Working on the Group project was not how I had imagined it to be. I did not attend the optional meeting when the specifics were discussed and that left me with a lot of questions and a bit confused. More seriously however, was that for days the Google Doc went crazy on me. I still don’t know what was happening. What I do know, is that I would never embark on another group project using this medium. It is too hard to review and edit.
Whenever I opened the document there was an error message. When I got around that, only the first five posts would be displayed, even though I knew more than three fourths more of the document had been created. I would have to close and reopen the document numerous times before the entire document could be seen. When I would try to copy and paste I could not access my clipboard. Occasionally, I would get a message asking if I would allow access to the clipboard. Only then could I past my text directly into the document. Accessing the end point was another battle. In order to come to the end where you paste your text you have to scroll almost forever. Needless to say, this was frustrating. Sometimes you would even have to wait while the remaining text uploaded into the document.
Making sense of the individual posts was another issue. It was hard for me to stay on top of the hodgepodge of information being posted daily. I believe it would have been simpler and more organized had everyone developed their portion of the project and we put it all together at the end. With that said, this assignment was messy and disorganized. However, the end result does not reflect any of the chaos we endured. I believe our final product reflects the skills of five talented and committed individuals who took our responsibilities seriously to ensure delivery of the best proposal in the class!

Movie Maker Project

Reflection
My moviemaker project is designed to stimulate a dialog among young people to address and discuss their opinions about the state of homeless individuals in Atlanta. The producers of this project do not intend to persuade or change opinions in any way but to merely gain insight of how this situation is viewed and to learn about differing opinions , concerns and solutions that can be offered.
For this project the producers share their views of what the state of homeless in Atlanta is by sharing images of places where homelessness is experienced around the city and some myths and facts that contribute to this situation. Students of all ages may encounter these individuals on the streets and may even interact with them at school and at workplaces without even realizing that these individuals may live in shelters, in automobiles and even on the streets.
Stock images for this project were taken from Google images as well as original photography with the written permission of the individuals portrayed. The producers were careful to assure that no images of any individuals would be distinguishable without their consent. Photographs of homeless venues were taken from the car window while being driven through downtown Atlanta.
The production of this project turned out to be quite challenging. Initially, I intended to go downtown and interview some homeless individuals. I soon realized that that plan was not very realistic and could be dangerous. Whether the danger was real or imagined an out of respect for the condition of these individuals I decided not to include identifiable images. Hopefully, I captured the essence of the project while allowing these individuals to maintain their dignity.

Voice Thread Project

Creating my Voice Thread was quite interesting to say the least. This application could be very useful to professors and niche groups to disccuss various topics. The Voice thread allows users to comment through text, telephone or directly into the program through microphone. It also allows users to upload an image to identify themselves which is good for those enrolled in online classes. This is the link for my Voice thread. It is Titled "The Fall Season." http://voicethread.com/share/1365600

Reflections of Comic Life

I underestimated to Comic Life project. What I had thought was coing to be some simple comedic fun turned out to be a hairpulling experience. Nothing went as I remembered, since I had experience with this application in the past. Maybe it was because I had to use an older computer since I had already used the free trial period on my computer.

Once I worked out all of the snags, I use photos of my grandaughter and one of our many hysterical moments to relive a true learning experience. Not only this comic Life give me the chance to relive those precious moments, I designed a very well thought lesson plan for children to learn from! Here is the link to my comic life project http://recyclinglindsay.wikispaces.com/.

Comic Life

That was a hectic assignment. I believe I would have done better had I better prepared. Some of my classmates used prepared photography which help their presentations to be more organized. I depended upon stringing together photos that I already had and fitting them into the scenario. Lesson Learned-- Stay ahead of the game!

Is the use of social networking tools, such as blogs and wikis, effective in improving the reading and writing abilities of 9th graders?

I believe blogs wikis and the social media have greatly enhanced the engagement of 9th graders in reading and writing capabilities. Social networks are a great tool for starting or continuing classroom discussions and responding to "thinking questions.” Except for the spelling which seems to be in detriment because of all of the spelling shortcuts that have derived from texting, students are learning how to better express themselves in written prose and therefore may use a vernacular that is usually only found in written formats. Blogs and wikis are most effective because they increase and open of lines of communication between peers as well as between teachers and students. Students can post questions and engage in and synthesize information as it arises. These formats also allow students to relish in thought as they contemplate the true nature of the information being discussed. According to one author, these tools offer students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge, they appeal to diverse learning styles and foster independent learning skills.

Academic and Research Libraries on Facebook?

I have been gathering information that has been useful in keeping academic library our services relevant for a new generation of users. What I did was to take a look at other universities that I assume are having similar problems. That is students non use of academic libraries
I concluded that taking a long tail approach to services is the most successful—that is taking services to the user through physical and virtual presence—catering to niche markets. This type of presence appeals to a much larger more and diverse audience. I believe we will harness a collective intelligence with our patrons using Web 2.0 tools. Web 2.0 are participatory simple technologies that allow for collaborative and social web application. Web 2.0 technology is geared toward Gathering information for individuals and collecting it for them to absorb at their leisure.
Librarians need this technology to reach out for patrons that we otherwise will never contact. We need these tools to remain relevant to information literacy. In order for us to become an integral part of the 20th century learning community we must adapt to the social nature of our students, particularly our undergraduate students who may fit their studies around unsocial hours. We must Emphasize the librarian’s role as “ guide to information” rather than the traditional role of an information keeper. Web 2.0 technologies allow libraries the opportunity for more outreach and creativity.