A new blogger's added reflection

Having found something I thought was missing in Avatar choices, I just added a 'PS' to my original post. At first I was just going to delete my original comment and update it with my new information. For two reasons, I didn't.

I questioned whether deleting and rewriting (when it is more than a spelling or verb/noun agreement) is 'legal' or ethical in blogging. No one had yet responded, so editing would not have changed the thread. But it didn't feel right to change the context.

Part of this particular blog is to see how I grow in my Library 2.0 learning; and so it has begun. I had said earlier that blogging had seemed a vanity to me (already the tense has changed!). Perhaps it's all in how a blog is used. Stream of consciousness here:

- I wonder about people who have kept lifelong journals and want them burned when they die....have any of them become bloggers? What are their reasons for writing journals? I hope the actual pen and paper journal is never discarded completely in favor of a blog.

- In blogging, once a post is 'published' and read, there is no going back....just explaining or justifying an ill-made comment or observation. Talk about 'think before you speak'! Or getting all your facts before complaining!

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2.0 afterthought

I don't know how many of you know about Librarything.com. I've been registered for almost a year now and love it. It's an online cataloging system that is free for up to 200 items (books, DVDs, CDs, you name it). You can tag the items however you want and search by ISBN, author, title, tag, or just browse your 'shelves'. Anything over 200 is $10 per year or $25 for life. Nonprofits use it as do college departments for their particular libraries. There are fascinating benefits in the use of Librarything.com. And it's great to be in a bookstore and able to check your library at home to see if you already have a certain title!

Library 2.0: Thing #2 of 23

We are an academic library which is co-located with a public library branch. I feel proud of the fact that our academic library offers a generous range of services to our area community patrons. Library 2.0 makes up a large part of this. Though many patrons do use the community computers for gaming and general entertainment, our presence in the community offers the opportunity for people largely of lower incomes and without home computers/connection to connect with needed agency/life assistance around the state and country.

Parents and siblings are able to take advantage of what their school-aged family members learn and bring home. They use the Rosetta Stone, learn to blog, to e-mail, use family websites and any number of computer opportunities. With family members often living around the world, this is an incredible resource, breaking down tremendous walls in accessing information, in lifelong learning, and in being able to communicate with other in the most amazing and cost effective ways!

Ok, I admit to having a bit of fun with this....I've created my avatar. I have to explore that a bit. Unless I haven't found it yet, avatars can change skin and eye color, but they are all petites, even though I see plus size clothing. Is there more? Are wheelchairs or service dogs available for avatars? Maybe it's what heaven is sometimes said to be....we're all 'perfect' .... I didn't think there was a size or mobility mold.

PS (1/25/08) I should, perhaps, post this on the actual 1/25/08 date, but wanted the clarification closer to my error so any reader would connect the two. Today, on more exploring to see if I had actually missed avatar choices, I did find wheelchairs, so thank you, Yahoo, for looking at the larger population.

It was a cold day in Saint Paul.....

This is my first blogging experience and I'm not very comfortable with it. I enjoy face to face conversations, letterwriting, and e-mailing, in that order. Blogging has always seemed to me somewhat of a 'vanity' activity. Admittedly, I am vain about a few things and I do willingly give my opinions, but not for the larger population to access.

However, since our library staff has been requested to participate in the '23 things on a stick' project, I'm blogging; something I probably never would have done on my own. Dear Martha would say, 'and that's a good thing.'