Monday, August 25, 2008

Summary

1. What was the most important thing that I learned in Betty Blogger school this summer? Well, the very first thing as well as the most obvious thing learned is the number of new Internet blog sites that there are as well as the rise of so many new ways of being connected to others in a very specialized way around the world. Up until taking this course, I had no idea what some of these terms were e.g. Flckr, RSS feeds, LibraryThings. This connectivity through various blogs is growing at an incredible pace and just keeping up with the most popular blogs for communicating with others is in itself a challenge.
2. Many were challenging simply because I have never used these before and I was just trying to complete the task step by step; otherwise, I wouldn't have had a clue what to do or how to do it. With all of these various blog options out there, I question the amount of time that people spend on the Internet and the computer. I was finding it a challenge to work through these here because I felt that I didn't really understand the purpose and/or function of a few of the sites e.g. Google docs, tagging, and wikis. I still question whether I would really use some of these blog options. Primarily, I use my computer for business and work rather than for social connections. I suppose tapping into these blogs is really the way to become familiar with them. Time is the real concern for me. Some of these blogs seem frivolous but then I suppose that they have become popular because they do serve the specialized needs of many who have both the time and the inclination/interest in working with them.
3. The only one where I see a clear link to public library services is LibraryThing. I see a natural fit between these two. After just one task based on each topic, I still feel as if I am at a "newbie" with many of these blogs. I would like to have several sessions with the ones that I feel I would use. I have only scratched the surface with most of these; I still do not feel that I understand the full potential of each of these blogs.
4. I loved the process of the self-directed learning. The steps were clearly laid out and with a tremendous amount of humour. I am glad that the steps were easy to understand . Even so, I still feel that I am only at the beginning awareness stage with all of these. I would have to make a real concerted effort to bring some of these blogs into my every day repertoire.

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