I want to introduce you to two things this week that are very Google-cool.  In addition to their search technology (they probably win the record for fastest transformation of a proper noun into a verb) they are also creating and collecting (they’re always buying something) some of the most innovative web 2.0 tools out there.  This week I want us to explore iGoogle and Google Docs.

iGoogle (an example of mine at the bottom)

I ADORE iGoogle.  Think of it as your own personalized webpage.  You get to customize it to be anything you want and no one but you sees it.  It’s very gadget-rich.  They allow non-google people to create the gadgets (or widgets) and so there is lots of cool stuff out there for every interest.  It’s part of the open source movement of letting lots of people dabble instead of one company controlling and directing all components of a “resource”.  It’s become my home base — all the of the bookmarks I use on a daily basis are there.  There’s a widget for my Gmail and Google Reader.  It’s totally changed the way I work cause I can access all of the most important things to me from any internet connection I sit down at.  It all pretty much starts from this one place.  And it’s not all serious –I love my National Geographic Picture of the Day and my Quotes of the day and the Human Calendar.  Near the top you can see the different “tabs” I have.  At lunch I might read the headlines of the day from different news sites.  You can see that I have a tab for “Pierce Learning” where I collect the stuff I want to use with this group.

 Google Docs — Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentations

Have you ever wanted to be able to work on a document from more than one location but not have to be constantly emailing yourself the latest version?  Or ask a couple of people to author a document together?  Or a spreadsheet?  Google Docs allows you to start a document, spreadsheet or presentation on the web which is great because then you can access it from anywhere.  And then you can “invite” others to that document.  To give you a geeky but practical example….I started an RSVP spreadsheet for wedding invitations.  My parents were receiving the RSVPs and my mom would update it every night with what she’d received in the mail.  Bob and I could see the most updated list of who was coming (or wasn’t) any time we wanted.  She didn’t have to email or call us — we could all look at the same ever changing spreadsheet.

TASK #1:

1. Go to the Google homepage – http://www.google.com/
2. Click on iGoogle in the upper right hand corner
3. Create your own iGoogle page
4. Practice dragging the various boxes around to arrange your page
5. Notice that you probably have multiple “tabs” (upper left) and create a new one
6. In the upper right, “select theme” and “add stuff” — under “add stuff” try different searches based on things you like. Really into weather? — look at all the “widgets” you can add. Like news? There are tons of different news widgets. Add them to your page.
7. Here are some of my favorite iGoogle gadgets – http://piercelearning.wetpaint.com/page/iGoogle

Extra credit:

1. Send a screen shot of your iGoogle page to me. When looking at your page hit the “print screen” button on your keyboard (that creates an image of what’s currently on your screen). Paste it into an email you send to me.

TASK #2: 

I’m going to invite you to a Google Document that I’ll create.  Check it out and respond to the prompt (it’s quick).