Week 9 - Learning 2.0 Experience

Overall, I think this was a worthwhile experience. Again, I was rather familiar with some of the activities, and others, I will be honest, I did not have a whole lot of interest in. However, I think these things are really important to participate in to better myself and also the abilities to do my job.

I think my favorite activity was editing Wikipedia. I didn't change anything drastic, for fear that I might cause some major news story about a living pseudo-celebrity being alive ;) But, it was neat learning how a site that I use rather often really works.

I can't say that I will necessarily keep up with all the things I experienced over the past few weeks, but I think the basic knowledge and exposure to them is pretty important.

Week 9- Web 2.0

So, as one of the nefarious Millenials, Web 2.0 really hits home. I like the idea of having the web as a platform rather than a means of corporations, etc... spouting info to the masses. I don't think that Web 2.0 is simply a buzzword, and though a lot of previous generations seem to think that my age group are a bunch of greedy, self-involved technofiles, I really do think the concepts behind the whole idea are really important to everyone.

Especially in this business. I am not oblivious to the fact that I am one of the younger members of my profession. However, that does not mean that I like to gloat and tell my colleagues "well, I can certainly do that better than you." There are a lot of things on the web (and elsewhere, trust me I am painfully aware) that I have little to no knowledge about. With that said, I think its is important for myself and my colleagues to be able to answer questions for those patrons who need help. This is a public service job, and as information technology deepens in meaning and scope, then so does the knowledge of its workers need to expand. So, though I find some things old news, and others complete mind boggling, if I don't have the ability to help a patron, I'm not doing a very good job in my job. And, as a Millenial, that's just not acceptable.

Week 8 - Social Networking

I don't personally have a Facebook or Myspace, but plenty of my friends and bands I love do. So, I have a bit of experience with those. In fact, my freshman year of college was the first year Facebook showed up, so it was definitely part of my every day college life. So, now that I'm a "professional," I thought I'd give LinkIn a shot.

I know a few friends who have started using it. A couple of them have received recommendations that have turned into jobs. So, I think it certainly has awesome potential benefits. I think it can be a great tool. I am considering library school, and I can only imagine what advice and things people in the department (or elsewhere!) could offer me!

Week 7 - Web Widgets and Gadgets

I must admit, I had a little trouble posting the widget to my blog, but once I actually read through what I was supposed to do to attach it, it was super easy. And I really liked the variety of things that widgetbox offers. I picked food because I watch Food Network more than some people probably sleep! :)

But, I think these are very useful little tools to organize things and keep people up to date. On my home computer, I have a widget set so I get the time, weather, and headline news all on my desktop. It gets me caught up in the morning over my morning coffee, while I decide what to wear and then realize I'm running late! I think anything like that could be helpful to someone at work or at home. At work especially, if you subscribed to certain newspapers or things that could also help out with patron's inquiries.

Week 6 - Tags, Folksonomy, and Social Bookmarking

First, I think the videos that went along with this week were really cool. I liked the little girls running around and sticking tags on things. The other video also made the idea very personal to me because it gave a teacher as an example. I never thought how convenient it would be to have all those things available to so many people.

And obviously, this is a great tool for us in Library Land... I mean, it would be really great if all of us within the same department could bookmark our resources and share them with our own and other staffs.

I took a few minutes to look through some things others had tagged and just found some interesting sites. Plus, its so easy to use and to add bookmarks, plus, again like the video said, it is certainly more organized than trolling through all my existing bookmarks without any seeming order.

Week 5 - Multimedia

Well, I've seen and heard a lot of podcasts/vodcasts, and I'm known to my friends as the nerd who still uses disposable cameras, so I thought I'd take a look into picture sharing. I mean, I'm no stranger to the concept, and I do like people to see my pictures. The mini-video was right...no one looks through photo albums! I'm a photo-taker dinosaur!

I think it is really great to be able to tag photos and share them with friends and family and also have a back-up on the Internet in case of a computer crash. Last year, my beloved computer crashed and I almost lost all my documents, pictures (I do actually own a digital camera, however, rarely used), etc. The IT guys at my dad's work managed to save them for me, but it would have been nice to have other access to them just in case. Plus, I'm sure my friends would really love if they could just find my pictures anytime rather than having to listen to me say, "You'd love this picture... I just have to find it."

As with most things on the Internet, flickr seems pretty easy to use. And, it is an added bonus that I get to pick who can see my photos. Perhaps I'll make a break out of the Jurassic age and join the "real" world! ;)

Week 4- Instant Messaging

Funnily enough, I was at home IMing some friends, when I decided to check my work email. And come to find out, Week 4 is Instant Messaging!!

I've used IM for years, so i suppose I can say I'm an old hat at it. So, I stopped by and said hello to the askvbpl person. I did find the articles interesting... so many adults using IM and the studies they've done using it in the work place.

All in all, IM has become an important way for me to stay in touch with people I've known for years, or most recently, people I went to college with who all moved to different places to start our careers. It's easy, and convenient, and practically part of my daily routine!