time management – One Thing I Learned…

Aggregators: Worth the Time? or A comparison of Symbaloo and Netvibes, Part 1

What are aggregators? They are not domesticated alligators used in “back to nature” agricultural programs. They are applications and tools that allow a user to collect information from disparate sources and present it in one place. My colleges Alison Dodd and Michele Ramos have a very good definition of Aggregation on the HLWiki Social Media Glossary:

Aggregation refers to collecting content from multiple social media sites (such as Facebook or Twitter) with the goal to organize and simplify users’ social networking experiences. While individual sites may offer unique features specific to that site, social networking aggregation collects the content that is produced on several sites and delivers it in a less overwhelming way. Aggregating content is performed by using tools to draw information from different sites into a single space. Aggregation services provide tools and widgets — either downloadable or web-based — that function to consolidate friends, bookmarks, messages and profiles in easy, digestible formats. Aggregation is done by an application programming interface (API). Some examples of aggregation include FriendFeed, Flock, TweetDeck, SocialNetwork.In, SocialURL, Digsby, Trillian/Adium, YooNo, and OrSiSo.

As someone who, prior to this unit, didn’t even use an RSS feed (such as Google Reader) I found the introduction to all these different aggregators extremely interesting. But how useful would I find these applications personally and as an LIS student? So I took two of the aggregation applications presented in the module Symbaloo and Netvibes, set up accounts and tried them out.

This post will focus on Symbaloo:

Symbaloo is an aggregator that colourfully and graphically presents your personalized bookmarks, RSS feeds, and some commonly used web applications like Google search and Wikipedia search. It is presented as a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) portal or a launch pad. There is a nice demonstration of the platform here.

The application is very simple and easy to use, but it does take time to customize the webmix for your personal use. I spent over two hours working on my “desk” webmix for all the bookmarks and feeds that I use regularly. I didn’t spend much time trying to make it pretty, but a user has some options (tile arrangement, colour, icon) to customize the look of the interface to make it graphically appealing. This is what my personal webmix currently looks like:

I enjoyed making the webmix, but I don’t find it particularly useful for myself. I have my frequently used bookmarks well organized within my Safari browser and my less used bookmarks I currently collect on delicious. Sites that I check everyday are shown in my top sites display every time I open up a new tab in my browser.

For RSS Symbaloo works moderately well. If you click on the feed tile, the five latest posts will (usually) show up in the centre of the webmix, but it only displays the title of the post and the date it was posted. You have to click on the post to read it and there is nothing indicating if there is a new unread post.

The widgets that allow you to interact with different applications (like Google) from the centre box are few and most of them are already integrated into many browsers. Many of the widgets don’t work well and some not at all. I was excited to see a CBC Radio widget, but unfortunately I couldn’t get it to play.

For these reasons I don’t think I will continue with Symbaloo for my own personal use but there are a few ways I could envision using this professionally:

Webmixes are hosted in the cloud so if I was switching workstations frequently I could quickly and easily access all my bookmarks.
Webmixes can be made public, searchable and tagable. Webmixes would be a great way to share a collection of resources with your network in a friendly and appealing way. For example I found this great webmix for online children’s books:
Webmixes are very simple and visually appealing so they would be great portals for younger users. Here is an example of a webmix created by Melissa Techman, school librarian and tech lead, for students in kindergarten to grade two for curriculum related webpages.

Next up: Netvibes.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to…

Aggregators: Worth the time?

Half Term Reflections or How do adults do this?

DISCLAIMER: Professors, read at your own risk. This post is to share with other students feeling the crunch. I have noticed that every time I reach out and share I get many responses along the lines of “I was thinking the exact same thing but didn’t want to say anything.” And those people in similar situations, and myself, feel better.

DISCLAIMER 2: I actually like my classes, which makes it all the worse that I can’t enjoy them. It’s hard to enjoy the swim when doing your best is just keeping your head above water.

