Reflecting on the Experience of Blogging

Four Months in a Nutshell

For four months, I have been blogging, about two topics primarily, Virtual Reference services and DyKnow Vision, but also about educational technologies in general. When I began my blog, I was not a frequent reader of blogs, nor had I had a blog of my own. Having blogged for four months now, I have developed an enthusiasm and appreciation for the genre. Looking back at my posts, I realize that I have really compiled a lot of good resources, and that I will refer back to these resources in the future. Blogging is great as a historical tracker and online journal; it is a tool that allows educators and librarians to build upon their technological skills and knowledge and to share ideas and resources with others.

Highlights

On October 8, 2006, I posted a blog entry entitled Book Exchange Sites. Shortly after, I received a private e-mail from a person outside of the class interested in sharing more book exchange sites (he had trouble with the comment function in Blogger). So, on October 18, 2006, I supplemented my book exchange sites with a new entry, More Book Exchange Sites.

After posting on DyKnow Vision, I was contacted via private e-mail by the originator of the software, Dave Berque, whose research project developed into the commercially available product. He is a computer scientist at DePauw University, and he has had great success with the software. It was great to have this online connection, and my University will likely be viewing a demo of the software based on this connection.

The Future of Sherry Buchanan's Blog
I have been considering the questions, What did I learn? and What can I do to improve my blogging? In the future, Sherry Buchanan's Blog will change. I have decided to look more closely into a Blog that will be specific to Digital Libraries to collect the resources that I know into one site. Digital Libraries are scattered and hidden in the Special Collections of libraries around the world. I have asked many fellow librarians if they know of a site that compiles Digital Libraries, and no one has responded in the affirmative. I would like to develop a Blog along the lines of Emily Chang's eHub, but focusing on Digital Libraries. In addition to this nonprofit model, I would also like to develop a Blog for my jewelry-making interests, in a more commercial vein. I have several friends who are artists, and this may be a venue that would encourage me to work on this creative endeavor.

As a librarian (and an educator), I see that there is a lot of potential to this genre. I must say that there is potential for this Blog assignment to be taken as just that, an assignment, and I think I have seen some shallow posts and what I would call pseudo-information sharing in this sometimes "forced" environment. However, I think this genre opens new possibilities and the assignment is worthwhile. Thanks for reading.

British Library's Simulations

There are some extraordinary themed tours available from the British Library's Collect Britain site:

http://www.collectbritain.com/tours/

Check out the Lost Gardens tour; it includes "Illustrations from manuscripts and early printed books dig into the story of gardening. Diarist, John Evelyn's extensive notes and meticulous plans recreate his influential 17th-century garden at Sayes Court in Deptford - now a high-rise housing estate."

Also, there are "name that herb" games and other interactive pages - very well done!

Exploratorium Simulations

There are some really great simulations available from the San Francisco Exploratorium -- it's a science museum out here on the west coast. Here is a link to the web site:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/index.html

Some of the games are more tactile, such as the "create your own rain stick activity," linked here:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/rain_stick/index.html

I recall from my schooling that hands-on activities really made ideas sink in. For example, we studied marsupials and then drew them, and we studied Beatrix Potter and then we made ceramic figurines and painted them. Simulations can always offer instructions for more tactile activities, not just virtual worlds. . .

Library of Congress Activities and Simulations

Folks may want to peruse the Library of Congress site; there is a page of resources for teachers:

Resources for Teachers

There is also a learning page:

Learning Page

and within that page, there is a "games" area:

Activities

Second Life

Wow, a friend of mine told me about this web site, and she was actually suggesting it as a meeting place for conference planning. This is really quite amazing; it's called "second life," so you can meet in a second life ;-) Check it out if you have time:

http://secondlife.com/

At this point, it lacks VOIP, but if you have webinar-ware then you can use a voice function.

In this simulation, you can choose your own avatar (bodily manifestation), which is becoming the "in thing"!