Gooooooooooooooooooal! I made it to the end!
Thing #23: Is this really the end? Or just the beginning?
Yeah, of course it's not really the end. It may be the end of this particular set of exercises. It may or may not be the end of my posts on this particular blog. However, it's definitely not the end of my learning and growth. That will continue for as long as I live.
* What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Google Documents is at the top of the list. Even if I can't access it at home (*cough* Firefox 1.0 *cough*), I'm finding it incredibly useful. It's replaced the flash drive in my pocket for documents I need to work on both in my cubicle and at the service desk.
I'm also liking YouTube quite a lot. Sure, there's a lot of junk, but there's also plenty of useful, informative content. Plus, if not for YouTube, I would never have gotten to see President Obama's inauguration and the various associated speeches and ceremonies. I am so glad this service exists.
* How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Even though my supervisor gave me permission to do these exercises at work, I discovered that I really didn't have time. There is simply too much work to do at work, and I couldn't shoehorn these exercises in. Once I started doing the majority of them at home, I developed the homework mentality. (Yes, even though this wasn't technically a class, I actually referred to each of the things as "homework.") It's gotten me thinking about going back to school and getting an MLS. I don't know for certain that I'm ready to make that leap yet, but I feel much closer to it than ever before.
* Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I'm not sure I'd call this unexpected, but I've had to face my essentially asocial online behavior. I love cool web 2.0 toys and tools I can play with on my own, but I'm not big into interacting with others. I love Delicious, and I tag all of my bookmarks for my own use, but I never think to look at other people's bookmarks. I love Google Documents for making my documents more portable, but I haven't shared any of them with anyone else. That's just part and parcel with my introverted nature. I need to be more conscious of the social part of the social web.
* What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Not sure. I thought it was pretty well organized and most of the things seemed to flow fairly naturally into one another.
* If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again choose to participate?
You bet! This was great!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thing #13 Revisited: I'm Just Not That Into Twitter
Well, I've given it two full weeks now, and I'm still not twitterpated with Twitter. Following only ten people, I receive so many tweets that every time I visit Twitter I have to go back multiple pages to see what I missed. I wish I could set it to show me the most recent tweet from everyone I'm following, so the people who tweet a lot don't crowd out the people who tweet only once a day or so. I honestly don't know how hard-core users who follow hundreds or thousands of people keep up with any of the threads. And I don't tweet much myself, because my life is just not that interesting. I dislike Twitter less than I imagined, but I just can't seem to really get into it.
Thing #22: Podcasts
Thing #22: Podcasts is one of the things I was dreading when I started this program, but by the time I reached it, I was enthusiastic. I'd had so many good experiences during Nebraska Learns 2.0 exercises that I was hyped and ready to go.
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm died quickly. Searching for podcasts was much less fun than searching for YouTube videos or blogs to follow. After more than two hours sifting through several different podcast directories, I still hadn't found anything to keep my interest. I'd listened to the beginnings of several podcasts on a variety of subjects, but hadn't made it to the end of any of them. They all bored me to tears. If they couldn't hook me within the first few minutes, I moved on. Don't waste my time.
I realize that, for me, the main problem with podcasts is that they're just like radio programs. When I listen to the radio, the instant I hear a DJ talking, I change stations until I hit one that's playing music. I can't stand talk radio.
Rather than sifting endlessly through directories of stuff trying to find one gemstone in an endless beach of common sand, I decided to check out blogs and comics I was already following to see if they had podcasts. That way, I stood a better chance of finding something to my liking. But even the podcast by the creators of one of my favorite webcomics bored me. It was still just like a radio show, with more random, tedious banter than interesting content. While the podcast was playing, I found myself reading unrelated blogs, just to keep myself from leaving the computer altogether.
I finally found some decent, non-chattering podcasts from NET. These were informative and enjoyable. Finally, I'd found podcasts produced by people who valued the listener's time! Not one word was wasted. Even so, I'd still rather read news than listen to it.
