Thursday, April 10, 2008

Thingy 23: Final Thoughts

I have learned many new Library 2.0 applications as a result of the 23 Things experience. And I feel more empowered to actually use the ones I only vaguely knew about before, like Flickr, wikis, blogging, and RSS feeds. It was great to have an excuse to look at YouTube and listen to podcasts on work time. I was happy to rediscover Library Thing and now have a way to catalog my personal book collection and keep track of my book group books. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do an online component for a book group--a blog? a wiki? a MySpace page? Library Thing account?--but I certainly have some new ideas. An unexpected happy outcome of the program was feeling connected to other librarians out there (thank you for your encouragement, you know who you all are) and even learning new aspects of my own co-worker's lives (Lynette had a gorgeous honeymoon location!). In a sometimes unsettling way 23 Things blurred the distinction between my work and home life. I know I will use many of the Things at home even more than at work. I think I would have had a hard time completing the 23 Things if I didn't have high speed Internet access at home but I don't really like bringing "work" home. To improve upon the program's format or content, I'd recommend making the Things more consistent: some had many different steps and required a lot of reading/viewing/listening while others could be completed in much less time. Maybe add high bandwith and low bandwith options? As far as content is concerned, consider adding more information about electronic books and book readers like Kindle, e-text and audio, e.g., Overdrive, and music. 23 Things has helped me to keep current with new library technology and actually use some of the applications I had only heard about and read about before. I'm looking forward to the next 23 Things!

1 comment:

23 Things said...

Good suggestions for a new round--it would be fun to play with Kindle or other readers.

Thanks for participating and congratulations on finishing! Watch for more On a Stick in fall or winter.