back to google docs for a sec...

We spent a lot of time collaborating with group members on our Google Docs Ad a while back. This week we're coming back to Docs to make it more useful to us. One of Google Docs's best features is the ability to save all (or at least almost all) of your assignments "in the cloud" and be able to access them from any computer with an internet access.

Why is this beneficial to you? It means that you can access your work from anywhere, saving you time and hassle. You can share your work (if you want) with anyone, anytime. If you use a word processing program that we don't use in our library, chances are that Google Docs can convert it.

Today, you'll be uploading your saved assignments from your TDSB "desktop" into Google Docs. You'll have it saved for as long as you keep your Google account. All for free. Yes, free. You can thank me later.

Follow this link and read the visual instructions on how to upload your assignments (right-click and open in a new tab):

http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=50092

YOUR TASK:

1. Upload as many current assignments (ones that are done or ones you are working on) into your Google Docs account. You need to find where you have them saved, of course.

2. Create folders for each of your assignments.

3. If you're sharing computers with a partner, split your time up evenly. The first person needs only log out of their Google account and the second person will log in with theirs.

4. If you're finished early, go to http://www.freepoverty.com/ . It's a game that actually donates glasses of water to developing countries based on the answers you get right. The more answers you get, the more glasses of water they'll donate to people who need it the most.

Getting Delicious

Social Networking sites have allowed us to connect with people around the world based on our likes and dislikes, our pictures, vids, music, and so on. The cool thing is that the above things can be accessed from any computer anywhere in the world. We find out about people and things we could never have found out about on our own.

When we're surfing the web, we bookmark pages of interest to us, which are stored on our web browser. But when we change computers, we don't have access to those bookmarks. This is the lame way of doing things. Cloud computing and Web 2.0 has given us a website where we can save all our bookmarks and access them from any computer.

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site where you save your bookmarks online. When you're doing your research, you can tag the site in your delicious account and access it from any computer, anywhere in the world.

Even better: you can find bookmarks tagged by other people who have similar interests, as part of your social bookmarking network. It's like having millions of users and sites that match your interests, literally a few clicks away.

Your task this week is to:

1. Set up a delicious account. You can access it using your Google, Yahoo, or Facebook account (use your Google account preferably).

2. Create a profile and start connecting with people you socialize with in your class - you should connect with at least 5 other people you hang out with.

3. You must link with my delicious account here: http://www.delicious.com/mrdafos

4. Start adding bookmarks to your delicious account! Make sure to tag the bookmarks as you go along. Bookmark sites that are relevant to your subjects and assignments!

Watch this video that summarizes my lesson very quickly and then get bookmarking!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeBmvDpVbWc&feature=related