I added a couple of the NET podcasts to my Bloglines account--News & Features from NET Radio (audio) and Arts in Nebraska from NET Television (video). I'll follow them for a while to see if they grow on me, but right now I'm suspecting that I'll eventually drop them in favor of blogs and text-based news. The video podcast will probably be the first to go, because the .mp4 files take too long to download, even with DSL. YouTube is much faster.
For Library-related podcasts, I really enjoyed Uncontrolled Vocabulary. It was nice to hear the voices of people I follow in the blogosphere, like Michael Sauers and Tim Spalding. The podcast was focused, organized, and informative. However, I'm not sure I heard much info there that I hadn't also read on various blogs and mailing lists.
I'm not saying I dislike the concept of podcasts. Many people do prefer to get their input through audio-visual channels rather than reading. Podcasts are undoubtedly valued and valuable tools for many people, and I completely understand that. However, I just don't think they're for me.
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm died quickly. Searching for podcasts was much less fun than searching for YouTube videos or blogs to follow. After more than two hours sifting through several different podcast directories, I still hadn't found anything to keep my interest. I'd listened to the beginnings of several podcasts on a variety of subjects, but hadn't made it to the end of any of them. They all bored me to tears. If they couldn't hook me within the first few minutes, I moved on. Don't waste my time.
I realize that, for me, the main problem with podcasts is that they're just like radio programs. When I listen to the radio, the instant I hear a DJ talking, I change stations until I hit one that's playing music. I can't stand talk radio.
Rather than sifting endlessly through directories of stuff trying to find one gemstone in an endless beach of common sand, I decided to check out blogs and comics I was already following to see if they had podcasts. That way, I stood a better chance of finding something to my liking. But even the podcast by the creators of one of my favorite webcomics bored me. It was still just like a radio show, with more random, tedious banter than interesting content. While the podcast was playing, I found myself reading unrelated blogs, just to keep myself from leaving the computer altogether.
I finally found some decent, non-chattering podcasts from NET. These were informative and enjoyable. Finally, I'd found podcasts produced by people who valued the listener's time! Not one word was wasted. Even so, I'd still rather read news than listen to it.
I added a couple of the NET podcasts to my Bloglines account--News & Features from NET Radio (audio) and Arts in Nebraska from NET Television (video). I'll follow them for a while to see if they grow on me, but right now I'm suspecting that I'll eventually drop them in favor of blogs and text-based news. The video podcast will probably be the first to go, because the .mp4 files take too long to download, even with DSL. YouTube is much faster.
For Library-related podcasts, I really enjoyed Uncontrolled Vocabulary. It was nice to hear the voices of people I follow in the blogosphere, like Michael Sauers and Tim Spalding. The podcast was focused, organized, and informative. However, I'm not sure I heard much info there that I hadn't also read on various blogs and mailing lists.
I'm not saying I dislike the concept of podcasts. Many people do prefer to get their input through audio-visual channels rather than reading. Podcasts are undoubtedly valued and valuable tools for many people, and I completely understand that. However, I just don't think they're for me.
Thing #21: YouTube
When I first started the 23 Things, I was dreading this exercise, Thing #21: You too can YouTube. At that time, I had a dial up connection at home and no sound at work, so I was originally going to have to do this assignment "elsewhere," probably the library's public machines.
Well, things change. A little over a month ago, I managed to upgrade my home connection to the lowest grade of DSL. Suddenly, watching videos at home was not so unattractive. I still have to wait a few minutes for a video to load (on average, about twice the total run-time of the video), but that's not unreasonable, at least not compared to having to wait four or five hours to load a five minute video with a dialup connection. Maybe for some people, any load time is a deal-breaker. For me, it depends on how badly I want to see something.
Since getting DSL, I have wasted a lot of time on YouTube--the good, the bad, and the stupid. YouTube, like the open web, like the shelves of a grocery store, and even like the library, is filled with an immense variety of things. Saying you like or dislike YouTube is like saying you like or dislike a particular library. Some of the stuff on YouTube bores me. Some of it offends me. Some of it informs me. And some of it is just plain fun. The same can be said of any library. YouTube is like an online video library with no collection development policy.
