Closing Thoughts

Here are my responses to the questions posed by Bob and Andrea.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I liked re-discovering familiar tools, like RSS feeds and Delicious, and learning new ways to use them. I also liked finding out about ZohoWriter and Pandora.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has shown me how to use Web 2.0 tools to gather and organize information. I read my feeds more often, I'm getting more comfortable with blogging, and can even see myself creating a photo album and sharing pictures on Flickr. Most importantly, I got the opportunity to try some new things.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I am surprised by how easy it is to blog. I can now see blogging as a way to share information and as a way to belong to a community.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
No suggestions for improvements. The program was fun and useful.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?
Absolutely. Thank you both for putting this together!

Podcasts

The podcast directory was easy to use. I'm a big audio book fan, so podcasts appeal to me as way of getting information. For the discovery exercise, I added the NPR Pop Culture, and Longshots: Library-related interviews and commentary podcasts to my Google Reader account. I hope that this will allow me to hear some stories that I might otherwise miss.

I also did not know that you could subscribe to a feed to find podcasts. I have bookmarked some podcasts and plan to explore the related sites to see if I can locate feeds.

Sandbox Wiki

Made an entry about my favorite TV shows to the sandbox wiki, and had a fun chat afterward with Peggy C., about Lawrence Fishburn as the new addition to CSI.

YouTube

I could see losing a lot of time on this site. There are so many interesting videos, and the conversations around the videos are as interesting as the videos themselves.

My selection is a video of Miles Davis performing Michael Jackson's "Human Nature"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGBPSx1Zxlo

I tried the "embedding thing" but could not get it to work. My attempts to copy the link information only brought over part of the required code.

Flickr

This is one of the sites that I am least likely to use. I like photos, but can't get my head around the idea of public photo albums.

However, I created an account, and enjoyed the looking at photos. I think the photo editing and ease of upload are the best features, and the exploration of photos by geographic location and by tags the most fun.

For my image, I chose signs of Trenton, because it reminded me about all of the New Jersey jokes about highways and exits. The photo link is
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameragirl/391414019/

Wikis

I understand so much more about wikis after reading the items in this section. I can see how they could be really useful for groups working on a project or collectively trying to organize information.

The wiki that I explored was Library Research Guides Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, USA (mediawiki) (http://library2.norwich.edu/guide/index.php/Main_Page). I think this is a good way to use a wiki. They use a consistent format, so a user can find her way around the site, and each subject link provides links to a subject specialist, catalog searches, and ejournals. My guess, is that this is easier for the librarians to maintain (as opposed to the work involved in creating and maintaining traditional institutional web pages).

Random conversations about success or failure of wikis seem to support the findings of John P. Walker that successful implementation of wikis requires a pre-existing social/work network among the people who will create the wiki. If the people involved don't already work well together, the wiki becomes difficult to sustain.

(Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to the Successful Adoption and Use of Wikis in Collaborative Knowledge Management by John P. Walker, Jr. Honor's thesis from 2006. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/1901/267 )

I think one of the more innovative uses of wikis that I've seen is using them to organize "unconferences." The unconference wiki allows people to add information for possible inclusion in the event, to identify others with similar interests, and to ask questions of the organizers. An example is the Pres4Lib 2009 unconference scheduled for June at the Princeton Public Library. See http://pres4lib.pbworks.com/ for details.

Web 2.0 Awards choice

My selection from the web 2.0 awards list is Pandora Internet Radio.  I spent the afternoon cataloging documents and listening to the station and I think it's GREAT!  I like having a radio  station play music that I like based on an artist of my choice.  I used the "add variety" feature to expand the range of artists on the station with good results.  I find that many of the musical selections are from artists that I know, but the selected tracks are not as familiar.  A great way to explore artists you know, and I guess new artists if I listen long enough.  The site provides information pages about each artist/album/track and the (YEAH!!)option to buy the music from Amazon or Itunes. 

firstPost

This post was created using Zoho Writer, and posted using the Post to Blog function.  I am familiar with Open Office, but this is my first experience with a web based word processing application.  The format is very clean, and the interface makes this really easy to use.  I imported a document created with MS Word and the format came over intact.  I could see a group using this to create and share documents.  It would also be especially useful to groups with little or no budgets for software and equipment.  Took a look at the other Zoho services and was amazed at the variety.  Only looked briefly, but I could not find details on where files are stored, and if there is a document storage limit.

Del.icio.us

I had a del.icio.us account but I was only using it to collect my bookmarks in a single place. After reading the 7 habits, I looked at some of the other features. I like the idea of seeing what my friends have found interesting (using the inbox, etc.) so to that end, my del.icio.us user name is ebeckett. If you're interested in sharing, add me to your network and send me your user name so I can add you to mine.

I also spent some time cleaning up my tags, and noticing how popular (or not) my bookmarks are. This tapas exercise has truly changed the way that I look at del.icio.us.

Tech Tapas 4th course

I've had a bloglines subscription for a while, but found it difficult as of late to make time to go and read the feeds. Here is the link to my blog roll (http://www.bloglines.com/public/ebeckett).

I have recently (March 2009) moved to Goole reader and I am finding it easier to read the feeds. I have my igoogle page set as my browser homepage, and have added the reader to this page. Now, whenever I open my browser, I can take a few minutes and read some of the feeds. It's also easier to add new feeds, so the list reflected in the blog roll has expanded by about a dozen feeds.

Life Long learning

I like the idea of a learning contract with myself, but I'm not sure if I will take the time to make a contract for EVERY learning situation. The 7 1/2 habits are a good way to remind yourself to be proactive in your learning as well as in your life. My favorite habit was the last, because playing is such a cool way to learn. The habits that have been most useful to me have been 3 (view problems as challenges), 5 (create your own learning toolbox), and 6 (use technology to your advantage).

Introduction

Hi. My name is Edith and this is a blog created to participate in the technology tapas program at the New Jersey State Library. I'm not sure how much use I'll make of it outside of the program, but...