Took the bus to NJ for some graduation festivities This means that for days I was away from my computer. Still, I found myself talking about technology, libraries, and schools while I was traveling. I even observed some various things. Here are a few:
1. On the bus, I sat next to a college student from Brazil who uses Skype to talk to his family back home. He and I also talked a bit about the difference between libraries in Brazil and those at his college campus. We also talked about Wikipedia, which he found to be a great resource when it came to looking for information about musicians and other cultural things. He seemed to like the way Wikipedia allows a person to maneuver around an entry to find other related information. In this way connections are made that many of the best "scholars" in a field seem ignorant of.
In addition, I asked him if he went to the Library at his college. The word on the street is that students don't go to the library much anymore. And he said "No." But when I asked if he used Databases he livened up saying "I use Jstor for everything!" Jstor is only available by subscription, so the library must get this database to assist their students. In other words, in today's world, I find it believable that students would never enter the library space during their academic career (still a bit sad, but believable), what I don't find believable is that library resources go unused by an academic community. Several schools have IM accounts to provide assistance to those at home. Others make sure that their database access applies outside the library walls. Those who use these services are still using the library. Aren't they?
2. Before I even read the student tech.encyclopedia entry on Facebook, I watched my recently H.S. graduated cousin rapidly log in to her Facebook account, simultaneously chat with like three people and then run out of the room again. She (or her twin sister, I really am not sure which) did this on various occasions during my time there. I can't think of a time I heard them on the phone, but they certainly were checking their profiles, their friends' profiles and making plans via the vast world of the interweb.
Then when I got home last night there was a Law & Order about a girls "B-friends" page where she complained about her mother and essentially put a hit request into virtual cyberspace. It made me wonder how much my own cousins say and expose of themselves on Facebook. It also reminded me of the culture of "dangerous internet" the media and adults seem to push. In some ways, a person's cyberlife seems to be a dirty little secret.
This morning, I read an old NYT article about Webkinz and Club Penguin. Seems the social networking is going further down the ladder and now there are sites to get 8 & 9 year olds in on the act. At my favorite toy store in NJ, there was a big sign in the window announcing, "WE HAVE WEBKINZ." I thought it was like the beanie baby craze. I didn't realize the stuffed toys give a person access to an online character. That's right, the toy has a special code which can be used to access an online avatar for more interaction with your toy. Somehow, this reminds me of Gremlins.
3. On the train in to NYC, my recently H.S. graduated cousin helped me program my phone to use T9 texting so that I could write messages more quickly. This was interesting in part because recently, the YALSA blog had an article explaining that young people prefer not to use T9, as they already know what letters are on which keys and how many strokes it would take to write their message.
Of course, my cousin is just one person, but she seemed a bit fan of the T9. And with its help her fingers flew across her phone, sending out notes at lightening speed. I've now added the T9 to my messaging, and must admit that I'm not so sure I like it. In some ways it's faster, but alternate or unusual spellings really slow the whole thing down. In addition, I have to keep figuring out how to change "On" to "No" or "them" to "then," etc.
4. I think my mother may be a YouTube addict. This isn't really true, but whenever she hears of something funny on there, she then wants everyone to see it. Granted she finds great things, but she did run into an interesting dilemma last February when she showed my niece a Panda Sneeze video that she found great. Later, when my niece wanted to find the video herself, she ended up alone on YouTube. My niece is in elementary school, and while YouTube would have some content appropriate for her age, it also would not. While my mother's intent was honest and good, it made my sister-in-law nervous. Is the computer the new babysitter?
Of course, YouTube is rife with candidate videos, and this is one reason it hasn't been blocks at the HS I work at. This doesn't stop media personalities from commenting on these videos. At dinner one night news correspondants were busy talking about the YouTube videos of Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton. At the same time NBC plans to create videos to help students with AP exams. The article on this was linked in Twitter, and I had to go back pretty far to find it again. Anyway, read more about NBC's plan here.
5.My grandfather's house has no internet access, no cable, and only one working TV. It was nice to be there. He missed all the graduation festivities for health reasons, and it was nice to pull out my digital camera to show him pictures of the event. With the help of a magnifying feature, I was even able to show some details I hadn't even realized I captured. He got to witness some of the events, and I was really glad I could share those pics with him. I placed a few of the pics on my Flickr page, but the majority will go into a Snapfish album, because I've found that Flickr is for socializing for me...Snapfish is for sharing pics that people will want to print. At least that's how I use those two programs. There are so many programs, it seems necessary to me to determine each one's personal usefulness or else, why use it at all?
I suppose there were more simple technologies I encountered this weekend as well, but these are just a few thoughts on the matter. Time to go out in to the real world...
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4 comments:
Plus you Tweeted all weekend ;)
This is a good example of how technology follows us around even though we might not realize it. It's pretty much a part of everything we do and often a part of every conversation we have.
On the topic of using the library, I agree that using tools from the library outside of the library's walls is definitely library use. However, unfortunately many librarians don't see it that way. They still look at in-house visits as the main indicator of a library's value in a community. That really is going to have to change.
On the topic of elections and YouTube, my last VOYA column was all about how technology is changing the election/campaign process. (Even Twitter.)
On the topic of T9, teen use or non-use is definitely not universal. But, I do think that for a lot of teens having to use that to type is just something they don't need.
I think you're write about T9, it really varies, and either way those "young whipper snappers" just tap away.
As for the library resources outside the library, it seems a shame for librarians not to include the access outside their walls. It seems like that would devalue their work and usefulness. I know that the Simmons library is a great resource for me even though I haven't been in the actual building since, I shudder to think, last summer.
by "write" I meant "right" a strange slip of language there
Some of my students last year were really into webkinz, but they mainly seemed interested in them as stuffed animals and collectibles. I wonder if it's less about getting youngsters hooked on social web networking and more about getting young girls interested in technology (and spending money on technology). My boy students were almost all into video games. Most of the Runescape players were boys (all but one, actually). The webkinz, however, mostly appeal to girls. Just a thought I had.
-Stacey
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