Thing 15...perspectives on Web2.0

I have read part of this...Away from Icebergs and Into a New World of Librarianship, and a few of the others. The section on Into a new World ...was interesting. It does make me chuckle a bit also, because it addresses librarians' using Web 2.0 and such tools as Instant Messaging, Weblogs, etc. For some time now some of our librarians have complained (some quite vociferously) about our Student Assistants use of just those tools, especially Instant Messaging, on the computers. When I have tried to explain that it is a new generation and that is what they have grown up with and that is how they communicate etc I think it has often fallen on deaf ears. Now the libarians are going to have to learn to use those programs themselves. Perhaps the Student Assistants can give them some pointers.

Yesterday (3/27) a number of support staff and students in our department began figuring out how to use the MYLO Personal Communicator that we are going to begin using at the Reference Desk, (and eventually in other departments?) to contact the floor assistants. For many of the students IM is nothing new, but some of us had never done it so we were experimenting with setting up the Google Talk account that we will share and practiced messaging back and forth. We were also discussing how this new system will work at the desk since we are changing it this coming Monday, with very little time to work out any of the bugs and to let all the desk staff know how to use it. So we all spent quite a while with that, which meant that I was unable to do much of anything with Web 2.0. But I figure that the MYLO and IM is hands-on and immediate technological training. I will continue with Learning 2.0 on my own, but obviously I will not be finishing by March 30. But I still intend to try and read the WIKI section today! (And I know how to do colors too...)