Thing 12 Rollyo

I created a search engine for learning disabilities resources. Rollyo is a fun, useful tool that would be great to share with literacy tutors and library customers. Selecting the websites to search provides for some degree of screening and evaluation. It ensures the customer gets decent, credible information. For example, a searchroll for plain language, reliable health information would be a great service for literacy students.

Here's the link to my searchroll: http://rollyo.com/rebeccahoward/l.d._resources/

#11 Library Thing

I used Library Thing for a previous class, so I already had an account and a sample of my library posted to my blog. Thing is, I've long since abandoned Library Thing for Good Reads, since it's available as an application on Facebook. I get updates on what friends are reading, plan to read, or have read and reviewed.

Thing 10

Yes, that's Buddy on a Pancake. Generator is very dangerous.

#9 Finding Feeds

Of the directories and search engines listed in Thing 9, I liked Technorati the best. It had a more intuitive design. But, I had little success in finding relevant blogs using key word searching. I'm sure that I just need to play around with it a little more. I think my approach to RSS feeds is less methodical. If I see a website or blog that has really excellent content, and I want to be sure to visit it again, I subscribe. There's a little more serendipity to my subscriptions, which works best for me.

#8 RSS

I feel somewhat ambivalent about RSS. I have a Google Reader account, but I check it so infrequently, and I have so many feeds on it, that it makes me completely overwhelmed every time I open it. For my Bloglines account, I added only those websites/blogs that I visit regularly (or want to visit regularly). I think that RSS probably works best for brief, daily news items or blog posts rather than long, detailed articles. On Google Reader, I subscribed to Salon's feed and quickly accumulated over 300 unread items. I really like Google Reader, because most sites allow you to add feeds to it very quickly and easily. But, that's probably because Google owns everything and will eventually suck our collective brain matter to power their empire. (I HEART you Google, honestly.)

As far as RSS for libraries, I think that TCCL is doing a great job using it where it makes sense. I really prefer RSS to email, because it's a pull rather than push technology. If I'm interested, I'll find it. Otherwise, stay out of my inbox. I can only handle 1 information overload environment at a time.

About Technology

So, thing #7 is to blog about technology. Hmmm... that's a rather large topic, no? I feel pretty neutral about technology as a concept. It's neither good nor bad. I will say that I hate technology for technology's sake. I hate that Apple lures me in with its beautifully thin notebooks and impossibly small MP3 players. I hate that I want an iPhone. I hate that I have iPod envy every time I go to the gym--that suddenly my first generation shuffle looks so pathetic. And big. And white. I hate the smirk on that Mac user's face. You know the ones at Panera. Oh wait, sorry. I mean the ones at Cherry Street Coffee who have just come in off their bicycles after tending their organic herb gardens. And, I'm a crazy radical, tree-loving, feminist/socialist, but really. Don't they just bug you? But, I digress.

I guess what I love about technology is the people factor. I love that technology has the potential to bring people together. I love that I can chat in real time with Jennifer in Portland or Kim in Phoenix. I love that I can reconnect with friends I haven't seen in years on Facebook. As an educator, I definitely think that technology has tremendous benefits for learning. Students learning English can listen to podcasts to learn vocabulary. The visually impaired have more assistive technology available now than ever before. People with learning disabilities can carry around speaking dictionaries that look like PDAs or reading pens that scan and read text.

I think the bottom line is that technology has to be judged on the benefits it provides rather than its cool factor. That's not to say it can't be both beautiful and beneficial together. That combination would be ideal. Maybe I DO need a new iPod--only so I could download books from TCCL. And, if I looked cooler at the gym that could just be icing.

Exploring Picasa

Image of Ely Cathedral from a distance. I was there in August of 2007. So cool to type in Ely Cathedral and find nearly 3,000 images.

Link to photo on left: http://picasaweb.google.com/mickajennings/LongSuttonEly#5102811817201245362

Lifelong Learning

All librarians are lifelong learners, but I feel particularly close to this subject since I work in adult literacy. In fact, the presentation on the 7 1/2 habits was so good that I'd really love to use it with some of our adult literacy students. I think the most challenging of the 7 1/2 habits, but also the most important for me at this point in my life is number 3 "View problems as challenges." Beginning to understand that moments of crisis are often the times that teach me the most is a lesson I need to learn every day. I'm beginning to understand that if something is particularly difficult, it's important for me to pay attention. I must need to learn something from the situation. This has been very helpful to me both personally and professionally.

I think the easiest of the habits is for me to accept responsibility for my own learning. Because of my background in literacy, I tend to be very proactive in making sure that I accommodate my learning style and preferences. Because of my experience teaching, too, I understand that each learner will get out of his/her educational experience what she puts into it.

Reflections on 23 Things

So, ever since graduating with my MLIS in 2007, I've been feeling a little rusty and, frankly, just out of the loop about emerging technologies, especially without Jennifer Greb in the office to share every new thing that comes across her various listservs. I'm working through TCCL's version of 23 things. Am so excited that the library is doing this and even more excited to begin networking with other people in the system who are interested in improving services through conversation.

Participate

I just finished listening to Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. What a beautiful, soft-spoken, well, wallflower, of a novel. The novel is a series of letters written by 15-year-old Charlie. His voice is so genuine and open that you begin to feel as infinite as the narrator when he listens to the perfect song on the perfect mixed tape. Although far from moralistic, the book does espouse a participation in life that the narrator, as an observant, people-pleasing wallflower, is struggling to understand.

Interestingly, the novel takes place in the early 1990's. Charlie's constant observation and journal writing keep him from actively engaging with those around him. Perhaps, if the novel took place today, Charlie would blog. I for one have lost an inordinate amount of time moving from one hyperlink to the next without coming away a more enlightened person. Does this type of activity count as active participation in the world? I don't know. I don't have a definitive answer, but I think that we must think about our first, second, and third spaces and how we will balance them effectively.

Participation in the world is very important to me; I believe our purpose is to repair the world. Technology has amazing potential for the transformation of the world if used smartly. I guess I just wonder how we will balance the need for the human touch with the power of our tools.

Name Game

I just finished reading Louis Erdrich's beautiful poem of a novel, Four Souls. I have read everything ever written by Erdrich and can honestly say that she never disappoints. Four Souls is about passion, revenge, and assimilation, but above all else, it is about the power of language and the power of naming.

I am very sensitive to the power of naming. I was recently asked if the terms libraries and librarians were relevant any longer, since so many people are uncomfortable/unfamiliar/unaccustomed to these terms. Now, I must say this question was very well-intentioned and stemmed from genuine intellectual curiosity. But something about denying our name--librarian--strikes me as fundamentally flawed. And, I have to question if the root of this denial isn't sexism.

Librarians are heroes. I'm not an information professional, a knowledge manager, or a learning resources consultant (although I do all of those things); I'm a librarian. Say it loud; say it proud!