Technological journeys

I have enjoyed this course a lot and learned so much in a short time. I would definitely participate in another course. I would like to see an on-line course with synchronous communication. This might be difficult logistically, but our participation would recieve feedback and it would be live and it would be exciting. Perhaps we could use some open source software and make it available to library staff and to the community from other libraries such as Mohawk and Hamilton Public. Alternatively, a course in Second Life would be useful as it would be synchronous. I would also like to see the implementation of a specific tool such as a wiki, to be used for staff communication, brainstorming etc for an upcoming project. While we learned about many different kinds of tools of social networking, other than blogging, I think we need to concentrate on one of those tools and either do a collaborative project or a pilot within the library.

A heck of a lot! After our weekly ”assignments”,  I can appreciate what is out there to use and the fact that it is free and fun. What that stands out in my mind is that Library 2.0 exercises  didn’t really feel like a  formal course because firstly it is user friendly and I felt a certain freedom to blog and comment and it initiated collaboration and user participation in creating wikis. So our efforts were given validity and our contributions recognized. There was a variety of tools to learn, and ample chance to show creativity: it was a user centered environment, controlled by us. I felt good in having my own Facebook account and being able to enjoy it and communicate with my friends. Most of all I liked the fact that I didn’t have to be in the library physically to take advantage of these initiatives. This is especially relevant to my being in Second Life and in virtual reference. The democratization of library methods is in!

Thanks to Amanda and the Emerging Technologies Group for giving their time and skills to help us.