Thing #16

I like Wikipedia and use it quite a bit. I know that there is debate about the validity of the content, but as a general starting point for reference, I think that it is great. My favorite part is that Scottsdale Public Library has it's own Wiki! Yeah! Wonderful tool to use to promote programs and to promote learning tools to our customers.

Thing #15

I found the article "Away from Icebergs" to be interesting. In particular, I thought the paragraph about librarians "educating" the public in how to access information was insightful. How true it is that the ratio of librarians to users is so high that there is no possible way for the librarian to teach everyone. We need to make it easy for users to access the information on their own without needing the librarian to walk them through it step by step. But, my question is: what will librarians be necessary for? I think that is the key area that will need to be refined as we go forward into this multi-media information-accessing age!

Thing #14

It is absolutely amazing just how many people have blogs and blog on a daily basis. I'll be honest and state that I'm not totally sold on blogging personally. I think that it stems from the fact that I'm a private person and don't care to share my daily experiences with others. That being said, I do see how it is a beneficial tool, the prime example being how we are using it with Learning 2.0.

Thing #13

I found the Otter Group tutorial extremely helpful in understanding the usefulness of del.icio.us. If I were researching a topic or needing information for a class or project, I can understand how this would be very beneficial.

Thing #12

Well, this was my most challenging assignment in the sense that I battle with my children over accessing social networking sites. My biggest complaint is that it is far too easy for kids to sign onto these sites without parental notification. I've snooped around some of my kids and their friends pages (yes, I'll admit it!) and haven't been too pleased with their content!! However, I did browse around on Facebook and made my own profile. It was kind of neat since I found my best friend from high school on it. We'll see if we actually connect. I'm still not convinced that I want my kids posting all sorts of things to MySpace and having a whole "secret" internet world that I'm not a part of, but I guess that is my own personal hang-up!

Thing #11

I loked around Library Thing and found it pretty interesting. Here is my link to my Library Thing catalog: http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=RIPianoGal&shelf=list I think that if I had enough time, it would be itneresting to catalog all of the books that I own.

Thing #10

Here's one from the Random Fact Generator:

‘We’ve Only Just Begun’, a # 2 smash hit for The Carpenters in 1970, was written and composed by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols as a commercial for a bank.
and another:
It’s estimated that Elwood Edwards is heard some 64,000,000 times per day. He’s the voice behind America Online’s “Welcome” and “You’ve Got Mail.”
and yet another:
The 1984 film Red Dawn was the first to garner a PG-13 rating.

These are all pretty intersting, but honestly, I'm not sure just how often I would find time to use the sites.