Merlin

Alright, I've strolled through Merlin and begun the process to set up an account. I am waiting for my password to be sent to me so that I can explore more fully. Seems an odd way to do things. Usually the account holder sets the password these days. The information on web seminars looks interesting as a way to learn new stuff.

I took some time to read some blogs linked from the Merlin page and found an accurate way to describe how I am feeling about the experience of Web 2.0 at this point in time. In Do we need a translator here? by Meredith Farkas on her August 30, 2007 blog "Information Wants To Be Free" the phrase 'maintenance burden these tools have' caught my eye. In her blog, she is referring to what it really takes to implement web 2.0 technologies for users in the library, as part of our customer service. But for me, the phrase sums up how it feels to dip into so many new web based things in rapid fire. These web tools have a high maintenance burden - it's difficult to keep up with it all! For example, now that I have a bloglines account and have chosen several interesting looking RSS feeds to subscribe to ...when will I read them?? At home...I try to spend less time looking at screens with my family nearby. And with dial up service....well you can guess how long it would take! At work...I have a lot of other things I am responsible for ....with no added time for accomplishing them. Honestly, I am not very interested in spending MORE time at a desk, reading a screen. A lot of these things are really interesting, but it serves to suck me into staring at a screen for long periods of time. When I think about how I want to spend my time, my preference is to be interacting with people, animlas & nature. Having real, instead of virtiual experiences.

I will keep exploring web 2.0. But, honestly I don't think I will continue using these technologies into the future unless they are integrated into my daily work at the library.