23 Things Completed

Week Ten: Social Networks and Gaming

I took a tour of Facebook and joined. I was surprised to find several library colleagues and friends had invited me to join and I did. Facebook is a social networking site. It is an ideal way to establish and maintain business or personal networks. It is not difficult to use at all. You can write something, attach photos, videos, gifts or links. I looked at the Privacy information and looked at different applications. It is one of the web 2.0 sites I will use.

I also checked out Linkedin, another free social networking site. It is used for professionals. Here one can network with business contacts, colleagues and former clients. One can receive updates on your iphone, Blackberry or any WAP enabled phone. It is available in four languages.

I did look at Second Life, but honestly I am not interested in that kind of gaming. However, it is good to know about it and know of its presence on the web.

Summary of my thoughts and experiences with The 23 Things program:

I have completed all 23 things and it was well worth doing. I did these exercises at home and I took my time carefully doing each assignment. I think it is amazing that there are between 300 and 500 Web 2.0 tools. I know the younger generations will and are using them. Web 2.0 has changed everyday Web users from readers only to contributors. These tools can not be free forever.

• My favorite exercises included creating the blog and adding to it, working on the NCL wiki site, joining Facebook. However, I enjoyed all the tasks and learned an amazing amount of new information. Most of the sites were dense and filled with tons of information.
• This program definitely contributed to my lifelong learning. I always am curious about all kinds of information. As a librarian I should know about these Web 2.0 tools to help patrons who need information or help with them. It takes a while for the general public to catch on the some newer technologies, but eventually they will be asking for assistance.
• As far as unexpected outcomes, I now have several new accounts for most of the tools I worked on. Thus I have several different user names and passwords which I have in a safe place in case I forget.
• If the program were designed differently, I would suggest a semester course on Web 2.0 in a tech center with an instructor. I would find that extra helpful for me. People have different learning styles. However, this was a great way to implement in a self-directed design important Web 2.0 technologies.
• If you offered another discovery program in the future, I would sign up and definitely participate.

Rose Marie Zaharek
New Canaan Library