A Little Behind

is what I am, so I will try to do some catching up with the nine (of 23) things still awaiting me.
I have to say that my delay in getting to these has not been for lack of interest, or time, or even in not having done the work (I am, I have had, and I even have done). Oddly enough for me, it has been solely because I have not felt like writing anything. I do not know quite what the issue here is - I am not often feeling so incapable of talking with someone (no matter what the chosen medium) whether in person or via blog. I know my far-away friends must thing I have either completely forgotten them or have decided to not talk with them any longer - not the case! Just feeling a little like keeping to myself (not very like me, I know!) lately.
Anyway, del.icio.us is up first, isn't it?
Once again, this is an interesting concept, and kind of cool to see what other people are into, and have found useful, but I am not sure whether this will be something I will be employing once this tutorial is finished. Perhaps it is a symptom of my malaise of late, but I do not necessarily need to share my bookmarks with the world. Although, I do think it makes cataloguers out of everyone, in a way. Is there something about the need to catagorise the world around us? Assigning tags is like using subject headings, isn't it, only without the controlled vocabulary or the subject hierarchy? I do think this whole idea taps into some need for people to make some orgnisational sense of the world around them. (Yes, Professor Leide, I know there are two kinds of people in the world, but there is also a tiny little bit of Party Girl in everybody who uses social bookmarking, whether they are aware of it or not is another thing....)
Moving on, to a related sort of thing, just taken one step further: wikis. These, for me, are quintessential web 2.0 : collaborative, democratic, and open to vandalism. Everyone gets to share his/her 'knowledge' (or whatever) with everyone else, which is cool. They create something entirely new out of the mixture of a variety of contributions and perspectives, and they allow virtually anyone to contribute to that new creation (whether their intentions are noble or not). Again, I say, this is the essence for me of the whole web 2.0 phenomenon. All we can hope is that the necessity of critical reading and source evaluation are emphasized as the use of such sites become more and more commonplace. The Creative Common License concept (as I understand it, you can share, remix, and use the information for non-commercial purposes as long as yu attribute where you got the stuff) is great, though: another element for me the essential 2.0. It has the potential to make the user the creator (and the reverse as well).
So, to bring it back home, library wikis could be quite useful, both to be used among the library staff community (to share best practices, programming ideas, knowledge gained by experience, etc.) as well as with the public (to keep them informed on what is going on at their library, what is new for the system, that sort of thing). Sharing in the creation of the community makes one a vital part of it.
I have entered something about a few of my favorite books in the Sandbox, so I think it is time for lunch now.
"I go to school, I write exams, / if I pass, if I fail, if I drop out,
does anyone give a damn?
And if they do, they'll soon forget 'cause it won't take much for me / to show my life ain't over yet.
I wake up scared, I wake up strange. / I wake up wondering if anything in my life is ever going to change.
I wake up scared, I wake up strange / and everything around me stays the same." Barenaked Ladies