Tags, Del.icio.us, and other ways to organize randomness!

This week the 2.0 assignment was to explore different types of tags. Now I've always been a very organized person, so I was very curious to see how other people organize their "stuff." It was also interesting to see what types of things they wanted to cling on to and organize. I particularly liked Del.icio.us.com. The tags were easy to follow and there was a wide-range of topics to explore. I spent some time looking at the tags that came up when I searched the term "library." One tag took me to DeliciousMonster.com. That site made me wish I had more time to organize my "stuff" online.
My favorite tag on Del.icio.us was a tag titled "Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki." I could tell that the mind that organized this tag was a VERY serious librarian. There were several offerings here that made me stop and consider and then take notes.
I only have two complaints about tagging. First, I didn't even know this existed until this week--which makes me feel even more internet illiterate than I did before. Second, not everyone organizes like I do--and they should! Third, I felt like I was peeking into the workings of some people's minds when I got to see what they considered noteworthy and how they organized their "stuff."

Image Generators are too much fun!

I must admit that of all the assignments we have had from 2.0 so far, this one was my favorite. I can understand why the assignment's name is "play". . . which is exactly what I did once I figured out what an image generator was.
I've seen countless images that must have been created using image generators, but I never understood how people went about making them. I figured that since the images looked so good, they must have been very difficult to make. Boy, was I ever wrong!
I cannot believe how many options there are out there and how easy it is to make professional looking images. I see countless opportunities to use image generators in the library--in fact I'll be using some in new displays this coming week.
By the way, the image to the right is my favorite creation out of all of the ones I did while exploring image generators. Don't feel bad if you don't understand it; it is based on a joke that my sweetheart and I have shared for 27 years!

Skypes

I signed up for Skypes this week. I can't say that I am an expert--or even a novice on it, because I don't have a camera or microphone. At the same time, I have family members who use it all the time, and I have been party to it when they have been talking to their children who live out of state.
My sister uses Skype to keep tabs on her new granddaughter's growth. She and her daughter skype nightly instead of talking on the phone. She says that it means much more to her than just the phone call because she can SEE how her daughter is doing, enjoy her son-in-law's great wit, and watch her granddaughter grow. At the same time, the skype is a huge blessing in these uncertain economic times because the daily visits don't cost anything additional.
My own daughter goes to George Washington University. Although we see her every few months and talk to her everyday, it would be nice to SEE her daily. When my husband found out I was looking at Skype this week, he said he would look into getting all of the necessary hardware.
All of the above is personal information. I still haven't figured out a professional application, but it is somewhere in there!
Here's to great technology!

Wikis: what I learned

I've learned several things this week as I've explored Wikis. The most important thing I've learned is that I know very little about the internet. I was delusional: I thought that since I could navigate the internet, I was internet literate. This class and the 2.0 lessons have opened my eyes to the fact that I actually know very little about what the internet offers that might be useful to me.
The second thing I learned is that Wikis come in more forms and sizes than just Wikipedia. The thing that has always bugged me the most about Wikipedia comes from my years of teaching research skills to high school and college students: they often consider Wikipedia the source of all information, rather than the place to begin with background information before they start more scholarly research. Don't get me wrong: Wikipedia definitely has a very valuable place in researching, but it isn't EVERYTHING!
It is interesting to me that the very thing that makes Wikipedia a less reliable source for research is the very thing that makes other Wikis valuable. That thing is the reader's ability to edit and add to the Wiki site. Wikipedia, for the most part, does a good job presenting and documenting its information; however, not all documentation is correct or all sources reliable. At the same time, there are other Wikis that find strength in presenting an open forum where readers can easily share ideas and opinions. I liked the Wiki required for this week's 2.0 assignment. Its users were people who shared common professions, goals, and aspirations. The result was a Wiki forum that presented some excellent (and fun) ideas.
I contemplated for a while the reason that Wikipedia doesn't really appeal to me, yet others I find useful and exciting. I think it comes down to this: Wikipedia presents its information as fact, not opinion. Other Wikis (the ones I like) present their contents as a bunch of individuals presenting their ideas and opinions. These offerings aren't given as if they were the one and only fact, instead they are presented as if you wandered into the middle of a conversation involving a bunch of knowledgeable thinkers who are willing to share their ideas and consider others. I like that. It is like having an on-line support group!
I look forward to considering ways that Wikis can positively affect my job and my library patrons.