Thing 23

Here I am beginning Thing 23 with 3o hours to go. When I started this course, I really had no idea what it was about. It has definitely expanded my horizons about what the Internet is all about.

My favorite discoveries were making the video, using Library Thing and developing my own search tools (Rollo). I feel like I am at just the beginning of learning how to use these tools effectively. Summer time was a great time to try these discoveries as I do not really see how I would have time during the school year. In grad school, I spent a great deal of time writing on my computer but this is the first time I have spent such large blocks of time using the Internet.

The skills I have learned from these discoveries have already affected my lifelong learning. I was diagnosed as being diabetic at about the same time I started the 23 Things. I used many of the skills I learned to access information, set up a steady flow of information on my reader and communicate with people through blogs. I had never used or read a blog previously.

For me, because I did not know what Library 2.0 was, all of the discoveries were rather unexpected. I did not realize how many ways there were to communicate or how many people were involved.

Even coming to the end of the discoveries, I still find Thing 10 to be the most frustrating. I returned to it several times and still feel like I do not get how to use or save many of the choices. Maybe it confused me because it was supposed to be the "fun" thing. Something like the directions that were given to help save the video might have helped.

I would participate in more discoveries. I had registered for 11 Things but obviously have run out of time. Maybe next summer.

To summarize my experience, I would say that what I experienced was "the tip of the iceberg". I know there is so much to learn about every discovery and many more things to discover. I would also have to say that because I was such a novice in this area that 18 hours was the "tip of the iceberg" as far as the time I put into doing the discoveries.

I know that their are many discussions about the future of libraries and how we buy books. Amazon is selling more ebooks than regular books and there are rumors about the viability of Barnes and Noble. Participating in these discoveries and spending so much time on the computer has made me realize how much it bothers my eyes to read from the computer screen. (Yes, I have been to the eye doctor and it is not my correction.) Personally, I could not use the computer or a screen as my main source of reading material. You will see me at the library weekly as usual.