The Final Thing #23

When reflecting up this entire exercise I realize that the "incentives" were truly my motivating factor in the beginning. Once I started to really get going though, there was incentive enough in discovering new "things". I have read some other comments that suggest that a lot of these exercises take a lot longer than the advertised 15 minutes a day. I argue that this is a good thing. If you only needed 15 minutes or an hour to explore something new then most likely it isn't worth trying out. Some of the most fun I had was following one link to the next and realizing that I forgot how I had found my way to the current site that I was looking at. If we don't really discover something, will we really remember it?

I think the most enjoyable part of the whole program was the fact that it was self guided and it encouraged me to have fun and EXPLORE. This is refreshing for me when I hear from friends about how their work place locks down so many sites; whereas, with this entire exercise we were asked to try these new technologies and to think honestly about their possible use within a library context. Granted I'm not sure of the relavence of every "thing" for the library, but the vast majority have legitimate applications if not for an academic, than for other libraries. If we are not willing to try these new technologies then how will we ever know what is worth our 15 minutes?

I had a great time with this project and would definitely take part in another program of a similar nature. I loved the fact that I could call up a colleague to ask if they had completed thing 16 and so on. I think it is funny that the vast majority of us reflect the student population whom we serve in that we waited until the pressure was on, the due date almost here, when we started to get really serious about finishing!

I had fun writing up my posts and I hoped YOU enjoyed at least some of my ramblings. I'm signing off for now. God's speed for those of you who have not yet finished and congrats and good luck to those who already have.

Peace,
D

Teach someone else how to use a Web 2.0 Technology

As you may have read in some of the other blogs, Roxann, Sharon, Grace and I all took part in a BlogTalk Radio program before Christmas. It was quite the experience. roxann did all of the prep work researching FREE sites to use that were reputable and creating an account for us. When we searched there was only one other library show hosted on the site. The four of us met and produced our own loosely scripted show. The next morning was the actual show. We all dialed in to the show's unique number while Roxann did a fabulous job of controling the virtual call board. For our first time I think we did a tremendous job. If you have all of your show participants in the same area you might be better off creating a podcast, but the neat thing about blog talk radio is the fact that anyone can call in and be part of the process. I think the four of us all learned together how to tackle a new technology and possibly put it to use in a library setting. It was a lot of fun. Please feel free to listen to the show.

Podcasts #21

Podcasts are a lot of fun. I especially enjoy listening to my favorite sports announcers who basically just tape their shows and put them online (Mike and Mike are my personal favorites from ESPN Radio). I plan to listen to a lot more podcasts when I get my mp3 player for finishing my 23 things!! I used Podcastalley to find some other sports podcasts that I think I might enjoy. I was surprised once again at how easy it was to add the feed to my bloglines account and there it was. I think there is a lot of potential for library use, but I wonder if the time is right. There needs to be a compelling reason to listen to the podcast. I could see local libraries taping podcasts by authors who come in to talk about their new books, or I heard someone suggest that children's librarians tape themselves as they read their favorite books. I think that Podcasts in general are a ton of fun and definitely have niche' market appeal, we just need to find the right way to produce meaningful library podcasts.