Thing 2

After reading "The Ongoing Web Revolution," the Blyberg post, watching the Abram video, and having spent a year-and-a-half in library school being banged over the head with information about "Library 2.0", I, sadly, am still not really sure where I stand. My favorite part of the Blyberg post was reading the comments and seeing some of the different ideas/sides (some of the people got pretty worked up!) that are developing on this topic. In "The Ongoing Web Revolution" the formula for what could be considered Library 2.0 is defined as "(books 'n stuff + people + radical trust) x participation." This concept of "Radical Trust" is really important. Librarians are taught from the very beginning to value authoritative information; user-provided information/content thus conflicts drastically with this value.
Abram commented on the importance of a "23 Things" program in order to build an understanding of Web 2.0-type applications on the basis of personal experience. I totally agree with this idea and, in fact, I kind of undertook a mini-program of my own between semesters last summer. First I decided that it was high time that I figure out what this MySpace/Facebook stuff was all about so I made a page, though I can't say as I keep up with it all that much. Likewise, I experimented by creating a wiki that I use as a personal reading log and reference tool "tool box." I also messed around with LibraryThing (my favorite Web 2.0 application, naturally) quite a bit. Unfortunately school and work got in the way of me pursuing my mini-program a whole lot more, but I feel fortunate to now get the chance to participate in "23 Things on a Stick." What's more, I'm lucky enough to work for an employer that encourages such skill and knowledge building to the point that I've been encouraged to work on the program during my off-desk time. So, "finding time" to do this stuff, like Abram commented on, isn't really much of a problem for me.
As far as what I'm looking forward to in the program, I recently got my first digital camera, so experimenting with Flickr should be fun. I also haven't really used Del.icio.us before, though I understand the concept, and think that I will probably be able to find some pretty practical uses for that.
That's all I've got for now, be back soon!

Thing 1

Well, that wasn't so bad. I'm a twenty-something-year-old guy who is, while not completely new to this stuff, not as computer/internet savvy as I ought to/would like to be. I'm attempting to rectify the situation, hence my participation in "23 Things on a Stick." I'm also currently taking a class called "Internet Fundamentals and Design" that touches on a lot of similar Web 2.0 issues that this program does. I guess I have done a little bit of blogging before but it has been more on the "commenting," rather than the "posting," side of the equasion. Setting up the blog was pretty painless, much like setting up an internet account, and it was fun deciding on a layout that suits my personal aesthetic. I also enjoyed creating my avatar (I had actually done something very similar to this before at the Simpson's Movie website) , though, I'm not thrilled with my outcome. I think they could stand to give a few more options as far as facial appearance and body shape go, and, despite the number of background and clothing options, I was unable to find something I really liked. Maybe I need to quit complaining and just mess around with it some more. In any case, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to export the avatar to my blog. Ultimately, I guess, it's so far so good with this stuff and my only advice to others would be that, while it may seem intimidating at first to someone not completely comfortable with computers, if you just dive in you'll find that this Web 2.0 stuff isn't so hard afterall.
Since starting this blog I have joined another blog with a fellow "23 Things on Sticks" participant. Our new blog is a place for us to voice our Minnesota sports-related opinions, such as why our favorite teams seem to be in a perpetual rebuilding mode. So I guess I'll be doing a lot of blogging in the next few months . . . looking forward to it!