Thing 9: Getting Personal with iGoogle

In response to user preferences for having custom content delivered directly to their doorstep, Google launched a product called iGoogle.

iGoogle allows users to create personalized pages that provide not only the typical search capabilities, but also lets people build “at-a-glance access” to their key information retrieved from across the web. "Google users have told us they'd like a way to view more of the information they want in a single place” (Google press release, 2005).

On this self-designed page, you choose and organize your content, so instead of seeing the default interface:

You have a personalized page that provides quick access to your favorite information:

All About Widgets
iGoogle brings your favorite content to you by using “widgets” (also known as “gadgets”). Widgets are free, easy-to-use, mini-applications that display web content from external sources. These little gems can be embedded into blogs, social networks, or even other web pages. They require no downloading or installation.

What kind of things can you do with widgets? You can add a YouTube video directly into your 10 Things blog, for example. Millions of YouTube videos are shared on the Web by means of an embed widget. In fact, we’ve used it in the 10 Things blog a number of times. Facebook also supports thousands of widgets (created by third parties) that you can add into your profile; for example, you can add the capability to search ANTPAC or WorldCat directly from your account.

iGoogle currently supports more than 25,000 widgets. You can add weather, news, del.icio.us bookmarks, RSS feeds, comics, or the word-of-the-day directly into your iGoogle page. You name it, there is likely a widget for it!

In the forthcoming UC Irvine Student Portal, students will able to personalize a page for themselves by adding and organizing widgets that provide access to the information most relevant to their needs.

Exercises

1) Set up a Google Account

A Google Account not only allows you to build a personalized page, but it allows you to access all sorts of Google products and services with just one sign-in. Note, if you are already using Gmail, then you don’t need an account; you simply use your Gmail user name and password to log in.

To set-up a Google Account, follow these instructions.

2) Log in to your Google Account

Once you've created your account, it's easy to log in to it from the Google home page:

Then you can edit your personal information (optional):

3) Personalize your iGoogle page

When you first click on the “iGoogle” service, you will see an unpersonalized page. To customize this page and learn how to add widgets, view this short video tutorial:

(Be sure to turn your volume up high to hear. Double-click on it to go to the host site where you can enlarge it to full-screen for better viewing.)

(Note: This video recommends setting iGoogle as your default home page, but we would caution against doing so. Not all widgets are created equally, so this can increase load time of the page.)

Have fun! Try adding a theme and then search for and add a few widgets. Search for the word “library” to see what's been developed.

4) Reflect and Blog

Blog about your iGoogle experience and offer your thoughts about widgets. How do you think Libraries could support users’ preferences to personalize and to have content delivered to their doorstep?