When Does a Blog Become a Web Site?...

When does a blog become a Web site? I've been asking myself that question the last little while as I take a look at my blog and at the blogs of friends and those that I read on a regular basis. When I started writing my blog it was just that - a place to write down some thoughts - sort of a blank journal. It had a couple of extras - my profile, a picture of me and the Blog archive - neat, clean, no fuss, no muss.

Now look at my blog - at last count there were 19 different things, widgets, components, add-ons, whatever you want to call them - from links to blogs I read, my wiki, my Flickr site, my Facebook profile, blog aggregator sites like Technorati, Feedburner, Netvibes, PageFlakes, and EduSpaces. I can chat through Meebo and stay in touch with Twitter. I can tell how many people are reading my blog through ClustrMaps (come on people where are you?), and I even have pictures of my favourite bloggers on my blog through Feevy.

When did my blog get so crowded anyway? It all just sort of snuck up on me. The other thing is now whenever I set up a profile in Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn or any other social media site, I always put my blog as my web site. I own a domain but haven't done anything with it (I really should) because I'm not a really big fan of "vanity" Web sites. But if you take a look at my blog - vanity thy name is...Me! Hmmm...

Clouds...

I take pictures of clouds (some would say I have my head in the clouds most of the time, but that is a whole other matter...). I take pictures of clouds because I like what I see (or don't see) in them. In fact, here is my favourite one - I call it the "Cloud Beast":


If you like this one, you can check out more of my cloudy outlook on life on my Flickr site. I have a set called, of course,"Clouds"...

No Reason, I Just Like The Picture

No particular reason for posting, I just like this picture and wanted to share it. I took this last week in Truro Nova Scotia, on a typically foggy morning - it's the sun through the fog:


You can check out the original picture, plus many more on my Flickr site.

My Web 2.0 Toolkit

I've been exploring and using all sorts of Web 2.0 tools and technologies for some time now and thought I would share the ones that make up my "Web 2.0 Toolkit". These are the Web 2.0 tools that I use pretty much everyday in both my personal life and as an adult educator. So, in no particular order, here they are:

• Blogging - Well - I'm obviously using Blogger, but Wordpress is pretty cool too
• RSS - I'm sold on Netvibes - it's become my number one source of online information - I literally get hundreds of feeds from it daily
• Pictures - Flickr and Photobucket. I use Flickr for storing and showing off my photos and Photobucket for my stock photos that I use on line. I also use flickrCC to find stock photos online (remember to abide by the licensing terms of the owners - msot use one of the Creative Commons licenses)
  
• Wikis - I have several different wikis now at wikispaces but pbwiki is a really good tool as well. Wikis are a great educational tool, particularly if you get your learners to maintain them. A good way to answer the question "What do we do now that the course is over?".
  
• Collaboration - Google Groups and Google Notebook. Two great tools from Google, I plan on using them to replace textbooks in my courses.
• To-do List - Remember The Milk is an easy to use to-do list that keeps me on track
• Calendar tool - Google Calendar - just about runs my life now, would be lost without it - and I can share my calendar too so people know what's going on with me.
  
• Social Networking - Facebook - a great tool for staying in touch, I'm in the process of setting up an alumni group for my former students
• Video conversions - Vixy.net is great if you absolutely must have a local copy of that favourite online video. A great tool if you don't always have a high-speed Internet connection
  
• Staying current - Twitter is a great tool for letting people know where you are and what you are up to although I do not use it nearly as much as some. I actually use the custom status messages in GMail more
• Conferencing - Elluminate's vRoom - a great free tool from Elluminate gives you all of the capabilities of Elluminate except for recording and a limit of three sites. Not really a Web 2.0 tool (try Vyew if you want a Web-based conferencing tool).
  

Well there you have it - my current Web 2.0 toolkit - I am sure that it will continue to evolve over the months to come and I'll do my best to let you know what I am using...

(Photo from David Babylon)

Tag! You're It...

As I continue to look at all of the new tools and technologies that are cropping up all over the Web, I 'm trying to figure out what exactly makes a Web 2.0 application a Web 2.0 application. Is it user customization, social networking, sharing and modifying information, or something else?

The one common thing that I have seen in most of the Web 2.0 applications that I have looked as is tags - the ability to categorize or group what you are doing so as to make the information produced easier to share and find.

So, is it valid then to say that in order to be a Web 2.0 application, tags must be used? While not all inclusive, I think it's a valid "litmus test", and a way to identify something as being Web 2.0. Here are just a few Web applications that use tags. You can decide if they are Web 2.0 or not:

• GMail (OK - Google calls them labels, but they are tags)
• Del.icio.us
• NetVibes
• Blog software (Blogger, Word Press, etc.)
• Wikis (Wikispaces, pbWiki, etc.) Check out Wikimatrix to compare different wikis
  
• Flickr
• Facebook
• My Space
• Technorati

And I know that there are many, many more... Which ones are your favourites?