Thing 22 - Staying Current

The obvious thing about all this is that inertia is always out there sounding the siren call of do-nothingness. Luring you to a quiet place where nothing changes and opportunities slide on by. After all, your plate's already full, why pile on more?

This is why: the stuff on your plate can get stale pretty fast. Maybe you have a lot of "gotta dos" in your life and a lot of "we've always dones" so where's the room or time for more plans, more learning, more activities or opportunities? But really, a lot of day to day or even year to year "have tos" kind of attrition out. At least they do if you let them. It's like weeding a shelf of books. Maybe you hate to let them go; maybe some you'll always keep, but some have gotta go to make room for the new books.

So instead of always putting on the brakes or ducking and covering when something new starts ambling your way (or sometimes barrelling), maybe think, "here's a new way to learn something" or "here's a new way to reach out to the public". Same public as last week, similar goals, but a new way of doing what you do anyway. So you don't have to welcome everything, but a few things, here and there.
At least, that's what I'll try telling myself, as I crouch behind my bookshelf with a look of alarm on my face.

Thing 22 -- Student 2.0

I love the Assignment Calcuator and wish that it and the internet had been around when I was in college. I wish college had been online when I was going. Don't like classrooms, no, no, no.


The A.S. offers advice as what to look for and how to look for it and when to get 'er done. Very nice. Similar stuff with the Reasearch Calculator. I like the links and email alerts. I can't see a public library posting hints to students of how to do their research papers. By the time they are in the libary, a lot of decisions have been made and assignments have been handed out. Maybe a reasearch corner with helpful forms and tools... I dunno.

Thing 20 -- Books 2.0

This thing has an amazing amount of information. I liked the way BookBrowse was laid out and the kind of information, reviews, discussion, whole books that are available and I supposed the part that costs money is good too, but I'm not paying for it!
What do I read Next was a site that I have used before, but I haven't tried it for awhile. I put the "The Stand" as a search and got a lot more Stephen King as suggestions (no big help or surprise there) but did get a suggestion for "Swan Song" which sounds like an A+ and on the nosey.
I do think that sooner or later, Kindle-type books will check out of our library, but the first time someone has to pay for one, stand back!! Yaaaa!!
BookLamp seemed pretty limited -- maybe thery haven't been at it very long. They mostly had science fiction titles.
As far as Books on your Phone goes: My cell phone stays in my car and it is for calls that I absolutely have to make. Not a big phone person at this juncture, but who knows?
Swimbooks -- I'm not a student, but the textbook rental would appeal to me if I was.
I liked the themed booklist of Overbooked; it had some good suggestions under such themes as vampires and history.

THING 19 -- Social Networks

Webjuntion didn't do a lot for me; technology for it's own sake doesn't appeal to me much. I like Ning. I put in the search "simple living" and got several hits that looked promising in regards to information and validation of a personal view point ( and we all like that, don't we?).
Gather looks like it would be a good professional/political spot to investigate.



Really, there seems to be worlds within worlds, as we explore the internet's possibilities. Occasionally I find something to monkey with, among all these projects, that pleases me and - hopefully - as I go along in work and life I may now and then think -- Here! Here's a good way to use that thing we learned about. Here's a chance to make an impression or teach someone something. Maybe that will happen.

Sometimes I feel like a kid taking Algebra I and saying, "When will I ever use this?"
It's good brain exercise. That's reason enough, yes?

Thing 18 --Facebook and MySpace

I suppose the longest journey starts with a single step, but I look at the ACLD site and some of the other library sites... it's like we have the site because it's the going thing, not because we have any real enthusiasm for the task. These sites are not something that really interests me though, so maybe I'm missing the point For something to grab my attention it needs to be really clever or quite funny or both. Otherwise it's too much like homework: it's gotta be done, but given my druthers....

I did like the advice regarding using these sites professionally. It seems like it would apply in general. Be careful what you put out there, because who knows where it will end up? I did try to create a facebook page for Superman, but apparently revealing his identity is prohibited. If only they looked after all of us so well.

Thing 17 -- Podcasts

I added Dan Carlin's Hardcore History to my bloglines account. Also, The Word Nerds, just for fun. I own an MP3 player that I have never used. Maybe it's time.

Thing 16 --Youtube

I'm mad about Hugh Laurie and here's your chance to more fully appreciate him.

It took about 7 or so tries to import this youtube. I succeeded when I used the pull down menu to paste instead of ctrl + v.