To whom it may concern: Kindly get your derriere down one blog entry to the brewski and click yourself a virtual Killian's Red in my honor, 'cause I'm finished! Yeah! Cue the confetti.
Actually, I spent way too much time searching for free animations to incorporate into this last entry. I found the obligatory fireworks, party horns, and champagne and even a flying pig--'cause you know the appointed time for me to learn anything techy was when oinkers took wing. Only, my lovely blog won't let them just dance around like animations should. The reader has to expend the energy of actually clicking on them. Rains a bit on my creative juices, but hey, maybe I can post them to one of my husband's scientific publications.
I know, I know. You're asking yourself, is she actually going to blog about Web 2.0 or just ramble like a mad woman? Here I go. This is me, being serious. Or the closest facsimile I can muster:
Let me start by saying I tried to copy and paste the sample questions on the MD Libraries for Learning 2.0 blog to a Zoho page (which I'm using to post to my blog), but Zoho is really tricky (read: a pain in the rear end) when copying and pasting. That said, the convenience of having your word processing work stored on the world wide ether is soooo wonderful I'm willing to overlook many of its flaws. If I start a program/paper/project on Zoho, I can call it up on any computer with ease and ad to it, change it, whatever. Zoho qualifies as one of my favorite discoveries of the 23 Things Project. Other favorites: Flickr, UTube, RSS feeds, Bloglines, Blogger, podcasts--Holy Cod Fish (mackerels get enough press) I learned a lot--DoppleMe, Overdrive, image generators, Library Thing and I absolutely loved making the Librarian Trading Card. And I must say, I made a fantastic card. Possibly the best. If there was a contest for best Librarian Trading Card, oh, I would so be in the running.
Now for the list of Not-So-Great-Things or Things-I-Couldn't-Wrap-My-Brain-Around also known as Things-I-Won't-Be-Remembering-The-Passwords-For: Rollyo --I get enough spiders from my daughter, Katie. Really. Del.icio .us--I like to believe that I still think like a five-year-old (albeit with an annoyingly large vocabulary); a bit too young to grasp the genius of that social networking site. I regard Wikis as useful, but I worry about so many students turning to them for concrete information, because they are not reliable. Technor --What-i? No, seriously, I get the site, I just don't need it. But I acknowledge that others may and the sheer act of knowing a bit about it makes me a more effective librarian in case a patron has a question about it. But still, how great is my Library Training Card?
2) This program has definitely assisted me with my lifelong learning goals, because before 23 Things, I didn't have any. At least, none on paper or defined or mentioned, as such. Now, I know what to call it the next time some new curiosity overtakes me--You may find this hard to believe, but occasionally, sometimes, when I like a subject or project or game, well, I get a bit carried away. You'll just have to take my word for it. See, Husband, taking all those courses in How to Croak Like an Ecuadorian Tree Frog makes me a Life Long Lerner, not a kook. Well, and broke, of-course.
3) Take Aways: DoppleMe
Yeah, I've got a take away, alright. Earlier in my blog I mentioned sharing the amusement of creating an avatar with my children. (Like they'd let me NOT share something with them. Hah!) Anyway, I wrote of my son, Ethan's, interest in the avatar. The next excruciatingly early morning after creating the avatars, my son charged into my bedroom and excitedly begged me to call up our avatars so he could change his avatar's clothes and expression. My son had chosen a mad face for his first incarnation. So I did, fearing, even then that I had created a monster. Well, my fears were well founded.
The next morning my son barges into my bathroom, hysterical. He yells, "Mom, you forgot to bookmark my avatar!"
No kidding. My son actually used the word bookmark. Being so doggoned articulate, I replied, "Whaaaaa ?"
"My avatar! You were supposed to bookmark it!"
I zeroed right in on the problem. "How do you know the word bookmark?"
He rolled his eyes (I don't know how he learned that either, as we lack a teenage presence in the household). "In Technology."
