Thing #23 -- Final Thoughts

Blogging has been a bit of a revelation. I had not done it for a combination of 2 reasons. The first was my usual concern about content. Would I have anything to say? Or even: would I have anything to say that people would consider worth reading? What do I have to contribute that hasn't already been said better by others? Having the 23 Things to blog about gave me a starting point, and I may find from now on that coming up with posts isn't as hard as I thought. And they don't all have to be "great ideas."

The second reason I held back was for concerns about my privacy. In spite of all the Web 2.0 things happening around me I'm still not comfortable opening myself up too far online, at least not in any way that can be identified with my "real" self. So I set my blog up to be as anonymous as possible. I've struggled a bit with that choice as I worked through the Things. There were times when I could have illustrated a point better by mentioning or linking to a specific project or web page at my library. Since this program (and Web 2.0/Library 2.0 for that matter) isn't just about learning but also about sharing, was I breaking the rules so to speak? And how will I treat my identity if I continue my blog, as I plan to.

While, as I said at the very beginning, I've been doing some of the 23 Things for awhile, this program has been inspiring in its breadth of coverage. I found new uses for old Things, and was excited by the possibilities found in some new ones. And, to be honest, was completely unimpressed with a few...

In addition to blogging, some "new to me" Things that get applause are:
RSS feeds--not so much their use, but becoming aware of some new good ones, like LifeHacker and Librarian in Black.
Second Life--I was afraid to venture into virtual territory, but decided to take the leap for this Thing. I was impressed by what's there, and surprised at how often I could wander around and hardly see anyone else.
Library Thing--I want to play around with a couple applications using it.

One thing I've enjoyed is the way blogging about my experiences has made me slow down a bit to reflect on what I've learned. Instead of rushing through all the Things (especially as it got closer to the deadline) I had to take a break from willy-nilly clicking Resource links and think about what I was doing, whether or not it fit into my life and work, and if so, how.

Related to the mad dash toward the deadline: I'm glad the 23 Things blog will stay up for a bit. I'd like to go back to some of the Things and do more of the Challenges, or follow some of the links I left untouched on my first go-round. I also want to take some time to view other participants' blogs. I tried to read others at the beginning, but gave it up because 1) it was taking so much time I wasn't getting any of the Things done myself and 2) I didn't want their views to influence my own thinking too much while I was still exploring.

Thing #22 -- What Did I Learn?

About half way through this project I started wondering if I would keep my blog up once I was finished the 23 Things. I decided I would try to, although I will probably not post as regularly without specific "assignments" to comment on. A little less "what did I learn today?" and more "what did I learn this week or month." Having a blog in which to report my findings will be a motivating factor--I'm sure I won't want it to sit unattended for too long at a stretch. And if I get stuck for ideas there's always moving on to Learning 2.1 and Things 24 and up.

Over the course of the Things there have been plenty of times I've said "I'll have to think about that" or "I'll get around to that later." So I can report on my future exploration. There are a couple of specific projects I want to work on, and their outcome will likely end up in my blog as well.

As far as keeping up with the 23 Things, and discovering new ones, one idea I had was to create reminders in my calendar. I can set them for time that is typically unscheduled in my week, and they can pop up and alert me that I should be checking my RSS feeds, or browsing some online communities, or visiting Second Life. We'll see how that works, and if I'm disciplined to act on the reminders and not just close them and go on with what I was doing.

Thing #21 -- More with Social Networks

There are 2 library related online communities I'm a member of: Blended Librarian and WebJunction Minnesota. I tried to take a look at Ning, but they're having technical problems right now. Guess I'll have to join the 23 Things on a Stick Ning later. Several years ago one of my cousins set up an online network for my extended family on my mother's side. We use it to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries, share photos, and even collect family recipes. I'm familiar with Flixster, my sister often challenges me to their quizzes using their Facebook app. She's much more into pop culture than I am, and she always wins. For the most part I prefer to do my socializing in person rather than online. I'm more likely to join an online group when I already know some of the people there.

Well, Ning is finally back up and I joined the 23 Things community there. Here's my badge:

View my page on 23 Things on a Stick

National Library Week

It's National Library Week and I was wandering around the recently rebuilt ALA Island on Second Life. There's an area where you can take a snapshot of yourself for a READ poster. This is mine.

As yet another example of how these Things (or perhaps more specifically my awareness of them) feed into and off of each other--while visiting ALA Island I discovered links to ACRL's podcasts and appropriately enough listened to one on online culture.

Thing #20 -- Facebook / MySpace

I joined Facebook in the fall, mostly out of curiousity. I had heard a lot about it and wanted to see for myself. After I created my account I discovered my siblings in other states are also on it and it's now one of the ways we keep in touch. I'm currently on a couple of groups related to my library. For this thing I looked briefly at some of the suggested Facebook groups, but didn't join any. I plan to take a closer look at them later (when I'm not hurrying to finish the rest of the Things) and will probably join at least one.

I chose Facebook because it appeared to offer more security than MySpace--you have more control over who can see information about you. The layout in Facebook seems cleaner to me and the ads aren't as obtrusive.

Thing #19 -- Podcasts

My library has discussed creating a blog for our web site a couple of times, and we always bring up the same objection--content. Would we have enough content to make it worthwhile? We don't want it to end up a stale section of the our page that hardly changes. I think this goes double (at least) for podcasts, so I can't see us taking on any podcast projects anytime soon. (Which isn't to say it will never happen.)

In my personal life, I've found and listened to podcasts using iTunes--I really like iTunes U. I also knew that MPR had podcasts, but had never listened to any until doing this Thing. I added one to my feed list. It's getting pretty long by now! I also added a couple from NPR to my iTunes.

While I was working on this Thing I took a break to go through some mail. One item contained a notice about a new OCLC podcast and webinar series. I'll have to keep my eye (or is that ear?) on these.

Thing #18 -- YouTube

As I discovered with Thing 4 and Thing 11 (also Thing 12 to a lesser extent) it's hard for me to find useful things on sites like YouTube without a clear need. If I'm simply browsing aimlessly it seems primarily like a big jumble of content. That's probably why most of my experience with YouTube has been from following links in email and other places that take me directly to individual videos.

My library currently has one video on YouTube. We haven't discussed adding more, but I'm sure we will at some point.

As a Mac user, I thought it appropriate to include a video of the classic Apple commercial that aired during the 1984 Super Bowl.