#23!!! Final thoughts

OK. I'll admit it. At first I thought this was going to be a bit of a pain to get through. I knew it would probably be useful but when you're on #3 and you've got 20 more to go it's hard to feel excited by it. But I have to say I'm really glad we have this program. I know feel I have at least a basic understanding of some of these web 2.0 applications and what they can do. Most of them I'd never use again but it was really interesting and valuable exploring through them.
I don't know how comfortable I am with the sharing and putting everything out there for everyone else to see aspect of this stuff. I guess I'm very old fashioned but having my name out there and my comments posted for everyone to read makes me a bit uncomfortable. There's also that aspect of, who cares about what I'm doing or what I'm thinking? Some of the blogs and Facebook sites, etc, are really interesting. Some of them are written by people who should turn off the computer a bit more and get outside. I think it's really a generational thing (although there's lots of people my age and older who enjoy this stuff).
Of all the sites I explored, I liked the online productivity sites, Youtube and Rollyo the best. I can see the usefulness in them. I guess if I was the kind of person who sat to play on my computer I'd really enjoy the other stuff but I really use it for more practical applications.
I am amazed on what you can find on the computer and what people are doing with these sites. They are truly creative. It's such an amazing world and it's incredible how it's evolved just in the past 20 years or so!

2.0 winners

I tried a couple of sites from this list of winners. Read about a couple's trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico in one of the travel sites and then blended colours on the Colorschemer's site. I you're an artist, or, like me, trying to paint your home and not sure what colours would look good together, you might want to try this colourschemers site. It not only shows you pallets that look good together, it also lets you design your own colour and save it. You can also save the colours by their rgb numbers, etc, so that you can use them in your print work. Quite useful.

Productivity software

Finally! The answer to my problem. I've had a computer for a year but I've never been able to afford to buy a copy of Office - it's over $500! I know there's share ware out there but I've never been really keen on having to download it to my computer. This Zoho thing is great. I did a little example page but the site must have been down temporarily because I couldn't upload it to my blog. Anyway, I could change the font and the text size and weight and colour and I could put in background colours and insert photos and on and on. I see there's also places for creating charts, etc. It's extremly easy to use. For all the times I would ever use my computer to write letters or create charts, this would be a quick and easy site to use. And no advertising!

Library 2.0

I agree with those who say librarians and libraries are already doing the web 2.0 thing - making use of social software sites to enhance and expand library services. To me, libraries have always been quick to adapt and embrace new technology - can you think of many more agencies that have changed more in the last 10 years or so than libraries? The way we've used new technologies to improve our services to patrons is truly phenomenal. I agree with the comments by Micheal Stephens who said that we can't just jump on technology for the sake of saying we have it in the library. It has to be something useful to patrons, something that adds value to their library-going experience.
Some of the exploration we've done for this 23 Things project has taken us to library websites which proves to me anyway that libraries are keeping up-to-date with technology and are attempting to make use of it within the library.
I think the most important thing is for library staff members to have access to a project like 23 Things so that they are personally up-to-date or at least have a basic understanding of what patrons mean when they talk about things like blogs and Flikr. The value of Web 2.0 is not just that the library makes use of it but that library staff members can help guide patrons through it.

Technorati

This reminds me of Rollyo. A good way to search for subject that interest you but this time in blogs. I typed in condo living (because I do) and read an odd one about a woman who lives in a New York condo and tells everyone how much money she makes and what she spends it on. One certainly can land on a variety of different blogs with this. It is kind of cool. I think it's something I'd use for fun but not for serious research or anything.

Del-ic-ious or whatever

I'm sorry I guess I don't see the value of this. I suppose if I was a researcher and was continuously looking up stuff on the Internet I'd find it useful but I personally don't see what the thrill is. The UofA post seemed to think it was fantastic so I'll have to take their word for it but frankly, it left me cold.

Rollyo

Now this is a very useful website. I enjoyed it very much. I looked up Victoria Cross winners and was impressed by what it found. So much easier than typing a term into Google and ending up with 25,000 hits about Victoria B.C. and Queen Victoria. This is a site I'll use a lot. I can certainly see it being useful for the staff at the reference desk too. Oh, I also found a good recipe for an asian chicken and noodle dish too.

Library Thing

My first impression of this site was "ok, so what?". I guess I didn't quite get the sense of listing all my books. But the more I got into it (and admitedly I haven't spent a ton of time on it), I could see its appeal more and more. It would be kind of interesting seeing what other people think of the books I like and getting their reactions to them. It's like belonging to a giant online book club. I don't know how much I'd use this site for that purpose but I think if there was a book I wanted to read but wasn't sure about I might use this site to get some feedback about it.

Image generators

Here's my name in Tibetan

RSS

I signed up for all these different feeds, including one about cats, and ended up ordering a new toy for my cat Ted. This could be dangerous.
It's mind boggling how many different sites are out there on an incredible variety of subjects. There is truly something for everyone. I subscribed to a few news sites then did the fun ones that provide updated info on celebrities and fashion and all that silly mind candy that we can't do without.
I'm looking forward to really taking some time to look around and find out what else is out there.
It is handy to have these things all in one place so you don't have to go looking through each individually.

Technology and me

Like most people I think I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I certainly appreciate it on the job, especially when I'm doing things like creating posters. Design programs like Publisher can really make me look good (although it does take a bit of creativity too).
I just think sometimes machines have a mind of their own. Like when you're printing a letter and all of a sudden the machine takes a page from a different drawer even when you didn't change your printer settings. What's that about? Computers sometimes make a few too many assumptions about what you want to do.
I sometimes think about one of my earliest jobs (you don't need to know how many years ago, suffice it to say it was a few) where I made posters by photocopying pictures from clip art books and pasting them onto paper. Then I would type out the text and photocopy it to enlarge it. I thought the stuff I did was so great. I'm sure it would horrify me to see it now.
We're certainly not ever going to turn away from technology so one might as well embrace it and use it for what one needs. I guess the trick is to not be too intimidated by it although that's easier said than done.

Flickr mash ups

I think the mash ups about travel are terrific. It's such a great way to get information, maps, photos, etc from people who have been there. Takes some of the guess work out of the trip and lets you know some of the things to be aware of. I could see using this site before I booked any kind of trip.

Ahhh Japan!

I've always wanted to go to Japan so here is my vicarious vacation courtesy of Peter Gurnhum in Flickr.
Doesn't look much like December in Canada does it?