I was reluctant at first to commence this program, but I have actually found it has brought out some of my creative skills. It was fun to dress up my blog with pictures and I was amazed that I worked out how to do nearly all the tasks by myself. I worked through my course at home without help from my work colleagues. When at work, we would also have fun looking at each others progress.
I have learnt a lot of new skills, concepts, tools etc. from the internet, that I would never have attempted to look at on my own. Many aspects of this Learning 2.0 program will hopefully be put to use for my own personal and professional development. I foresee in the future that we could provide more informative internet classes for our clients.
Downloading ebooks from the internet is a great way to obtain books for people, especially if they are hearing impaired. Netlibrary and Overdrive enable libraries to download ebooks for clients. Obviously there would be a fee involved to the library service, but this would be another way of obtaining audiobooks in the future rather than buying expensive CD talking books.
The World ebook Fair, is also interesting in that it provides free downloads of ebooks. It is obviously very American in its content, providing educational, technical and government type resources. It does provide some rare books, classic fiction (eg Heidi, Dracula, The time machine). The search facility isn't very user friendly, (text keyword searching) and I found it hard to find items. I found the Browse searching easier to use. While browsing, I was able find a section on the Project Gutenberg of Australia (which wasn't as yet available) and I also found Sheet Music, Women Writers Collection and Historical Childrens Books. You have to register with World ebook Fair, to access the downloads, so perhaps I might give it try one day.
I never realized Podcasts were so popular. The Directories are useful in finding podcasts. I found the Italian Cooking Class on podcast.net. I soon realized that most of the searches come up with US podcasts. So I tried adding /.au to the subject seaches and I was able to find Australian websites. I found my favourite radio station in Melbourne and added this and the Italiancooking class podcast audio feeds to my Bloglines account. Using podcasts in Libraries? Podcasts could be used for providing information, news, events, guest speaker talks etc. and can also be used for training purposes like the Web Learning 2.0 program.
This is a great site if your interested in watching and downloading videos on the internet. You could spend hours on YouTube. I found this particular video on YouTube called Beauty is nothing without a brain I was browsing anything comical about libraries.
These are fantastic tools to use on the internet. I didn't realize there are so many things you can create on the web, and most are free! I had look at LuLu.com. If you're into self publishing, this is the way to go. You publish or create almost anything eg. cook books, travel guides etc. Apart from books you can create Photo creations eg. photo books and calanders. You can also create Digital Media ie. posters, photo books and wedding books.
250g plain flour ¼ cup (35g) icing sugar mixture 150g cold butter, chopped coarsely 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest 1 egg yolk 1-2 tablespoons iced water, as necessary ½ cup (75g) cornflour 1 ¼ cups (280g) caster sugar 4 eggs 4 egg yolks 4 lemons, zested and juiced ½ cup (125ml) water 60g butter, chopped into 1 cm cubes 4 egg whites 1 cup (220g) caster sugar ½ cup (125ml) water
METHOD
To make the pastry: process flour, icing sugar mixture, butter and zest until they resemble breadcrumbs. Add yolk and 1 tablespoon of the water; process again until pastry begins to come together into a ball. If necessary, gradually add more water, a teaspoon at a time, until pastry does form a ball. Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth. Shape into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 220°C or 200°C fan-forced. Roll out pastry between 2 sheets baking paper until 3mm thick. Press pastry into 24cm loose bottomed flan tin. Trim edges and dock base (to dock means to prick base using a fork). Line with baking paper and fill with dried beans, lentils or baking beads. Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove paper and beans; return to oven. Bake a further 5 minutes or until pastry is lightly golden brown all over base. Allow to cool.
For lemon filling: Combine cornflour and sugar in medium bowl. Gradually add combined eggs, yolks, zest, juice and water; whisking to ensure mixture is lump free. Microwave on medium (50%-60%) for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every minute or until mixture is thick. Or place mixture in medium bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until thickened - about 30 minutes. Beat butter into lemon mixture. Cover closely with plastic wrap and cool.
For meringue: Place egg whites in large bowl of electric mixer. Combine sugar and water in medium heavy based saucepan. Stir over low heat, without boiling, to dissolve sugar. Brush down sides of pan with wet pastry brush to remove any sugar crystals. Simmer, uncovered, without stirring, until mixture reaches firm ball stage (119 - 121°C) on a sugar thermometer (a teaspoon of mixture will form a firm ball when dropped in a cup of cold water).
Just before sugar reaches temperature, begin to beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. With motor operating, gradually pour sugar mixture onto egg whites until fully incorporated.
Spoon lemon mixture into pre-baked pastry case. Level top with a small palette knife. Pile meringue mixture on top, ensuring lemon mixture is completely covered. Return pie to preheated oven (220°C or 200°C fan-forced) and bake 10-15 minutes or until top is golden brown and crisp. Stand 5 minutes before serving.
I finally created a document on ZoHo...after realizing that the Safari browser wasn't letting me do much on ZoHo. So I tried Firefox and I was eventually able to save a document on my account.
I created a document, which I posted to my blog. See next Blog Post.
