Why, you might ask, am I suddenly interested in becoming an active blogger? Of course the other side of that question is why the heck would I want to clutter up the Internet with even more personal insight (drivel) or risk re-sharing stuff that has been posted repeatedly? In truth, I think that there can never be too much opinion or sharing. Organisms work best with a massive number of connections, e.g. neurons connecting to make an individual operate. Undoubtedly there are those people out there who struggle with this and there are more than a few comments to be made about the intersection of politics and brain death. Whatever the case, I think it's time to share "me" with the world. Read if you wish, scoff if you must, and ignore if you're incensed.
As to the why now question. As a librarian I tend to interact with a ton of technology and information at inception. This can create quite a challenge. The novelty appeals to my inherent human, inquisitive nature, but the ageing skeptic always asks, "yeah it's neat, but how is it useful?" I think this is one of the greatest problems in libraries. Librarians are frequently eager to adopt the latest technology and to make sure that they are on top of things, but the problem here is that the people who use the library are frequently far behind the curve. This isn't really a shortcoming but more of a fact of life. Whether economic, social, or personal, most library users seem to be behind that curve that seems to be so fascinating to librarians.
This is the point where I put on the curmudgeon hat and wait. When Twitter first appeared 5 years ago and people were tweeting their location (sometimes not really fit for mass publication), or their latest inane thought, I decided to wait. It all seemed a little too immediate for me and I really didn't see how it could do much to help me or the people using my library. Now that Twitter has matured and gained a much wider range of users as well as information streams, I think it's time to get involved. So, I'm delicately dipping my toe into the bird bath. As a professional, I think it's great to have a cadre of librarians out there playing with new gadgets and services. They truly can lead the way, but it's equally important to have a second wave of librarians who are "later adopters." I am firmly ensconced in that group and I much prefer to let the "new car smell" wear off before rushing headlong into the "bleeding edge." How many libraries have a bunch of laserdiscs? I'm just saying . . .
Given the increasingly rapid pace of change in technology, I think it is increasingly important to be in this second wave. Technology will stabilize, even with the rapid pace, into larger categories of devices and services. For example, Facebook/MySpace/Friendster, etc. Not to long ago, I would have predicted the demise of MySpace as people flocked to Facebook in droves. The problem is that most folks don't have the time to manage multiple accounts. To that end, many social networking services have had to specialize to survive. MySpace has gone to music and Friendster has gone to gaming. LinkedIn continues to specialize in the working world, and Yahoo and Google are duking out for groups. For the truly overwrought, there are aggregate interfaces like Digsby and Tweetdeck which allow you to manage all of your emails, social media, and chat accounts. It helps with information overload, but I suspect there needs to be even more consolidation.
Lately the big push has been for apps on mobile devices (pads, pods, phones). This helps eliminate some of the devices that are increasingly ruling our lives. Now you can chat, tweet, talk, surf, and (insert verb) all from one device. I think this is the future. There will always be novelty, but the basic pattern is basically set and it follows a certain pattern from human history. For example, oral histories were transformed by writing which necessitated standardized spellings (dictionaries) which were eventually transformed by the technology of printing which has now gone digital. Oddly enough this transition to the digital world and rapid transmission of information is causing havoc in the lexicographical world (don't know that word? look it up!). In essence, there is a process of novelty explosion followed by consolidation and stability. I think we're on the back of the novelty wave and sliding effortlessly into the consolidation phase. However, only time will tell.
I suppose that is enough for one day. Now, on to customization and publication. Back in a week!
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