XXII

Looking back on my first few entries in this blog, I know that my mindset at the time was a bit reticent.  Mind you, my reticence wasn't solely in regard to taking on the tasks of the blog; it was mostly due to my pre-existing condition of overall reluctance to embrace many aspects of the Web 2.0 world in my own personal life.  Ignorance was bliss, and I had survived just fine on my own without exploring and expanding my knowledge base into the current plethora of tools available out there.

I think the key word when describing Web 2.0 is "options", but a close second would go to "selective."  Prior to exploring 2.0, I simply felt overwhelmed and honestly didn't really care about learning what exactly "deli.cio.us," "RSS," or "mashups" were.  I thought that I had no use for these things, so learning about them would be a waste of time.  While I still might be hesitant to use many of the tools I learned about through the course of the 23 Things blog, there are a few that I found really useful -- which leads back to the words "options" and "selective." Yes, there are an exhaustive number of options out there, but being selective and knowing what is the most useful for your own purposes is really the point of Web 2.0.  The secret is possessing at least a vague knowledge or awareness of many of the tools out there so that when they come up in conversation you don't completely feel out of the loop.  And therein lies the key: simply check things out to see how the function, weigh the usefulness of the tool for your own purposes, and, if nothing else, you at least come away with a base knowledge so you won't feel like the last to join the conversation!

The main tools I've discovered that I know I will employ are: Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Delicious.  I like organization, and each of these resources make organization incredibly easy!  The tools I had previously used or was aware of but gained a greater appreciation for are: Flickr, YouTube, image generators, chat/instant messaging, wikis, podcasting, and Facebook.  So, as you can see, I learned a lot!  I look forward to continuing through my Library Science course work and being able to apply the knowledge gained in this course and through my blog in the future.  I know I can go about this without the insecurities and hesitations I've previously felt.