Link to Professional Portfolio

https://sites.google.com/site/mmarcial14fpukin/

Plaxo Account, Professional Portfoilo, LinkedIn

I just finished playing around and setting up various accounts and professional portfolios through Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Google Sites. As I began these assignments I found some fun in creating the websites, I thought it was pretty cool how you can personalize your information. The sites can give viewers basic information or you can keep it real simple so potential employers can view your current and past work experience. Its like a resume that can be grabbed on the web; which does not require any submission to any company. I thought Google Sites creation of your own web page was also intriguing, you can create your own website with all of your personal interests. Moreover, each person can manipulate the way the website is formatted.

I did not find many cons to these sites, however I was hesitant to add some personal information to the site (birthday, housing information, e.g.). The reason I am hesitant to put this information on these sites is because I am afraid of becoming a victim of identity theft. With all the personal information that goes on these sites, I feel as though it makes it easier for people to get a hold of personal information that may cause a negative outcome; maybe I am just paranoid.

Overall I believe these sites have great potential to boost a resume for future employment. Since today's world is evolving to paperless information, it would almost be silly not to put your work experiences on one of these sites. It seems anytime there is an open position anywhere, you have to apply online to attempt to attain the job. Becoming more internet savvy will just increase the possibility of getting hired somewhere. In addition, you can also build and create possible networking connections through the use of these sites. You can "connect" and begin networking with people in your similar or desired profession. In essence, this should improve your possibilities of getting set up with nice job if you are able to meet the right people. Unfortunately in this world its "not what you know, its who you know". These sites allow everyone to try to get know anyone. Cool stuff, I can see the great benefits of these sites.

LibraryThing

http://www.librarything.com/home/mmarcial14

I just finished exploring LibraryThing, this is the first time I can honestly say I was confused about what users could do with this site. I originally thought I would be able to read books from this site when I added them to my account, but I completely missed the idea behind it once I began playing with the site! But as I realized what the site had to offer I still found it somewhat interesting. I can post books to my profile that I have read and discuss with others around the world; almost like a forum. Users can write reviews of the books they have read, discuss them in a conversation online and find books for sale using the site (which will compare prices from different websites). I thought that was pretty cool. However since I am not the biggest book reader, I did not find this site as interesting as some of the past sites I have visited. Maybe if I have had read more books in my day then I could get into this site a little more. Nonetheless, I can see why many people can enjoy this site. It is difficult sometimes to discuss topics that interest you with some of your current personal friends. LibraryThing allows people with the same interest to discuss books with others that have the same passion about the book with another. It is always good to get someone else perspective when thinking about interesting topics; it allows individuals to see the book from a different angle. Unfortunately, as of today, I probably would not use this site very much. I like the idea though, social networking through books.

Image Generators

I just finished playing around with some of these image generator sites. I found Fototrix.com to be the easiest and most fun to use. Its pretty fun to see how easy it is to put the image you want on any kind of layout. After I got the idea how to upload the photo onto the layout I wanted, it was all down hill from there. Fototrix is cool because the user can upload images from their own files or upload images from other websites; all they have to do is type in the URL address to upload the photo to Fototrix. There are tons of layouts in this site! Of course I went with a basketball theme because I am a basketball coach.

The image displayed is a sophomore on our team, John Dickson. Great photo of him rising to the rim and finishing a play. Any athlete would enjoy seeing their picture on Sports Illustrated; it would be an awesome artifact to have in their career. I cannot believe how simple this task was to complete once I got the hang of it. I just saved an image from Sacramento State's Athletic site to my hard drive, uploaded the photo to Fotorix, picked the layout I wanted and I was done. Cool stuff, I only wish I could do some editing to the date to make it look more recent!

Locating Podcasts

I just did some snooping around for podcasts from podcasts.com. When I began trying to find some podcasts about kinesiology, I could not find anything under the topic. I checked podcastalley.com as well and I could not find anything helpful there either. My first intial thought was I that I was not typing in the correct terms in the right areas of the search. However after an hour of playing with these sites I could not find anything relative to kinesiology; definitely frustrating. Going back to podcasts.com I began looking for interesting sport podcasts that I felt as though I could listen to on a regular basis.

