The end of 23 Things - for now.

Well here I am at the end of 23 Things, and it's a great feeling. I've enjoyed this project immensely.
The most fun part for me was starting to blog. This has opened up a fantastic way to express my stuff in a way that retains the discipline of writing to an audience. My blog life will definitely expand to encompass wider content from now on. It's a really immediate creative tool that has the added benefit of feedback from friends, peers and strangers.

(I've just been drinking coffee, thinking about the Singularity again and having delusions of grandeur about becoming a maths geek. When will I fit that in, what with the Library Degree and the Literature Degree...?)

How could I draw on what I have learned in 23 Things to help me in my work? Well, I feel more at home on the Web now, so when I study again, I know what parts of Web technology I'm drawn to now, such as design.

Also, I've found that amongst friends, it's really important being a library technician, to know about Web 2.0 and Library 2.0, because people are interested to hear what is developing and if a library technician can't explain some of this, who can? Students are using these technologies and I feel empowered to be able to at least relate to the networking tools they are using. It is great to love my work, but it's also great to be current in my skills, technologically and culturally. (Keeping in mind that whatever the technology, the message is the message now...)

How could the Library use the technologies featured in 23 Things to improve its service?
Well, the Library's Blog has been a great way to keep students up to date and informed. RSS feeds could be incorporated in the Library's services in some way - maybe under subject headings for industry-related Web pages.
The whole idea of natural-language tagging of items in the library interests me - and the idea of students being able to post reviews of books read for their peers to refer to. From playing with iGoogle, the whole of idea of customising one's own search page is great. Perhaps each student could have their own personalised space fully customised within the University's Web environment in the future. And podcasting would be a great training tool.

How do I think the 23 Things program could be improved in the future? I'm not really sure, the difficulty of tasks really varied but that's OK. I guess we're all just wondering whether another 23 Things have already emerged since we started this project. Probably: maybe we'll have to do this every year! What I really liked was that all the staff at my library totally helped each other with this project. The generosity of spirit shown was fantastic. It's been really great to share new skills. The other wonderful thing that has happened is the real increase in morale and camaraderie amongst staff as we have learned about each others' interests and hobbies through blogging.

Do I think I'll keep blogging or using any of the other tools I learned about? Yes! And I'm really interested in what's next.


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