It was long ago - way back in August of 2007 - that I created this space on the web as part of a 23 Things program we did at work. Back then, blogs seemed rather cutting edge to many of us. I'd experimented with LiveJournal (and had no more success making myself post regularly to it than I ever did with the diaries my mom gave me as a kid). Social media wasn't a topic then, not yet. Instead, we learned about blogs and posting pictures online and aggregating content.
Since then, TENN-SHARE, a library information resource sharing consortium in Tennessee has hosted a 23 Things-inspired program called Learn & Discover each summer since 2008. The archived program for the first three years is here: Learn&Discover. Alas, Ning started charging, and they moved the course to the organization's website this year, but you can still find what we learned about RSS, photos, digital audio books, music online, book & library tools, Twitter, social bookmarking, Google Labs, organizing, geolocation, wikis, managing your online identity, social media & libraries, planning a trip online, backing stuff up, creating presentations, philanthropy and more. I helped out with the 'Tennessee Stuff' lesson in Round 1 and the 'Social Media and Your Library" in Round 3. You're all welcome to visit the archived site - just keep in mind that we're not making any effort to update it, so there are likely broken links in places.
I've signed up for this rendition of 23 Things because there is always something new to learn and new perspectives to consider. I also love the international scope of this program, and look forward to the exposure to ideas from other countries and the chance to interact with library/information professional folks from a wide variety of places. One of the best things I did while I was studying for my Masters in Information Sciences was to travel with the University of North Carolina to Oxford for a short summer session to explore libraries in the UK.
Professionally, I'm a round peg in a square hole... trained for academic/digital librarianship (focus: history, language) working as a public library consultant, most specifically with public relations and statistics. While I'm working with great people and doing work that I consider important, I also want to keep in contact with folks doing other types of library/information work. Like so many librarians, I was drawn to the profession because I love to learn . . . and to keep learning. Besides, who knows what the future holds . . . or where it might lead.
Cheers!
Genny
