I have decided to try record some more general uses I make of the Internet as a general record which I can refer back to in the future to hopefully note the advances I have made.
- I use a laptop and have a wi-fi hard disk and printer/photocopier/scanner
- I use Mozilla Firefox which I enjoy because of the Bookmarks Toolbar with the drop down RSS feeds and because typing into the address bar (not sure of the lingo) takes you to the first google result (it unreasonably irritates me that i have to type www and remember the address when I am back on Internet explorer.) And I love tabs - i know that's no longer exclusive to Firefox (was it ever?) but I feel it's an essential part of using the Internet.
- I check my Gmail emails using Mozilla Thunderbird on my laptop. I like having emails from certain addresses going straight to certain folders. Since getting a Gmail address this summer I have barely used it as a web-based function and so haven't got to grips with the user friendly features I have heard about. Disappointed that I am so far unable to access my Southampton emails using Thunderbird - anyone got any suggestions?!
- I often listen to the radio via the Internet as unfortunately my radio is somewhat broken with frequently just one volume level - loud!
- Podcasts. I have only started downloading podcasts since I got my macbook and had iTunes which I had not previously used. The first podcast I subscribed to was Mark Kermode's film reviews. Previously I had listened live or used the listen again facility online. Now that I have an iPhone (see My Use of ICT - Part 4, for more info) I have tried to subscribe to a few more to entertain me when I am out and about.
- I haven't really used BBC iplayer or the like much yet. Last year at college the Internet usage agreement didn't allow it. This term in Southampton I just haven't got into the habit yet. Although I watch a lot of TV at home, I have never had one at university, and don't appear to miss it too much (DVD box sets manage to occupy my time sufficiently!)
- iGoogle - I was introduced to this last year on an ICT course at university and I did set my own one up, and although I would look at it occasionally, I did not use it much and now not at all. I found my bookmarks toolbar had everything I needed to get at quickly enough.
- Wikipedia - this is a website i absolutely love and can spend a long time getting distracted on! It is my first place to look for any bit of information I might be after and of course then I find out so much I never knew I never knew by following the many many hyper-links! I went to a talk earlier in the year by Jimmy Wales, co-/founder of Wikipedia. It was an interesting insight into the whole wikimedia organisation. I was one of the few people in the room who had not edited a wikipedia page - and I still never have. Maybe someday soon I will reach that milestone!
- amazon - very useful! I bought the PGCE course books from there using the 'buy used' facility. I also recently bought ink cartridges through amazon and frustratingly what arrived was not what i ordered. But I did find the return system efficient and the correct one arrived pretty quickly.
- YouTube - not a huge user. Think i have uploaded one video onto there, before I learn about facebook's ability to do videos. I will use it if there is a song I want to listen to that i don't own. I have been impressed how often it has been used in our university classes, and I am excited by the prospect of doing similar in my classroom. also, something I would like to get to know - TeacherTube.
- I have been doing Internet banking for quite a few years.
- delicious - we were introduced to this in an ICT class. I really like the idea of it and hope to start using it soon - just need to practice and get into the habit I think.
- skype - phoning people using computers? I don't fully understand yet but I know friends around the world who use it and it would be great to be in touch with them!
Interesting... thank you for sharing this. I used Thunderbird as an rss reader for a while, but found that it got very slow as the volume of info built up. I did not use it for email, in spite of it automatically downloading all my mail.
ReplyDeleteSkype - you can video conference if you have a videocam.
You have put a great deal of thought and effort into your posts. Thank you very much!
ReplyDelete