L & P #19

First, a quick reminder of what this "Learn and Play" business is all about. Helene Blowers, the director of digital strategy here at CML, developed the 23 Things when she was at Charlotte-Mecklenburg County to get staff playing around, learning, and feeling comfortable with Web 2.0 tools. She has brought this program with her to CML as Learn and Play. Since September, staff who wish to participate in the program have been experimenting with various Web 2.0 tools and blogging about the experience. This is useful not only for thinking about ways libraries can incorporate such tools to extend their reach and improve customer service, but also because our customers are using many of these tools. Now when they have questions or want help, we don't have to feel intimidated or stupid because we don't know what they are talking about. Even if we're not experts, we are comfortable enough with the technology to give it a try!

For Thing #19 I took a look at the TechCruch blog, which is part of CML's Toolbox on our Power Tools page. I like it, and so have subscribed to the RSS feed in my Bloglines account. I feel that Web 2.0 technology will probably expand infinitely like the universe, so I want to at least keep my eye on the people who know much more about it than I do. If they start getting really excited about something, I should probably pay attention!