Well, the first task last week was easy as I already had a google account. I have been happily using gmail for some time, and find it much easier to use and organise than Nexus. However, igoogle was a new one on me, and so it was interesting to find out what it was. Creating a start page was fun, but I can't help being disturbed by how easy it would be (is) to spend an awful lot of time tinkering and adding things to it for no real purpose. I'm not really sure it's any better than just searching from the normal google screen. Still....I dutifully added my 5 gadgets: weather, date/time, 'to do list' and, variously, artwork of the week (until I found a comment saying it might have a virus in it and got rid), penguins (ferrets wouldn't load on my home computer as it's too slow), then (when penguins were too slow for the same reason) the phase of the moon.
As for 'themes', don't get me started! Why does google think it's OK to offer photos of scantily clad women, of a sort that used to be found on British beer cans in the 1960s?!
I chose Tea House in the end, as it seemed inoffensive and I had to choose something...

I'm very dubious about the prospect of uploading a screenshot of my start page and have not yet done this part of Thing 3, because I'm not sure if any computer I have access to has the necessary software. However, Laura has kindly given me a hint as to where Paint might be, so I shall give it a go soon. Thanks Laura!

First post (how original)

Well, being a little bit older than some people, I am very, very glad to have the chance to learn about all this Web 2 stuff in a structured way. In fact I was beginning to despair that I had been left behind by technology, but actually I have heard of a great many of these things but didn't know they came under the heading of Web 2.

In addition, I think it is excellent to have a chance to have what we learn recognised in this way. It is a hugely refreshing change for me, and is definitely acting as an incentive to get down to the training. By the end of this, I hope to be more conversant with web-based things, and even to appreciate their value in my working life.