Thing #13: Embed a video onto your blog

Description:

Sites like YouTube and others let you embed videos onto your blog. That means, you can make the video appear on your blog. This is probably the most popular way of videocasting these days, other than using a YouTube account.

If you have never put code onto a website before, this may sound much more difficult than it really is. In the end, you are just cutting and pasting some funny words into your blog that will make the video show. Don't be intimidated by this: geeks have a habit of making easy things sound hard. Don't be afraid to ask for help, if you get stuck.

Hints:

• Go to a YouTube video page (perhaps the one you searched for for thing #11) and copy the "embed" code. It should appear on the right hand side of the screen. You may have to click "more" to find this code.
• Add the video to your blog:
  
• In blogger,
  
• you create a new post and click the "edit html" tab on the top right of the edit box.
• Paste the embed code into the box. And that should be about it.
  
• Wordpress has a different approach:
• create a new post.
• Underneath the editor is an upload section, with tabs that say "Upload", "Browse All", "Videos" and "Slideshows." Click "videos".
• Put the URL (web address) into that box -- important: this is not the same as the embed code!
• You will see a little bit of code in your editor. Publish that with a title and you should be done!
  

Thing # 12: Subscribe to a Podcast

Description:

A podcast is just an RSS feed with digital sound for content instead of text. The procedure for subscribing to a podcast is the same as for subscribing to any RSS feed.

Hints:

• Try thing #9 first (subscribe to the hpllearning blog's feed), then duplicate the procedure for the podcast.
• Here are some that I like:
  
• Any of the cbc podcasts, particularly The Best of Ideas.
• Uncontrolled Vocabulary, which is a library discussion call-in show. They also have a blog.
• LibVibe is another podcast related to libraries (and it uses blogger to do it).
• Since knitting seems to be my theme today, here's a knitting podcast.
  
• You may have trouble listening to the podcast, depending on what computer you use and whether you have speakers. That's why listening to the podcast is not required for this "thing" (although it would be a shame if you didn't at least try to listen).

Resources:

• Lansing Public Library podcast FAQ.
  

Thing #11: Watch a Video on YouTube

Description:

YouTube is a site that is popular for watching videos. A wide variety of "videocasters" (like a blogger, except they use video) exist there and they share a wide variety of information -- some frivolous, some useful, some offensive (be warned, though YouTube is very good at letting you know when something is considered offensive).

Hints:

• There's not much to this. Just go to www.youtube.com and search for something of interest to you, watch and react to it on your blog.
• Here's one I just saw on how to "cast on" your knitting.
• Here's one on the Evolution of Dance.
• Tony Bennett? or Ella? or Satchmo?

Resources:

• Time's Person of the Year: You.
  

The 4 o'clock final top-ten list!

Ok. Here is what the top 10 book list looked like at just before 4pm. Sorry for people who missed the deadline by just a bit -- I had to go by the clock on pbwiki to be fair.
Now, just because your book is on the list, does not mean that you win chocolate. I have to find out if you actually followed the rules.

Oh, and for readers-advisors, there is a whole list of books still on the wiki -- take a look!

The Top 10 Chocolate Books Ever

#1Pride and Prejudice (and chocolate) by Jane Austen

#2 The Polar Express (full of chocolate) by Chris Van Allsburg

#3 Tale of Despereaux (and the chocolate) by Kate diCamillo

#4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (full of non-unionised workers making chocolate) by Roald Dahl

#5 The Secret Garden (no chocolate allowed, it's bad for the teeth) by Frances Hodgson Burnett

#6 The Terrible Horrible Smelly Pirate (and the chocolate that loved him) by Carrie Muller and Jacqueline Halsey, illustrated by Eric Orchard available from Nimbus Spring 2008

#7 A Great Deliverance (of chocolate) by Elizabeth George

#8 Little Women (who eat chocolate) by Louisa May Alcott

#9 The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

#10 The Very Hungry Caterpillar (is looking for chocolate) by Eric Carle

UPDATE:

I had 2 extra shirts, so I included 3 more people in the chocolate list. Doug Wournell just did the draw for the shirts. If you are a prize winner, you will be notified by email.

Why I Think RSS is the Most Important "Thing"

So I keep saying that RSS is the most important "thing". Of course, that's just an opinion -- but at least I'd like to justify it. Here are the reasons I think RSS is the most important "thing" to learn:

• RSS gives you up-to-the minute content. When I first discovered RSS, it was like my learning curve went into warp speed. I learned a lot of stuff very quickly, because I was getting content very quickly.
• RSS is like having your very own customized daily newspaper. You get to choose what goes in and what does not.
• RSS connects well with blogs. That means I can get up-to-date news from family members alongside my news about the war in Afghanistan.
• RSS works well with wikis. You could have used RSS to check to the history page of the top ten books wiki and be updated as it got editing (oh yeah, NOW I tell you! :) )
  
• RSS is what makes other social sites like del.icio.us, facebook, myspace, etc. work. You were probably using RSS without ever knowing what it meant.
  
• RSS means, potentially, that people have to "visit" websites less. If customers can get your news where they want it, why would they bother going to your website?
  
