Week 9: My Learning 2.0 XP

I've taken a couple of days to try to decide what I want to say about how very much I have enjoyed this opportunity. Everything I come up with sounds remarkably silly to me. I was that kid in high school who was talented but not enough to be in the various talented programs offered. That kid who was pretty but clearly no prom queen. That kid who had potential, personality and a bright productive future ahead of her but no scholarship, grants or parental financial support to go to college. I think that is what makes me the "sponge" I am today in that basically any opportunity to learn, I soak it up. I must say that this has been not only informative but fun for me. Also, I enjoy the blogging aspect of this project. I work three jobs and don't always have as much time as I would like to be able to explore the Internet so when I learn how to make it happen quicker and more simply-Hallelujah!! Technologically my next thing to tackle is mp3 devices. I'm surprised I've not already learned all about it because I am an avid music lover. My wish list not only includes one of those but also a Blackberry, which all I truly know about it is that its more than a cell phone but less than a computer and I can check my e-mail wherever and whenever I wish. I've no doubt though that both will require my fair share of Internet tutorials. Hey, maybe there are Commoncraft: Explanations in Plain English for those as well. Wish me luck.

Week 9: It's a Web 2.0 World

The statement 2.0 implies an upgrade of the world wide web but technically that isn't so. In my opinion, moreover it points to the evolution and change of getting the end-user (aka us) more involved. My personal use of the Internet and place in the web culture community, as it is today, is that of being creative and well informed when communicating to not only my immediate friends but also those I acquire virtually. As said eloquently on Wikipedia, "Web 2.0 encapsulates the idea of inter connectivity and interactivity of web-delivered content." Today's Internet affords us more freedom, openness, participation, experience, creativity/personalization, and collective intelligence than ever before. I graduated from high school in 1993....imagine the force I may have been with this technology. Unfortunately the generation after have grown up with it all along and don't realize the invaluable resources right at their fingertips for the taking. If the library is to stay vital, we need to be interactive and interconnected with these and subsequent generations right at their literal fingertips.