Picture this.

I've been to Flickr. I have mixed feelings.

I get the idea. In theory, I'm all for Flickr and like minded sites. I have friends who upload pictures of their kids, their pets, their vacations, their everythings onto these image sharing sites and then friends and family all over can easily see them. My parents would probably like this, assuming I could teach them to use Flickr.

In practice, I'm not so sure it is for me. First, you actually have to take pictures, which I'm not so great about. Surely my children have the most poorly documented childhood ever. My daughter has a baby book that is partially filled out and my son has a shoe box...somewhere. Secondly, you have to overcome the extreme paranoia that prevents you from posting online in the first place. I so appreciate the bloggers out there who let you into their worlds and lives, sharing stories and details of day to day life.

I'm not that person. All my photos would end up as private, and if that's the case, I may as well keep them on i-photo and upload when I have a project.

That said: Flickr was way easy to work with. I had no trouble creating an account, uploading, organizing or tagging photos. I did enjoy taking pictures at my library.


Part of the reason this 23 Things project is so intriguing to me is because libraries have come such a long way. I remember checking books out and getting them stamped. When I went to college, I remember thinking how smart it was to have the books barcoded. How slick!

My kids have no idea that there ever was another way, but then my 6 year old can't imagine life without Internet. I believe that what we have lost doesn't compare to what we are gaining in terms of library services, collections and abilities. I will confess to being a bit distraught over the loss of personal contact. When the librarian used to stamp my books was a time of conversation and contact. I still get that now, with computerized check out, but the whispers of self check out also mean less personal contact with patrons. Face to face contact is a good thing, and we're losing it everywhere. So while I know that hand stamping books is better left in the past, I worry about what else we are losing as libraries embrace more technology.

Oh. I forgot.

I forgot about the prompts. You know, the specific questions I am supposed to answer in regards to these assignments.

Ahem. So. Here we go.

I think I was pretty clear with my love for RSS in the previous post. If I gain nothing else from it, I've freed up all kinds of time. Time to fold laundry, train the cat or other exercises in futility. Time. It's a nice word and a beautiful concept.

I think the feeds and subscriptions are useful for most people because of the time savings. Teachers, specialists, librarians...we're all busy people and to have to constantly surf the net to find the newest information can be such a pain. It's hard to service the public if your nose has to be constantly buried in a computer screen.

People come to libraries with certain expectations. A librarian has to be well versed in just about everything or able to get his/her hands on it quickly. Sometimes it just isn't possible to find the information at the exact moment the patron wants it, which is generally "immediately". Will feeds and subscriptions and RSS make it easier? I think it just might.

Now, I have to figure out how to apply this new knowledge to my branch and my community. I know what I like, what I enjoy, what I want to read. What subscriptions will broaden my horizons and help me to be a better public servant? To be continued...

RSS, or, How I Simplified My Life

I have a confession: I lurk.

I am a lurker. I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually commented on a blog prior to this adventure. Not my thing. I like to be anonymous. Now, I realize that this isn't fair and some even consider it rude. I'm working on it. Baby steps. (As a side note, is there somewhere that lists the "blogging etiquette"? I'd be happy to read up on what's polite, what's rude and what's unnecessary.)

Back to my confession. I've stumbled onto a dozen or so blogs in the last 6 months that interest me for one reason or another. When that happens, I bookmark it and then check it. Frequently. Usually I grab a cup of coffee and settle in with my computer and spend more time than I care to admit methodically checking each blog one click at a time. It takes a lot of time to lurk.

Today, Thing 3 introduced me to RSS. And suddenly, life was that much simpler. After subscribing to the many blogs I've come to love, I puttered around and found a few other sites. I'll now know when my favorite Etsy shop adds new pictures. I'll keep up on local news. I'll know all the gossip related to the upcoming Oscars. And all this in less time than it takes me to make the cup of coffee.

Amazing. Now I'll have to come up with a new excuse as to why the laundry never gets folded.

Thing 2

For those of you confused by the title of this post, it is important to note that creating a blog was Thing 1. Ta da! Mission accomplished.

Now, thing 2.

I've read several blogs, lurking around and getting glimpses into other people's lives. I find it interesting that almost without fail, there will be a long gap in posting and then a lengthy apology for not blogging sooner, but there hasn't been anything to say...

Fortunately, for people like me, there are blogging prompts. Thing 2 is supposed to be about my thoughts on the process of 23 Things on a Stick, when I'll find the time, what I hope to gain, etc., etc.

I'm a dabbler by nature. I know a little bit about a lot of things. If something interests me, I'll read up on it, maybe try my hand it and then file the information away. Generally, the more worthless the information, the more likely I am to recall it at an odd time. What interests me most about this adventure is that it encourages dabbling. I can get as much or as little out of this as I choose. I've had fun setting up this blog and importing my Avatar. While I don't know nearly everything there is to know, I know enough now to help other people do the same. And that's a start. That's kind of the point, in my mind.

Timing wise, I agree with this guy and his point: if it is important to me, I'll make time for it. If I can check my email a million times a day, I can certainly find the time to do a tutorial, to monkey around with flickr, to muddle through comments on my blog.

Right now, I believe I am very much a beginner in all things Library 2.0. I'd like that to change. I'd like to be able to speak intelligently, if not knowledgeably, about RSS and wikis. And if I can't be intelligent, I'd like to at least be able to fake it.

And if, through all this, I somehow figure out how to keep the cat off the counter, I'd say that's time well spent.

The Beginning

So this is blogging. Hmm. Interesting. I should be disturbed at how easy this was to get up and running. Click click and here I am, with a voice online.

This blog is to document my progress through a little adventure called "23 Things On a Stick," an education program to help Minnesota Library Staff get a better handle on the various web tools now available. I'm excited to learn, (I'm a nerd, what can I say) but apprehensive to be out here in the web.

If you've stumbled upon me, welcome. I'll see if I can't keep it a little entertaining.