Thing 23: It's All Over

It's hard to keep a short list of everything I have learned from this program. I think that I have a greater knowledge of all of the tools that we have covered in 23 Things, and a greater awareness that there are many fantastic tools out there. I have achieved my lifelong learning goals, I challenged myself to learn new tools and revise old tools. I wouldn't have expected to walk away with so many new tools that I enjoy using like MakeBelieveComix and LibraryThing.

Thing 9 (LibraryThing, Booktagger, Google Books and eBooks) and Thing 17 (Creating Content) were my favourites and hence were the highlights of the program for me. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy the other tools (because I did) but for some reason I really 'clicked' with Thing 9 and 17.

I would definitely recommend this program. It has taught me a lot, and it has been interesting and fun along the way. It's a great opportunity for professional development. If another discovery program was offered in the future I would definitely join.

Thing 22: Mashups & Libraries

Mashups were really fun to look at and play around with. It's amazing what some people have created out there, I really liked looking at the creativity of the Libraryhack winners.

I had fun playing around with the Mashups. I liked Flickr Colour Pickr and Spell With Flickr. I spent some time making mosaics with Mosaic Maker which was fun. I created a mosaic of my overseas trips.

I think that mashups are just another opportunity for libraries to give a message in a fun way. Perhaps mashing up some content would help make students remember our services better? Or give them a clear idea of how everything is linked together? Maybe we could create a mashup of a library floor plan, showing students exactly where the social work area is etc.

I went to the VALA 2010 conference and I thought that video was awesome. It was very inspirational  and really set the tone of the conference at the time. I think that it makes a very valid point about the expectations of a new generation.

Thing 21: Mobile

I don't have a smartphone so I was a little restricted with this Thing. Although I read about it and looked at some of the mobile sites it would have been nice to have been able to use a smartphone and play around with some QR codes.

I definitely agree that it is really important to provide users with mobile accessible sites. It's becoming more and more common for our students to whip out a phone to look something up rather than jumping on a computer. I think that vendors who neglect to provide a mobile accessible webpage are really not looking at the expectations of the end user.

My local public library sends notifications of holds via SMS and I think it is a fantastic way to notify patrons, since not everyone checks their email regularly but almost everyone has a mobile and uses it frequently.

Thing 19 & 20: Twitter

I really feel that a week is definitely not long enough to really get a sense of Twitter. Plus it didn't help that the Twitter week coincided with my holiday to Dubbo and then directly followed a week when I was unwell. So the times that I should have been using and learning twitter, I was struggling for the time.

I agree with some of the other posts that its a nice way to get a short summary of what other libraries are doing. Since its not a tool that has really taken off among our students though I wonder how effective it is? My old workplace used to grapple with this question, especially since tweeting actually takes a bit of time (i.e. forming an idea, or finding a good link).

Did anyone else get a picture of the fail whale frequently with the message "Twitter is over capacity"? Grrrrr that was annoying. I checked out Google and so many users were complaining about it!

I don't think I'll continue tweeting much but I might log in from time to time to check out what other libraries are doing. I think perhaps Twitter's greatest value is in making other libraries aware of the great services ACU provides (after all, other libraries could send us potential new patrons) and in being able to compare what we are doing with what other libraries are offering.

By the way Kate thanks for trying to tweet while you were sick, I think its really impressive that you tweeted as often as you did given the circumstances.

Thing 18: Reflection Week

I think that I can confidently say that my skills have improved since embarking on the 23 Things challenge. I'm glad I've tackled these with an end goal in mind, because I think trying to look at the emerging technologies and trends without the direction and support that this program offers would have been overwhelming. Being compelled as part of my 23 Things schedule to experiment with and familiarise myself with these tools has been a great opportunity and I can see myself continuing on with some of them.

This program has covered everything that I wanted to know; I was really interested in LibraryThing so I'm really glad that it was one of the tools. I think if I were to suggest any tools to family or friends it would be LibraryThing since most of them are avid readers and could probably get a lot from it. I usually feel a little behind when it comes to the latest trends because I think sometimes the first challenge is in hearing about them. Since so many trends are through word of mouth, I feel that there are probably some other great tools out there that I just haven't heard of. This program has inspired me to more actively look for new tools.

What would I do differently? Good question. I think I will put myself on a schedule so that I don't keep finding myself behind. Otherwise I feel like I spend time on each 'Thing' and that I put the necessary thought and effort into learning and understanding it.