jeholcom's blog | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

In Search of the Holy Grail of Organization

Created by Jenifer Holcombe Soykan (Syracuse University) on March 30, 2006

I used to have a laptop, but when my husband went back to graduate school he commandeered it. Thus I'm relegated to using my work PC, a loaner tablet PC, sometimes the “family" laptop, and sometimes the "family" PC. For an organization buff like myself I hate feeling so scattered, thus I’m searching for the best solution for a seamless transition between computers that is also FREE. I have found three that work:

Netvibes is my favorite utility. I can just sign in on any computer and have access to my bookmarks, files I store on Box.net storage, my RSS feeds (with people magazine & NPR Books near the top of the list!), my calendar stored on airset.com, to do lists, and even weather and e-mail. My two runnerup choices are
"Personalized Google"
Goowy

There are many others though - Let me know what you think!:

24eyes
eskobo
Favoor
Feed Pile
fyuze
Inbox
Live / Windows Live
MyWebDesktop
Pageflakes
Protopage
Start.com

Web 2.0

First use of Del.icio.us tasted good!

Created by Jenifer Holcombe Soykan (Syracuse University) on March 30, 2006

After reading an article on Web 2.0 "Yours, Mine, & Ours" one of the resources listed were the Links Referenced in a Del.icio.us account. I checked them out and for the first time felt like social bookmarking made sense! I added some new bookmarks for myself, read about some new resources, and felt good that I already had some of the sites in my pantheon!

Web 2.0 | del.icio.us

Tablet PC

Created by Jenifer Holcombe Soykan (Syracuse University) on March 22, 2006

I just started using a tablet PC. I like how it feels and the portable nature of it. Wondering how others use or feel about tablet PCs.

tablet pc

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Stumbling Around Stumble Upon

Created by Jenifer Holcombe Soykan (Syracuse University) on March 06, 2006

“Extensions are small add-ons that add new functionality to Firefox. They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. They allow the application to be customized to fit the personal needs of each user if they need additional features, while keeping Firefox small to download.” I’m playing with many of these extensions and honestly feel overwhelmed - do I really want to change the appearance of Firefox? Do I need a “purple bunny” to help me read and write comments about a web page? Adblock makes sense, but what about managing user scripts with “Greasemonkey?” I don’t even know what a user script is! I’m looking for a “fresh outlook” so I hope StumpleUpon will help me out! Mostly I want to understand how that little yellow floating planel at the left hand top of any web page with an RSS feed works. I experimented with a bunch of RSS feeds and I like this the best, but can’t even figure out from where I acquired it. Yeeks.

Social Bookmarking | RSS feeds | culture shock

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Social Bookmarking

Created by Jenifer Holcombe Soykan (Syracuse University) on March 06, 2006

Blinklist, Blogmarks, del.icio.us, Feedmelinks, Furl, ma.gnolia, Rawsugar, Simpy - How do I decide which to use? Of course I want FREE - I’ll use the bookmarks to toggle between my home and work computers. I’ll use them to share ideas about common projects that I’m working on such as a website. I’m also interested in finding more sites that are similar to sites that I enjoy. The RSS feed and how I can incorporate a social bookmarking site into my blog also interests me. I’m doing lots of reading on all of this and have signed up with several to check it out, but I still feel in over my head. I’m still suffering from culture shock!

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Wizzy Wig

Created by Jenifer Holcombe Soykan (Syracuse University) on March 06, 2006

WYSIWYG - “What you see is what you get” - Just learned that acronym even though I’ve been using FrontPage and Dreamweaver for some time. How funny! How can I be so computer literate on the one hand and so clueless on the other hand.

Technology | culture shock | educational technology

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Cyber Culture Shock

Created by Jenifer Holcombe Soykan (Syracuse University) on March 06, 2006

I’m trying to figure out what all these new internet tools like social bookmarking, blogs, and RSS interfaces are about. I’m beginning my own blog to support my “research process.”

I also wonder about the whole cybercommunity. I’m relatively knowledgeable in things technology related and computers - yet the culture of the internet feels foreign to me. I’m in culture shock in some senses “the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment”. Thus again this blog will be my syllabus to overcoming the culture shock.

I’ll know I’ve arrived when I have some understanding of the new culture, have a feeling of direction, and feel a sense of belonging.

Enjoy following my journey!