Learning Experience

My final project is based on the Zoho Projects tool. Zoho Projects allows companies to house all of their material pertaining to one project in one central location. This location then allows team members to collaborate on these projects so that goals are met. I chose Zoho Projects because of where I work. I work on study teams that have many people on the team from different departments. Sometimes people can make meetings, sometimes they can't. In order to help facilitate things in a faster manner, and to keep things organized, I thought the use of Zoho Projects was a great idea.

Zoho Projects is an online web tool that allows companies to use one central location for documents, discussions, time lines, milestones, blogs, forums, and other applications that may be necessary to collaborate effectively on a project. In order to use Zoho Projects effectively in my current position, I thought the following applications within Zoho Projects would work best: E-mail, Collaborative Messaging, Document Management, and Calendar.

In my paper, I discussed the responsibilities pertaining to each department, and who in each department would be responsible for participating in the project application. Also, I included a detailed timeline explaining when each piece of Zoho Projects should be updated and made available to the necessary team members.

To review Zoho Projects, please follow the link below:



To participate in the Zoho Project for liloinsys497, you will have to accept the e-mail invitation that went out on December 15th.

Blog #4 - Planning and Implementation

So, the end is here for our trip through Web 2.0 tools. I can't believe how much I have learned through INSYS497. I was a bit frustrated in the beginning, especially when it came to viewing these new tools on a laptop that was majorly locked down. Now, that I have full access to the tools that we have learned, I have found them extremely useful.

There are thousands of tools that I am sure I have not even heard of or will ever use, but I am hoping to continue my learning with these tools so that I can implement more of them into my life. I also have loved the presentations so far in class. Each time someone presented, I felt like an idiot because I had never heard of the tools they were presenting. I am so glad we had those presentations, because they have opened up so many more things I can do on the internet. I can't wait to get involved with Shelfari, and I definitely will be playing around with Google Lit Trips with my niece and nephew.

Most of the tools I have explored are for me to use at work, but I am happy that we learned about other tools that I could use just for socialization. Learning about Second Life was neat. And the funny thing is that after that class, my favorite author sent out an e-mail to show his Second Life character. I never would have known what that was, but we learned about it just in time!

I am also really happy we had this final project to research. I have always wanted things more organized at work. We have so many different meetings, that I feel like we just go in circles for weeks or months until someone finally makes a decision. But, with the tool I have researched, I really think we could use this to be more effective at work. We work with so many European sites, and if we had one central location where every thing relating to our project could be posted would be so helpful. This project made me find a tool, and made me write a really great Working Practice to present to management. I hope it works! I know I am going to be met with a lot of resistance, but I really think if everyone opened up their eyes and mind that they might actually move ahead with this project. We'll see!!

Thanks everyone for a great class! It went fast, but I learned so much!

Blog #3 - Safe Practices with Web 2.0

In my journey with learning new Web 2.0 tools, I have always wondered what safety measures I could take to keep my personal information safe and my computer safe. After reading Chapter 7 in Solomon and Schrum, I see that there are many measures we can take to ensure our information stays secure.

First off, I have a horrible habit of using the same user name and password for everything. But, now that I have multiple accounts, I have changed up my pattern so that my user names and passwords are different for a lot of the sites. Also, when it comes to social networks online, I try not to be too specific with the items I post. For example, I don't post when we are traveling or not going to be home, or post about anything work related.

Another thing I learned is the importance to know what type of e-mails we receive. If anything looks suspicious, then we should not open it. It could infect our computer with viruses or give the hackers access to our personal information online or on our computer. Being educated on these types of e-mails is the key to avoid losing our personal information.

Also, everyone should be educated on the types of websites that are out there for people to access. We should be able to tell which websites are secure and which ones are bogus sites. Secure websites have the link of https://, where other websites may have http:// to look similar to secure websites.

Educating users is the key to safe practices for Web 2.0. It is up to the teachers, the employers, and parents to educate users on the safe practices that are important for Web 2.0 use.

