Thing #23 - The End

Now that it is in the rearview mirror, I have got to say that Learning 2.0 was a positive experience. It was also an extremely frustrating experience for me because I am soooooo non techie and not the type who enjoys spending time exploring things on the computer. But now I know about blog's and wiki's and podcasts and rss feeds and uploading photos and making posters and trading cards and the ease of information access like never before. The program definitely shoved me out of my comfort zone and although I hate to admit it, that was a good thing. In this day and age, anyone can benefit by the exposure to the Web that Learning 2.0 entails.

Flickr and YouTube were definitely my two favorite things. I will access YouTube on a regular basis now to check out scenes from old movies that crack me up.

One observation is that I found I could not get much done on the library computers and did most of the program at home. The only thing I could suggest that could have been done differently is perhaps holding a periodic Q&A session or having a resource to email questions to when you get stuck. Having said that I realize that struggling through the times I was stuck probably helped me to a better understanding of the issue I was stuck on. Plus, I could have used my blog to ask for help or use comments on other people's blog to ask for help.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm done but the program exposed me to a whole bunch of things that I'm glad I learned.
Tim

Thing #22 - Audiobooks

Wow! In the near future we'll be doing everything through our personal computers. The Greater Phoenix Digital Library is pretty amazing. I will probably always be a reader of books rather than a listener to books but I had no idea that you could download books to listen to and sometimes even be allowed to burn a copy to a CD. What a great service to people who can't physically access a library or who want the efficiency of downloading titles. The digital media tutorial on the GPDL site was a terrific help when installing the Overdrive Media Console onto your home computer.

There is a vast selection of books to download but I must admit it took me awhile to find something of interest that was actually available. And...if Microsoft and Apple can ever come to an agreement that allows using your iPod to listen to the audiobooks I may actually listen to one sometime!

Thing #21 - Podcasts

My nephews make podcasts all the time and I always thought you had to be a techie genius to do that. You don't! I enjoyed this exercise and really liked NPR's podcasts selection of podcasts regarding election issues. Podcastalley was a good site especially to search for sports podcasts and I added a few to bloglines. Through bloglines all my rss feeds are in one place and I can easily check them out without searching around all the sites.

Thing #20 - YouTube

YouTube is too cool! Libraries could use YouTube for all kinds of things like promoting programs, events and exhibits. I loved searching YouTube for scenes from old movies. Like Stripes...

Thing #19 - Web 2.0 Tools

Web 2.0 awards is a great site. There are over 200 award sites listed in 41 different categories. The category I focused on was City Guides and Reviews and my favorite site was www.Yelp.com. I bookmarked this site and will definitely refer to it often. It allows you to select a city (approximately 100 cities across the country) and read reviews on topics ranging from restaurants to pet care to religious organizations to automotive service....you get the picture. It's a good site to check things out in Phoenix and also a great tool if you are travelling to another city. Anyway Web 2.0 awards is worth checking out, maybe someday libraries will be added to the awards categories.

Thing #18 - Web based apps

Google docs was easy to sign up for and easy to use. As technologically lame as I am, I was easily able to create a test document and upload an image titled "breakfast of champions".

Thing #17 - PBWiki

I edited the favorite movie page.