Having visited "the islands" I knew that wiki-wiki was supposed to be fast or quick, but I certainly haven't been getting through this in a timely fashion. I started browsing before Christmas and find that I still am following threads to more interesting places. I describe myself as having a Platte River mind and being assigned to play and follow where the mouse leads you is certainly time consuming and fascinating.
One of the fellow 2.0 bloggers I follow mentioned that some of the wikis seem to be stalled in the past, and wondered if they have outlived their usefulness - my thoughts also. I enjoyed the Prince William County site; home to my family for many years and many visits by me. I am also familiar with Fairfax and Alexandria libraries; and impressed that they are using technology and Library 2.0. Of course, their budgets and facilities have always been a source of envy by me.
I loved "Overbooked", and the idea of using a wiki for a book club is great! That is one application I could almost see working here at BHPL. Most of our Book Circle reader/members are computer users and it just might attract some younger members. I even found a fun wiki on weeding. Imagine weeding and fun in the same sentence!
Letting the library wiki become the community information center certainly would solve some of the problems of centralizing community news and activities: the school site doesn't get updated, the newspaper isn't always timely, local CATV is only as good as the people submitting events. There are definite possibilities; Loudon County's really looked good. The demographics are in their favor with education levels, income, computer access, broadband, etc.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
On Library 2.0
This has taken me more than a few days to digest. I read, browsed, re-read and searched and surfed and then observed my library and the society I/we live in. Three of the articles/blogs struck me as the most interesting and pertinent and thought provoking: "icebergs", because I am in a small library trying to navigate around hazards and avoid behemoths that would swamp me in their wake; "a temporary place in time", because she emphasizes the speed of change of current technology and also the different faces of our profession and the personal human side of the interactions and conversations; library2.0 debased, was fascinating as I am a skeptic and am generally the devil's advocate in any discussion. I loved following the threads in the entire blog- exchange and reading/hearing all the comments. That was the best experience I have had yet in "listening to a discussion" on the Web.
Two events in the past week in my personal life have brought home the impact of the digital age directly. Attending the school programs of two of my granddaughters (one in high school and one in middle school) in an affluent suburb of Omaha I was impressed and distracted by the number of digital recording devices in the large audiences. It is polite to turn off your cell phone at a performance, but does no one feel intrusive holding a glowing screen at varying heights during a Christmas cantata? Will they enjoy the program more at home on a 42" flat screen than they would have just looking, watching and listening in the moment?
Then the Man of the Year issue of TIME magazine arrived, and the beginning pages were a picture spread of Barack Obama and his campaign. The power of the Web in his election is undeniable, because even the venerable TIME sends you to Flickr for 100,000 more photos. A two-page spread (page 44) of his rally in Manassas, VA the night before the election does not show the candidate or the huge crowd, but instead a forest of arms holding digital cameras.
Information overload! I believe we still need editors and librarians and collectors and collators and sorters and some way to direct this immense flow before it overwhelms us. Library 2.0 is a tool, a means to better end. Certainly it will be used judiciously by some, wholeheartedly embraced by others, ignored by the entrenched and hopefully morph into variations useful to the range of uses it is going to have to serve.
Two events in the past week in my personal life have brought home the impact of the digital age directly. Attending the school programs of two of my granddaughters (one in high school and one in middle school) in an affluent suburb of Omaha I was impressed and distracted by the number of digital recording devices in the large audiences. It is polite to turn off your cell phone at a performance, but does no one feel intrusive holding a glowing screen at varying heights during a Christmas cantata? Will they enjoy the program more at home on a 42" flat screen than they would have just looking, watching and listening in the moment?
Then the Man of the Year issue of TIME magazine arrived, and the beginning pages were a picture spread of Barack Obama and his campaign. The power of the Web in his election is undeniable, because even the venerable TIME sends you to Flickr for 100,000 more photos. A two-page spread (page 44) of his rally in Manassas, VA the night before the election does not show the candidate or the huge crowd, but instead a forest of arms holding digital cameras.
Information overload! I believe we still need editors and librarians and collectors and collators and sorters and some way to direct this immense flow before it overwhelms us. Library 2.0 is a tool, a means to better end. Certainly it will be used judiciously by some, wholeheartedly embraced by others, ignored by the entrenched and hopefully morph into variations useful to the range of uses it is going to have to serve.
Monday, December 8, 2008
I did some browsing on SlideShare and decided that I wanted to see if I could be entertained and amused with a slide show - not just educated with a Power Point presentation. Without the person/presenter a slide show can be just awful, although very informative. I really do much better with human interaction and the opportunity to ask questions, etc. Looking for facts on Slide Share did turn up some possibilities, but I think it will take more time and searching. Another tool in the toolbox though.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Opening an account on delicious was certainly easy, but then most of the opening steps have been. It was interesting to do some browsing, and Holdrege PL's site was very a good indication of what you could do. Wonder who is responsible for it? Are the entries in response to a reference question from a patron possibly? Or local events?
Howsoever, I can see an immediate use for the delicious account in my personal life: I use more than one computer and in more than one physical location. Being able to put all my bookmarks in a single location is going to be great!!! Adding tags, comments, etc. will make it easier to use them without racking my brain as to which one is the most logical to use for xxzzyy. It might even require me to do some long delayed house cleaning - why did I save that one anyway? Oh, I meant to say weeding.
Howsoever, I can see an immediate use for the delicious account in my personal life: I use more than one computer and in more than one physical location. Being able to put all my bookmarks in a single location is going to be great!!! Adding tags, comments, etc. will make it easier to use them without racking my brain as to which one is the most logical to use for xxzzyy. It might even require me to do some long delayed house cleaning - why did I save that one anyway? Oh, I meant to say weeding.
Monday, November 24, 2008
I now have the ability to "Tweet" someone. Why do I want to do this? I feel inundated with information and items that require attention or action or time as it is now. I barely get through the e-mail, snail mail, parcel post, voice mail, telephone calls, personal interactions and other events in my day. Maybe if I still had underage children that I wanted to monitor on an hourly basis, but hovering parents can't even do that; a newly found love interest; teenage navel-gazing? For heaven's sake, doesn't anyone value privacy and solitude anymore?
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