Today's post brought to you by the Letter Z

All this reading about mobile technology and how more and more people are connected to the Internet nearly 24 hours a day has got me thinking. Do the Generation Z kids who are digital natives experience information overload? If this is what they've always known, isn't it the status quo and therefore NOT an overload? Are their brains forming differently as a result of the "Inter"activity? My suspicions are that their brains do function a little differently (neuron mapping and what not - things I know NOTHING about) and that they're not overloaded because their brains have been figuring out from Day One how to cope with "the load".

This is what's knocking about in the back of my brain.

I wish I knew the answers.

There's probably research out there about it.

But who has time for extracurricular research?! I've got some tweeting to take care of!

Link to Sesame Street Smartphone for Your Toddler

Dogs in Chairs

Finished reading the Open Source article by Mitchell and Gilbertson. Started looking over the question for our discussion post on this topic. Visited www.digitalforsyth.org and got lost in looking through all the photos.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Gettin' Wiki with it

Just realized I'm showing my age with these posts. Between the "Short Circuit" movie reference yesterday and the Will Smith "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" song ref today, it's obvious that I spent my formative years in the 80s and 90s.

Anyhow, on with the assignment!

The WikiMatrix helped me pick out a possible wiki for my medium-sized public library. I wanted one that could be stored on our own system. We have limited funds and storing the data ourselves seemed the better option. Because we have a Windows operating system, we need a wiki that is compatible with it. In order to keep track of its usage, I wanted a wiki that would inform us of recent changes, the most and least popular pages, show page revisions, and offer analysis. To maintain flexibility in usage, it was important that the wiki be mobile and printer friendly. After considering all these characteristics, Foswiki seemed to be the best choice for us, and the fact that it is a free and open source software sealed the deal!

 Photo creds

7505 is Still Alive!

Like Johnny #5, I'm still alive...in this class.

Short Circuit Photo Creds

Had a slight hiccup yesterday. I mentioned in the first post that because of my full-time employment, I'm able to take classes for the price of air. I spoke way too soon, because Valdosta changed their fee structure and I owed money. I didn't know this. I didn't pay it. I got dropped from the class. So let me tell you about my Monday...

Let me start by saying that I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday. Pretty well out of it all of Friday and Saturday. Come to work on Sunday and am able to start in on homework. Slight panic-flutter in the tummy region because, you know, Blazeview is just different enough to be super annoying and we have a LOT to read and do and I'm already falling behind, etc. But hey, I can handle it.

Get back to work on Monday, and I've got some low-grade pain in my jaw, but nothing too terribly bad. Kind of like new Blazeview- super annoying, but manageable. Realize through a round of emails with a friend and fellow MLIS student that I've been dropped from the class, and it's going to cost a couple of hundred dollars immediately to get back in to my classes (if they agree). Oh, and they don't take Visa. (Say what?!) Thankfully, I never lost access to Blazeview and could still post away. But I will say that I was compartmentalizing my panic. Panic over getting the work done for this class and then panic that I couldn't get re-registered and have to push back my graduation by one, possibly 2, semesters. Then there was the jaw pain and working with Blazeview and fighting off hunger and trying to serve the law students who were coming to the desk asking me to do my job. I was a bit overwhelmed. Note to self: it's impossible to compartmentalize panic- it just intensifies. I think my discussion posts during this time were not so great. I may have even done something unheard of  by sounding off about librarians grasping at straws to justify their work. Ouch. Sorry dude. It was the pain and the panic.

But all is well and good. Dr. Yang and Dr. Koehler were super wonderful in getting everything squared away with the Bursar's office. I've been re-registered. I completed the discussion posts, and now I can move on to the next thing! Yay.

Day 1: Possibly in over my head.

I've worked in a couple of libraries along the way: public, community college, and now a university law library. I've also been an archaeologist, worked for environmental chemists, a YMCA summer camp registrar, and even a bicycle tour coordinator. After moving back to Atlanta, I found myself unconsciously applying for library jobs at universities. Somewhere within me, I knew I was ready to go back to school after 12 years and the world of libraries seemed the best fit. So here I am, smack dab in the middle of an online MLIS program with Valdosta State University. I live in Atlanta, work full time at a library and have the privilege of taking classes for free (FREE!).

So this blog is about my MLIS experience and my horizons being broadened...