Bibliocommons (Web 2.0 Training)

I'm still in the process of looking through the website, but it looks like a less fancy version of amazon. It all is pretty familiar and anyone who is a fan of amazon will not have trouble navigating. That's about it! Man, that's the shortest blog post ever from me. Hehe.

Video & Audio (Web 2.0 Learning)

Video:

YouTube has been one of the biggest learning tools outside of the classroom for me in dance. I used to spend hours scouring the site to watch other dancers. It helped me tremendously with getting down a solid understanding of the different styles, costumes, music, and moves. The one thing I love about the internet is how close together it brings people from other countries. I can't read Arabic in the slightest. But it is amazing to actually watch dancers from Egypt, Turkey, Russia, and other places perform their own ethnic routines.

This is one of the very first videos I saw of a bellydancer on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVwEztD9xnU

Audio:

I don't have my headphones on me right now, but I would like to check out that podcast website that was mentioned. I saw they have sections on horror and yoga. Two of my favorite things in the world! :) I've listened to one of two podcasts before. I think on my iTunes I'm currently subscribed to two or three. One of them is an anime podcast, where two younger guys talk about different shows and whatever they happened to find interesting about them. It's comforting to hear other people geek out on it. The other podcast is on dance improv, though I haven't really sat down to listen much to it. Honestly, I'd rather listen to music than people talking if I'm going to be playing anything. If I start to play anything on my computer or stereo, I need to be able to tune in and out when I want because I'm generally multi-tasking during those times, and so it's hard to give any narration my full attention. I am subscribed to Japan-a-Radio on my computer, which has little interruption with people talking, so I can handle that. It's not a bad channel. You can go to their website (just google it) and then download the link into your music player. They play J-pop and music from anime soundtracks. Love it! I put it on when in the middle of cleaning or doing laundry.

RSS Feeds (Web 2.0)

I subscribed to three different sites including:

1. FPL Teen Blog: one libraries blog on working in the young adult section (home to my favorite books).

2. Confessions of a Mad Librarian: Not gonna lie, I was drawn in by the title, though it looks a little dry content wise.

3. Future of the Book: it was a question we faced in the journalism school constantly on how to adapt to changing forms of media.

Play Week (Web 2.0)

Looking through the Web 2.0 Award winners, I have to say Twitter is pry one of my favorites. I have had an account since this past spring and find that's it's a great way to keep up with the world. It's just like a facebook home page, minus all of the annoying app updates. I follow DBRL's account and have actually ran out the door to one of their events when I saw it posted on Twitter.

While I personally know a decent amount of the followers on my page, most of the people I keep track of are other dancers and writers. It's the perfect window into their everyday lives, giving me a realistic perspective on how to achieve my career goals. One of my favorites, Princess Farhana (an internationally known professional bellydancer), keeps her followers updated on everything, from her shows and tours to how much glitter she gets all over her house and cats from all of her costuming. She's even responded to questions I've posted to my general list about how to deal with charley horses and book suggestions. Twitter brings those people that you only dream about meeting to a down to earth reality. Twitter is an amazing site for networking with others in your profession and I highly recommend it!

Web 2.0 With Heart

Please watch this video. I have been following Queen Rania's youtube channel and have found her videos to be inspiring. Each is a plea for conversation about views on the Middle East as well as the universal access to education, especially for children. In this video, she encourages web innovators to use the "real-time" web in order to accomplish goals for peace and prosperity. It is well worth the watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpA1Y9vnkps

I made a Google Doc

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AeZCzxaSGNPpZGM4bnpxbXRfMGZ6cHc4Z2d3&hl=en

Sidenote (The Eat Pray Love Experiment)

I have started up a new blog on Tumblr. My friend Megan Hartmann is starting an experiment based on the book Eat Pray Love. She is choosing three things to focus on and explore in her life and is encouraging friends to do the same. I have taken this to heart and have begun a blog to document my progress. Both of us are committed to dancing and so that is a big part of each of our "experiments." Megan is currently working on getting a forum together so that anyone who is interested can talk about their developments with their goals. I imagine there will be a huge degree of variation in the types of things people are choosing from the regular New Years type of resolution with fitness and nutrition to other more personal endeavors. Feel free to join in. I will post more information, especially about the forum, as it becomes available.

Megan's entry: http://meganhartmann.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/the-eat-pray-love-experiment/ (her blog is definitely worth the read!)

My new tumblr account: http://theepljournal.tumblr.com/ (the first entry describes the set-up and aim of the account)