Thing 8. Share your creations: another way to build community

My office poster How to Build Community has two suggestions that mirror the sharing aspects of Web 2.0 tools: "Garden together" and "Have potlucks." At this time of the year, if we garden together we grow vegetables that go into those Minnesota hot dishes. Certainly, the slideshow services are a good way to start the gardening. I enjoyed Thumbstacks and Slideshare and was less impressed with Zoho Show. Its wide screen forced me to scroll from side to side to read each line. I know I can change the resolution, but then the type size gets too small. (Yes, I will take some cheese with my whine, thank you.)

Libraries and businesses should find Thumbstacks remote meeting feature useful: The presentation is on the Web and anyone with a browser can see it. Browsing in Slideshare's huge presentations bank I encountered one called The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging and When to Use Each One. The very popular blogs often have top-ten or best-of lists. I see why lists are popular with bloggers, as they draw readers to sites.

The photo sharing site Picture Trail Moving Thumbs demo in 23 Things blog is great. I liked the way you just point and click a thumbnail at left and see it emerge large from the confetti at right. I also liked the examples of educators' electronic portfolios made with eFolio Minnesota. They are beautifully done, a great way for educators and students to highlight their achievements. Less interesting was Lazybase which by this time looked boring to my dazzled eyes.

Boy, I surely got jaded quickly, looking at the good ones. It's a bit the way the colorful garden and delectable church-basement hot dish outshines all the others.