Thing 23: And the winner is ... wikis!

For this final post on the 23 Things Oxford programme, I have been thinking about which of the 23 things will be of most use in my working life. The conclusion? Wikis, or more specifically, the C&RD Board wiki (hosted by Wetpaint). In a fit of enthusiasm which could only have been prompted by my participation in 23 Things Oxford I found myself volunteering at the last C&RD Managers meeting to take responsibility for the C&RD Board wiki, which has languished since its driving forces (Alice Keller & Rosemary Pyke) left the Bodleian Libraries last September. I'll need to give some serious thought about how to enliven the wiki and introduce new content on a regular basis, to convince subscribers that it's worth visiting on a regular basis.
Other Web 2.0 tools that I have particularly enjoyed using are Twitter and Facebook. However, I think that Facebook is probably never going to become a work tool for me, whereas Twitter seems to cross the boundaries between work and leisure with greater ease. (Although it's slightly disconcerting to see the Web 2.0 guru Phil Bradley tweeting about the new Dr Who one moment, and then analysing the speed of Internet responses to the Mexican earthquake the next .) Google Docs seems to have much potential for work use, and I'm sure I will use this again, and I have never stopped using Delicious since I started back in 2007.
I still haven't taken to RSS feeds. It really does seem like just another tool to make me feel guilty when I fail to keep up with my reading and have to employ the "mark all as read" option - again. Having said that, having the feeds appear in a Google Reader gadget on my iGoogle page - which I have made my home page - does mean that I am more likely to spot interesting posts and read them in a timely fashion.
Flickr is a tool that I will be using for non-work purposes. I plan to photograph everything that comes up in my new garden this year, publish the photographs on Flickr, and then ask my gardening friends to identify them. I also want to take some more photographs of my cats - was there ever such a photogenic creature as the cat?
What else have I learned about over the past 12 weeks? Some of the tools have already begun to fade in my memory - Piknik and that Web 2.0 substitute for Microsoft Office for example. (Not useful for me, and too slow, respectively.)
I was disappointed that LibraryThing was not one of the 23 things - and not just because it would have been an easy one for me to complete as I am already a lifetime member! I love the social element of LibraryThing, finding out whose libraries overlap with yours and connecting with people with common book collecting interests.
Well, I think that is probably enough Web 2.0 reflections for one day. I have enjoyed participating in the 23 Things Oxford programme and feel a real sense of achievement for having completed the programme within the time limit. I'd like to thank the dedicated band of Oxford librarians who put so much time and effort into devising the 23 Things Oxford programme: Laura Wilkinson, Penny Schenk, Jane Rawson, Emma Cragg & Angela Carritt. I salute you all! I'm only sorry I won't be able to come to the prize-giving event on 28 April - I'll be on my way home from a work meeting in Edinburgh.

Another change to my iGoogle page

I've changed my iGoogle backgound/theme to a misty green forest, and this screen shot also shows the My Delicious gadget in all its glory.

PS to Thing 22

I noticed when I opened my iGoogle page today that the My Delicious gadget defaults to displaying the "hotlist" bookmarks even though I last selected my own "bookmarks". This is slightly irritating, but I guess I can live with it.

Thing 22: Adding the MyDelicious gadget to iGoogle

I had already added a gadget for Delicious bookmarks to my iGoogle page, but I think I made a bad choice because it did not seem to have an option to display my bookmarks, only those added by others. This is mildly interesting at first, but when you realise that a lot of people using Delicious are programmers and their bookmarks are for various techie sites the interest fades fast.
The My Delicious gadget, on the other hand, does what it says on the box and displays my latest bookmarks (or those from my network). Much better!
I've noticed that it does not display my private bookmarks, so I'll still have to use the full-fat version of Delicious if I need to find one of these.
I'm quite happy with my iGoogle page now, and think I will try using it at work as well as at home.

Thing 21: Flickr Photostream

Just added the Flickr Photostream gadget/widget to this blog. It was almost too easy - hope I haven't missed something.
Static photos are nice (especially when they feature my cats), but what I really covet for my blog is a gadget that shows a single photo at a time, but cycles through a selection of photos. I think I saw this on Jane's blog and I'm hoping she'll read this and let me into her secret...

PS to Thing 20: No Note for Leda

I knew things were going too well. I tried to create a note in ThinkFree, but hit this compatibility snag.

More evidence that Microsoft is trying to keep ahead of its competitors?

Thing 20: ThinkFree Office - it works!

Before I wrote this post about ThinkFree Office I read a few other posts on Thing 20 from 23 Things Oxford participants - which did not fill me with confidence!

Undaunted, I went ahead and followed the instructions and was able to use ThinkFree Write without any major problems. I did find it rather slow, but I guess that's just my network connection (thanks, BT). Perhaps the offline mode would be quicker.

What struck me most was its similarity in appearance to MS Word 2003. Is there no copyright on the design of the Microsoft sofware? Or does Microsoft not care now that Office 2007 has updated the look of Word quite radically?

I uploaded a Word file to ThinkFree Write with no problems, and I would definitely consider using this software if I had not spent a few bob at the OUCS Shop a couple of months ago on MS Office 2007 (which I am growing rather fond of).