On the Third Day...

a massive exploration of the NET today, the class was thrown some WEB2.0 tools and told to learn. It may seem harsh but the reality is, in the future, as more tools come out and become popular or old tools resurface from the depths of the WEB, learning the new and the old will be up to us as members in an evolving field. The only way to stay on top of the field will be to stay on top of the web, a job that in itself is more a test of discipline then an attempt to conquer.
If there is any advice I can give anyone it’s the fact that messing around with the basic tools and anything you come across will only help in the future. I have found that when you take a look at Aviary, Photoshop, or even Expressions the systems are the same, for they are relatively standard, and it’s that way for a lot of things, which makes becoming familiar with one come in handy when the next generation hits the internet.

Patience is definitely the other necessity, because even though a lot of the tools can be useless on their own, the combination of using a lot of tools can sometimes lend themselves to creations that could never be made on their own…I find this to be the most true with video and graphic manipulation. A lot of the systems are the same, but some have an edge over the other in one arena or another. Harnessing the power across platforms is something that can propel projects forward in leaps and bounds.

On a side note I just realized that Aviary has 70+ tutorials on photo manipulation for free, and so I have a late night ahead of me!

So Much Knowledge!

As I look around the room at the knowledge spill that has just occurred in my LIS629 classroom, my heart goes out to the poor trapped souls in the informational sludge that has consumed the surrounding landscape, but it is all AWESOME. Unlike those unfortunate marine creatures on the coast our own knowledge spill will inevitably make us stronger.

I can't help but liken it to the story my grandfather told me about his first experience in learning to swim, in which he was pushed off a dock and told to swim. Fortunately we have an exceptional guru to guide us through the muck and give us direction (directions: helpful in computers, swimming, and cooking). A lot of the information today can be overwhelming at first glance, but as users grow accustom to it they will without a doubt begin to play and explore and that is where the real learning will happen. Hopefully they will share their discoveries on blogs, twitter, or anything and more importantly I hope to be a part of their friend-list to learn about that innovation myself (“Must Grow PLN…”).

The helpfulness in Web2.0 and Library2.0 ideas and theories really become strong as the community becomes stronger. So many scientific ideas have stemmed from this idea of community knowledge on a whole. Just like a bee hives these PLNs of the internet grow in strength flexibility and determination as each person enters into them. Ultimately I find these networks to be an incredibly groundbreaking endeavor in expanding the abilities of everyone involved in them, with so much expert knowledge at hand it seems that each person can glean the best aspects of each member and become closer to the ideal librarian that we seek to be and that libraries seek to have.

Using Blogs in the Media Center

As the world becomes more and more connected the future is the web. As a future librarian, it seems that even as I write this post new technologies whether they be sites or programs are coming up and going down. Blogs are one of the oldest social networking tools that people have had available to them. They have without a doubt gotten shinier, faster, and all together cooler but their essence is the same and their basics have spawned the next generation of social networking sites(facebook; Myspace; etc.).

It has to be said that students in this day and age when it comes to new technology they probably have a head start on their educate. It's among terms like "crib-side-computers" that educators of this new generation are obligated to find new ways to show students this basic foundation in an interactive way might not be new and surprising product in itself, but the proper integration into the education system and the application of these tools can excite them in ways that educators have never had the power to do.

Now in a world of interconnectedness blogging becomes a necessary tool of becoming a part of the international membership that is the world wide web. With that in mind, preparing any student in today's world is a task in preparing them for both a physical world of business and universities but also a digital world of blogs and sites of all types; and the classroom needs to reflect that.