BP2_iGoogle Screen Shots

I have just started working with iGoogle to create a Personal Learning Environment (PLE). Not sure, at this point, if this approach is superior to what I normally do, given the time and effort involved in doing the actual setup and the limited utility (to me) of some aspects of the required design.

The reality is that I am not a social networking type of person. I don't Twitter, I don't use Facebook or any other social networking sites. Perhaps this is a function of my age and social background--and the fact that I am an intensely private person. I can see some work-related advantages to some of these things, but the reality is that it plays little or no role in my current work life--many, if not most, of the people that I work with don't use these things either.

Having one spot to go to to access a variety of things is a good idea--but isn't this just (in this case) putting a different UI in front of all of this other than my browser favorites page? I am undecided about this as yet... maybe it is an aspect of psychology, that is to say, a different perspective of looking at this type of thing than what I normally employ.

Anyway, here are some screenshots of my current iGoogle setup:

Home Tab:

FSO Tab:

AR/CBL Tab:

ETC Tab:

BP1_Google Reader

Welcome to my Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture blog. The basic purpose of this blog is to document and share some of my explorations of various Web 2.0 technologies and tools.

The first tool that I am going to look at is Google Reader. Google Reader is a web-based RSS aggregator and it allows you to subscribe to and track various websites and forums and see them in one location—essentially saving you the time that you might have to spend going to all these websites yourself.

I have just started experimenting with this tool and I think that it is a tool that holds great potential for me. It will take me some time to sort through what is available out on the web to create a set of subscriptions that answers my needs, but once that is done it should provide a concise, centralized location for me to review information and content of interest to myself and my students.

I have chosen a number of feeds to follow, as least as an initial trial:

The first feed on my list is the Adobe Photoshop Forum. As a user and teacher of Adobe Photoshop, it is important for me to be able to have easy access to a forum such as this in order to address problems I might encounter with the software, become aware of new features and updates, and to interact and share information with other Photoshop users.

The second feed on my list is Adobe Tutorials. As both a teacher and user, I find tutorial sites a useful source of information and of potential projects for my own students. This particular site is one that I have used several times in the past to either learn how to do something or to provide a useful, guided learning experience for my graphic design students. There are a number of such sites that I will likely add to my subscription list as time allows.

The next site is ConceptArt.org. ConceptArt is an interesting site for those that are interested in working in the entertainment business—be it games or movies. There is some good, basic industry and post-secondary education information there and opportunities to look at the work of both amateurs and professionals. You can also post your own work there for critique. It is somewhat similar to DeviantArt, but more focused on the game and movie industry. I have also found some interesting project ideas there, as well.

Next up is Graphic Design Blog. This is a useful source of industry and professional development/behavior information and it provides links to various sources of information that I find useful to share with my students.

The final feed is You the Designer. This site provides a mix of tutorials, free textures and related materials, Photoshop plug-ins and actions, and examples for students to look at. This has been a good source of materials for projects for me in the past.

The above listed sites are just a few I decided to start off with, either because of previous experience with the site or because a search through Google Reader pulled the site up and it seemed to be popular. While popularity may be an indicator of a good site and is an easy initial criteria upon which to make a selection, only experience with the source in question can finally determine how useful it can be to you as a teacher or professional in the field. My list will undoubtedly change and grow as I look around the web and spend more time working with and looking at the sites in question.

Below is a screenshot of my current Google Reader page: