RSS feed to this Blog

Frustration time again. I tried adding various third party RSS applications from the Google Gadgets and Widgets site to this blog. When I had added some of these gadgets from Google (third party ones at that) I had little difficulty adding the code to Edit HTML. But when I tried to paste the codes for the RSS gadgets into 'Edit HTML' it kept telling me there was an error in the code. After giving up on these third party apps I tried just the plain old generic Blogger RSS gadget and it worked first time! Heaven! Then I went to a blog site that I have enjoyed following for the past several months and pasted the URL into the gadget and it was done. Real simple. The RSS is on the top right column 'Magnum PI set decorator'. Fascinating reading as this guy has worked on LOST as well.

Google Reader

Getting Google reader was easy and so was adding a source feed, in this case NZHerald sport. However I decided to alter the source to not just sport generally but to rugby specifically. Here was where the fun (not) really started! Try as I might I could not change the source. I tried 'unsuscribe' which didn't work. I tried deleting Google Reader and then adding it back. NZHerald sport would always be there. Many times my computer froze ("programme not responding" as if I was unaware of this!). I gave up. The next morning I went in and changed it to 'rugby' seemlessly in 5 minutes. I still don't know how I managed to do it or even if I did anything differently. I would have to play with it again (not that I'd really like to!). Sometimes it pays to leave something alone for a while....

Searching for feeds

I tried Syndica8, Bloglines and Technorati. The latter seemed to work best for me. I tried 'All blacks' and got heaps of U.S. hits which discussed discrimination! But in Technorati it features 'Related Tags' on the right margin and 'All-Blacks', 'Jonah Lomu', 'Haka' etc were listed. By clicking on one of these I got some very interesting results which was my aim.

NZ 2.0 and CCL

RSS feeds from Premium Websites would be extremely useful for work purposes and for library users as well. Of the several Premium websites I checked only Accsess Science had RSS (and podcasts). RSS would also work nicely for the Local History section of the library's site especially for genealogists and students alerting them to new content such as digitised resources.

NZLive's mashups gadets would also be popular for schools doing local history projects from our Local History page. A blog would also be essential with various subject options available (Customer feedback, community events, family history etc).

NZ 2.0 and galleries, museums etc

NZ Museums http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/and KRIS (Kiwi Research Information Service) http://nzresearch.org.nz/both show lots of promise. KRIS already has several thousand academic works available (looks like you have to register to access more than just the abstracts) while NZ Museums has just been set up by the National Museum in conjunction with NZLive and is still awaiting what may be a huge amount of content from the various museums large and small around the country. NZ museums has a blog attached from which here is one entry...

29 March 2009
By Anna Butterfield, NZLive
I’m about to race out the door to a workshop with Shelley Bernstein. This is a name that every New Zealand cultural organisation should be aware of. Shelley’s work at the Brooklyn Museum is revolutionising the way museums interact with their audiences.
Yesterday, about 400 people were treated to a talk at the National Library. Shelley went through her key points for engaging and retaining audiences with emerging technologies such as YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

Matapihi is a rich resource (I have used it a few times). It is a quite formal and static tool that lacks the dynamism and 'two way traffic' character of some of the Web 2.0 sites like NZMuseums and KRIS. Matapihi is like viewing the world through a pin-hole camera. What would help it to deliver on it's potential are gadgets that constantly update and refresh it's content, RSS feeds that pull in various news and content from diverse sources and utilities like a blog for feedback and ideas from users and possibly mashups to allow creativity and flexibility of use by both users and hosts.

Web 2.0 in NZ Schools

I did a quick search in Google for 'Podcast' +'schools'. The first school that came up was Point England School in Glen Innes in Auckland. http://www.ptengland.school.nz/index.php?family=1,449. Check out some of the links on the left. It impressed me how much content was there from podcasts (and vodcasts) to blogs to digital imaging and so on. This is a really switched on school that aims to build e-skills in all of it's students from 5 years up. They appear to immerse their pupils in ICT rather than using it as a supplement to learning. And it is a very entertaining site that will reward your browsing.

Web 2.0 in Local Government

I had a wee explore of the Porirua Emergency Management Blog set up by a staff member of the Porirua City Council. http://poriruaemo.blogspot.com/ It is still in it's early days (set up in Oct 2008 with 723 visitors but not very many comments). It demonstrates the usefulness of being inclusive of citizens and I liked the way it has been layed out with subjects listed in the margin and with RSS feeds available. The disclaimer at the top makes it clear this is a "toe-dip" by the author but it will be interseting to watch if this will develop and be embraced in other areas by the Porirua City Council.

NZ 2.0 Topic

I had alook at this initiative which I had no idea existed and was surprised to find stuff on here that had been posted by someone who works at CCC as a Community Development advisor and a former university class mate. .http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/canterburyissues
The CCC post was a good example of how local government can be interactive with a community group. http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/canterburyissues/messages/topic/6qHhbttmhId74bspgPMGa0

My iGoogle page

Had lots of fun putting this together (and some v-e-r-y s-l-o-w frustrations!)

News Map

A work of art?

I didn't have any photos on the work PC that I could upload except this one, so I couldn't really do anything exciting with such tools as mappr like show holiday pics with geotags etc! But I liked the effects that I could create with this particular tool

Photo as a painting
Originally uploaded by UgRay

fd's Flickr Toys. The only hiccup though was that I set up my flickr account so that only my contacts could view. However this tool is, I think, a third party application which you can only use provided that you agree to make your creation accessible to anyone. So I had to reset my permission controls to be more inclusive and this was a bit confusing!

Post from Flickr

One place I visited in Japan was Kamakura, the central seat of power of the Tokogawa Shogunate the longest ruling of the Samurai clans in Japan. The size of many of the temples is awsome, some such as this one over 15 meters high and made entirely of wood. I was very impressed with this photoset from jpellgen because of the superb quality and because each photo has detailed descriptions.

In my learning I learnt...

Conduct a seige of my task. If at first I don't break through, keep battering away at it.! Oh and sorry if you got catapaulted masses of 'invitations' (I was learning!)

"Hey, I suffered for my art! Now it's your turn." David Gerold (publishing a book)

One of my favourite comedians is Woody Allen. One of his great pearls of philosophical wisdom is "All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are Socrates."