The podcast that I added to my bloglines account is "Around the Horn", an ESPN show on television in which four sports writers converse about various sports topics. I have watched this show plenty of time when I use to have free time in the afternoons. But since my time has been limited to the free time I have, it has been difficult to see on television. With podcast however, I now can download this show to either my computer or iphone and listen to the show on the go! That is pretty sweet. Moreover, I can see how podcasts can be extremely helpful in the educational world because of the mobility of the software. Teachers could put desired topics on podcasts and have their students listen to them when desired. Just like everything in Web 2.0, podcasts have brought the ease of accessing and finding information. 

YouTube Exploration

I have been to YouTube numerous times. This assignment was pretty simple for me. I am not a complete YouTube freak, but I do visit the website sometimes. Most of the time when I am viewing something on YouTube, it is because one of my friends wanted to share a video they have recently seen. Anyone who has internet access can literally find anything and everything on YouTube. There is endless information that can be found in this great site.

The video I have chosen is a speech by John Wooden; arguably one of the greatest coaches of all time. This video is extremely enlightening, he is a very inspirational man. Successful coaches today unfortunately is measured by the wins and losses one accomplishes. However Wooden makes a great argument about what true success really is.

I can absolutely see how the features of this websites can be utilized in school websites. All types of educational information can be found on YouTube. Not to mention, most of the videos can show an individual how to complete a certain task (algebra, cooking, using software, e.g.) As long as the integrity of the information provided to students is verified, I can see great ways to utilize websites like YouTube in an education setting.

YouTube Video

Technorati

I just finished exploring Technorati's website. I do not know if I was reading the instructions incorrectly or not, but I was only able to type in a key word at the top of the site search for the keyword "kinesiology". However when I did type the keyword into the search box, Technorati brought forth numerous blogs that had to do with kinesiology. When I tried the blog directory and tags tabs they did not give me the option to search for keywords. Nonetheless, I thought the reason behind this site can be very useful for people who enjoy reading blogs about their desired topic. By typing in the keyword in the search box, you can find plenty of blogs and tags for your desired topic. I see how this can be useful for many people. For coaches, I think if more coaches blogged about their days or ideas than I would be all over those blogs or posts. Finding blogs that you are interested in can spark conversation with complete strangers from all over the world. That is one of the key elements I find fascinating about blogs. You can have discussion with people across the world who share your same interest.

Del.icio.us

I just finished taking some time with exploring this social bookmarking site known as Delicious, created by Yahoo. At first when I thought about the usefulness of this program, I thought it was rather unhelpful. However my thoughts quickly changed when I noticed I could have the ability to access my bookmarks from any computer, and share my bookmarks with others throughout the internet. What is so special about these two aspects? Before social bookmarks like Delicious, users of bookmarks were only allowed to bookmark their favorite sites from their personal computer's web browser; which means their favorite sites could not be easily accessed from anywhere else. In addition, these bookmarks can be viewed by others on the web who are interested in the similar topics. Having social bookmarks enables others to share the knowledge that is found in the internet for all. Plus, it makes organizing the hundreds of possible links to sites much easier to reach than attempting to copy and paste URLs for others to reach.

With social bookmarking websites like Delicious, I can see how these sites can be extraordinary helpful for research and teaching. Since these bookmarks can be seen by the public, anyone who is researching any topic may find specific tags or previous marks set by others that may enable them to find what they need much quicker than browsing the web. Moreover, once specific information on the web is found, it can be easily distributed to others efficiently. As for bookmarks aiding teachers, sites similar to Delicious allows teachers to find helpful sites for their students to use and bookmark it for their students to find easily.  Social bookmarking sites seem to make finding significant information much quicker and efficient for everyone.

