Here Goes Nothing!

Well this is it, my first blog post.  Whew, getting here was not quite as easy as I thought, but not real hard either.  I think the biggest issue is that I haven't really done this before.  That is why I am going to work on the 23Things project.  For one this is a project for class, but I really like the idea of it and I plan to keep learning new things and sharing my experiences.  Until I took this intro class for Library Science I had not even heard of Web 2.0.  To be honest I am still trying to grasp the concept but I think I am getting there.  I've got that is is about technology on the web - a small basic understanding but you got to start somewhere right? 

When I was back in middle school I had a Xanga, and I think from comparing what I am doing here on this blog with that, I think that must have been a blog too, I just didn't know it.  I never really thought of it that way but it had the same components.  I wrote posts, my friends subscribed to my "blog" and I to theirs.  This just seemed a bit more complex to me, but anything new is at first. I suspect that given a few weeks this will feel natural (or so I hope). 

I looked at both Blogger and WordPress as blogging hosts.  I decided to go with Blogger because it just seemed simpler.  WordPress looked a bit more complicated and professional to me.  I like the laid back simple look and feel that Blogger offered. 

I have to say I didn't understand the concept of naming my blog.  I had come up with something to call it like Eager to Learn or something boring like that and my friend laughed at me and said I couldn't name it that, it wasn't catchy.  So what do I do?  I google naming a blog.  I was amazed to find the results I came up with were advice from other bloggers about naming your blog.  There were several rules and tips that a name should follow.  One was be four syllables or less, mine is three.  The Internet really is an amazing information source.  Not everything is reliable, but it is a great place to at least get you started.  I've been told the same thing about Wikipedia which I was always hesitant to use, but now it is generally a place I start at just to get an idea of what I am about to deal with and where to look. 

I picked Tech-A-What as my title because people always talk about these new technologies and I always say, "what," "huh,"really","it does what?"  Technology amazes me and I don't understand most of it but I am going to try.  If I go into the field of Information Science I better know a thing or two.  I don't want to be living in the dark ages.  I've gotten by so far but I think it is time to step it up and get with the times.

So far, for my blog I don't think I have done anything fancy, just some basic stuff.  There are all kinds of features I can add, and I may do so later down the road, but for now simple is good.  I think I will take on this challenge one step at a time. 

This is a great tool for use in libraries though I think.  I have subscribed to a few blogs by librarians so far.  Blogging is a great way to keep up on things of interest.  I'm on a space allocation committee here at my library so one of the blogs I subscribed to is a blog about space planning.  libraries could set up a blog just for their library and make it private so that they could talk about issues in just their library.  I think it could be a helpful way for committees to communicate as well. If meetings are hard to organize due to every one's schedules a blog could be a way to get around that.  people could post their ideas, concerns, information they find, and everyone in the committee could view it and talk about it in the comments.  Blogs are a great place to stay connected with libraries around the world and find out what is going on.  Where better to see what is working or not working in libraries than through a blog from another librarian? 

I like the idea of blogging and although keeping up with it may not be so easy when my schedule gets busy, I'm going to try.  Even if no one else reads this it is a good way for me to get my feelings out about all this technology and my struggles and hopes and beliefs about it.