Thing #22: Staying Current

AND WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

This penultimate Thing begins, "We hope you have learned many new things during 23 Things."

Yes, I certainly have.  I am now much, much more familiar with many of the websites and web tools I have been hearing about, and I have learned of the existence of quite a few I'd never even heard of before.

I feel that I am much more current with lots of the online technology that library patrons are using.  I've learned quite a bit that is interesting and several things that promise to be of real value to me personally and professionally in the near future.

BEGGING TO DIFFER

All this is very much to the good.  However, I must disagree in the strongest possible terms with the assertion, found at the beginning of the second opening paragraph of this Thing:

"Here are some of the other things we hope you have learned: It really doesn't take that much time."

This statement is misleading.  Blatantly so.  There.  I have said it.  The participants in 23 Things were deliberately misled.  Our participation was solicited on the repeated assertion that it would not be a time-consuming endeavor.

Helene Blowers spoke at the Annual NEFLIN Conference of taking 15 minutes a day to acquaint oneself with new tools online.  The NEFLIN blogpost on Thing #22 echoes that sentiment: "Make a resolution to maintain your blog, use the tools you now know. . . .  Give yourself the gift of time--15 minutes a day. . . ."

THE GIFT OF TIME

Management strongly encouraged staff to participate.  In many instances, staff were granted two hours of work time per week to participate.  It wasn't enough.

I have heard many, many colleagues expressing great anxiety over the amount of time they were finding they needed to put into 23 Things.  It was far, far more than they had been led to expect.

A huge percentage of participants fell behind.  Some were afraid to admit it or ask for more time.  Many staff worked on 23 Things covertly over an above their two-hours-per week limit.  Others of us worked on 23 Things almost exclusively on our own time, at home.

I heard some of the most conscientious employees I know admit to "cheating."  When I asked for a definition, a couple said they were blogging that they had completed Things they'd really only glanced at.

Most said they were "doing the bare minimum," which they felt was far less than what they wanted to be doing as well as less than was expected.  They wanted to do better.  They just didn't have time.

And they weren't necessarily owning up to any of this in their blogs.  They felt that if they did not maintain a front, they would be penalized.

I FEEL A GREAT DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE

Why do people tell me this stuff?  I'm practically management.  You'd think they'd be more careful what they said around me.  I found all these confessions profoundly disturbing.

I helped everybody I could, troubleshooting technical problems, for example.  I tried to reassure people who were freaking out that we're all in the same boat.  A lot of this is new to most of us.  We're not being required to master the material, just shake hands with it and say hi.  We'll all just do the best we can.  And so on.

I also pointed out that NEFLIN was building in extra catch-up weeks and ACLD had decided to extend our in-house deadline for completion.  (NEFLIN and ACLD management are to be commended for these decisions.  They helped.)

WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

One of the reasons I'm so deeply introverted is because I'm reasonably observant about and fairly responsive to the moods of others.

I have to tell you these last couple of months it's been pretty hard being in such close proximity to so many people who were feeling this pressured, unhappy, and frantic.

While I think anxiety levels have dropped somewhat over the last few weeks as more people have become comfortable owning up to how hard they have been struggling, we could have headed a lot of this off at the start by being honest about the time commitment participating in 23 Things would entail.

23 Things is the equivalent of an intensive college level survey course, but it was presented to us as though it were going to be a fun little community ed outing.

We agreed to participate, but we didn't know what we were getting into.  There is such a thing as informed consent.

I don't think anybody enjoys being misled.

Reading "We hope you have learned[ i]t really doesn't take that much time" in the 23 Things @ NEFLIN blog just makes me want to gore somebody through the vitals and then trample them with all four cloven hooves.

AND ANOTHER THING

Here's something else we could have done better: craft each Thing to take about the same amount of time to complete.

I've said this before.  It's difficult to plan when ostensibly like units (the Things) require wildly varying time-chunks to finish.

There's no excuse for such unpredictability.

Here's how I would have divided the first eight Things:

Thing #1:  Set up Blog and Register.  Leave it as is.  There's no way to pare it down, really.  It's all of a piece.  However, I'd allow participants two weeks to complete it.

Thing #2:  What Is Web 2.0.  Cut down the many articles to, say, two.  They contain a lot of useful information and compelling opinions, but reading them and then blogging about them took a long time.

If it's really that important that we read them all, divide this Thing into three or four.  Give participants one week to complete each.

