Wordle is my new fave!

Ok, I've found something else to be addicted to.  If you haven't yet discovered Wordle, please check it out at once!  It is SO cool!  Here's a Wordle I created quite simply using this very blog.

I can't wait to use this again and again on things that inspire me like good parenting skills and delicious food and healthy living.  LOVE IT!!!

SlideShare Gold

There was a time when I thought PowerPoint was the answer to everything!  Got a point to get across?  PowerPoint it!  How exciting it was to learn about SlideShare, a place where PowerPoint presentations on virtually ANY topic are available for your viewing pleasure.  Of the many, the one I found most interesting was A Twitter for your Intranet. It's a short presentation about the importance of unlocking silo's of information via a private Twitter-like environment where employees share and collaborate and connect.  A topic I'm particularly interested in, being in a satellite office of a statewide organization.  Harnessing the power of social networking type applications in the office place will go a long way toward bringing the organization into harmony and getting everyone on the same page.  Maybe I should share this presentation with the higher-ups!

Google+ Terms of Use & Privacy Policy

I never really thought about how social networking applications used my information until the hubaloo over Google's new privacy policy.  For kicks, I checked it out and discovered Google will mostly use my information for benign purposes such as to "provide, maintain, protect and improve them [services], to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and ads."  They'll also keep track of any name changes and update my name across all Google services in order to maintain 'consistency'.  They also collect information gathered from cookies to 'improve user experience' such as ensuring my preferred language is English no matter which Google service I use.

The trouble with all of this is that one never really knows the totality of use of personal information provided when signing up for Google+ or any other social networking application.  If it will generate more revenue, it seems social networks will use your information to the max with or without your permission.  With any luck, users will be able to harness the power of social networks to keep the social networks on the up and up!

Steve and I

 I love Apple products.  Starting with an iMac in 2006, I've been all about iProducts ever since.  I'm pleased to be able to subscribe to the Apple RSS feed so that I can stay on top of things like iTunes top songs and top paid apps as well as Apple support and knowledge bases.  The knowledge bases in particular have helped me get through a few minor application hiccups.  Check it out!

http://www.apple.com/rss/

Feed Readers - Friend or Foe

I just spent some time subscribing to a few blogs using Google Reader.  It was nice to be able to categorize my interests and it was fun diving in to the blogs themselves as its been a while since I was able to do so.  However, I could see using a feed reader becoming a black hole where my time spirals into oblivion!

Wikia

Wikia is a for-profit company founded by Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales and is one of the biggest internet companies around - although you may never have heard of it. It offers users the ability to create specialized wikis about almost anything you can imagine. It is completely free and is ad supported. Rather than the company itself using a wiki for collaboration (which it may very well do), Wikia offers users the ability to simply and easily collaborate on a just about anything they want to collaborate on - TV shows, games, food...you name it. To learn more, check out this article.

Hello! I'm Leona Westdahl

Greetings bloggers and blog followers! My name is Leona Westdahl and I am a single mother of three awesome children, a part-time community college student, a part-time minor league football team owner and a part-time worker at a statewide community foundation. This blog will be empty as I am too busy to keep it up :)

My three favorite websites right now are Facebook, Pinterest and Yummly. I like to keep in touch with my friends and family using Facebook. Pinterest offers me inspiration to cook lovely meals, organize my home and craft with my kids. Yummly has downright awesome recipes for healthy and delicious meals.

You might notice the title of my blog is My HCG Experience. At one time about two years ago I thought I would try my hand at blogging by tracking my experience on the HCG diet. I learned I wasn't disciplined enough to keep up with the demands of blogging and never actually did share my experience.

Embedding a Video

This video by Michael Wesch presents a good introduction to Web 2.0.

Formatting Blog Posts

Today I am trying out some of the fancy formatting options in Blogger.  I can add hyperlinks, images and videos to display on my blog. I can also edit posts in my blog.

Welcome to my blog!

I'm excited to be creating this blog for my Web 2.0 class.  I am on the Web all the time and I am excited to learn more about how it works.