Finally, a way to access the information on all the web sites I would wish to visit, but only needing to visit one site. What a time saver. It reminds me of how the Internet used to be back in the 90s, with hardly any graphic content, constant invasive advertising or design layout to get in the way of gleaning the information.
As the Internet continues to grow deeper and wider, allowing greater access to more information in even more sensorially stimulating ways, I sometimes feel in my advancing maturity that it is becoming almost too much for me to want to deal with, not having the time to keep up with it all. It seems to have its own obsessive obligation: the more one has more access to more information in a more real-time, the more one would be missing out or encouraging ones own ignorance by not taking opportunity to take advantage. A newsreader like Bloglines helps me to feel like I am on top of the information that I want instead of floundering in the overwhelming quantity of it.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The Global Village
Having travelled some and even worked abroad, I have always had an interest in non-U.S. culture. One nice thing about modern technology and the internet is the way it makes gathering information about and communication with others in other areas of the world (and ones own country) so immediate. I just came back from visiting the U.K. for two weeks; and while I was there, I fell in love with some of the programing they play on BBC2 Radio. Thanks to the internet, I can download podcasts of my favorite shows or even listen to it live. Yes, this not a very extreme example; but it does show how technology does bring us together, allowing me to expose myself to another (although sometimes very similar and pop oriented) cultures in real time.
Someatimes I think that technology (communication via the internet) has a rather equalizing affect. As long as one has access to and a moderate amount of equipment, regardelss of class, education, religious or political beliefes, one can electronically explore the world and find space to express oneself for all (who have access) to see and hear. Yet while watching a journalist on CNN or BBC news the other day, she reported from some small village in India or Pakistan while shoeless children with soiled clothes and no assurance of three meals a day as the price of rice doubles gather around her and one can here cell phones ringing in their midst. Yes, technology is finding its way to the remotest parts of the planet, but that doesn't necessarily mean it brings equality in socio-economic ways. Curious how one can aquire access to cell phones and computers yet still be concerned about finding enough food and adiquate healthcare.
Someatimes I think that technology (communication via the internet) has a rather equalizing affect. As long as one has access to and a moderate amount of equipment, regardelss of class, education, religious or political beliefes, one can electronically explore the world and find space to express oneself for all (who have access) to see and hear. Yet while watching a journalist on CNN or BBC news the other day, she reported from some small village in India or Pakistan while shoeless children with soiled clothes and no assurance of three meals a day as the price of rice doubles gather around her and one can here cell phones ringing in their midst. Yes, technology is finding its way to the remotest parts of the planet, but that doesn't necessarily mean it brings equality in socio-economic ways. Curious how one can aquire access to cell phones and computers yet still be concerned about finding enough food and adiquate healthcare.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Habits 7.5
I'm not sure under which habit this would fall, but the actual realization of the idea continually proves to be the greatest challenge for me. Thus, I have been sitting on my first blog entry for weeks, hoping for... something better?
Ever since I first started working in libraries, I have aspired to being autodidactical. It is easy to fall into the belief that just about everything one needs to know can be found in a book; and of course, there is plenty enough to keep one busy. However, I have always felt challenged by the limit of my own scope: how does one really know what one doesn't know? Luckily, learning seems to happen regardless, as long as one is willing to put oneself out there and allow themselves to be stimulated by the world around them; and it works even better if one allows one's self to be flexible and maintain a curiosity and wonder about the world around them.
I guess I fear that a blog can tell you as much about a blogger as well as the blogger wants to tell someone about whatever they are blogging. Motivation can be questionable, including my own as a blogger. I guess, when one can not see into the eye, a blog can be the virtual window to the soul. So I will promise to practice some self control and not give the reader more than they want, whatever that may be, as I plunge in and add my own voice to the din of all the others out there in cyberspace.
On a more practical note, I can see more positive uses for blogging in the context of the library as well as already experienced the benefits from sneaking peaks at my fellow 23thingers. From the basic idea of journaling a running review of books read in hopes to lead others to a good read to chronically ones own experiences exploring this aspect of modern communication to archiving a small essence of ones own existence and experience in a particular time and place for posterity.
Ever since I first started working in libraries, I have aspired to being autodidactical. It is easy to fall into the belief that just about everything one needs to know can be found in a book; and of course, there is plenty enough to keep one busy. However, I have always felt challenged by the limit of my own scope: how does one really know what one doesn't know? Luckily, learning seems to happen regardless, as long as one is willing to put oneself out there and allow themselves to be stimulated by the world around them; and it works even better if one allows one's self to be flexible and maintain a curiosity and wonder about the world around them.
I guess I fear that a blog can tell you as much about a blogger as well as the blogger wants to tell someone about whatever they are blogging. Motivation can be questionable, including my own as a blogger. I guess, when one can not see into the eye, a blog can be the virtual window to the soul. So I will promise to practice some self control and not give the reader more than they want, whatever that may be, as I plunge in and add my own voice to the din of all the others out there in cyberspace.
On a more practical note, I can see more positive uses for blogging in the context of the library as well as already experienced the benefits from sneaking peaks at my fellow 23thingers. From the basic idea of journaling a running review of books read in hopes to lead others to a good read to chronically ones own experiences exploring this aspect of modern communication to archiving a small essence of ones own existence and experience in a particular time and place for posterity.
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