Professional Portfolio

There are many different ways to create on online professional portfolio, whether through networking sites such as Plaxo or LinkedIn, or by creating a website such as google sites for current and future employers to have access to. Personally, I enjoy using google sites to create a professional portfolio because networking sites tend to become social and friendly. If I am trying to market myself to a future employer I want them to just have the facts about me. By creating a web page for them to view I can add as much as I want for them to view, while staying as professional as possible. I enjoyed this assignment, however it has been difficult using google sites instead of google pages, which was much easier to navigate. The link to my portfolio in google sites is http://sites.google.com/site/kristinwoodsite/Home

LibraryThing

To be completely honest, I do not read recreationally. A tool such as LibraryThing would not be of benefit to me. This looks like it would be very useful to someone who does read or who is looking for new books. It has the capability of cataloguing your favorite books and writing your own reviews on them. You can also search the reviews of other books read by other people on LibraryThing. I was surprised by the amount of books that LibraryThing has reviews on as well as recommended books for different types of readers. LibraryThing is not my forte and do not find myself using this site much for recreational use.

My LibraryThing link http://www.librarything.com/widget.php?shareID=w9f42f782bdc3e3e5600aa8e243d01047&sharefrom=kristinnwood

Flickr Toys (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/)

The internet offers a lot of different image generators to crop and make pictures more fun. I was playing around with different tools and really like flickr's "big huge labs". I used it to create this puzzle of my brother and I. Now that I have a Mac computer, I have image generators as software, but this is a neat way to do it online and upload it to a site, blog, etc. I can definitely see myself using image generators however using the software on my Mac is a little bit easier than the sites I played around with. Pretty cool for sure!

Podcasting

I am very new to the world of podcasting. A) because I am fairly lazy and do not like reading books or listening to things that sound like books on tape! and B) I have found a new interest due to my new iphone so I figured I better check it out. I was searching around on podcast.com and found some interesting feeds. I connected one feed to my Bloglines account so that I can listen in on cool episodes. It is called Tri Talk. Before my traumatic injury, I had been training for a triathlon, and I was finding it hard and costly to get advice and information from other triathletes by buying magazines and books. I listened to a few episodes that I found interesting and there was a lot of good advice from an elite triathlete. It is like listening to a blog but on all of the topics I am curious about. Right now while I cannot train, this would be a good way to stimulate my mind and focus on what I want to do when I can train again. Set up programs for myself as well as stay engaged during this down time. Podcasting is also a good educational tool. I find it very useful in my classes as well as looking things up about the medical profession and new rehabilitation ideas and up and coming research. It is fun to listen to these new ideas instead of reading them in books or magazines! And the best part is, most of them are free!!

Video craze!

YouTube is the new internet craze! I do not need to explain what YouTube is or what you find on it because it is likely you already know! I posted a video called best actor on my last blog and it is so adorable! I saw this video on America's Funniest Home Videos and fell in love with it. I use YouTube as a way to let loose and watch funny videos. A friend has gotten me into watching Cathy Griffin and I can find all of her comedies on YouTube. My uncle who lives in Virginia also make collaborative videos out of out home videos from when I was younger, he posts them on YouTube and it is such a neat way to stay in touch. He is very creative and I love watching things he makes. I think that YouTube is such a fun and inventive site and I feind myself, like many in the world, looking and laughing at videos to pass the time. Check that video out I posted, so cute!

YouTubin fun!

Me and Technorati

Wow! Technorati is a cool search tool to find thousands of different blogs, videos, and photos of specific domains. I searched technorati for things about kinesiology. The part I found most interesting was searching blogs and videos. I found some really cool videos on kinesiotaping and also blogs about rehabilitation programs. This would be a fun way to see what else is out there. As athletic trainers we stick to our own knowledge, textbooks, the journal of athletic training, ideas from co-workers, mentors, and colleagues, etc. This would be a nice way when there is free time to look what other athletic trainers or physical therapists are doing. Granted, we do not know who exactly is feeding these blogs or videos, but we should have a pretty good idea of what is legit and real, and what is not. I do not know if I like the idea of my blogs being posted on technorati, however if you feel comfortable exposing information about yourself on the internet, this is one of the realities and reprocussions. If you get a chance, check this site out... pretty neat.

Mmmmmm Del.icio.us

So there is this social bookmarking site called Del.icio.us, it is a pretty unique and creative site. HOWEVER, I have one question... WHY?? I can see how maybe this could be useful to see what sites other people are using and help a person become more of a web surfer, but I think it just adds even more time. I will sometimes use my bookmark tab to put school sites or interesting athletic sites, but I do not use it often. I think it is a ridiculous idea to have a site where everyone bookmarks, or even just to bookmark your own sites. For professional purposes I cannot see myself ever using a site like this. My career does not offer much time for me to navigate or surf the web, and when I was playing around on del.icio.us, I really did not find many things that I could use on a daily basis for work. Amongst my negativity towards this site, I can look outside of the box and imagine many aspects of society would really enjoy a site like this. The social, gossiping side of society could use this to compare where they look as well as find new sites to engage their minds. I can see how this can be a fun and useful site, however it is just not my taste, and is not delicious in my book!