New Technologies for Week 3

As I just finished completing module three, I started to think about the new technologies that I have experienced over this past week. All of the exercises that needed to be completed individually had their own benefits; however I found that the creation of a fan page might be the most helpful in my career in the future as a college coach. Whether I'm coaching at a junior college or four year university, creating a fan page can promote the program and aid in recruiting. As a college coach, at any level, we must recruit players each year. As many college coaches are aware of, there are only certain times throughout the year athletic programs may be able to contact their perspective prospects. But with the creation of a fan page, coaches could put updates on their Facebook Fan Page to show what is going on daily, weekly or monthly to their fans and prospects. Moreover, you can post exciting pictures, audio, video get players and fans of the program excited about your program. Oh did I mention that tons of young athletes are on Facebook nearly every day! By creating a Facebook Fan Page we are just trying to reach young athletes in their own way as they grow with progressive technology.

RSS Feeds Assignment

I just finished creating a bloglines account for myself. Similar to most of these assignments, this one took a little bit longer than expected. Nonetheless, I was able to finish the assignment efficiently. One of the fascinating tools of the blogsline account is that it does literally save you tons of time when trying to catch up with the news. Instead of going from site to site, you can bring your chosen interests to you! Pretty cool stuff, the RSS feeds allow you to browse through all of the information in each topic rather quickly. If you are able to find a site with tons of useful information it is easy to add it to your bloglines account.  Moreover, if you are interested in following someone's personal blog, you can also follow their posts as well. These bloglines accounts make staying up to date with current news, events and interests that more accessible.

Web 2.0 Assign. Week 3

So I just took look at  SEOmoz'.org Web 2.0  awards and noticed an application I use almost every time I am looking to eat a new restaurant. Yelp, listed under the guides and reviews category, recieved first place. I have used yelp numerous times and it has been a great tool to use. What I enjoy most about Yelp is not only can you get reviews of restaurants but one can also find almost all the information there is about the location (phone number, menu, directions, etc.) The other Web 2.0 applications are very similar in which one can find a ton of information about whatever one may be looking for. They are fantastic softwares, I porbably would have never tried as many places I have without this fun application. By the way, the reason I am able to use this application constantly is because I have it for free on my iphone. So I can see whats around me quickly and make my choices accordingly on the go. Plus, on my phone it will actually give you directions instantly to your desired location so you are able to find it efficiently. Web 2.0 applications of these kind are pretty sweet.  

Google Docs

I just vistied the Google docs web site, and was impressed to see what you could do with this application. One of the most interesting aspects about Google Docs is that the information you wish to share with other can be viewed and edited by others; as long as they have access to the interent of course. This may not seem very extraordianary to some, however I can recall numerous times where I wanted to view something but could not do so without down loading or purchasing a new application. I could definitely see great ways to implment this software to my coaching career in the future. For instance, when completing a scouting report agianist an upcoming opponent; all the coaches on the staff could view the original report and make proper adjustments themselves. This allows the entire staff to put their two sense in before the report is even printed. Moreover, the scouting report does not just fall under one coach. Most of the time when there is a project to be done, it is up to a single person to make the adjustments thoughout the project. This will involve the entire team and may be adjusted accordingly. Pretty cool stuff.

Flickr

So I just finished with the Flickr assignment for week 2. Above is the photo I posted publicly. I am a big Laker fan, I have been since I was born. Setting up Flickr and uploading the pictures took me a longer than I thought it would to finish but it was overall a nice experience. I can see how social network sites like Flickr can keep people up to date visually with family and friends. If I ever travel from home, Flickr would be great to use because I could show pictures of my daily adventures to loved ones back home. Pretty sweet.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Microblogging

I just set up my twitter account literally 15 minutes ago! It seems like free texting to me. I think it is is a solid technology to keep up with family and friends. It is definitely for the people who may want to know what your up to 24/7. I think it will be interesting to see if I enjoy the tweeting, but as of right now I am a little biased towards the technology. Just because do we really need to know or let people what were up to all the time? I definitely see how it could be useful for the workplace, you could literally have an entire staff know what tasks to complete without even wasting a breathe. Technology is crazy, it just keeps getting crazier and crazier. I wonder when we will be able to tele-port? :-) 

