Between the Lines

Tweet, Tweet...

Honoré here: In my April 27 post, I wrote about  Steve Leveen's blog post on the ubiquitous 3 x 5 index card. Kathy and I are allegedly using the 21st Century version of the 3 x 5 card: Twitter. 

Perhaps you've heard of Twitter and tweets - short, 140 character posts that chronicle such mundane things as what you're doing or thinking or, or, or ... at any given moment in time. Twitter's hot these days - all sorts of people, including Oprah, Ellen deGeneres, President Obama, tweet. Local radio and tv news stations, newspapers, use Twitter to instantly communicate and update their readers  on a certain topic or event.  A quick Google search identifies different ways Twitter [and similar other social networking sites such as Yammer, Facebook ] are used. This research study from PewResearch: "Twitterpated: Mobile Americans Increasingly Take to Tweeting" gives a recent [Dec 2008] overview. 

It does not surprise me that libraries of all ilk, from the Library of Congress to the smallest of rural libraries, use Twitter. The TwitterLeague  lists libraries on Twitter ranked by the Twitter follower counts. Click on any of the libraries - I found that right clicking to open up a new window worked best - to see how libraries currently in the league are using Twitter. The New York Public Library uses Twitter to draw attention to the many services, programs and resources that support any individual's personal learning quest  and especially to draw attention to how valuable and viable the public library is, especially in these t o u g h economic times.

To get back to the subject - why are Kathy and I tweeting? Ostensibly for an online scrapbooking class we're taking - the subject is on writing/journaling (apparently many scrapbookers experience writer's block - though that isn't our problem, we're both quite comfortable with writing and words. We're taking the class because we enjoy the facilitator, read her blog and learn a lot from her classes. ..in short, we're headed down another learning path...) I suspect that we'll add tweets to this blog ~ just as soon as we both get a little more comfortable with the medium. In the meantime, stay tuned. Tweet. Tweet.

Cheers~

My Personal Introduction to the Internet and World Wide Web

Honoré here:  In early April, Annie shared with us a report*:   2009 Horizon Report: The K12 Edition - the web version.   I quickly scanned the Table of Contents - liked so much that it was right there, up top in prime real estate or as it's called in web parlance - above the fold section of the computer screen. Chapter 11: Four to Five Years: The Personal Web immediately caught my attention. Not only was I interested in today's web 2.0  tools: blogs, tweets, personal videos and photos that one sees on YouTube or Flickr, nings  - social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace, I was taken back to the beginning of my web/Internet learning journey, circa 1997.

Then, we were still in the land of DOS; monitor screens were black with yellow or orange text. Boring! Email was all the rage and Netscape - the premiere Internet browser  - was in its infancy, destined to revolutionize the way people used computers, accessed and viewed information. Truly, the world became small.  Even though I was a public library branch manager and worked a lot on the information desk, we didn't have computers outfitted with the Internet and actually, very few people in the system had any experience or training...but, we were warned that wasn't always going to be the case.

I recall my curiosity was piqued with it all and, I must admit, perhaps I was a  little (lot?) intimidated. So, what does one do? Well, in my situation, I turned to my trusty resource: books. I scoured the library's then meager collection and bookstores. I looked for titles that would  help me unravel the mystery of how this thing called the Internet and www - the world wide web - would play out, not only in my work/professional life but also, and most importantly, my personal life. And I discovered Paul Gilster: a writer who specializes in computers and technology. I'm not sure if  the first title I read  was Finding It On the Internet  or the Web Navigator  - unfortunately, I didn't keep a journal or reading log way back then - or if I did, I've long since lost my notes. I do recall two things though: 1 - I read all the titles he'd written at the time, 3 or 4; and 2 -  he shared with us not only the technical stuff and jargon but more importantly, how he used the Internet/web tools to create his own personal web resources and experiences. In short, he shared the process with us, his readers, in a very conversational and informational style.  The outcome:  I could envision myself using the Internet and surfing the web; I no longer was intimidated but empowered to embrace this new phenomenon and began to explore and experiment more.

Today, I'm perfectly comfortable with embracing - trying out - these new web tools, not every one because they don't all appeal to me - but I do look into them so that I'll have a better understanding and I can grow my own knowledge. I am really awed and inspired by the Internet and the web 2.0 tools - they do bring the world closer and make it so much smaller  while at the same time, infinitely expand our horizons and current and potential learning journeys. What a glorious world. BTW: I also keep better track of what I read and my learning paths.

Cheers~

*PS. Even though the report is targeted to teachers, I think it's a great read for us all...

Let's be weird together

Kathy here: Phase III of the DLLJ is underway!  And, it centers on monthly meetings after the formal program presentation.

Readers bring one or two titles to each meeting to share with the group. This exercise offers up new reading choices, of course. But, it also gives us a chance to examine the road we were traveling for the previous 4 weeks...yet another way to be intentional...perhaps to find meaning...in our reading. 

Or not.

I say this neither Annie or I brought books to this first meeting that made us stand up and shout "HURRAY!  Read this!" And, that is perfectly okay, right? Yes! We continued to have a spirited conversation with our attendees about topics ranging from poetry to historical fiction to scientific processes. The best part was the ease with which each freely described how these topics were woven around and through their life-long reading/learning.

There was a new visitor with us. Following a short-and-sweet version of the  program before the meeting, she shared her preferred method of tracking her learning. She keeps her books piled by topic, full of Post-it notes. The piles - situated in physical relations to one another - enable her to visually cross topics over when the mood strikes.

At the conclusion of our time this month, she commented, "I thought I was weird until I heard what you all have said. This is so great." I couldn't have said it better myself.