Thoughts about 23 Things

Thing 23 is a "reflection paper," as a middle school teacher might say.

I don't think much as changed about how I think about 2.0, since I use many of the tools or have researched them before. But for a newcomer, I think the 23 Things is a great environment in which to learn what the heck delicious really is.

If 23 Things were starting today, I think there would be more of the LinkedIn/Facebook kind of thing, some Twitter. The nature of Web 2.0 is that it is ever-changing, ever-evolving, and there's always something new.

I enjoyed the photo thing most. I like tinkering, and creating a gadget for this blog was fun. I didn't have too many pictures to work with (see, still behind in getting the photos in Flickr), but I just might do that holiday card using an online service.

I talked with other staff members about their experiences with 23 Things, and it did seem like everyone was learning something. And that's what's important.

eBooks, etc.

The debate when I was in library school was access vs. ownership. We've moved way beyond that now. Seems that very smart people have made many resources available online in some form (free, not free, searchable, enhanced). I love that we have come this far.

But what about holding it in your hand? Sometimes, getting the information is more important than feeling it. A print book is not searchable. Flip side: what about browsing the shelves for information discovery? Not quite the same when you have an eBook.

I'd heard of NetLibrary, from OCLC, but haven't used it (to my recent recollection). Gary Price is a huge proponent of using the resources of your local public library...many of which are available through the library's website. Logging in with your library card account information may provide access to databases that you thought you could only access from the library itself. You can't always get to the library, but it's more likely you can get to a computer.

In the "how to use NetLibrary" demo, I noticed that the interface was similar to that of ebrary, with which I am familiar. Hope it works better than that one, and it seems to. It is possible to add your own notes, use a dictionary or thesaurus, search, and navigate page by page (or to a particular page).

My own public library has access to NetLibrary. So glad to see that. According to the instructions, I can read, but not download the material in e-books. Audio books can be downloaded. They also offer ebooks, etc., through other databases; OverDrive, LearningExpress Library, and Gale are other sources.

There are a lot of mysteries in the e-audio collection through my library (over 500 choices). I can browse by category, search, or see the whole list (about 2,200 total). Maybe I could download to listen to while driving (maybe I'll get that iPod for Christmas). In the e-books tab, there are over 53,000 books available! I'm sure I won't have a need or interest in most, but there are plenty of cookbooks in there! I'm impressed. So easy...but you have to know it's there.

Sound check

Podcasting. I get it, but it seems so "out there" sometimes. I'd almost rather read about something (or a read a magazine column, for example) or watch a video than just listen to it. Maybe I don't spend enough time in my car.

I'm aware of EveryZing (was Podzinger), so wanted to look at a few different tools mentioned in 23 Things.

Odeo is audio and video (and ads, by the way), which just seconds my feelings about video being more of interest. Apparently, Disneyland has regular podcasts! I did listen to the NPR food podcast (from the "Hobbies" category). Odeo makes it easy to embed podcasts into your site or blog, and make a playlist for yourself (once you log in). The search works pretty well. Once you get your results, you can just view results from a certain category. I like how those two functions work together.

Podshow has changed to Mevio. Seems there's a lot more going on than with Odeo. It's "your personal TV, music, and radio network." The content seems to be organized by channels and shows. "TV" is right. Pretty in-your-face.

I wonder if there is anything that I do that is podcastable. That makes sense...not just for podcast's sake? Some Information Center Connection posts? But does anyone really want to listen to my voice?

Video killed the radio star

Who knew there were so many video sharing sites? And, another question: Does Google own everything?

Since I'm familiar with YouTube, I decided to check out another one of the video sites mentioned on 23 Things. I chose VideoJug, which specializes in how-to. What was on the front page when I arrived? How about, for a few: Infidelity Basics, How to Change Your Air Filter (actually useful! over 26,000 people have viewed the 6 minute video), How to Deal with a Hangover, and Alternate Accomodations (can't tell from the title if that goes along with item number one or not). And there are discussions and competitions. Oh, right, this is 2.0. I forgot.

I have enjoyed several of the Common Craft videos (59 at last count) that are posted in YouTube. Quick overviews on different topics ("explanations in plain English"). Might be worth a look if you need to find out fast what one of these 2.0 applications does (but, with 23 Things, you know that already) or as a resource for someone asking you that question.

Awards and lists

I love lists. Lists of awards especially.

Because it's the end of the year, there have been many "best of" lists to close out 2008.

Here are a few book lists:

New York Times:
10 Best Books of 2008
100 Notable Books of 2008
Book critics' favorites for 2008

National Public Radio:
Booksellers' top books for 2008
Best Books of 2008

Time Magazine:
Top 10 Everything


Anyway, the SEOmoz top Web 2.0 applications is a great list to explore (Thing 19). I use lists like this to find content for my column...the best of the best. There are several sites mentioned on the list, updated in May, that I've put in my column.

Regarding the "start page" category: I'm curious to use a start page like Pageflakes or Netvibes to collect in one place blog feeds, weather, news. Better than going to my bookmarks to open up Bloglines, the SLA homepage, Typepad for work blogging. I know Phil Bradley likes Pageflakes, but also has used Netvibes to organize the information he has coming to him. (Check out his I want to blog, on which he writes about all sorts of tools to, well, do stuff (and GTD).)

Productivity. Procrastination.

In my mind, they are related. Not always, but sometimes. I think feeling overwhelmed can certainly lead to procrastination.

Is it really possible to multi-task? I've read that it isn't...you can truly only do one thing at time, and if you overlap too much, the work and results suffer. So what's the point? Focus is important.

I wrote a blog post about this back in July. E-mail can really get out of hand, and slow us down.

In my January/February Information Outlook column (not yet published), I included the site 43 Folders. What started as a site about productivity has evolved into one that helps you find the "time and attention to do your best creative work." It's all related. You have to organize yourself.

One of the productivity sites mentioned on the 23 Things site I've already written about in my column (November). Lifehacker directs you to the technologies that can help you work better and more efficiently. I also like the Get-It-Done-Guy, Stever Robbins, whose blog (Work Less and Do More) I read. Here's an article from Scientific American (November 26th) on procrastination. Maybe now I don't feel so bad!

That there's an acronym for this stuff...GTD...is amazing. (I guess it's really an initialism.) I think it shows we are all trying and striving to do better. We are all busy and harried and overwhelmed.

But maybe the solution isn't getting things done...it's just doing less.

Speaking of getting things done...Thing 18 is done.

Edit-Write-Save-Repeat

That's how to populate a wiki. Pretty simple.

I reviewed the slides on Organizational Wiki Adoption.

Great work uses:

• blogs...internal, all housed in one place
• staff lists...you could have contact info, but expand to what everyone does, what their knowledge is, how long with the organization
• personal space
• calendaring...well, we have the Outlook calendar, but I guess you could jump in with that
• charts...here's a good place to put company info and intelligence

According to the presentation, the top four wiki enemies are:

• intranets...you don't really hear much about them anymore, but I don't think they've disappeared
• knowledge management...I think they mean KM software, not the practice itself. Shifting that content to a wiki opens it up
• email...where does all the information communicated go? In sent-mail folders and, if a person's organized, subject folders...that are not shared.
• share drives

Wikis need a champion and support. It would be hard to undo certain ingrained practices and years-long investments.

As requested for Thing 17, I created a wiki page in the wiki sandbox. That was fun.