# 23 Summary

My learning experience ranged from sheer torture to great interest. The most difficult were the more technical subjects like tagging and productivity applications. Some were just boring, like the creepy avatars. But I really enjoyed Librarything and Biblio. The most fascinating was Project Gutenberg. How exciting that they are trying to preserve literature in many languages, such as Yiddish. And I hope that is an important part of this new technology: how to make information and literature available now and to future generations. I was very encouraged by Dr. Wendy Schultz's article on the future of libraries, when she describes libraries as not just collections of documents and books but "they are conversations, they are convocations of people, ideas, and artifacts in dynamic exchange. Libraries are not merely in communities: they are communities: they preserve and promote community memories; they provide mentors not only for the exploration of stored memory, but also for the creation of new artifacts of memory..."

# 22 Audiobooks

I'm a big fan of audiobooks and always have one to listen to in my car. I think it's great to have more access to them through Overdrive and Netlibrary. I especially enjoyed learning about Project Gutenberg.

# 21 Podcasts

Podcasting is like do-it-yourself radio that you can tailor to your own taste and schedule. I can see applications for libraries with booktalks and children's stories. I like the fact that you can use an MP3 player for portability and you are not tied to a computer. I just don't enjoy sitting still for very long at a computer and prefer to be moving around.

# 20 YouTube

It was interesting to see videos of hurricane Dean from the Carribean. It sure takes up a lot of time and seems kind of random as to what you find. Some of the comments about the videos are pretty harsh and mean-spirited. The safety tips about protecting your privacy are good to know, but also a concern.

#14 Technorati

I explored Technorati, could not find what I was looking for. I still do not get tagging.

#13 Del.icio.us

Now I'm getting really confused. This tagging is way too much technical jargon for me.

#9 News Feeds

Interesting to see, but I get more than enough news from other sources.