Thing 18

Technorati -
Very easy to use, lots of information. I am just not the blogging type at this point in my busy life. But I will check it out when I can so I can keep up with what is out there. I do enjoy reading what other people think about topics that are important to me and my family.

Thing 17

Del.icio.us!
Very interesting. If I was doing some important research I can see beginning the process here. It is always helpful to see all the ways a subject can be researched. I especially like that you can choose a contributor and see all of their bookmarks. This way you can find somone who thinks like you or just the opposite, if necessary. It seems to be easy to use, but you do have to trust that everyone is serious and that bogus tags aren't created to waste your time.

Thing 16

My Space -

I do have an account to keep an eye on my kids. I do not like My Space and am hesitant to let my children on. Their accounts are private and only their invited friends are allowed. Still, some of your invited friends can turn out to not be friends at all. We had a horrible, upsetting episode with one such "friend" so I am a tad biased. That said, I can understand why the site is so popular with the teenagers.

Thing 15 - Online Social Networks

I am not the person to talk to about these web sites. I don't think any parent of teenage girls is. Do I think VBPL should use a social networking site to communicate with teens? Maybe. Will there be someone dedicated to monitoring the site? I know safeguards can be put into place. I am just afraid, very afraid.

Thing 10 - Rss Feeds Search

Forgot this thing and have gone back so I can catch up! Found out with these tools it is very easy to locate feeds. Found an interesting story about the law and jello, if you can believe that. Seems a drunk college boy was pushed while playing in a pool of Jello, broke his hip, and sued NYU for damages. Poor boy. Makes me want to continue finding and reading feeds.

Thing 14 - Staff pick

My first wiki post! Very easy and quick. I chose the book Our Dumb World by The Onion. Maybe someone else will get the humor. I am still not won-over by Wikis but will give most of them the benefit of the doubt.

Thing 13 - Wikis

I like the idea of Wikis, I just don't know how much to trust them. A pure public wiki would be a problem. Especially sites for children. I do, however, see the advantage of a conference wiki - what a great idea! Also - this would be a great way for families to research genealogy. A free version of ancestry.com!