My thoughts on 23 Things

I am very glad I've done this programme, and also that finally I can have a break from it! Doing it largely in my own time, during a few months which have been very busy and very stressful, have made it a bit of an ordeal, and there have been times when I thought I was going to be prevented from finishing on time, just by unfortunate events.
So I actually feel that it's a small, but significant, achievement.

Looking back, I realise I knew so little about web 2.0 before I started. Well, let's be honest, I didn't even know what it meant, though of course I knew some of its aspects without that label. There was a lot to learn, therefore, and I have! Not only have I gleaned practical knowledge about using the technology (and isn't it great that there are so many programmes free on the net!), but I have also gained insight into how it can be (and is) used by libraries in various ways.

My favourite thing just has to be actually blogging. And my least favourite? Twitter, closely followed by LinkedIn and such networking tools. It's fine if that's what you want to do, but I don't. Because of time constraints I haven't really done many of the 'other things', which I regret - but will perhaps be able to catch up on this at a later date.

Reading the blogs of others doing 23 Things has proved fascinating, and an inspiration in that so many people have uploaded such marvellous photos etc. There is clearly so much I could do if I wanted to get into this kind of thing properly. One day, maybe.

I've had a few ideas about how we could potentially use web 2.0 in our department, but whether that will become a reality remains to be seen.

Using widget to show delicious bookmarks. Or not.

Success! After yesterday's problems, I was about to try to add my bookmarks using a different widget when I remembered that the other possible factor was my user name - I hadn't been quite sure how much of it was required (I'll spare you the boring details). As soon as I typed in the version I'd not tried yesterday, lo and behold, all my bookmarks popped into their box on my igoogle page. Most satisfactory - it even inspired me to have a brief look at my chosen sites. I couldn't believe it had been that simple in the end.
And I quite like the idea of igoogle as my home page, but I would really have to make it work for me and not let it become a distraction.

Blogger Gadget

Well, this was a palaver for not much of a result - all my own incompetence, I hasten to add. First, I mistook my yahoo log in for my yahoo user name, and couldn't work out why it wouldn't work. Then it still wouldn't work until I saved it. Then it did work. Sort of. Only one photo has appeared, which is less than a stream, I would say. Admittedly my photos are very few and not really worth exhibitng anyway, but three or four would have been a small stream...
However, having said that, this device is clearly very simple to use, and the basic task has been successfully completed.

ThinkFree Office

This seems quite good, though harder to use than googledocs. I was very disconcerted by the time it took to access, and to download the Java thing, but perhaps this was because I chose to do this at a time when the network was overloaded. I was also surprised that I had to repeat the Java bit the next time as well. That done, however, I finally got to play around and especially liked the way I could add a table. This would be good for when I make up rotas. The idea of being able to work in this off-line is excellent; my home internet link is sooooooooooooooo expensive.