Technology for the Week

Being 25 I should be like all my other peers who are technological sound with the new and changing emerging softwares, however I have never been up to date with these evolving communication networks. I know how to find information quick on the internet and all that good stuff but I do not have a twitter, Facebook or Myspace  account. When people ask me if I have one I say no, than following that response in their faces' is usually a confused look; it is actually quite humors. These social networks have become more and more complex in my eyes as I have seen them change the way we interact with another. I can recall some high school drama back in the day when some people would be upset that so and so did not add them on their MySpace; but than again that may just kids being kids. I understand the concept of these networks and the benefits they have but I just have never felt the need to get one. I guess I think I am "old fashion" in the sense of if someone is my true friend, they will give me ring if they want, or text. But this will all change soon since I am going to have to make a Facebook account for my graduate program. It will be interesting to see if I get "addicted" to the Facebook craze as many of friends have told me in the past. Time will tell!

3 of 3 Article Reviews

Emerging Technologies Changing Public Library Service Delivery Methods

This article probably should have been the first article I read instead of the last! Kajewski give many definitions of what these new emerging technologies are and how they are used. Blogs seem to be growing in popularity today; it is a way for anyone and everyone to post updated news on the internet, set up polls and surveys and promotes discussions with various people around the world. As for librarians utilizing this technology positively for themselves, I believe it is a great way to interact with the public and their needs. Kajewski is correct in stating that "libraries can gather feedback form their users by asking questions of them through a space in which they feel safe enough to express themselves". These blogs can better serve individuals while they search for information in their respective libraries. One of the most spectacular aspects of this new emerging technology is the information that can be found in wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts and vodcasts. It can be a bit nerve wrecking when a people try and learn how to do new things; but with these technologies people may have little to fear of the unknown because of the massive information that can be found using these technologies. For instance, many baby boomers do not know how to use these technologies like the younger generations; however podcasts and vodcasts can easily change that in the privacy of their own homes. This makes leaning how to use new and upcoming technologies much simpler than in the pasts. If librarians are able to stay ahead or with these technologies, many people will be starving for their assistance.

2 of 3 Article Reviews

Web, Library, and Teen Services 2.0
 '
This article brought forth some interesting information about Web 2.0, I did not know what this was until I read this article. Everything and anything can be found on the internet today thanks to fast growing technology. Web 2.0 can range from Wikipedia to Facebook, information to socialization. One of the greatest elements of this growing software is it always people can find quick answers to complex questions in seconds and communicate with distant relatives for free. This Web 2.0 phenomenon is slowly making its mark on the way we use our local libraries. I have seen the changes throughout my educational career as Library 2.0 has been revolutionizing how we look for educational information. You can now converse with librarians and ask specific questions about how to find specific relative information; which can be done easily through email. There is hardly any room for students to be shy for a student to ask a librarian a question since sending an email does not involve face to face interaction. This may be the key factor to why more and more students are more willing to interact with librarians. Moreover, Library 2.0 allows students to be "in the know" around their desired libraries, being updated about upcoming events, books, and meetings the library may be hosting in the near future; not everyone notices signs on the walls. Library 2.0 will hopefully engage more and more students to interact with librarians and thus have a better experience when they are looking for specific answers.

Examining Social Software in Teacher Education

This article seemed to grab my attention from the get go. You cannot dispute what Ferdig was talking about when he stated what he found of an advisee's Facebook page. For those that have any knowledge of social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, you are aware of the crazy and sometimes humors information you will find on individual's pages. Just like any new technology, there are pros and cons to it; social networks are great for support groups, communicating from long distances, meeting new people and much more. Most kids today have numerous ways to interact with one another and these social softwares just make it even more accessible for them to reach one another. As for educators, we must find a away to positively utilize these networks in order to continue to find ways to effectively reach them. Moreover, we need to be able to teach them how to use these networks in them most effective way possible in order to keep them safe from possible dangers, future and present. The fundamental foundation of the success of these social networks for young kids is the basic element most human beings search for, which is human contact. As human beings we are built to interact with one another, it is instinctive.   

DAY 1!

I am excited to start my first week in my graduate program; I am curious to see how this experience will turn out. I have never blogged before, so this is a first for me. Its interesting how it works, I am enjoying it at the moment :-)