Number 22: What Did I Learn?

How do I plan to keep up with web and library 2.0? That's a good question. For starters, there's what I already do: I follow ALATechSource and LibraryJournal on Twitter. I work in a public library that is a constantly evolving environment, especially on the technology side of things. Lastly, I'm a student. I'm a student in a constantly evolving environment, where I have to take classes that force me to engage with technology. Turning a blind eye isn't really an option for me, like it is for some of my more established coworkers. If I want to be a competitive job candidate in the near future, I especially need to stay on top of changing technological trends.

Looking back on the 23 Things experience, I am not sure if it left me with a way to "keep up" with library 2.0. Web 2.0 is only just now starting to make its presence felt in the libraries I work at. I definitely have a better understanding of more web 2.0 than I did before I started 23 Things. Being honest here- it seems like most of the tools are things I simply don't have time to regularly use in my life. I am already active on facebook and youtube, and looking back on my entries, it seems like most of the time I felt overwhelmed by the possibilities of things I might have to keep up with. That seems to be an emerging point in a discussion we're currently having in 5433.

So, in order to not feel like I'm drowning in a sea of information, I think the best thing for me to do now is to just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm immersed daily in these things; they aren't so much a separate part of my life. The 23 Things were geared towards people who view these types of activities as "separate" from their daily life.

Number 21: Social Networking Part 2

23 Things asks:

• Are you a member of any online communities?
• Are any of these social networks appealing to you?
• What did you find that was interesting and that you might use later?

As far as the communities that this Thing mentioned, I am a member of last.fm. I don't use it very often, though. I do tweet, but have very few friends signed up to see my tweets. I am a political news junkie, so in the past I have been a member of and contributor to specialized political blogs. Netflix has a social networking component now, where you can have "friends" who can see your queue and share movie recommendations, so I have a few friends on there.

I looked at the list of social networking sites on wikipedia, and wow! I had no idea there were that many. I really liked the food ones, I had never even heard of those before. I am always looking for new recipes so I might use those in the future.

As with all these other web 2.0 things, I think they're only good in moderation. I just don't have the time to go signing up for every niche social networking site that might interest me.

Number 20: Social Networking

This Thing is a bit redundant for me. I created my Myspace account back in 2004 and I started my Facebook account in 2005. I rarely log in to my Myspace account anymore, as most of my friends have stopped using it in favor of Facebook. I am on Facebook nearly 24/7. I'm probably a Facebook addict. (The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one, haha!) Facebook is my primary mode of interaction with most of my friends, especially the ones I do not talk to/see on a regular basis. It has been a very helpful way of keeping up with my friends who are scattered all over the country and the globe. On the other side of that coin, though, is the fact that because of Facebook, I already know what most of my friends from high school are up to these days.... So the fun of my 10 year reunion next year has been a little deflated.

I am an advocate of libraries having a presence on these social networks, especially presences that are controlled by the libraries themselves. In this day and age, if your "brand" isn't out there setting the image for itself on the internet, your users (who will include both fans and critics) will be out there setting your image for you. The library system I work for is very reluctant to have an official presence on Facebook. This really rubs me the wrong way. We have a digital librarian. Why can't it be part of her job to create and maintain a Facebook account for us? Other library systems in the state have pages. This whole insistence that "social networking = child pornographers = bad" is just outdated and silly. You are probably much more likely to run into a real child pornograper actually IN the library rather than on the internet. And if he wants information about kiddie events, it's just as easy for him to get that information from the newspaper or flyers than it is on the internet.

Number 12: Social Media Sites

23 Things asks:

• How do you think you can use these tools in your library or at home?
• Do these tools seem to be a productivity enhancer or a productivity detractor?

Before I completed this "thing," I was familiar with what sites like Digg and Reddit were. But, I had never been to one before. (That seems to be a reoccuring theme with these web 2.0 sites- I'm familiar with the concepts, but haven't actually tried many of them out.)

I don't foresee using these tools at work or at home. Again, I did not like them. I especially found the Digg website to be just a cluttered mess of information. I don't think Krug would like it! I see their usefulness for someone who maybe doesn't want to spend a lot of time "digging" (har har) through pages and pages of news sites. However, I'm someone who likes to do that! I prefer to seek out information on my own, as opposed to going with what other people find interesting. This is probably partially because I have tastes and interests that run contrary to most people's. :)

Again, whether or not these sites would be a productivity enhancer or detractor would depend on the person using them, and how they prefer to browse the web. For someone like myself, it would probably be a productivity detractor. I already scan several websites first thing in the morning for my news. Going to a cluttered site like Digg would not help my morning!