I did not know how to imbed a video in a blog post before this exercise. It's fun learning new things about tools you already use.
Throughout Nebraska Learns 2.0, we have watched quite a few episodes of Common Craft, explaining everything from wikis to Twitter. Looking at other Common Craft episodes, I see that they cover much more than web 2.0 tools. There are episodes available to explain everything from money management to compact fluorescent light bulbs.
And so I present an episode of the Common Craft show that we didn't watch for these exercises: Zombies in Plain English. (Content warning: fake blood and implied violence.) Hide your brain and fire up your sense of humor.
Well, things change. A little over a month ago, I managed to upgrade my home connection to the lowest grade of DSL. Suddenly, watching videos at home was not so unattractive. I still have to wait a few minutes for a video to load (on average, about twice the total run-time of the video), but that's not unreasonable, at least not compared to having to wait four or five hours to load a five minute video with a dialup connection. Maybe for some people, any load time is a deal-breaker. For me, it depends on how badly I want to see something.
Since getting DSL, I have wasted a lot of time on YouTube--the good, the bad, and the stupid. YouTube, like the open web, like the shelves of a grocery store, and even like the library, is filled with an immense variety of things. Saying you like or dislike YouTube is like saying you like or dislike a particular library. Some of the stuff on YouTube bores me. Some of it offends me. Some of it informs me. And some of it is just plain fun. The same can be said of any library. YouTube is like an online video library with no collection development policy.
I did not know how to imbed a video in a blog post before this exercise. It's fun learning new things about tools you already use.
Throughout Nebraska Learns 2.0, we have watched quite a few episodes of Common Craft, explaining everything from wikis to Twitter. Looking at other Common Craft episodes, I see that they cover much more than web 2.0 tools. There are episodes available to explain everything from money management to compact fluorescent light bulbs.
And so I present an episode of the Common Craft show that we didn't watch for these exercises: Zombies in Plain English. (Content warning: fake blood and implied violence.) Hide your brain and fire up your sense of humor.
Nebraska Learns 2.0: My Favorite Posts
Reflecting on last night's post, I realized I ought to have listed all of my favorite Nebraska Learns 2.0 blog posts, if only for my own future reference. Some blogs merited more than one post in my list, because sometimes people say good things on a lot of subjects.
For Thing #11 (on technology):
For Thing #13 (Twitter):
For Thing #15 (SlideShare):
For Thing #16 (on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0):
For Thing #19 (web-based productivity software):
For Thing #21 (YouTube):
Addendum 1/26/2008 -- All of these have now been added to the Nebraska Learns 2.0 Favorite Posts wiki page.
For Thing #11 (on technology):
Clywdshire offers a some cautionary advice on technology and cites several interesting articles and books.
Rayma's Genealogy Blog talked about using Facebook to help identify unclaimed bodies. This blew me away. What an amazing and brilliant use of a technology for something that its creators probably never envisioned. This is technology at its best--generating creative and unexpected solutions to problems.
Susan's experiments in Library Land makes some fantastic points about the fleeting and migratory nature of social technology, the proliferation of IDs and passwords, and inconsistent corporate IT policies.
Upward & Onward may be getting in touch with her inner Luddite, but she makes an eerie point with her example of the emotionless texters in the crowd at a football game.
For Thing #13 (Twitter):
Learning As I Go cited an excellent article, "Is Twitter TOO good?" by Kathy Sierra, in addition to making some good points of her (?) own.
Upward & Onward cited another excellent article, "Twitter Nation: Nobody cares what you're doing," by Helen Popkin. And I love the use of Mr. Hyde Tweety.
For Thing #15 (SlideShare):
Clwydshire posted a beautiful slideshow of paper art.
For Thing #16 (on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0):
The Antiquarian Librarian reminds us not to get lost in the technology, but to stay focused on having meaningful interactions with people. Social networking sites are just another means to that end, and are in addition to, not in replacement of, face-to-face interactions both inside and outside the library. He talks about the library's role not only in preserving culture but in creating it.
