Thing 22 Staying Current

"It really doesn’t take that much time." mmmmm I didn't feel that way. But it was absolutely worth it. I'd like to have a refresher about every 9 months of maybe the next 6 things! I bookmarked another library's Things that I thought looked interesting.

Going back to the beginning, blogs--I like blogs. I see blogs as a way to have real communication among people--the "among" is what makes blogs better than email or IM. You can post when you want and multiple people can read it and respond if they want. I think people take them more seriously than Facebook--or at least there seems to be more substance.

Blog search tools--don't see these as helpful personally or professionally. I can't believe I would be searching for a blog out of the blue.

RSS feeds and blog aggregators--I'm a fan and see use in the library and personally to keep up with all this stuff. Definitely like Google Reader over Bloglines since I can never seem to log in correctly with Bloglines (and that's the frustrating and time-consuming part of a lot of this--stupid stuff happening).

Flickr and Flickr mashups--yea! I use Flickr personally and professionally.
Online Image Generators--not a fan
Sharing--I'm using Slideshare in our new website
Delicious--the best "Thing"
Social Media--Digg, Reddit--don't get it
Wikis--I want to explore and use them more. I think they could be a good internal tool for information gathering and organizaton.
Library Thing--becoming too commercial (i've been stalked by one of their salesman) GoodReads and Shelfari are just as good.
Online Productivity Tools--I'll continue to keep current in this area. I know there are tons of these but I like to wait for the Top Ten lists to get ones that have been time-tested and are sustainable.
Rollyo--don't think it's particularly stable and too trendy
YouTube and podcasts--kind of the grandaddys in this group--definitely useful on library websites
Facebook&MySpace--still really uneasy about these for library use or for personal use. Think we should have left them for the kids.
The rest--some good some useless--all very time consuming

I'm going to think about how to stay current but I have a few tools now in my toolbox to remind me, alert me, keep me organized and motivate me.

Thanks Neflin....