Thing 16

I must be getting old. Not only do I not find this all that interesting, I'm not sure I see the connection to Web or Library 2.0. I will admit that, as a public librarian, this kind of assignment helper is somewhat less relevant to me than it would be to an academic librarian, especially those teaching bibliographic instruction classes. But we get a LOT of students needing help with writing papers, albeit mostly of the "where can I find information on this topic?" or "how do I cite this resource" nature. I guess that I can see keeping this in mind as one alternative to Turabian, et al., but except for remote users, I don't see a clear advantage to either of these tools.

Thing 15, part 2--Second Life

I looked at the YouTube video, as well as several other of the listed resources, on Second Life. I have to say I still don't get it. Oh, I understand the idea that it's a way to exercise one's creativity, and that it's possible to create venues for online communication and training opportunities for people from all over. But what I don't get is the whole creation of avatars to represent individuals and of virtual locations in which this communication and training can take place. It seems to me that the types of "serious" uses of Second Life described in some of the resources can be accomplished in other,less time- and technology-intensive ways. I admit that some of the images that I saw were really beautiful, and showed a lot of creativity, but ultimately the question is, to what end? Since I'm more of a gomer than a gamer, maybe it's just me, but I just don't get it.<em>

Thing 15, part 1

OK, so I just spent (wasted) about an hour playing Pirate Puzzles, and I have to say, I still don't see the allure. Granted that this particular game is free, and thus pretty primitive, but other than figuring out the keyboard commands for the various puzzles, it doesn't hold much of a challenge. I can't claim to know how the multi-player part of it works, but based on what I have seen, don't really care how the multi-player part of it works.
I know I keep saying this, but tomorrow I intend to watch the Second Life video, but don't hold out much hope that I'll be enthralled enough to actually investigate further. I know I should reserve judgement until I've actually looked at it, but everything i've heard and/or read about it leads me to believe that it's nothing I'm interested in using. However, as I've said before, it is important to know enough about it to, not only know that I'm not interested in it personally, but also to know why others are. So I'll watch the video, and hopefully understand something about it. I'll post the results as soon as I watch.

ok, maybe not so soon

I'm still trying to get myself back on track with this since returning from vacation, but with one thing and another, I haven't. Maybe tomorrow. No, I really mean it this time. Really. Although, the fact that I'm taking so long to do the gaming one may be some indication of the relative importance gaming has in my life. But I do recognize that it has a place in libraries, and that I do need to familiarize myself with the games that our patrons are using. That doesn't mean that I envision myself as a gamer or even a potential gamer (I'm actually closer to a gomer, if you want to know the truth), but I really do want to play a little to seee what the online gaming world is all about. Maybe tomorrow--or did I already say that?

I'm back, and i didn't think about gaming once...

The Mike and Ike's were purchased, the bathrooms were cleaned, the trip was fabulous, and still I didn't do Thing 15--maybe tomorrow. Or maybe not, but soon.