Books and More synthesized one short, sweet, salient point from all the articles: the idea that we can not hope to teach all of our users how to use our systems, so we must change our systems to make them so intuitive our users don't need help.
Prairie Prose wrote, "I need to recreate my role in a world that thinks 'it's all on the internet,' but doesn't know how to find and evaluate what is there." Teaching how to evaluate sources, and building tools that help users do it themselves, seems to be a growing part of librarianship.
Susan's experiments in Library Land lifted up key points from several of the readings.
TheCorey may be right about "web 2.0" and "library 2.0" having devolved into meaningless terms that get slapped on various lousy projects to make them seem more trendy.
Upward & Onward leads with a cartoon that I think nearly everyone can identify with, then makes the excellent point that while we're considering what the library will be in the future, we must also consider what it will not be.
For Thing #19 (web-based productivity software):
Learning As I Go explored Google Documents in great detail. I was glad to learn about the ease of including special characters, which I had not discovered on my own. (For some reason, I was unable to post comments on this blog.)
For Thing #21 (YouTube):
In spite of his well-thought qualms about the bandwidth issue of YouTube, The Troglodyte Librarian provided some excellent examples of how his library is using it well for summer reading promos and might use it in the future for tutorials.
Addendum 1/26/2008 -- All of these have now been added to the Nebraska Learns 2.0 Favorite Posts wiki page.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Nebraska Learns 2.0: The Community
No "Thing" this time. I spent the whole evening looking at the blogs of all the Nebraska Learns 2.0 participants.
Yeah. All of them. Four and a half hours on a Saturday night. I can't promise that I read every single post on each blog, but I did visit every blog, and I did read at least a couple posts from each participant. For the handful I'd already been following via RSS, I re-read my favorite posts.
It's sad, but not surprising, how many folks made it only through the first couple of things, then dropped out. I was almost one of those, with my month-long lapse. I'm really glad I decided to pick it up again and run with it. I am determined to finish by the deadline.
It was definitely worth the time to visit all the participants' blogs, and not just because of all the pretty Flickr pictures or the fun YouTube videos. I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments on Things 11 and 16. A lot of folks wrote deep, thoughtful essays about technology and Library 2.0. I plan to add my favorites to the Nebraska Learns 2.0 wiki later, when I'm at a computer with a browser that's compatible with PBwiki.
Well, it's way past my bedtime, so I think I'm going to call it quits for tonight.
Yeah. All of them. Four and a half hours on a Saturday night. I can't promise that I read every single post on each blog, but I did visit every blog, and I did read at least a couple posts from each participant. For the handful I'd already been following via RSS, I re-read my favorite posts.
It's sad, but not surprising, how many folks made it only through the first couple of things, then dropped out. I was almost one of those, with my month-long lapse. I'm really glad I decided to pick it up again and run with it. I am determined to finish by the deadline.
It was definitely worth the time to visit all the participants' blogs, and not just because of all the pretty Flickr pictures or the fun YouTube videos. I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments on Things 11 and 16. A lot of folks wrote deep, thoughtful essays about technology and Library 2.0. I plan to add my favorites to the Nebraska Learns 2.0 wiki later, when I'm at a computer with a browser that's compatible with PBwiki.
Well, it's way past my bedtime, so I think I'm going to call it quits for tonight.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thing #20: Web 2.0 Award Winners
Thing #20: Discovering Web 2.0 tools is a bit on the overwhelming side. There's just so incredibly much to choose from. Having a list of award winners to narrow it down helps, certainly. These resources have all been vetted. They probably wouldn't be on this list if they weren't good, stable, and reliable.
Biblio.com is a service to allow you to search independent bookstores for out-of-print works. Not so much "web 2.0" to my mind (no integral social component), but very useful. I found facsimiles of Topsell's History of Four-Footed Beasts, which made me drool and wish I had huge buckets of money laying around. I'll definitely be keeping this site in my Delicious file.
