Task #8 - iGoogle

What can I say about iGoogle - if you like your gadgets you will love iGoogle. 

In setting up my iGoogle page I was, like I am sure many others I am sure, sucked into to scrolling through countless, themes just looking for that 'right' banner to set the tone of my iGoogle page.  I even resorted at one stage to trying to create my own personalised page but having encountered a couple of difficulties with image picker and trying to find a copyright free image to use...yep, I was quickly finding myself off on a tangent again I decided to rein it in and finally made a selection.  That done, my attention turned to the layout of the page and all the gadgets on offer!  Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets, I might even go so far as to say too many gadgets!  I found gadgets for everything and anything you could imagine.  From virtual (time wasting) pets, to the practically of simple 'To Do' lists there certainly is an extensive range out there - I even stumbled across a gadget for tracking your water consumption during the course of the day.  Some people must have a lot of time on there hands is all I can say!  I did, however, find a couple that I liked;

• the 'To Do' List, because lets face it, my short term memory isn't what is used to be
• a Countdown Clock with the capability of setting multiple events
• a usual gadget to track the Days since you conducted various tasks, and what would a page of my be without...
• Albert quotes!

I also took some time to experiment with the YouTube links but, finding myself again getting off the track, I decided to remove the feature from my iGoogle page to avoid temptation, if nothing else. 

As per the task as outlined, I uploaded the gadgets to connect Google Docs, Google Book Search, Google Maps and Facebook, though found, as per Dione's email ,that the Google Docs gadget didn't automatically link up.  I hope I can resolve this following Dione's advice later today.

The end result of my iGoggle experiment:



Summary of my iGoggle thoughts

1. I love the 'Drag and Drop' feature of the programme, allowing you to place things exactly where they suit you.
2. The ability to personalise and minimise each of the features on your page is also handy, giving you the option to only have open what you are using or need to see on opening your iGoogle page.
3. Think the RSS feature also has great potential, though I was somewhat disappointed with the list that was on offer. Benefit would clearly be for those feeds that that you subscribed rather than those just available on searching within the iGoogle site (mostly American).
4. Some concerns regarding the locations/sources of some of the gadgets on offer - my Internet security identifying quite a few sites as potential security threats.

Would I use iGoogle?

Possibly, I can see its benefits, however, before jumping on board I am keen to check out Netvibes.  I had never heard of this before but found reference and a link to it in SeekingFinding's Blog.  I have found this blog to be very insightful and appreciate the different perspective of a person who clearly has greater insight and experience in this field that I do.  I have had a quick look at the Netvibes site, and visually it has great appeal and possible classroom application, more so than iGoggle I think but before I can make a call, more investigation is definitely needed.  I guess that is what this course seems to be providing for me...more questions that need answers.

My Web 2.0 journey continues!

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? Albert Einstein