Creative Writing - Beginner

I have finally made a goal to advance my creative writing techniques. Writing is a passion I have had since I was about 12. I have so many short stories and poems that I wrote as a teenager. Now today I can take those stories and develop them into something more significant. After visiting the different blogs of people offering "creative writing tips", I know I have to make a full effort to finish out my thoughts in these stories, and move ahead with publishing them somewhere. It is a long term goal, but if I could share my stories with other people, it would be so fulfilling!

Blog #2 - Research and the Reflective Practioner

I have to admit that the new tools we are learning in INSYS497 are tools that I am not too sure we could use in my company. My company has very strict security rules, so I am anxious to read about the security issues in this weeks assignment. Also, I think that venturing into these new tools would be met with resistance from many of the people I work with. However, I have found many tools as well as many new ways to teach these tools. Sometimes change is a good thing!

The following video that I found on You Tube is an excellent response to why the web is starting to become an active player in science. I work for a pharmaceutical company, and we are always developing new compounds to submit to the FDA for approval. The video talks about going beyond e-mails and posts to expanding collaboration through wikis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwSo99dKTpM


I definitely want to suggest using a wiki of some sort for the many documents that we work on in the department. These documents range from clinical study protocols, to clinical study reports that are submitted to the FDA for drug approval. A lot of the times, these documents are sent around in circles for people to review, as well as reviewing them in multiple meetings. I think if a wiki were available, then these documents could actually be submitted more quickly to the FDA, and our objectives and timelines would be met. It is amazing how many times we pass our timelines because another document needs to be updated. If the documents were housed in one location where everyone could highlight their concerns (like the DIIGO tool we used this week), and add "post-its" with comments, then the documents might have a quicker turn around time.

In addition to adding a wiki, I have also found a great blog that talks about Web 2.0 tools in corporations. This blog is mostly from an IT perspective, but it still covers great topics.

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/resourcecenters/show.aspx?rc=63982


It would be great if we could incorporate blogging at work. I love the fact that finding the appropriate blogs to research are easy through tagging. It would be great to be able to post new ideas and tag them for the different departments to read for better understanding. Even if we offered tagging on our SOP's that are housed on the intranet at work would make searching for new information easier.

There are endless possibilities to incorporating some type of new tool at work. We just have to do the appropriate research to find the one that would fit our needs the best as well as offer the appropriate security features.

Blog #1- Creating My Own Social Network

My Social Network before this class was extremely limited. I basically only communicated through e-mail, but added Facebook a few months ago. Being able to connect with others through Facebook has been interesting. But, now after doing the reading and research online for this class, I see that there are many other new and advanced tools I can use.

I work for company that is very strict with guidelines and SOP's, and following everything posted by the FDA. We are very limited with our social networking tools since we have a very strict working practice. Even people who are on Facebook socially and outside of work have actually gotten in trouble for the things they have posted online. But learning about these new tools in Web 2.0 may help advance our company a little bit more.

Now that I am learning about these new Web 2.0 tools, I am anxious to suggest these tools to be implemented at work. I really think Podcasting would be a good tool we could use, even if it was just posted internally. It would be interesting to hear directly from the European and Asian offices, as well as the board of directors regarding things in our company instead of reading an e-mail. And using a bookmarking tool where the whole company could see what sites people have visited regarding helpful information would be extremely beneficial. Some of these tools could be very useful since we have offices in about 10 countries. Then maybe we could reduce the amount of meetings we have to discuss things that could have been handled through some of the new Web 2.0 tools.

As we learn more about these tools, I am interested to see how we can implement them into a strict company, and what security and safety measures we can take to allow Web 2.0 to employees.

Mass Confusion.....

Okay, I left class on Thursday with a complete understanding of what I was supposed to be doing. But, now that I am on my own.....I am totally lost!! I hope I can figure this stuff out. I swear things are missing or look different than how they looked at PSU. Hopefully it will all click tomorrow. :-)

Hope everyone else is having better luck!