Thing 10: Wordle and other Image Generators

I played a bit with Wordle and made this picture, using the text of President Obama's inaugural speech. Then I customized the colors, and let the program use up to 400 words. It made a lovely word picture, I think!

Another word picture I created was based on the word "Book." Using the Google translator, I translated the word into as many languages as I could manage (being somewhat limited by the fonts available in Wordle). The picture I came up with looks like this:

I think this would make a nice T-Shirt picture!

Then I played with Word Heart and made one I think my daughter might enjoy:

Inverting the colors made it look like this:

I used the Wedding Sign Maker to create a fun picture for my niece who is a newlywed bride:

Find it here!

Things 8 & 9: Bloglines or iGoogle or Safari or Mail or...

I've had a bunch of favorite blogs to follow for quite awhile, so I've been subscribing in various ways, but never using Bloglines. I've had fun poking around with Bloglines, and really enjoyed Cindy's post about that. I completely agree with her about how wonderful the Subscribe Bloglines button is. Unfortunately, I don't think we can use it on the computers at work, because the toolbars are locked down there. At home, I use Safari as my browser, and it's a simple task to drag that button onto my links bar where I want it!

Safari makes it extremely simple to subscribe to an RSS feed. The little orange button appears in the address bar of any item that you can subscribe to. When you click on it, it reopens the window giving you the option of subscribing in links (which appear in your favorites, or the links bar at the top of the screen. It looks like this:

Or, I can click the Subscribe in Mail link, which will send that feed to my Mail program, where it will look like this:

In Bloglines, the screen for the same feed looks like this:

The actual blog looks like this:

It might be alright to read a newsfeed in Bloglines, or through the Mail or Safari links, but I prefer to go to the actual blog, whenever the content has anything to do with art. I find that the blog author usually has set things up to show his or her artwork to best effect by the way they've designed their blog. Reading it through a reader is not going to give me that experience!

When this Web 2.0 project first started, I "followed" several blogs, which is another way of subscribing. I decided that was too cumbersome, and instead set up my iGoogle page to show me the blogs that I'd like to follow. That page looks like this:

I can quickly see if there's an update to a blog, and then click on the plus sign to see a preview, or if the blog author has given their post a title, click on the title to open the post in a new window or tab.

My iGoogle page has another tab on the side, called "Home," in which I follow well known blogs, and have gadgets that I like to use, such as Worldcat and Library Thing. My log-in for iGoogle at work, is my library e-mail address, so the content I have is all stuff that I like to use for my work. It looks like this:

As you can see, there is yet another way to subscribe to blogs, which is shown in the middle of this page. It's Google Reader. I tend to use that method of subscription for blogs that I like to keep aware of, but perhaps won't read as religiously. It's very easy to click "Mark All As Read," and move on. There's only so much time in a day, and I like to keep some of my reading time for books!

I'm not sure which is the best way, but I'm glad there are so many options!

Ravelry

You might have noticed the flashing button on the right side of the blog that asks "Where my stitches at?" It's for my favorite Web 2.0 site of all time, Ravelry. Unfortunately, you need to get an invitation to really get a good look at it. It only takes a few days to get your invitation, but in this day of instant gratification, that might be too long.

If you are not into knitting or crochet, you might want to stop reading now, as this will probably not be of interest, but if you are a fiber person, you really must know about this site.

Ravelry is an online community for knitters, crocheters, designers, yarn shop owners, and fiber artists. You can organize your projects, plan future projects, shop for patterns, find free patterns, and connect with other people with similar interests.

Once you have an account, and a user name, you get a spot for your notebook. The front page looks like this:

There's a drop down menu where you can access information about your projects, the groups you belong to, messages for you, and any groups within Ravelry that you belong to. On the right side of the screen, if you've added photos of your project, they will show up. If you've got a website, or a blog, you can have recent posts show up on this page as well.

The project page looks like this:

When a viewer clicks on a project picture, one can find out what pattern and type of yarn was used, where it was purchased, and any notes that the knitter added about the pattern. I search out patterns before I buy the supplies, to see what other people have done with them. Sometimes I see yarn choices that I would have never considered, but love, and sometimes I find out about alterations to the pattern that I really like. Whenever I see something I really like, I add it to my favorites. That way, I can easily refer to it later, when I'm actually ready to start a project. There is a link to search for patterns on the web, and if it is a free download, there is special button. Many patterns can be purchased through Ravelry, and downloaded as PDF files. I keep a list called a Queue, of patterns I hope to make someday and I can link that to my Stash, which is a record of all the yarn I've already acquired.

I keep my personal library of knitting books and magazines organized on Ravelry, which keeps me from buying the same magazine twice. Even more important is the tool which allows me to keep track of all the needles and hooks I've acquired over the years. It's awfully easy to forget what I've got, and more than once, I've bought a size of needle that I already had.

One of the most enjoyable parts of Ravelry is the Groups section. There is a knitting group for every imaginable interest. I belong to 21 different groups currently, with my favorites being the Bicycle group and the Mac Lovers group. Inside each group's page, you can see what various members have been working on, as well as join in on discussions, knit-alongs, tutorials and more.

It takes time to use all that Ravelry has to offer, time which could be spent knitting or crocheting. However, I justify my time there, because I've been saved from bad project or yarn choices, and I've been inspired to try projects I would never have tackled otherwise.

If you have read this far, my guess is that you might be interested in joining Ravelry. I highly recommend it, and if you do, please find me and let me know you belong. I'm Dutchgirl73, so look me up when you get the chance!

Thing 7: The ups and downs of our tech world.

Technology is supposed to ease our lives, give us time savings, and make our tasks simpler. In some ways, of course it does: I love my toaster which senses how brown the toast is, my washing machine which senses how big my laundry load is, and my car, which knows to remind me that it's time to buy gas or get serviced (I don't have one that tells me how to get where I'm going... yet).

However, technology has opened up so many possibilities for doing things that were never possible before, that I seem to have less time than I did before technology was so prevalent in my life! I spend hours tweaking photos on my computer, instead of just pasting them in a scrapbook. I spend time organizing my recipes in files, instead of cooking them. And, if I want to be cool with my teenage daughter, it's better to text her than to call her on her Cell phone. My fingers don't go as fast as hers, so that's a lot slower than calling and saying "Time for dinner, you need to come home!"

Sometimes, it's a wash, as with the software I use to keep my checkbook register organized and reconciled. I remember spending hours at the kitchen table surrounded by cancelled checks, and sheets of paper with arithmetic scribbling. Those days are gone; I rarely write a check, and use a check/card. I still spend a lot of time adding forgotten transactions, and getting everything tagged and organized the way I like. I could download the transactions from the bank, I suppose, but that requires setting up the account a certain way, and I haven't had time to do that!

Now that I'm exploring 23 more options for adding technology to my life, I'm excited and a little scared. There is so much, but all of it requires sharing a bit of myself "out there." How much privacy am I willing to give up to make full use of all of these toys. And, if I decide to back out at some point, can I erase my tracks? And even more importantly how do I guide my daughter through the joys and pitfalls of this big new world. It's a lot to ponder!