Week 10: #23 (!!!)

Finalmente finito!
(finally finished)

My thoughts?

* Many of us have learned much from our "23 Things" tour, even if reluctant or complaining at times; i.e., whether we wanted to learn these "things" or not!

* Like with all learning processes, even if I do not remember all the material covered, I definitely know more than I did before we started. I view the 23 things in three categories.
(Let me use college study as metaphor.)
1) sailed through - " A"
2) kind of grasping but needing review or assistance to really get it - "C"
3) lost, needing to drop the class and take again - "drop" (no "F"s here)
=)

* Most beneficial:
-increased awareness for benefit of patrons. How much better it is to have some inkling of what's being talked about when patrons speak of RSS's, "podcasts", etc. !
-staff morale - mutual support, the "23 Things" became frequent topic of conversation and sharing ("Hey, look at my avatar!", etc), and, even when whining (usually about the time taken away from our jobs), we were doing it together!

* Kudos for:
the coverage, layout & design, explanations (for the most part), links, videos from admin (light hearted approach)

* Room for improvement:
-labs - more of them and more convenient (in terms of location)
-one level (track?) for those already computer savvy (like AP classes); another level for those of us who never have had an affinity for technology (like remedial classes) - unless that is, I'm the only one who needs it!
-learning process which builds on previous info;
i.e., continually repeating, incorporating into, lessons already learned.
(An example of not doing this: when I began the exercises for Week 9, I hadn't made use of an RSS since we did that particular lesson.)

to be continued....

Week 9: #22 Downloadable Media

I can appreciate that for those who enjoy electronics, being mobile and carrying MP3 players with them wherever they go, our digital website would be a useful resource. We seem to have a pretty broad and varied collection of items to choose from. If I were to use this type of resource at all, it would most likely be for the music selections. Also, no offence to anyone at HCPL, but I did notice that the other websites' homepages were more pleasing to the eye (user-friendly).

Week 9 #21 Podcasting

Enlightening. Good to have on-hands experience with yet another term that previously was modern day mumbo-jumbo to me. Not much to tell here except that I did notice differences between the different podcasting websites; was able to find material in one that I could not find in another. Also gave me the incentive to add Bloglines to my favorites, my growing "repertoire", so to speak.

Week 9 #20 You Tube

Someone had sent me an attachment for the now famous Kruger Park (lions attacking baby water buffalo) video some time ago but I had never searched "You Tube" directly, so I chose that video to watch again. But it was also great to be able to do individual searches (my alma mater's (FSU) Film School, for one), but also to discover that I could review others' responses or other versions of the same video. There's a "remix" of the Kruger video with added music, another with poitical commentary. Sooo, thanks again for getting me up to speed with the rest of the world. Ok, "up to speed" may be an exagerration, but at least another small step out of my "I'm not living in the real world"* phase.
=)

*Blondie / Debbie Harry