My Use of ICT - Part 4: Everything else

I wanted to have a go at completing this set of blogs on My Use of ICT (part 1, 2, 3). hmmm, wonder if there is an easy way to link previous posts into this one. I am sure I have seen it done on other blogs. EDIT - I did not find an easy way to hyperlink to the posts. I published this post and then went back to copy the page for each of the others and linked them in turn, does not seem a very efficient way of doing it. Monty has said we don't need to write any more blogs till we are at our school placement in January, but I hope he doesn't mind that I am continuing - I have been enjoying keeping track of my ICT use.

Again I think this is a post that will be edited plenty as I think of more things to include. Although I do know otherwise, my first thought when thinking of ICT is still COMPUTERS, and it takes a while to think beyond that - hence the delay of this post. I have referred back to Monty's initial lecture for this.

I will start is MOBILE PHONES. Now, this post would have been very different if written in September. I had a phone that was capable of making calls and texts, but had no camera, Internet, music capabilities... But since then, I have very generously been given an iPhone 3G. I was quite in awe for a while never having been as technologically advanced as this and it took me quite a few weeks to begin to use it effectively. But now I must say, I love it and it's hard to think back to not having it. Some features that i really like (these aren't necessarily specific to the iPhone, but are new to me):

• being able to easily refer back to previous text conversations.
• being able to check my emails while out and about - though I have not been able to link my University email to it...
• having an ipod! never had one before but still think it's great to just have to carry my phone round with me and to have a crazy amount of music to listen to - and podcasts too! recently I had been using a diskman or walkman to listen to music or the radio on long journeys or if walking somewhere. That is something i would like to have on the iPhone - an ability to listen to the radio.
  
• keeping my photos on it, to be able to show people.
• being able to look up train times - i have just got an app that allows me to look at departure screens. I seem to do a fair bit of train travel so that will be useful. not generally got the hang of apps - any recommendations appreciated!
• i used the maps/GPS facility on my first trip into Southampton to find the bank. And on my first trip to the Isle of Wight, it was very useful in finding my school and exploring the island - when there was someone in the passenger seat to read it! As you can probably tell, I don't have a SatNav. I have seen them used and borrowed one on an occasion, but I guess it seems too expensive when I generally consider myself a good map reader/general follow my nose person and I print off the aarouteplanner directions if necessary.
• And I like the two finger zoom!
  

So, that covers the phone and ipod aspect of my ICT use. I think the rest will be pretty limited.

• I've never had a Nintendo, wii, game boy - any of those sorts of things. I have never massively craved them though i have played on friends' ones. But i don't think I've ever played enough to become good at them. I wonder how out of touch this will put me with my school children. Not enough out of touch to make me want to buy one though! i will just make the most of opportunities when i visit friends!
• TV - don't have one at uni. And as mentioned before, I don't make much use of iplayer and the like. At home we do have digital video recorder/personal video recorder - i don't understand what the technical term is, but it records to the hard disk, not onto individual DVDs or anything, and it has freeview. I love it and think it's invaluable - one of the best bits of technology and I'd recommend to everyone.
• programmable robots - not come across yet!
• digital radio. my mum won one in a raffle which she let me have. it did sound better than the analogue one i was using that i tended to have to put on its side to be able to listen to half-decently. But now the volume function seems to have gone and it only comes out pretty loud, so i have been listening to radio online instead.
  

Well, that's all i can think of for now - do suggest anything else I could mention.