Scrap blogging

My second blog is about scrap blogging. Scrap blogging is a modern way of putting together a lot of scraps, maybe from you last vacation. Back in the day you would collect all you scraps in a book and make a scrapbook out of it. Now you can use digital photos or just scraps of it and put them together in an online format a blog.
For my scrapblogging I used photobucket.com. I already have a Photobucket account which has tap called scrapblog which directly links you to the scrapblogging website. To create an account is free and only takes a few minutes to do. In the past I used photobucket many times before for adds on ebay, therefore I was familiar with the functions and the webpage layout.
The first thing you want to do in order to get started, is to load up the pictures you are going to use into a folder in photobucket. Then you can choose different themes and layouts of your scrapblog. For example you can choose between sport, travel and graduation or wedding layouts. You can even choose a premium account which gives you an upgrade an access to more options but I think the options available are enough to get started. Once you have uploaded all your pictures you can get started to drag and drop pictures in frames in the layout you chose. You can add stickers, bubbles and comments to personalize you scrapblog. After you are done you can save it into photobucket and from there you can publish it at different pages, like here on blogger or on facebook. You can even just save the link and e-mail it to your friends.
I personally think it was not all to difficult to use this technology for the first time, however I think if you are new to something like this it might take you some time before you become familiar with all the tools that are available. If you are used to editing photos using a program it is probably easier for you get used to since they use many options like rotating, to edit your pictures to make them fit.
As mentioned above if you are new to this technology it probably takes you some time to tries out all the different tools, but it is more like fun trying out what you can all do with your pictures to make them look good. I really enjoyed trying it out, but if you just need a fast way to present your pictures on some type of platform this is probably not the fastest way of doing it. It is nice if you want to share you memories with friends or family.
In conclusion I have to say, it is a nice way to personalize your pictures and to display them but I really like the old way of cutting out your pictures, gluing them into a book and writing this on them just as much. It is just very hard to correct or remove things once they are glued, the digital version on the other hand gives you the opportunity to remove and changes things around as many times you once before you save your final draft.

Web Resource Library

Here is my Web Resource Library.
Feel free to browse my sources.

file:///C:/Dokumente%20und%20Einstellungen/Katrin%20M%C3%B6seler/Desktop/IUPUI/Summer%20II/EDUC%20W200/EDU%20Web%20Library%20Katrin.htm

Delicious Link

Here is the link to my delicious page, feel free to check it out:

http://delicious.com/kmoesele

Podcasting

In my first emerging technology blog I writing about podcasting. Most of us have probably heard of podcasting either via a friend, on the news, the radio, Internet. You hear it all the time. The word podcasting includes the words pod, which comes from ipod and the word casting, which referrs to broadcasting news or information. Podcast are for example audio files, like audio books, audio files of news, or videos. A lot of radio or tv stations are offering podcast to certain topics on their websites for free. You can then go on the website and download these podcast through their newsfeed onto your ipod or another form of mp3-player. I took a chemistry class last semester and the professor had posted previous lectures as podcasts, so if you missed a lecture of if you just wanted to repeat the material, you could download it in oncourse. I thought this was very helpful way to use it. I personally like to listen to audio books. That is way I download audio books onto my mp3 player and then when being on a long flight I can listen to them. I started listen to these audio books a couple years, ago. The first book I listen to was Harry Potter, I had read the German version of the book before. Then I downloaded the English version of the audio book, because I thought this would be a good way to practice my listening skills. Sometimes local libraries offer the option to download audio books either for free, or for a small amount. Furthermore, even if being here in the U.s. I have access to German news that I can download as well, this way I can listen to them anywhere I am, any time I want and can stay up to date. You can download podcast from Angela Merkel who is the chancelor of Germany under http://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/Webs/BK/DE/Service/RSS/Functions/bundeskanzlerinPodCastRSS20,templateId=renderNewsfeed.xml

Furthermore, I am even able to download certain podcast from German TV stations via itunes, which is nice to have.

I thought it was very easy to learn how to download or use podcasts. I was always used to downloading songs, and downloading a podcast is not any different from downloading another file. I personally have a ipod and an mp3 player and I think especially if you are knew to the Internet it is easier to put files on a mp3-player that operates with a separate SD card so you can just plug in the card and download the files on the card, just like on an USB stick.

If you need help on how to download it via itunes, I found a good video on youtube.com that you can watch in order to get some help.

Info about myself and experiences in creating a blog

Hey everyone, my name is Katrin and I am originally from Germany now studying at IUPUI since Fall 2009. I came to the U.S. not only because of my boyfriend but he was probably the major reason for me to move to the States. We met 5 years ago, at the airport in Detroit. I already have a degree in Physical Therapy, however this is not accredited in the U.S. that's why I am getting a BS in order to go to Grad-school afterwards. I like Indiana, even if I miss my family and friends back at home. The part of Germany where I am from looks similar to the countryside of Indiana. In my free-time I like to do all types of sports, I used to be on a soccer team in Germany but I would love to get back to playing again. I also have 2 Betta fish. I would love to have a cat, but since I am travelling back and forth to Germany, the fish don't require as much attention as some other animal and they are pretty fun to watch. As mentioned above I like travelling a lot and I have been too so many places in Europe, I also have seen a couple place in the U.S., like Chicago, Michigan, Canada and Florida, however would love to discover more places in the U.S. Furthermore, I love to go out and meet new people and make new friends.

My experiences in setting up this blog have been very positive so far. I looked at the quick tour before starting to set it up. This only took a couple minutes and then I had an idea of what you can do with a blog and what features it has. I also like that you can choose your language. I first thought maybe if I use the English version it might be too complicated and then I might have to switch to German, but as stated above my experieces have been only positive and it was very easy to set up and use. I think the best way to truely explore the functions is to click on everything. Since you can not do anything wrong this is always the best way to go. I think setting up this blog is a very good idea and I think by getting used to it during the W200 class I am probably going to keep it afterwards and going to continue to use it in the future.
Here is the link to my PBWiki site, check out my summary about Assistive Technology: http://kmoesele.pbworks.com/Assistive-Technology-in-Education