Wacky Wikis

This is my first time using a wiki. What I like about it is that you can add links and other items to people's topics. I like how you can quote from the person's thread, too.
Would this be something for me to use in the future? Possibly. I am wondering if I can get the same kind of "look" and editing capabilities with the Ning. The homepage and drop down menus are very similar to Ning. There is a great deal of ads; so I can understand as to why people pay 20 dollars a month to have it ad free. Jason Welker's wiki is very clean and easy to navigate through (he doesn't have any ads). Personally, I wouldn't want to pay a monthly fee to keep it professional. However, I would like to use this tool for a one-time assignment.
He gave me some good ideas as to how I can incorporate a wiki within the blogs that we’re posting on our Ning. I could also utilize it that way.
I think wikis are a little different than Google Docs (which is a tool that I use). I feel that Docs is more of sharing files and editing documents and wikis are sharing ideas, links, edits, etc. Wikis have more of a “web page” look to them.
I am glad we studied wikis (all I was ever familiar with before this lesson was Wikipedia). Thanks, 17 Things!
I also added a picture of olive...see above; she's had better days.

Google Reader

What can't Google do?!

Again, amazed at how simple it is to access quick tidbits of information in such a short time. It's perfect for me because I am a multi-tasker, always looking for fresh information.

Now, I'm trying to compare this to Twitter. What I like about Google Reader is that it's easier for me to organize the people/organizations I am following. As opposed to Twitter, it's a continuous feed on one page. Google has the organizations you are following to the left and their feeds to the right. Plus, I don't have to tweet what I am doing every 5 seconds. I like that I can use it as a "one-way" information gathering process and, if necessary, use it as a two-way communication later.

I am following my 17, etc. people, along with some travel, Career and Tech Ed, money smarts, and the New Orleans Saints subscriptions. I am sure that I will access this tool quite often, if not every day. I noticed on Jen W's blog, she uses this for daily recipes. I am going to sign up for the Food Network subscription and see if it is any different from the Food Network Tweet. If not, I will continue to use Google Reader and throw away my Twitter account (unless, of course, we start using it for classroom purposes).

Google Docs and Calendar

Okay...so I tried to add an event to the 17, etc calendar. No luck! However, I did add the same event to my Google calendar 4 times! I'm not sure if I have access to the calendar or not. It's okay though because I would not use this for personal use. I love my smart phone and the calendar on my phone is perfect for my needs.

Now, on the other hand, I think this tool would be beneficial for members of a committee (Leadership Council, department members, etc.). Instead of sending mass reminder emails, this would be perfect because the event can "pop up" on your screen to remind you days or weeks ahead of time. I do like it for professional use.

As far as Google docs...love it! I've been using it (and teaching my students to use it) in the last two years. What's really nice for the students is that if they do not have the latest version of Microsoft Office or PowerPoint at home, they can create a slide show on Google docs at home and then access it anywhere in our building...no need for a network log-in. I even have some Google class documents linked from the rb16 Ning site.
An example is as follows:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AVDaO4ahdvGpZGhjZndqNGhfM2c5bmdkcmNm&hl=en