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...
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