• Our new website will be using RSS.
• RSS is used in widgets to enhance the content of websites. If you had a blog about cats, why wouldn't you want to put an RSS feed from something else fun, like LOLCats (mature content warning, but probably safe for work).
• For the cataloguers out there, RSS uses a way of organizing information called XML, some have suggested that XML will/may/ought to replace MARC as a standard for organizing content.
• RSS also works for soundfiles and videos, as we will see when things 11, 12 & 13 come out.
• RSS can work on a web service, like Google Reader, or directly in your favorite browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer as a "live bookmark."
• Yahoo widgets lets you grab RSS feeds directly to your desktop, without ever using a browser!
  
• The more I talk about RSS, the more uses I find for it, so I'll stop now.

In short, RSS pretty much drives most of Web 2.0. When a new Web 2.0 tool comes out, it probably utilizes RSS in some way or another.

Thing # 10: Add an RSS feed to your Blog

Description:

You can add an RSS feed to your blog as a service to keep your readers up-to-date on the latest goings on as well. Some people call these things "widgets," "modules" or "gadgets" -- though RSS feeds are only one of many things you can add to a blog via a widget.

You can choose any blog or news service you want.

Hints:

• I added the RSS feeds of some Learning 2.0 participants on this blog -- scroll down to the bottom!
  
• In Blogger, click dashboard -> Template Layout -> Page Elements if you are not already logged in. (UPDATE: If you are already logged in and you are visiting your site, you can click New Post -> Template -> Page Elements).
• Click Add a Page Element on the blog outline you see on the page.
• Choose "feed" as the thing you want to add.
• Enter the web address of your feed (what shows in the address bar after you click the ) into the box.
• The RSS feed will show up where you told it to go.
• In Wordpress, click "My Dashboard -> Presentation -> Widgets.
• Scroll down to the bottom and tell Wordpress "how many RSS feeds widgets would you like." Make sure the number is more than zero.
• Drag one of the RSS widgets to where it says "sidebar."
• Click the "configure button." It looks like this:
• Copy the web address of your RSS feed and include a title if you want. You can also choose how many items you'd like to display.
• The RSS feed will show up where you told it to go.

Resources:

• Some Bling for Your Blog -- Scott Kirshner, New York Times.
• 10 RSS Hacks - Micropersuasion Blog
  

Thing #9: Capture the Learning 2.0's RSS feed for easy reading

Description:

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." Like Global News Syndication is a system for sending the latest news stories to newspapers, RSS is a way of sending the latest news (whether it be a blog, newsline, preset search or whatnot) to you.

Your task is to use RSS so you can get the latest Learning 2.0 news right to your chosen news site. Some good examples of these include Google Reader, iGoogle, MyYahoo.com, Bloglines, NetVibes and Pageflakes.

Hints:

• UPDATE: An anonymous commenter (thank you anonymous commenter!) reminded me to tell you that you do need an account (eg. A Google or Yahoo account) with your reader in order to add the feed -- that is, if you do not already have one.
  
• I did a screencast earlier in October to demonstrate step-by-step how to add an RSS feed to Google Reader. UPDATE: Anonymous commenter also advises that the screen cast does not work for all machines. Sorry about that!
  
• Look for the icon next to the address bar (where you enter your web addresses to find Google or whatnot), or you can scroll down and find " Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) "(oops! I made your job even easier -- we'll see if you are paying attention)".
  
• Click on the icon or link and "copy" the URL (web address) of that link into your RSS Reader (Google Reader, Bloglines, or whatever). If you have an updated version of Firefox, your task may be even easier than that.
• You can also search for this blog's RSS feed from your Reader, if you want.
  

Resources:

• What is RSS?
• RSS Feeds in Libraries.
  

Chocolate and more? Join the Wiki-war?

If you have already completed thing #6, you may have noticed that there is a "sidebar" that says something about rules for the wiki-war.

If you read these rules, you would notice that I am offering chocolate to those people whose books are sitting on the top-ten list at precisely four o'clock pm this friday. One of the people whose book(s) is on the top ten list will receive a "Denis Cunningham original" t-shirt for their troubles as well, complete with a nifty slogan that will convince anyone of your technical acuity. The actual slogan and design is a surprise, since this is the very first time we are offering it.

Remember the password is "learning20".

Why am I doing this? Well, it's to share a few points that made alot about wikis.

• If you have a diverse enough crowd, no individual voice is capable of influencing the whole. Case in point: all of my original entries in the top-ten list are gone!
• Imagine if we had thousands or millions of people working on the same page!
• Each individual contribution is small, yet the entire resource can be immensely useful. Take a look at the list -- there's already 33 "top ten" or "former top ten" books there!
• The list will be send off to the reader's services team as a resource if they so desire.
• You could probably see the potential for such a tool as a resource for "read-alikes" or something like that.
• The neat thing about the wiki is that even though I created it, I have no control over the content. I could change the whole list right now and one of you could very easily change it back!
• In short, a wiki is more than just another wysiwyg editor like the one on your blog. It's just difficult to demonstrate that without a challenge. :)