Learning 2.0 Web based applications #16 and #17

For this lesson we are learning about Web based applications. I have basically fallen in love with web based applications like Google Docs. You can create a spreadsheet, presentation (Google's version of PowerPoint) or word processing document and access it anywhere, share it with anyone and make edits. I have used it to write a conference presentation proposal with a group of people and we even used it to create our slide presentation. It allowed us to work on the documents independently at our own pace and still get the final product finished. It allowed us to NOT have another meeting. I think that our students at EKU would benefit greatly from a tool like this. So many of our students have to do group projects and students today are just so busy. Most of them have jobs, and lives that make it difficult for them to all get together and work as a group. If they had a group project they could all work at their own pace and get the work done without having to get together all the time to make the edits. If you have not used Google Docs, I highly recommend giving it a try!

Learning 2.0 Wikis 14 and 15

The next lesson is all about wikis. What is a wiki? Have you heard of Wikipedia? Then you know what a wiki is. It is a website that can be edited by anyone. So, you post something and then put it out there for the world and anyone can edit it. There are so many applications that I can think of just for work. Instead of writing a document and then emailing it to someone and then having them edit it and send it back to you, you could put that document on a wiki and let people edit it as you go. This could also be really useful for my personal life too. I might have to drag some of my family members kicking and screaming into this Web 2.0 world with me.

Learning 2.0 Lessons 12 and 13-tagging

The Learning 2.0 program here at the library is winding down. All the lessons are due in the next few weeks. I was really good about keeping up and then I went on vacation and I just never got back into the swing of things. So, now I have about two weeks to finish 10 lessons. EEK! It is somewhat sad that 10 years after I finished grad school, my procrastinating tendencies have not changed. Ok, so here goes:

We are learning about tagging. The idea of tagging is a new concept on the Web world but for us librarians, we have been doing some form of tagging for years. We call them subject headings but they are tagging none the less. If I go to Google and type in "kentucky football" I get 2,720,000 hits with the official UK Athletics website being the first hit. It is pretty amazing how Google usually gets it right. Anyway, when I go to the EKU Libraries online catalog eQuest and type in the same search I get a totally different set of results. I only found 5 books in the library that have something to do with UK football when I do a keyword search. Now, if I go back to the library catalog and search by subject heading (the librarians way of tagging) I find nothing. HMMM, interesting. No wonder our students are often frustrated when they can't find anything in our library.

Another neat tool that uses tagging is called Del.icio.us It is a social bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark sites and they are portable. That means once you log into your account, your bookmarks will be there no matter what computer you are using. Another neat feature is that you can share your bookmarks and see other people's bookmarks. This is the kind of tool that I could definitely spend a lot more time playing with.

How did it know that??

Ok, one of my friends had this quiz on their blog and I thought it would be fun to take it. Ok, how weird is it that it pegged me as having a Philadelphia accent? I mean, yes, I am from Philadelphia but don't think I sound like I am, not that there is anything wrong with that. Anyway, here are my results. What kind of accent do you have?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Northeast
The Midland
The South
The Inland North
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Your body is a temple

Today would have been my mother's 65th birthday. As most of you who read this blog know, my mother, Dorothy Claire Preston Silver passed away after a very long battle with Ovarian Cancer in June of 2004. My mother did everything right when it came to taking care of her body. She never smoked (well, there was that one time in Miami when she smoked a cigar), rarely drank (well, we did hear some stories involving a boat, beer and nights spent on Lake Pontchartrain), ate well most of the time (the whole family suffered through the time when we thought our brother was allergic to wheat and she experimented with many interesting gluten free products back in the 70's when it was not hip to eat gluten free, ick), exercised (she walked around the big parking lot at work every morning before heading into work) always had regular checkups and just generally took great care of herself. Her diagnosis of stage IV Ovarian Cancer in 1983 came as a shock to all of us. But, in 1983 we did not know what we know today and there are so many things we can all do to make sure we don't have to suffer as she did.

So, in memory of my mom. Here are the facts:

1. Ovarian cancer kills more women than all other gynecologic malignancies combined.
2. Ovarian cancer very often is not accompanied by symptoms until the disease is advanced.
   
3. Because early stage ovarian cancer is very often curable and advanced stage ovarian cancer carries a poor prognosis for survival, beating ovarian cancer is dependent upon early detection.
   
4. Women with an elevated risk profile for ovarian cancer (usually due to family history) are most likely to be monitored or screened for ovarian cancer. However the vast majority of ovarian cancers do not arise from women at high risk because this group is small.
   
5. Most ovarian cancers occur in women who are over the age of 50 and do not have any symptoms.
   
6. Ovarian cancer screening of women over age 50 is not being recommended as a part of the standard of care.
7. The costs to treat one woman with advanced stage ovarian cancer (surgery, chemotherapy, palliative care) is $200,000 or more, with outcomes unlikely to be successful.

Here is what you can do:

• If you are over 50 years old or are over 30 and have a family history of Ovarian Cancer you can receive a FREE yearly trans vaginal ultrasound at the University of Kentucky. For more information visit here.

• Make and keep yearly checkups with an OB/GYN.

• Listen to your body. Ovarian Cancer used to be called the "silent killer" but now experts in the field say there are symptoms but you must pay attention to them. They are:
• bloating
• pelvic or abdominal pain
• trouble eating or feeling full quickly
• urinary symptoms, such as urgent or frequent feelings of needing to go
• you can visit the American Cancer Society for more info on symptoms
  

For more information on Ovarian Cancer you can visit these sites:

National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
National Cancer Institute
Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry

My mother always said "Your body is a temple" So, in memory of my mom, be good to your temple, listen to it and take care of it.