Crossing the finish line

And I'm finally done! Maybe that's not exactly the sentiment I'm intended to leave with, but it's an honest one. Overall, this series of excercises wasn't all bad, and there were definately some parts I enjoyed, but after a while it did get repetitive.

First, things I liked:
*I did finally learn what RSS was and if it would be useful for my own interests.
*I learned about how even parts of the web I despise (MySpace especially) could really be useful for libraries both from an employee standpoint and to better reach out to patrons.
*I got to make trading cards using my pictures from Dragon*Con.
*I found out that tagging can actually be useful - even though I was resistant at first.
*I learned about Google docs, and will definately recommend them even if I don't have any immediate uses for them myself.
*I found filk on last.fm.

Then, aspects I didn't care for as much:
*I really didn't like creating so many accounts that I probably won't use ever again. Maybe if there had just been some general library accounts already set up that I could just have added to it wouldn't have felt so frustrating.
*There seemed to be an odd balance of "fun" activities and applications I needed to learn. Yes, I enjoyed using the trading card maker, as well as a few other mashups, but I wasn't sure where those fit into the overall library connection. They appeared to be just thrown in a bit at random in order to assuage suspected boredom.
*Though I'm fairly confident with using the computer and convincing it to do what I want, I know that many others are not. This program had many aspects that were not at all intuitive to those less familiar with navigating certain types of sites and programs. I was glad to help a few people, and I know that that was something mentioned in the program's beginning, but the logistics of such helping sessions were difficult to arrange and were not supported by the four-month time limit. Perhaps if another similar program were put together, there would be more structure so that those for whom setting up an IM widget on their blogs was easy could work with those who had difficulty.

Now that I complete my last blog entry, I'm glad that I did this program and will take away more than I initially suspected. If another such series were offered, I would likely be happy to take part in it.