Image Generators.....ooh such Fun!

One of my favourite 'things'. Image Generators have a huge potential to enhance your Blog, website, newsletter, handouts etc. Who needs to master Photoshop or even pay for one of the expensive graphic software products when you have all this available FREE online.


Unleash your creative side and PLAY!!!

RSS FEEDS

I set up My first RSS account about 5 years ago at Bloglines and I have found it still to be the easiest RSS Reader for most people.
RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, which basically means nothing!!
It is referred to as a News Reader which I think confuses people. Yes you can subscribe (FREE) to News websites but it is much more than that. I can honestly say I have NO News sites on my Bloglines reader
The word News simply refers to any website where content is updated regularly. Every time something new is added to a website or in some cases, a BLOG I get all these feeds channeled into my Bloglines reader and they just wait there for me to read at my leisure. It is a very neat way to organise the flow of information and it is also a great way to keep up to date on YOUR particular topic of interest or expertise.

You will notice on MY RSS Reader that I have several Library related feeds and a feed from my son's wife's Blog, which is where I find out what is going on in their lives because when I ask him, he typically says "oh nothing much!!
I really encourage everyone to set up just a few FEEDS on Bloglines at first and then expand your information horizons as you feel more confident.

Flickr......such Fun!!

Flickr has certainly come a long way since the early days of Web 2.0.
It is amazing just to see what people are using Flickr for these days. From a personal point of view I decided to upload a few photos from my son's wedding by the beach. His wife is Canadian and they have friends scattered throughout the world. By uploading a few pics and sending the one url or web address the page of photos can be viewed by everyone without all the hassles of sending pictures via email with all the associated problems of file size etc.
Here is the link to Zac and Shawna's wedding.

Understanding the terminology is quite a challenge for many people and words like 'tags' and 'group's can all look a bit ominous until you take a good look at the explanations.
As a trained 'cataloguer' I originally viewed tags with horror wondering why a carefully controlled taxonomy of words to categorise subjects was being thrown to the wind and anybody and everybody could just 'tag' something with whatever word suited them. I can see the value of this now and how by using a tag on a photo it can help that photo be found. For example if you wanted a picture of Denece Sippo you can search in Flickr and because of 'tags' you will find some :)

Groups are a great way to share photos too. I belong to a Group called 'Australian Sunrise and Sunsets' on Flickr
This site has some amazing photos and over 890 members.

Flickr's 3rd Party Services
One of the FUN places online.
Why not create your own magazine cover or turn any photo into a Jigsaw puzzle with Flickr Toys at BIG HUG LABS !

You can even POP ART yourself!

Second time round

One of the best ways to learn and grow on the Internet is to revisit websites to see what has changed and to gain more from the experience of other learners.

Although in a previous life I was one of the original Co-ordinators of the '23 Things' program I still enjoy the challenge of seeing how things have changed and look to the horizon for what is out there to find and explore.
So this is my first post in my new blog called 'Way to Go Web 2.0!!