Thing 2

I was struck while reading about the controversy around Library 2.0 that Socrates is getting his revenge. I think back in college I heard this story:

The reason we don't have any writings directly from Socrates is because he refused to learn to write. He believed it was a bad invention that would eventually kill conversation and reflective thought. When you write your thoughts instead of discussing them in a conversation, you are only talking to yourself. You don't have the benefit of other people's questions and comments. When you read the words of another person who is not with you, you cannot talk back to them. Writing is a one-way street. It leads to dictatorial thinking. Truth can be gained only trough "Socratic dialog".

I also read essays in college about how society changed after the printing press spread infomation. It killed off verbal storytelling and recitation of poetry as entertainment.

The Web will undoubtedly "kill off" libraries as we know them now.

Interestingly, it will also bring back a form of socratic dialog on a far greater scale than any heard in Athens! For the first time, I can have a conversation with the librarians whose words I've only read in articles. I can now questions them and get a reply. I can make a comment and hear their take on it. I can also move beyond the medieval boundries of my own school and talk easily with colleagues across the country.

I think I really like this new connectivity! (I still think avatars are ridiculous.)

Why you preview

I thought the preview button was the height of self-absorbtion: let me gaze lovingly at my words in print. Now I see that it is all about typos.

I think this 23 thing thing will teach me humility as well as technology.

Finally up and running.

I was surprised at how completely uninterested and even a littlesuspicious I was about putting ANY personal information on the Web. I am not interested in the favorite movie or avatar of strangers - even other media specialists - and couldn't imagine they would be interested in mine. Much more interesting things to do with me time!

However, after getting into Things two and three, I've found that I am very interested in other media specialists' experiences with middle school students. Learning all the ways to create a community of middle school librarians will keep me going through all the things on a stick.

First time user

This is my first time creating a blog so I want to see how it works/looks before I write a great deal more.