podcasting!. your very own talk show!

The idea of podcasting seemed at first to be a rather limiting function for us in the library related fields, but I have found the exact opposite to be true! I have been able to assist a number of patrons with free podcasting software that can be found on the net, and then even participated in a number of monthly podcasts with a group of study groups. It's like having a serialized book on tape, made just for the group of friends in the exact subject you're interested in.

I think this is going to be a very useful tool in the future...as long as we remember...podcasting doesn't make you an expert...or assure that the content is correct. So do your homework and check your facts before you rely on a blog or a podcast for credit on a grade!

Looking back...by looking forward...

This has been an interesting experience for me, I was familiar with a good number of the tools mention in the training, but it was nice to be able to share...as a group...our experiences and little hidden steps to making things work a little easier.

I am also finding that these exercises have been helpful to me in working with our patrosnn.mI no longer have to look at someone with a somewhat blank face when they ask if I'd wiki's this, or blogged that! While not on the cutting edge of the wave of technology, I feel that we are on the curl of an awesome ride to come.

Back To The Future!!

All of this "new" technology is so much fun, but boy is it time consuming!...But I have found an interesting difference in learning styles. I have seen, worked on and participated with many of the items that have been set forth in this learning 2.0 process...and while I can appreciate the orderliness of it all, the things that I have already been working with for well over a year or two in the past, such as Library Thing, blog spot, wiki, podcasting, etc...I find it rather difficult to go over the exercises and "re-talk" about these items? I stumbled across many of these items due to the forums that I lurk about on and when something "new" is discovered...I try it out, and see if it is something that can fit into my time frame of a useful application, and wonder "how will this make my life and work easier?".

SO, for all you folks out there discussing how "none of this will help me" to "I don't have the time"...consider that I have been stumbling across many of these items in my own way for a number of years, and it would have been nice to have had it all set down before me in a nice, neatly ordered structured environment. True, we are not going to need all of these items in our everyday lives, but as information professionals, I think that our job is not just 'readers-advisory'...it is also as a 'web-advisor'...Because our patrons have little or no experience in dealing with these applications and might not know that they are even out there, in much the same way that we introduce them to a new author or a new series, it is our responsibility to introduce our patrons to new applications that will make their experience at the library and even better one...