Thing 21 - Ustream and the impact of ubiquitous video

I watched Kathryn's demo of Ustream with interest but would have liked to see the chat functionality in action. I've now registered and will have a play at home, away from the security restrictions (well, hypersensitive IT-savvy husband aside) to see how that side works.

Thing 18, 19 - Join Twitter, Tweet for a Week

The Twitter registration process was quite simple and clear - pity I was meant to tweet the week that I only had one day at work :) But I've been enjoying reading other's tweets, and also found out quite a bit more about some people's roles.
I also read something quite interesting:


Terrorist 'tweets'? US Army warns of Twitter dangers

Not that this is a new idea or unique to Twitter - as others have written, the whole point of many of these new technologies is to enable faster communication. Most technologies can be used for positive or negative results depending on the outlook of the users...

Thing 20 - Slideshare.net & YouTube.com

I wasn't sure what to search for, but was having a pang of regret at not being in the Top End, so searched for & found a short video about a section of Litchfield National Park. This shows a section near the Buley Rock Holes - a FANTASTIC swimming spot we visited regularly. This video was taken in the wet so it's not the normal sedate plunge pools but it still brought back great memories :)



I found the embedding process very simple and I have seen a number of instances that this has been a very useful way of sharing information.

Things 16-17 - Join Facebook, add Facebook friends

I've been on Facebook since Feb this year. I decided it was the best way to keep up with a friend who moved to Malawi with AVA for two years. She updates her status regularly using her mobile phone and uploads amazing photos when she is near a large town. It's also been good to keep up with a number of our interstate and overseas nephews & nieces (who range in age from 29 to 4 - not all of them on Facebook!) and all of their doings...

I currently have 37 "friends" - family, local & interstate friends, people I have worked with (some over 10 years ago) and I've just been found by a couple of high school classmates after 20+ years!
I get frustrated by people who want to send me all their wonderful invitations to play games or add pretty things, but I love the ease of ignoring them :) I'm still at a dip in & out stage - every couple of days is enough for me, but I can sometimes find myself getting a little addicted and staying on much longer than the time I have allocated myself.

I haven't yet done much playing with less social type things - I am a member of the ALIA group, and Aussie Librarians, but that's about as far as I've gotten. I'll be interested to hear how other people are using it.