The End of the Quest

Photo titled "Quest" by Brady...found on Flickr

So here I am at Lesson 23: Wrap-Up/Reflections. The last lesson, the end of the quest.

So what was the quest all about?

It was about learning some specific Web 2.0 applications, but mostly it was about lifelong learning. (And it was about earning an extra vacation day, let's not forget.)

Has it helped me with my learning goals? I think it has. I've learned that if I want to really reach my goals, it helps if they're specific. It helps if there's a time constraint. It helps if I'm really personally invested in the goals. It helps to know what the rewards are (although they don't have to be tangible).

What were my favorite discoveries on this quest? Blogging, for one. I'm done with this blog now, but I'd like to do another. What about? That'll be another discovery.

Facebook was another fun surprise, expecially their photo software. It made it so easy to organize and label photos, I'm almost ready to tackle my twenty years worth of pictures in boxes.

Del.icio.us is something that I really like the idea of. I've started an account, now let's see if I can add to it and use it.

LibraryThing is another site that I'd like to browse more in. I've entered some of my library, but I'm not sure that I'd want to enter everything! (Too time-comsuming.) But seeing other folks' selections and comments can be fun.

GoogleDocs looks really useful, and I plan to use it for writing. How handy to have it accessible from everywhere.

I can also picture using a lot of these applications in my job at the library. BKC is already talking about starting a bookmobile blog. And putting department documents on GoogleDocs would make them easy to access by all drivers.

Surprises? How many different sites and applications are out there that I knew nothing about (and many I will never use--hello, Bloglines, Meebo, podcasting, Twitter...) I'm glad I know about them now. Knowledge is power and all that.

I liked the format of Discover 2.0. It had enough structure that I knew just what I had to do, but enough choices and flexibility that I didn't feel like my style was cramped. If FVRL does this sort of thing again, sign me up.

Twitter, Tumblr, and Too Too Tired

Wow, it's amazing how many different things one can do on the web that I had no idea of. Twitter and Tumblr, for example. Twitter, however, doesn't look useful to me because I don't IM. I don't have a cell phone. I just can't picture myself keeping an adoring following up to date with what I am doing every hour.

Tumblr (and yes, I did start a tumblelog) looks more useful to me. It could be a good way to keep track of useful stuff on the web. I can see the handiness.

I'm not even going to try to speculate on library uses, because I'm kind of tired and can't think of any, except on a personal level, in which Tumblr could be useful in creating a hand-picked personal library of quotes, videos, sites, usw.

Video Madness

Photo of Seattle Public Library from Flickr.

The video I watched on YouTube was about the Seattle Public Library. It's not an especially good video and made a bit seasick, to tell the truth. But I was interested in seeing what the new Seattle library looked like, and it gave me a fair view.

(Main impressions of the Seattle Public Library, based on this video: Wow, they have a lot of light, and a lot of space. A lot of empty vertical space. The books seem a bit lost. I liked the low shelving on one of the floors (seemed to be a browsing section). Where is youth services? What the heck is that red room (see above photo)?? Seems like you need to have a very determined personality to want to use this library, what with all the escalators, eyes peering at you, different floors, etc. I like the auditorium.)

I like YouTube because it has such a wide variety of videos. The other sites looked more specialized, which would be great if that is what you were looking for. I also like that YouTube has notes, ratings, and time of the videos displayed in your search results. I would not be likely to use the other video-related sites for editing, etc., at the moment because I don't create videos.

I can see libraries using online videos as part of their website--virtual tours! Book talks! Explanations of Dewey system! And yes, Dabble could be useful in collecting interesting nonfiction videos for patrons.