Article: WEB 2.0/Library 2.0
WEB 2.0? First of all I had no idea what the hell WEB 2.0 was before I read this article! After reading it I am glad WEB 2.0 has come about because I can remember when the internet first came about. You'd click on a link or type in an address and 3 minutes later a blurry image would be on your screen. You'd enjoy that page for about 1 minute and then click for another page! Now the internet is so accessible and personal! Finding something takes seconds and running into something new that interests you seems almost scarry. I personally have got on the internet to do research baseball and ended up looking at the HOME AND GARDEN SITE. Its amazing how content is distributed and marketed. Again I started with baseball and ended up with HOME AND GARDEN. Under normal circumstances I would neer have been on the H&G site. Now its one of my bookmarks! This kind of random interactions is what a Library needs. Students now a days students get bombarded with media, action, and entertainment. Getting a child/student into the library with the intent to research or read one topic and expanding their interests, more virtual, educational and interactive entainment is what a library needs!
Article: Emerging Technologies....Public Library.....Models
Like the previous Article: WEB 2.0/Library 2.0, this article focuses on technology in libraries. Everything in this article makes sense. What I want to know is whats taking so long for these technologies to be implemented? It doesn't take a genius to see our library systems need reform. Unfortunately funding for libraries is lacking. At my school we don't even have a librarian and the library is closed most of the week! Its sad to see that we as a society/educators have legitimate and valuable ideas to connect with our students/children but are unable to implement them.
Article: Examining Social Software......
I personally am not a big fan of social sites. I prefer to spend my free time strengthening my relationships personal or professional by actually talking with them face to face or just being in their company. At 29 years old I have come to the realization that I am already out of the loop! As a teacher, ALL my students are in the loop. And to be a good, influential and enjoyable teacher I need to connect with my students. Now I'm not saying I'm going to go find all of my students facebook pages but I need to make more of an effort to use technology to connect with my students academically. I need to learn about their interest, make an educational connection and use technology to faclitate interactions within my class.
I can agree more when you talk about funding for libraries. At our school, not being able to have a fully operational library hurts, teachers need to schedule weeks ahead of time to gain access when the librarian is here. Another item I believe hurts, is technology is moving very fast and to keep up with it cost incrediable amounts of money.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with some of what you say about the social networking. I think if as an educator you want to connect with your students it has to be done in much the same manner as you would in a classroom. Educators are concerned about seeing pictures or comments of the personal lives of their students, students and educators should then just create a forum where students and educators can interact on a manner that encourages learning.
I so agree that social sites seem to be making communication less personal. It is much easier to text or facebook someone rather than to talk to them personally. I can remember as well years ago and having dial up connection and it would take FOREVER to load the page!
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about libraries and their lack of evolving to this 2.0 technology. We have educators who would like to utilize the library more, but it's tough when the library is still operating in a 1980's type of environment. I think many of the staff at libraries are older and less inclined to change their way of doing things. When people say library, it conjures up an idea of a stuffy, static type of place. Like you have mentioned there needs to be drastic reform with our libraries and some equity as well. It seems some areas have libraries with the new technology, while many others are still operating in the dark age due to lack of funding and community based collaboration.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your take on social networking. You and Gage know we get asked all the time if we have a Facebook account or MySpace account. I don't ever see myself using these sites as a tool to communicate with our students. You're right...we do need to keep up with the trends keep up with our students, but using social networking sites is where things can kind of get out of control because now the students think they're your friends and that teacher-student line can kind of get blurry for them. I'd much rather not even go there.
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