"The End Has Come . . .

. . . and found us here, with our 23 Things scattered all around us here". (With apologizes to Glen Campbell. Although his song does go on to mention a playground, to which perhaps our entire 23 Things journey could serve as analogy.)



This series of exercises has assisted my lifelong learning goals by providing me with brief introductions to many emerging technologies that I would never have explored without this nudge. Some I found more valuable than others. Rollyo's worth I'm still trying to figure out. I still plan to look at other's blogs on that topic to see if perhaps I'm missing something; did others see value where I saw none? Which serves as an excellent segue to the topic of which were my favorite/non-favorite exercises. You've already seen my reaction to Rollyo. I enjoyed Library Thing, not so much for the opportunity to set up my own library shelf, but for the suggestion element, which is useful for readers' advisory and for finding other titles that may be of interest to me as a reader. I also enjoyed learning about the productivity tools, although I will probably not make any great use of them. Social networking is just not for me. So, while I appreciate the opportunity to learn about sites like Del.icio.us, I will not be using them.

I wouldn't call the outcome unexpected, but I did have my eyes opened to a great variety of sites that I had no idea existed. At the very least, I won't have that deer in the headlights look if a customer uses the names of some of these sites in asking for assistance.

One of things that I found most annoying (and so did many others, if casual conversation is any indicator) was the need to create accounts all over the place. I realize that these sites are not in any way related to the compilers of 23 Things and that each one exists independently of the others but if there were any way that could be devised to cut down on these many accounts, that would improve the program.

Given the difficulty of accessing a computer, for those of us in the branches, more time could have been given for completing the program in order to be eligible for system premiums. On a related topic, the issue of how few staff computers exist in the branches is something that needs to be addressed by system administration. This 23 Things program is proof positive that more and more work is being done and shared via electronic means. Having to stand in line for a computer in order to accomplish work is both inefficient and frustrating.

If another discovery program were offered in the future would I participate? Cop-out answer is "it depends". It depends on how long was allotted for completion and my projected workload at the time. This would be my primary consideration, with interest in the overall topic and relevancy to my work a close second.

To sum it up in a few words/phrases - new, different, learning together, wheat and chaff, overview.

Audiobooks

This has been a most instructive "thing". Last year I received an MP3 player from my spouse and had every intention of using it right away. But I was intimidated by the many steps necessary to download audiobooks and have not used it - shame on me. Having taken the time to go through the steps with Overdrive systematically, I am now more confident that I can successfully download audiobooks to my MP3.

Although the selection isn't large, I expect that it will grow. Even with a fairly small selection, I saw several audiobooks that I'd like to download: titles by Laura Lippman, titles by Michael Connelly, and one that's been on my "to be read" list for many years - "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.

#21 - Podcasting

I looked at all three of the podcast directories/finding tools and did find an interesting Nancy Pearl podcast. One thing that I tried very hard to find and couldn't was a podcast from any of my county officials. There have been some changes in my county relative to trash collection and recycling. Informational postcards have been sent to residents but the information they have conveyed is very basic. While I have no quarrel with the changes, it would be interesting to know more about the decision-making that went into the changes. I know that a county official did appear on a local cable television station to talk about the new procedures. Had he created a podcast, I could have viewed his comments "on demand".

The most useful thing about podcasts is the ability to see and listen to people who may be at a distance or who may charge copious quantities of money for delivering speeches in person. The second most useful thing is that they are available 24/7. I can see many local benefits as well, one of which I mentioned in my first paragraph. Once the local hospital administrator has had his say in the news about new services provided by the hospital, it's over. I missed it, or perhaps I saw it and don't remember all of it. But, if he creates a podcast, I can receive the information when I need or want it.