"Whaaaa?"
Okay , it was bad enough he interrupted my ritual Plucking of the Eyebrows, but to compound it by not even being able to say "Computer Class," well that just tore it. "You're five," I explained with visual aid (fingers splayed). "Five. You're not supposed to be smarter than your parents until at least the age of seven."
Then I did what any self-respecting disciplinarian would do. I marched him downstairs to his little PC, found the DoppleMe site, and bookmarked it. And yes, he's been playing with it ever since. In fact, he's dressed, undressed and redressed his avatar self so many times, he's run out of new duds. Here's the kicker--he wants a new avatar with more options, like a Meez. Only no way can his little trash 80 PC support one. So he's asking Santa for a new computer this Christmas. Thanks Jaye. Thanks.
So how's that for a take away--I found the Techy Boy version of the modern paper doll. Yea, me.
4) What would I do differently to improve this program? 'Cause everyone is always lining up to take my sage advice . . . Well, the one problem I did have with this, is it feels like a vacuum. I get that it's self-directed learning. But most of the Web 2.0 sites and tools highlighted in the program are of a collaborative nature. It seems to make sense to me (which I understand is no guarantee that it actually does make sense) to assign a 'buddy' or partner for many of the Things. Which, considering the versatility of the sites, would not necessarily require both people to be off the desk at the simultaneously--if the employees were doing the Things on library time in the back room. Not only would such partnerships better serve to explore the collaborative nature of many of the tools, they would make the assignments easier (going on the Two Heads Are Better Than One Principle) and certainly more enjoyable (going on the Who'd Rather Be Alone? Principle) and it would provide constant, on-going feedback (going on the Deborah Needs Another Edit Button Principle), which in turn can be a strong motivator. A major compliant I have about this 23 Things is the lack of feedback. Yes, people were 'encouraged' to comment on other participants' blogs, but how many really did? Do you see how many comments are here? Very few. And some of those few are even canned. Can we say cheesy? Granted, my blog might be a little off-putting, possibly even scary, but I've noticed the same lack of comments on other HoCoLib blogs. Does that really convey the message that this project is supported and embraced within the library system?
5) That said, I would love to do another one! Sign me up!
6) No, I would not describe my learning experience in a few words. I would not describe anything in a few words. Not when I have can do it in many. (See above) (See below) In fact, I would like to know who has the longest blog. Can we find that out? How great would it be if I'd created the longest blog? I'd be so proud.
The fact is, I was more than apprehensive when I started this program. In a recent e-mail, my manager called me tech savvy. It's okay, I didn't break anything when I fell off the chair. The doctor says the goose egg will eventually go down. Seriously, I do not consider myself tech savvy at all. I think people mistake my pit-bull tenacity for smarts. And hey, that's okay. We'll go with that. But I have to admit, this project loomed large and potentially stressful. But I surprised (and pleased) myself by not getting upset when I didn't know something and letting go of all those amazingly creative ideas that I couldn't shoehorn into my blog. Playing helped. A lot.
Another main worry I had when starting was of exposing myself. I know, you're all thinking . . . what? This nutty chick is the linguistic version of a vocational exhibitionist. Am I right? But while I don't mind exposing my mind to people I know (or potentially could if I attended a meeting or two) I worried (and still do, a bit) about exposing myself to billions of strangers, some of them dangerously strange. But anonymity is becoming increasingly more illusive. Better I take the helm of my public image and shape it myself rather than let the strange masses and stranger marketing people do it. I have a voice. (Boy, do I have a voice) I want to have the guts to use it.
What I'd like to do is begin a new blog. One that tackles some library news, but mostly recommends books, storytime techniques and 'class' ideas. I hope I follow through with it.
Thanks!
Remember--drink the virtual beer:) Deborah
P.S. Please excuse the red lines. Apparently, words caught in Zoho's spell check that are not corrected are forever underlined to shame the illiterate writer. My bad.
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