Give Yourself a Pat on the Back! May 2, 2007
Learning 2.0@ Mac is coming to the end (at least for me with this post) after a very interesting and enjoyable learning experience. I must say that I had a great time with the activities (well… most of the activities) and feel that the topics covered allowed the user to experience what that feature could do. I agree with Renu about the pace. Having a week plus additional time and help to finish your activity really made it easy to get things done.
Bravo to those who have finished all the activities, and for those who haven’t Don’t fret! (Audrie!!!) there is still time! That MP3 player is just out of reach, just think of all the music you can listen too!
A standing ovation to the ETG for a fab program and for opening the minds of the library staff to the world of 2.0 technology. You all did great work! You should be proud!
Firefox is hot! May 2, 2007
The final assignment by the ETG is to explore 
Firefox and add-ons. I installed Firefox (super easy to do!) and after exploring its features have changed over from Internet Explorer. I really like the ease of use, better protection and features that Firefox provides. I thought it was cool that you could change the theme of your browser! Had this activity not been assigned I probably wouldn’t have thought to check out other Internet browsers. I have always stuck with IE. So thanks!
We were also asked to download an add-on and with so many to choose from it was hard. I love the adblock! It works really well and was easy to download. No more pesky ads that slow down the web page! I’m new too the whole extension feature. I never really explored them or what is available and I was pleasantly surprised.
So thanks ETG for opening my eyes to other possiblities!
To Game or not to Game? May 1, 2007
The gaming demo was quite enjoyable. DDR is very fun and I have seen people who have memorized dances they have played it so much. It is also very cool to see how good the graphics on games are. It is amazing how far technology has come!
So the ETG asked us to explore different games that are of interest. I prefer the thinking/puzzle games and really like the popcap games site. A large variety of games are available (Many for free! The best kind!) and they do get addicting! I’m not a big fan of VR games, but I can definitely see the appeal!
The idea of gaming in libraries is really taking off. Just a simple search and up comes articles that focus not just on who is doing what, but why libraries should be considering gaming. Christy Branston a liaison librarian at University of Waterloo makes some valid points on what libraries should and need to be doing if they want to bring gaming into the library. Check out her article From Game Studies to Bibliographic Gaming or read about the upcoming ALA symposium on gaming, learning and libraries. I do notice that many of the libraries that have made games available are public libraries. They offer PS2, XBox and GameBoy with a limited selection of games. Few academic libraries seemed to have achieved what public libraries have (some may have and just weren’t listed), but this could be for a number of reasons including a need to sell the idea of gaming as a learning tool.
Gaming in libraries is a controversial issue and both sides make good points. Technology is the future, and all ages are playing games, why not take advantage of what has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Gaming is not just a trend, it is here to stay in some form or another.
The library community does seem to be catching on fast as seen by the many places that have gaming. It will be interesting to see how libraries will continue to adapt to the world of technology.
