It's Good to be a St. Paulite?

photo by Moncrief Speaks




Have you heard? The RNC starts tomorrow in my front-backyard (that's what my child calls the backyard; also, the backseat is the "front-backseat." wha?). I'm totally dreading it, but at least Bush won't be here and thank God McCain chose the worst running-mate ever.

My friend and her child are going to the rally/protest at the capital, but I just don't have it in me.

photo by the_bill
I'm going to bury my head at the last day of the Great Minnesota Get-Together. And mourn the passing of another glorious summer.

Thing 23. Final Thoughts

I kind of jumped the gun. I over and out-ed before I was actually done. I completed the evaluation, and the one thing that I really DISliked about these exercises is the trail one has to leave when exploring the 'net. I mean, I fear THE MAN, among others, and I don't want to be tracked. So social networking, as it's name implies, isn't really for people who don't want to be social. To millions of people that is. I mean, I don't mind meeting some of you for a drink or something...

Thing 22. What Did I Learn Today?

Doing 23Things was such a great way to systematically work through some of the most important technological advances taking place on the internet. It is so important to know about these things mainly because, no matter what, someone will walk up to that desk and ask us.
But the other thing for libraries is that so many of these things are FREE. Free word of mouth, free advertising, free organization, free graphic design. For so long libraries have offered such a wealth of resources for (virtually) free. These Things are part and parcel of the philosophy of a public library (which is my domain, anyway).
One thing that makes me happy is how much I knew already. One of the challenges of being in the position of being very "green" in the library industry is being sure of paying attention to the proper advances. I work very limited hours at the library and my other job has absolutely no computer time involved, so the tools that I was already using and the blogs that I had been watching were actually right on target. Having this, as I've said, systematic approach to exploration just helped me to organize my research.
I will try to continue blogging.
I will absolutely continue monitoring my RSS feeds.
I will use these applications as needed.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Thing 21. Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

Yawn. I do belong to social networks, as you well know: flickr (though only for friends and family to view), LibraryThing, Goodreads, and MySpace (as a kind of shadow participant). I think that while it's a great idea for libraries to keep abreast of the multitude of social networks, I also believe that time needs to be invested to monitor the importance of the networks that pop up all over the place. There are soooo many. Gather, for instance: I just have no desire to join a social network that is basically indistinguishable from another except that the participants are older. Even after reading the article about Gather wanting to become like a MySpace for Books, I didn't feel compelled. At all.
WebJunction however... I think I'll probably bookmark this site and search for more links as far as online learning and career networking. It seems useful, especially in that there is a Minnesota contingent. God knows, LinkedIn feels somehow soul-less. I hate corporate and LinkedIn feels corporate.
I think the beauty of social networking is that it is there when you need it. For instance, how wonderful to find a ready made group when you are adopting a child or when you are looking for a job in a particular field. I do use social networking. When I need it.