Web 2.0: Where Education Has Me Quaking in my Boots

As the director of a rural public library, I am frequently asked to share or present information to groups in the form of reports, marketing tools, invitations and announcements. As a student in the EDES 501 class at the University of Alberta (the only non-teacher in the class, I may add), I have been presented with the task of exploring Web 2.0 tools to discover how they would fit into the realm of my professional life. As a glacial adopter of technology, I go forth in terror.

Selecting My Web 2.0 Arsenal:

You are all familiar with Web 2.0 tools. You have quite possibly stumbled across this blog while searching for information related to Web 2.0 tools. If not, you are probably my mom. My point is, Web 2.0 tools are common; everyone seems to use them, nobody seems to fear them. Except me, that is. I am the one remaining person in my family (save my 90 year old grandmother) who does not own a home computer. I also do not own a hand held device (except a mixer but I’m told that’s not a Web 2.0 tool).

I have been told that to fulfill the requirements of this particular course, I need to set aside my fear and explore at least six Web 2.0 tools. That means that over the next several weeks, I will be posting my experiences here, sharing what I have learned, things you probably already know, and giving the general public the opportunity to point and laugh at me. It’s kind of like 7^th grade all over again. Only now I have wrinkles.

Since I have no plan to head out and buy a computer or a smart phone for personal use, I have decided that all six of the tools I explore will be for use at work (although some may spill over into my personal life and all will be applicable as professional development). As I stated above, I am a librarian, so my focus will be on how to use these six tools in a public library environment.

My tools (or my arsenal, as I have been calling them) will include:

1.       QR codes

2.       Twitter

3.       Facebook

4.       Prezi

5.       Glogs

6.       Survey tools

I will explore one per week starting with my first post on Sunday, October 17^th with the exception of survey tools which I plan to take two weeks to explore in hopes of having some usable returns on an actual survey I will produce. I plan to post a link on this blog so if you have stumbled across it, please feel free to take the survey (or come back. It will be posted late in November).

I say that I am coming to you in terror, but that is not entirely true. I do use Facebook and Twitter. I have tried (and failed at) glogs, QR codes and survey tools, which has done wonders for my self-esteem. Prezi remains the one tool that I have absolutely no experience in. I do, however, think I may need to take a lot of gravol in order to get through learning Prezi. All six tools, however, do offer an opportunity to learn how to use them in a public library setting, taking into consideration literacy levels of patrons, appeal to patrons and considering audiences other than patrons.

I am a busy person (like you are) so I hope these tools will serve in some way to make my life, and my presentation of information to patrons, board members, stakeholders and the like, easier and faster. I am a proud member of the public library community and feel public libraries should be on the cutting edge of making information and technology available to the public, so I certainly embrace this opportunity to develop professionally and share what I learn with those of you who have stumbled to this blog.

As I am learning, I am also reporting to two instructors at the University of Alberta. Joanne de Groot and Jennifer Branch will be assessing my progress and will also be reading a different version of my blog; more of an academic look at my learning.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I hope some of you will be holding pompoms and cheering me on.