Lulu, on the other hand, is "web 2.0" to the hilt, and it looks very promising for self-publishing a wide variety of content. If someone wanted to create a memoir or photo album to distribute to family members and friends, this is a much nicer alternative to photocopying it and putting it in a three-ring binder. If one wanted to publish a little comic book for their friends, but also try to sell a few copies on the side without going to a huge amount of trouble, this could be the way to go. I like what Lauren Parker said about their goal being "to have 1 million users that sell 10 books instead of 10 authors that sell 1 million books."
Live Mocha helps people learning foreign languages find native speakers to practice with. This is pretty darned awesome. I might use it myself, but I will definitely keep it in mind if I have patrons at the desk who want help finding a language partner.
Upcoming Events & Things to Do would probably be good for me to check regularly, because I never know what cool things are happening around town until they're over and someone is telling me what an awesome event I missed. I also like that this site is smart enough to look at my IP address and automatically supply events for Omaha, rather than forcing me to input my location. Going, on the other hand, defaulted to Chicago, the nearest city that they consider "major." Sorry, but I don't consider an event that requires shelling out big bucks for air fare and hotel fees to be "nearby." I'll stick with Upcoming, since they give me actual relevant local content. I wish it included smaller cities, though. I'd love to see what events are coming up in Schuyler or Columbus, but the closest I could find on Upcoming was Norfolk. Still, that's not too bad.
From a library service standpoint, all of the genealogy sites on the list (My Heritage, Geni, and Amiglia) could be useful. I didn't sign up for any of them at this time, but I might later if I get serious about converting the family tree from that stack of photocopies in my file drawer. But any or all of these would be great to show a patron coming to the desk with a genealogy question.
I guess my favorite thing I encountered in this exercise was the SEOmoz Awards list itself. It's a good overview of the types of stuff out there, and I can refer back to it later when I have a particular need for a particular type of tool.
Biblio.com is a service to allow you to search independent bookstores for out-of-print works. Not so much "web 2.0" to my mind (no integral social component), but very useful. I found facsimiles of Topsell's History of Four-Footed Beasts, which made me drool and wish I had huge buckets of money laying around. I'll definitely be keeping this site in my Delicious file.
Lulu, on the other hand, is "web 2.0" to the hilt, and it looks very promising for self-publishing a wide variety of content. If someone wanted to create a memoir or photo album to distribute to family members and friends, this is a much nicer alternative to photocopying it and putting it in a three-ring binder. If one wanted to publish a little comic book for their friends, but also try to sell a few copies on the side without going to a huge amount of trouble, this could be the way to go. I like what Lauren Parker said about their goal being "to have 1 million users that sell 10 books instead of 10 authors that sell 1 million books."
Live Mocha helps people learning foreign languages find native speakers to practice with. This is pretty darned awesome. I might use it myself, but I will definitely keep it in mind if I have patrons at the desk who want help finding a language partner.
Upcoming Events & Things to Do would probably be good for me to check regularly, because I never know what cool things are happening around town until they're over and someone is telling me what an awesome event I missed. I also like that this site is smart enough to look at my IP address and automatically supply events for Omaha, rather than forcing me to input my location. Going, on the other hand, defaulted to Chicago, the nearest city that they consider "major." Sorry, but I don't consider an event that requires shelling out big bucks for air fare and hotel fees to be "nearby." I'll stick with Upcoming, since they give me actual relevant local content. I wish it included smaller cities, though. I'd love to see what events are coming up in Schuyler or Columbus, but the closest I could find on Upcoming was Norfolk. Still, that's not too bad.
From a library service standpoint, all of the genealogy sites on the list (My Heritage, Geni, and Amiglia) could be useful. I didn't sign up for any of them at this time, but I might later if I get serious about converting the family tree from that stack of photocopies in my file drawer. But any or all of these would be great to show a patron coming to the desk with a genealogy question.
I guess my favorite thing I encountered in this exercise was the SEOmoz Awards list itself. It's a good overview of the types of stuff out there, and I can refer back to it later when I have a particular need for a particular type of tool.
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