EDUCATION BLOG

Hello all! I hope you are enjoying your first week of Learning 2.0 @ SEMLS.

Many of you already know me from classes you've taken at SEMLS, but for those of you who haven't had a chance to make it to our office yet, I wanted to include a brief introduction here. As the Assistant Administrator for Technology at SEMLS, I assist libraries in integrating technology in their services. I also provide assistance and consultation for their online services. I love thinking of new ways libraries can use the Internet to reach out to their users and provide a sense of community in a virtual environment. As libraries try to find their place in the 21st century, I firmly believe we need to offer online services that are as interesting and easy to use as the Web sites our patrons and students are accustomed to using.

My interest in blogs, podcasts, wikis, and other Web 2.o applications goes back several years. However, I must admit I do a better job as a consumer of these resources than as a producer. Although I have my own blog at www.semls.org/tech/technews.html and am working on a new podcast for the SEMLS CE program, I find that I do not post as often as I should.

As part of this class, I am asking participants to post weekly to their blog. You can blog about your experience taking this class, your experiences with the Web 2.0 applications we will be exploring, or about some news item you find that is relevant to this class. Or, you can totally stray away from the Web 2.0 theme in your blog. Your blog is your own personal publishing space on the Web. If you have just been waiting to find some venue to share your thoughts on a particular topic, go ahead and blog about it.

The point of this assignment is to help you transition from a consumer of online content to a publisher. You are more likely to make this transition if you are free to write about the things you love the most.

In my case, I will be blogging over the next seven weeks about my first experience leading an online class. At a minimum, I resolve to blog weekly along with the participants of the class.

On a final note, I would like to reflect on my positive experience with the Internet. One thing I have loved about the Internet is the way it allows me to maintain connection with friends I have made through various stages of my life. I was never very good about writing letters or keeping phone contact with friends, and the Web has allowed me to connect and re-connect with friends I haven't seen in years or who live as far away as Venezuela. Initially, e-mail was an easy way to maintain these connections, but I soon found that I wasn't keeping up with e-mail as much as I would like. But social networking apps, like my personal blog, Flickr, and Facebook, have made it much easier to keep in touch with people. I have often heard people worry that the Internet leads to fewer face-to-face social relationships, but, in my case, I've found it has helped me maintain relationships that I may otherwise have let fall by the wayside.