#23 Summary and my thoughts

#Is this really the end?

Only if you want it to be and in some ways the answer from me would be yes, but in other areas I would continue on the journey.

Overall I have found the program to be enlighting , mind-boggling and exciting.

I particularly like the idea of a word-processor on the net - in Zoho.Librarything as a book club , Image generators and flickr for photos and images.

Some of the sites were difficult to load and I found this quite frustrating. Coming to grips with the terminology and what each thing did was confusing and I found some things did virtually the same thing . Rollyos, technorati, delicious, rss feeds, wikis can be similiar and unless you use the internet daily and have a lot of interests , found that these would not be used by me.

The program was a great introduction to the latest technology and what the kids are using and now I can understand a bit more of their lingo. We as librarians working with the public do need to be aware of the latest technology , even if we dont know how to use it, but know of its existence so that we seem knowledgeable to the public.

All lessons in this program give the impression that all these new tools will benefit us , not only in our profession, but in our own lives , and I feel that we need to be aware that these tools in the wrong hands , eg, morally corrupt people, have the potential to "invade our privacy" without us even being aware that we are being "cyberstalked" That to me is not enhancing anyone's life. Technology, like anything is great in moderation, but we need to have a balance and communicate with others in traditional ways - like socialising, talking face to face , writing letters, going to meetings - like humans are meant to.

This may come across as coming from an old fuddy duddy librarian , that I am not.

Just someone who is ready to embrace new things, but without having every one in space know what I am interested in, have been doing and like to do. I am not a negative thinker, but a realist and I can see how some of these new tools can be useful , and why we need to know about them, but I also think that the disadvantages should also be noted.

Libraries in the future will be information portals - whether it be in hard copy - book form- e-books , search engines, websites , wikis and blogs and we will have to provide an outlet for the public to access this information , but not at the expense of what libraries have portrayed all these years - a public spacewhere the community can explore and expand their knowledge and socialise with their peers.