Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Methods 1 and 2

12 Ways to 2 Step

Lesson 1:
Web 2.0 is not a standard. It will have a profound effect on our lives, personally, socially, and for libraries.

After just reading the first few pages of the article by Stephen Abram, I feel overwhelmed by the new Web 2.0 technologies that are out there, but which I haven’t used. And I am not someone who is afraid of technology. This online learning process (12 Ways to 2 Step) will I’m sure be useful in helping me become somewhat more familiar with some of the aspects of Web 2.0.

It is hard for me to understand how, as Abram says, “plain intranets and plain HTML Web sites are fast becoming old stuff, so last century”, when these are still processes I use on a daily basis, both personally and at work. When I am asked to understand the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, my brain fogs up.

Stephen Abram video: You learn by doing. Starting a blog will help you understand blogs, starting a Facebook page will help to understand Facebook, etc. Using an RSS aggregator will help you understand it better.

Beth Evans article on The Consumer as Producer was not convincing. As she pointed out, there is a big difference between a museum asking the public to submit content, and a library asking the public to do the same or become involved in some other aspect of the library’s daily workings. Her examples of how libraries can ask the public to submit content to the library did not seem pursuasive.

Professor Wesch’s YouTube video on the Machine is Us/ing Us was interesting. I watched it twice, pausing it several times the second time around to try to grasp what he was talking about. In addition, the video on Professor Wesch Explaining “the Machine is Us/ing Us” also was interesting and helpful.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Test Post: Met in HD

The 2009-2010 Met in HD season will start October 10 with the live performance of Tosca being transmitted to movie theaters around the world.