Thing #3: Blog Search Engines.  Choose one.  List others as possibilities to explore on one's own, but don't require exploration of a second blog search engine.  Keep the focus tight.  Give participants one week to complete.

Thing #4: RSS and Newsreaders.  Choose one aggregator and present it only.  Tighten the scope of this Thing.  Ask participants to sign up for two feeds and give them a choice of about 8 library-related feeds.  End of story.

Mention the other aggregator and other possible feeds as extracurricular, on-your-own-time possibilities.

The idea here is to allow participants to complete the assignment swiftly and efficiently, then tempt them back to add more feeds to their aggregator on their own time.

Thing #5: Flickr.  This assignment had the right idea, giving participants options.  We only had to complete one option, not both.  Still the assignment took quite a while to complete.  Participants should be allowed at least a week.

Thing #6: Flickr Mashups.  Too many choices.  I found this one of the most enjoyable Things, but the 23 Things organizers need to choose a handful of mashups and instruct participants to explore those, choose one, and create a mashup.

The wealth of other mashup types should be presented as possibilities for playing with off the clock.

Key points: clearly defined assignment, tight scope, quick completion, opportunities for further exploration.

Thing #7: Online Image Generators.  Choose one websites.  (I suggest Big Huge Labs.)  Select half a dozen from which participants can choose.  The many others should be put forward as fun stuff to do if and when time permits--after the assignment is completed.

Better yet, divide this Thing up into lots of different Things.  I saw so many possibilities for generating Library-related publicity and P.R.

One could do an entire survey course on online image generators alone.  Because these are so quick and fun, participants could probably complete two or even three per week.

Thing #8: Communication--Web 2.0 Style.  This was three Things plain and simple.  Disguised as one, but still three separate things.  Come clean.  Break it into three.  One week to complete each.

I trust one catches my drift.

BACK ON TASK

Okay, where was I?  Now that I have returned from my tangent--and I'm not sorry I went off--I see that Thing #22 asks us to look back on our first Thing and reflect on how far we've come.

Yes, I can see I have come a long way.  I have discovered tools that I will continue to use.  Bubblr and some of the other Flickr mashup and online image generators were a blast.  I really like my cute little customized iGoogle page.  Rollyo was just too cool.

Slideshare, Zoho Show, Flicks, podcasting and YouTube hold immediate possibilities for library work.  I'll keep using PBwiki, of course.  Del.icio.us and Lazybase look interesting, too.

Bloglines, Technorati, and Google Blog Search may be something I can use.  Ditto with Digg.  I'm sure Webjunction and web conferencing will be in my future.  I might even join Bengal Cats Place on Ning.

Google Calendar and the Ta Da List could be useful.  I think I'll probably be checking in with LibraryThing, GoodReads, BookTrails, Overbooked, Librivox and BookBrowse from time to time.

I'll probably bail out of Facebook as soon as I decently can.  Days after joining, I log on and all I see is a chaotic mess of commentary.

Is it directed at me personally (like a note left on my desk) or a more general announcement to the world at large (like a graffito on a wall)?  Am I supposed to respond to it?  It's cacophanous and confusing.  Are people just talking to themselves?  I don't get it!

And I can only say I find both text messaging and IM about as exciting as eating a piece of chalk.

ADDING A FEW MORE FEEDS

On NEFLIN's recommendation, I added Librarian In Black and Dangerously Irrelevant to my Bloglines account.  They both look pretty dense and intensive.  I'll try them for a while and see if I can keep up.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

I plan to keep up with Web 2.0 by trying to hang on to what I've learned and use it every chance I can.  Work it into my personal life.  Find ways to incorporate it into projects at work.

I'd also like to make time to go back and explore further some of the tools I discovered along my techgnostic journey through 23 Things.

I also plan to be bolder about trying out new things.  Web 2.0 is trying very hard to be easy and intuititve.  (You know, the old Apple model that was pooh-poohed by Microsoft for years until they finally got it and started imitating Apple.)

Because they are more efficient, ergonomically designed things get used more.  This goes for web tools as well as hand tools.

I'll try to put some time in each week trying out new tools--although it will almost certainly have to be in chunks longer than the prescribed 15 minutes.

I do feel motivated.  Having come this far, I want to keep going--although not at the breakneck, artificially accelerated pace of 23 Things.  Once I complete the final Thing, I look forward to setting my own pace and proceeding with all deliberate speed.