Okay, I don’t actually hate my life, there’s lots of good stuff going on. Like my windsurfing classes that I started last week, my new apartment, my excellent roommies and my awesome study group. Lots of good things going on. What sucks is that I can’t really enjoy any of it, because of the two classes I’m taking this term.

My reflections halfway through term 2 summer semester I learned this:

I will never again take online classes, unless I have no other choice.
I will never again take full-time summer classes, unless I really have no other choice.
I will never, ever again take full-time online summer classes, not even if I have to stay an extra semester in school just to finish my program. Ever.

A bit of background: At SLAIS summer semester is split in half consisting of two terms of six weeks. So if you take summer classes at SLAIS, you have to take condensed classes (3 credits in 6 weeks). Normally full-time study in this program is four courses per semester, each course being the equivalent of 120 hours (class +study time). Because condensed classes are cut in half, the administration limits student to two courses per term, which then works out to 4 courses in the semester.

This should be the same amount of work as a regular semester right? WRONG! It is definitely more work. Last term I took one online course and one in-class class. It was a slightly heavier than normal workload but I managed alright and I really enjoyed the classes I took even if I didn’t have the time to do as good a job as I would have liked. This semester I am in two online classes. BIG MISTAKE. In my defence, they are both classes that I think are important and interesting but are only offered online and in the summer.

I did some math before term started so I could set up a work schedule like a responsible student.

120hrs/6weeks = 2o hrs/week.
20hrs/week *2 = 40hrs/week
40hrs/week = full time job = 8 hrs/day 5 days/week
I can’t focus for 8 hours on schoolwork, at least not straight, and my teachers want me logging into class daily or almost daily. So:
7hrs/day * 6 days/week (one day a week all just for me) = 42 hrs/week + one day for a weekend. Totally doable I thought.

This schedule lasted for 3 days of week one. Did I start slacking off you ask? No, I started working longer and longer hours just to keep up. I would show up to the department around 10 or 11 (after doing some healthy exercise) and work, with a lunch break, until about 8. Sometimes later. Then I would go home, cook, eat, and sometimes log back on to domore work. Needless to say, whatever I did after supper was pretty dismal quality.

By Sunday, the last day of online modules for online classes, I would be overwhelmed with how much I hadn’t managed to get to that week and ready to throw in the proverbial towel. Imagine my amazement when I discovered, through a cry out on facebook, that I was not the only one feeling the crunch, in fact, a good half the class (of each class) shared my sentiments. That was the first week. It hasn’t got any better.

Now it is three weeks into the 6 week term. I just spent an intensive week working on a 3000-4000 word paper for one class, while also trying to keep up in the weekly assignments for both classes that had me working until 8pm or later in the first week when the work load was the lightest. (If you want, you can have a look at my paper. If you really want to know, I’ll share my mark with you when I get it. ) Monday rolled around and I was so burnt out I didn’t even touch schoolwork. Now it’s tuesday (wednesday now?) and I am, of course, behind and playing catch up.

My roommate summed up my thoughts very succinctly when she said “How do adults do this?” We assume that we just haven’t grown up enough, or didn’t get the memo on how to complete work in a timely manner and still have a balanced life.

For those of you out there struggling like me, I have found a few things that help:

Make every week a new week. If there is stuff in the last week that you didn’t get to, forget it. Don’t play catch up because you will never be caught up, you will only fall further behind. If you really care, save the readings (or whatever) and go back to them after the course is done.
Reach out to other students in your class. Chatting with others in the same situation will make you feel less isolated and less stupid.
Disconnect. I know it feels like you should be working, be online all the time. It feels like any time you’re offline you are falling further behind. But you can’t be connected all the time and stay sane. Take a bath, a walk, read a book, crochet another square for that afghan. DO IT. You’ll feel guilty, but you’ll actually be able to work better and for longer if you take breaks.

DISCLAIMER 3: Maybe I shouldn’t make this post, but I’m going to anyway.

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