Snow Wonderful

ImageChef.com

Create Thumbnails

Thumbizy allows you to create a thumbnail of a web page. You can save it to share or store as a reminder. Just to see how it works, I plugged in my blog address and this is the result of selecing small, full page, no effect:



Besides size and visible page or full page, there's an option to choose a reflect for the image. Text along the top which gives you scrolling directions indicates a new release is coming which will offer more options.

Below is an example of medium, visible page, reflect effect:



The process was very easy to use, took a bit of time to produce the results so be patient (probably my slow internet connection), and was easily saved as an image to share or save for reference. The only things missing on the thumbnails were flash applications which don't show up in any other screen grab apps either. This is a useful tool to add to a blogger's toolbox.

Creative Commons, Culture and Community

Does copyright get in the way of creativity and web2.0 tools?

Another Snowglobe by Chance

Now if this snowglobe creation application would work as it should, that would be fun. However, despite the choice of three pre-made versions and the supposed opportunity to make one with a picture of your choice, the only code produced is for the silly reindeer. I did manage to create one with my picture, but the code is not produced up front so unless you visit my page on the Pyzam site, you could not see it. Another visit to Pyzam after clicking the verification link sent via e-mail and creating a profile (minimal)then creating the snowglobe and clicking get this toy finally saved the toy to my profile. After it is saved, you can go to the my toys section,see the toys you've created (but only the ones made after you set up the profile),and get the code for each toy you've created. I can't tell you how frustrating this process was until I stumbled on it by chance. It was not intuitive for me, anyway. But I finally did have success. This snowglobe has the drifting snow, and you can click on it to shake it like you would a real snowglobe.



Snow Globe Toy & MySpace Layouts at pYzam.com

Snowglobes

Remember the fascination of snowglobes when you were a child? I do. My grandmother had one we loved to shake and watch the flakes drift gently down. It always seemed to finish too fast.

I bumped into a web site that allows you to make a snow globe with your own photo so that I'd try it with that favorite picture of my grandson.



It's missing the drifting snowflakes, but it brings back the memory of that childhood fascination.

Web 2.0 , Connectivity, and Possibilities

This YouTube video "The Connected Student" has me really exhilarated. Presented in the style of the Common Craft videos, it demonstrates very effectively how Web 2.0 enables connectivity and excitement to be added to education. While this video demonstrates the experience of a high school student, imagine it carried through into lifelong learning! Libraries need to figure out how they can be a part of this.

Where in the World?

This is a test of the use of kwout to see about using it to quote from something found on the web that one might want to share with others. In this case it is the MapLoco data on places my blog has been visited from today. Kind of interesting to see a list; don't know what made me think of using it for the test. But anyway it seemed to work like a charm.

It's simply a bookmarklet you drag to your toolbar. When you click it, it opens,lets you select what you want to quote, and then gives you options for posting or sharing the portion you're interested in:


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MapLoco! - Visitor Map for your Page via kwout

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