thinking "what the...?".  The links to the articles are also good to refer to and explain things in fairly simple enough terms.

Week 6 - RSS Feeds and Aggregation

This weeks class on RSS feeds was interesting.  I've never quite understood what they were all about and now I know!  They are good if you really need to keep up with what is going on in a certain area, particularly if it relates to your job.  I could do this for Mashable as I don't want to loose touch with what is going on in the world of technology but I do tend to go on this site quite a bit anyway. Sometimes I think maybe I might get overwhemled with too many things to look at and too much time spent looking at stuff (family.....what family?!!) but I will give it a go anyway and see what it's like.

Love the Flipboard app for my iPAD, however, so does my husband!!! Timetable for iPAD use being drawn up as we speak.  Flipboad makes it such a pleasant experience. I forget I'm looking at an iPAD and start chilling out like it's a magazine.

I had never heard of iTunes U before.  There is so much on there.  I love the courses on literature and creative writing.  I can't believe there are so many free courses available. I keep going back and looking at all the options.  I've told my sister and my neighbour about this and about Stumbleupon.  They sent back messages on Facebook saying "Debbie...what have you done to me!".  Actually Michele this is your fault....Tee hee.  On iTune U, you can even get into free stuff from the Bodlean Library through Oxford University.  They have "Wireless communications during the Titanic" and Jane Austen manuscripts - wow - and it's free!


My sons like the history of the internet timeline from Mashable.