twittering into the void

For some reason, before the ql things project began, I thought that one of the assignments was to Twitter. As such, I signed up and made a few half-hearted attempts to add to it, and then pretty much abandoned it.

And then, I took a closer look at our assignments and saw that it wasn't even on the list, so I didn't even have to feel bad about abandoning it. Only - look! It's a Web 2.0 award winner, in the category of mobile technology, so it looks like I can write about it after all.

Only, I don't have that much to say. Unlike with a lot of social networking applications, pretty much nobody that I know uses twitter. My initial curiosity about it came from the fact that Whitney, of the Pop Candy blog at USA Today - and one of my daily essential haunts - twitters a lot and often has links to hers on the blog. Besides that, it's gotten some buzz, both online and in traditional news sources. People seem excited about it. I can, actually, see the appeal. I like updating my facebook status, and twitter does pretty much that (and even has an app to do exactly that), only without the obligatory "is" and with more portability, since you don't have to be online to contribute. Plus, I'm the sort of person who finds the minutiae of people's lives fascinating. It's basically why I started reading blogs and maintaining an online presence in the first place, oh so long ago.

It's difficult to maintain momentum though, when no one is paying attention. Which I hate saying, because it seems very needy in a "please validate my existence" sort of way, which is so not the way to come across. It's not just a question of who cares what I ate for breakfast, but who cares if I tell them what I had for breakfast? John Edwards maybe, since he seems to be following a whole bunch of people, but it's not like I really think that he or Barack Obama is actually sitting on their campaign bus, contemplating my affection for english muffins. So, is there really any point?

However, even if the answer to that one is no, there's just something about twitter that keeps me interested. Maybe I just have to give it more time. And while I'm doing that, I'll hope that the people I know will actually start using it. In the meantime, I can at least get a kick out of reliving the Buffy the Vampire Slayer glory days, via Xander's tweets.

Finally, on the other Web 2.0 awards, I have lots of affection for many of these. Here, I'll send shout outs to Digg (but ignore the comments), Etsy and Yelp, since I don't think anyone's mentioned them yet.

tutorial thoughts

I suspect that the fact that it has taken me oh so many days to make my second post here - the one that specifically addresses the tutorial and how it relates to my own learning process - is somewhat indicative of my personal challenges when doing new things. Meaning, sometimes it's really difficult to make the time to do the things you want. My interests tend to be all over the place. I think that's one of the things that makes me a good librarian, and for that I'm thrilled. But, at the same time, it makes it difficult for me to prioritize and say, "Okay, this is the thing that I'm going to focus on right this very moment."

Actually, no. I'm okay at prioritizing. I am not, however, the queen of focus. I get distracted. "Hm, what is the guy currently on Fresh Air talking about? Ah, he wrote a book about Jews and Arabs during World War II. I wonder if Amazon has any new recommendations for me? Ooo, there's a new Nancy Drew video game coming out next week. I wonder if that Nancy Drew movie was really as bad as I heard it was - maybe I'll Netflix it when it comes out on DVD, probably pretty soon. I really should update my Netflix queue. And mail back the movies that I have out. But, I fell asleep while watching the last episode of Deadwood. Maybe I should finish it now and mail the disc in when I go to the grocery store. Gah, what am I going to have for dinner tonight?"

You get the idea. And I'm actually hugely more focused, with a longer attention span than a lot of people that I know. It certainly isn't easy though. Maybe that's why it's such a good idea to make a plan, something else I don't consider a strong point. I make them, but mostly vaguely, in my head. Concrete might be a better idea. Probably in the form of a list, because I like to make lists and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from crossing things off of them. And look, that was recommended in the tutorial, so here we have an illustration of how things do indeed come back around.

Other aspects discussed in the tutorial are easier for me. I've always been a big puzzle person, so assuming that it doesn't totally mess up everything, I sort of like it when obstacles come up and I have to figure out a way to meet the challenge. I'm pretty confident about my abilities in this arena - I've dabbled enough to know my way around these new technologies (which is a much nicer way to phrase the fact that I sometimes spend way too much time online). I like to learn new stuff and think it's fun to teach others. Which, I hope, I am successful at, although maybe you should ask my friend B., whom I taught to knit.

the introductory stuff

So, I thought that it would be logical to use my first post here to explain why I decided to participate in the Queens Library Learning 2.0 project. In a lot of ways, I don't think of myself as the ideal candidate for it. While I won't claim any expertise in these things, a lot of the components of this project are things that I know and use regularly. And even the stuff that I don't utilize, I have a passing familiarity with.

And yet, one of the things about lifelong learning, that I actually don't think they made much mention of in the tutorial, is the fact that it's never ending. You don't get a certificate or a diploma for mastering the skills you decide to learn on your own. And the time you spend practicing and sharing what you know adds to your own store of knowledge. Whether it's a hobby or a language or some random skill, there's always a way to add to it, increase your proficiency, comfort or experience. And I think that this is especially true when technology is involved, because it's so quickly evolving and developing. The things that are pretty commonplace today weren't necessarily things that anyone would have even considered a year or two or five years ago.

And yet, how quickly they can become parts of our everyday lives. Last Friday, I noticed that the Google banner ad was celebrating their ninth anniversary. Which is cool, but was also one of those things like seeing your distant cousin's child at a family reunion, realizing that that person that you still think of as a toddler is now an awkward teenager. Meaning: I remember when I first started using Google. When I was a paraprofessional in Ohiom one of my co-workers told me, "Hey there's this new search engine I've been using. You should try it because it's pretty cool."

Thus, I hope that this experience will equip me better for the job I do everyday. I hope that this project will enhance what I do, both at home and at work, in these many hours that I spend online. I hope that what I learn here will make me better, more efficient and better connected all around. Ambitious and vaguely stated? Maybe, but it's still what I'm aiming for.

Finally, I'm hoping that this project will help me to know my colleagues better. We work for a huge library system; there are a lot of people vested in the success of the Queens Library. And as much as we might think we know each other because we see each other at meetings or sit on committees with one another or receive the same e-mails, there so much about one another that we don't share. Because we don't have the means or the time or the opportunity, or whatever. But libraries and librarians are very good at sharing. I can't tell you how many ideas for books or programs or displays I have gotten because I saw it somewhere else, read about it on a listserv, heard about it on a blog ... And it will be nice to learn stuff from my immediate colleagues, based on the experiences they share during this project, and perhaps develop relationships that will translate into the "real world" - be it at a meeting, a conference or over dinner and drinks.

Not to get all, um, kumbaya on you, right at the end. But yeah.