Oh ... one last "Thing" ... #18

Well, here is the final ‘thing’. It’s somewhat difficult to go back and review each ‘thing’ without being redundant, as I’ve been leaving fairly lengthy posts about each individual task/lesson along the way.

I have enjoyed going through the tools. My responses and feelings towards the project as a whole, is quite positive. It’s a very good idea to expose the members of the library staff to these new and popular concepts and cutting edge technology. Without this type of structured program and support system, folks may not feel/have felt confident enough to ‘dig in’ to some or all of these tools.

In some ways, reexamining these online devices, resources, etc. have reaffirmed my ambivalence towards them. It’s difficult for me, at this point, to really believe that they will be an active part of the ‘library experience’ for either end users or librarians any time soon. But I found along the way that ‘things’ like Flickr, podcasting, the image generators, Lazybase and SlideShare (along with the goodies offered by BigHugeLabs) are all really great, useful resources for us to employ for various tasks around the library, on our site and blog, etc. I had prior experience with quite a few of these tools, but looking at these sites and applications with an eye towards how they can apply most effectively to our environment put a bit of a new perspective on them … which is good. And I definitely appreciate YouTube, though I STILL prefer both the moving image archive at archive.org and the iTV collection of WLIW for getting useful video clips to students or folks looking for historical information.

It was a pleasure to help the folks who needed questions answered here and there. Obviously, even after the project has been formally completed anyone can feel free to ask additional questions if they need assistance or tips about any of the ‘things’ … or about anything else that they find in that wild, weird and sometimes wonderful virtual world.

One thing that may improve this program would be to trim it down a bit further. There are a few resources that seem redundant, and a few that are somewhat … well, maybe frivolous is the word I’m looking for? I also believe that the single IM’ing sites that are discussed and suggested should be replaced by a consolidator like Trillian to help users preserve system resources and avoid the many taskbars, nags, etc. that each of the individual chat programs add to their software packages. And while it’s good for those who are following the ‘things’ to be exposed to multiple sites and resources in each area, it may be useful for those who are implementing the program to actually editorialize at times. What does the administrator feel is the best of the tools? Perhaps offer a few examples of library-specific practical applications for any of the ‘things’ that may give those who are going through the program an idea of the power and potential effect that a specific resource can have locally. I often find that folks who are not technologically inclined by nature can have a difficult time figuring out how cutting edge technology can apply ‘at home’. Otherwise, it’s a useful ‘course’. And hey … speaking of ‘course’ … maybe if there are eighteen things there can be a golf analogy used somewhere, LOL?

To sum it up in a single sentence, I’ll borrow a line from Stewart Brand, the founder of The Whole Earth Catalog, who said; “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.” Now, while I would never think of us librarians as steamrollers. Let’s go, instead with technological cab drivers … navigating folks through the information superhighway. Guess I should go … my meter’s running.