Out of the Labyrinth...

The journey is complete. :-)

I have enjoyed this excursion, and I think I've come away with some valuable knowledge. My most favorite discoveries were LibraryThing and Bloglines. I visit Bloglines nearly every day, and I have built up quite a growing "bookshelf" on LibraryThing. And while I really had fun exploring some of the other technology (Youtube and Podcasts in particular) my slow connection from home keeps me from taking full advantage. Too bad. Maybe some day Verizon will get it together and those of us who live in the middle-of-nowhere-land can finally YouTube and Podcast away with the rest of the world. ;-)

Before beginning this journey, I had previously heard of and even explored a lot of this technology, but there were some pleasant surprises. The best one was the free online productivity software. What a find! I wonder why more people don't know about these free tools. Is it a Microsoft conspiracy?? Hmmm... Well, anyway, I hope people will spread the word now that we are all aware. I certainly will!

I did find some of the technology to be confusing and/or not applicable to my own personal needs. I even found some to be annoying! Rollyo, for example, was something I just didn't see the point of. It seemed to make searching more complicated than it needed to be, and I found that I could get what I was looking for in other, more convenient ways. I also didn't really care for Technorati or several of the Web Award winners (Craigslist, Facebook, etc.) And while I do enjoy and appreciate the wonder of Flickr, I have no interest in the Flickr Mashups. Still, even though I didn't care for all of the technology, I'm glad I learned about it. I do feel smarter! :-D

If another training like this were to be offered again, I would surely be on board. The librarian in me always loves a good challenge, and the opportunity to learn. I miss being in college, so this learning adventure was great fun for me. Yes, I like having "homework" to do (I admit, I'm a geek!) It keeps the brain busy and opens new doors. So yes, I would definitely be up for another challenge. I would even look forward to it.

Thank you for joining me on this journey...a worthwhile "thing", indeed. Good luck, everyone!