Your June learning guide ...

is one of the most enthusiastic technology trainers that I know. Mary Wright, who works with me in Virtual Village, actively recruits people for her classes and has 'em eating out of her hands once they're there. Even people who don't take her classes ask for her by name. Bottom line, Mary knows her stuff, and I'm sure she has some wonderful, useful things to share with us this month.

-- Jamie

Thing 60: Facebook

I have been quite remiss in my discovery guide duties for May, but Jaime hasn't gotten around to introducing me yet so perhaps I can be forgiven. I am Kjersti, one of the evening aides in Virtual Village. Long-time PLCMC insiders frequently recognize me as the daughter of tech-diva Mary Kyle, now working at Tech Central in ImaginOn.

In honor of all this forwardness of self-introductions I bring you Facebook!

Facebook started as something like a college-only alternative to Friendster and MySpace, allowing users to create a profile, join a college network, and interact with their friends. The social site has since opened up to anyone, but is still heavily favored by college students. It also offers one advantage over other social networking sites: verified identity. In order to join a university network the user must have a valid e-mail account with the institution. Some employers also have Facebook networks, among them is National Public Radio.

Facebook began allowing outside programmers to create applications for the Facebook site about a year ago. Now users can include elements on their profile page from other social networking applications like last.fm and twitter, play games with their friends (and display their scrabble prowess), or recommend a good book. If you are fluent in a foreign language you can even get involved in translating Facebook for non-English speakers. And if you are too impatient to send messages or wall posts back and forth, you can even chat with friends online when you are.



Discovery Exerise:

1. Sign up for a free Facebook account and create a profile.
2. Search for friends already using Facebook:
1. By name using the search box in the upper left corner.
2. Using "Find Friends" under the Friends menu at the top of the page.
3. Poke someone you know or write a message on their wall.
   
4. Blog about the experience.
   

Optional:

1. Create a limited profile to keep some personal information private from acquaintances while still having it available on your profile to close friends.
2. Add interesting applications to your profile (maybe Slideshare, which you might have signed up for as a previous Learning 2.1 Thing).

Introducing April's discovery guide

Our discovery guide for April will be the wonderful Sandra Nicholls, who describes herself as the "childrens, teen and just-about-everything person" at PLCMC's Carmel Branch. Sandy has been following Learning 2.1 right from the start, and has been an active participant on our Ning network. (She sends me great sites to investigate all the time, so I know we're in for some terrific discoveries!)

The new guide, same as the old guide(s)

February's Discovery Guide will be ... your previous guides! Yes, you read that right. Instead of one guide for the entire month, you can expect a post or two from the guides you've already gotten to know.

As it turns out, all of us had some great sites we were just dying to let everyone know about, but not enough to fill up an entire month unless we worked together. So that's what we're going to do.

If you've got one or two sites you'd like to write up, let me know, and we'll work you into the loop. Or maybe you'd like to be a Discovery Guide for an entire month? Just say so!

Welcome, Jennifer, our January guide!

As impossible as it seems, we're well and truly into the month of January. Okay, so the highs are in the 70s - sorry, Helene, I guess it's probably snowing up there where you are, huh? - but I checked every calendar I can think of, and they all agree that it is indeed 2008.

Which means it's time for a new Discovery Guide. Our January Discovery Guide is (drum roll, please) Jennifer Wishart, the newest staff member in Virtual Village. (She's the, umm, human one on the left.) In case you missed her in the October Emerging Technology Newsletter, Jennifer is pursuing her MLIS at UNCG, but still finds time to run, read, cook and enjoy music and movies. She has great plans for us. She even has a theme to unite all her posts, but I'll let her explain that. I've had a little preview, and it's going to be lots of fun!

Oh, and this is a double-duty post. Here's the second update on our Learning 2.0 sites. Please do take a look; there have been major changes to quite a few, especially online productivity and online videos. I'll sneak the Learning 2.1 site updates online in the next few weeks.

Welcome Russ

Sorry that I’m little late in welcoming November’s Discovery Guide. But,it seems that the month of October just flew by and was over before I knew it.

Anyway, please join me in welcoming Russ Reed as I once again pass the baton. When I asked Russ to share with me a small bio for his introduction, what I received was so perfect, that I thought I'd just post it exactly as I received it. :)

“I work in the Technology Education department at ImaginOn where I hold classes for kids and teens on anything from digital photography to online gaming, and many things in between.

A degree in Mass Communication and a strong interest in music provide the background I need to teach video and music production in ImaginOn's Studio i.

I love exploring new toys, tools, and technologies, and am constantly on the lookout for something new to share with the young people at ImaginOn.

My wife Lori works at PLCMC's Main branch as a staff technology trainer, and we are raising two wonderful children”

Welcome Russ! I can’t wait to see what discoveries you have in store.

October takes L 2.1 to Guam

One the best things about Learning 2.1 is that anyone can take the reins at being a Discovery Guide.

Up until this point, we've learned a lot from several staff here at PLCMC. But this month it gives me pleasure to not only introduce our first Discovery Guide from outside our library, he’s also our first international guest blogger.

As a self proclaimed “professional bum at the top of (his) profession”, Ralph A. Meyer not only has a sense of humor, he also has an amazing blog - Which BTW IMHO has taken the idea of learning new “things” everyday to a whole new level. :)

When R.A.'s not busy discovering and sharing how the Internet Can Changed Your Life (BTW: that’s the name of his blog) he’s Reference Librarian at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and after learning a little bit about his background, it’s not surprising to learn that his interest in librarianship leans heavily towards education. Before his 3 years at Anderson AFB, he worked for 20 years with Guam's Dept of Ed as a Librarian, Math and PE teacher and before this he has also taught Istanbul, Turkey and Maracaibo, Venezuela. He met his wet my wife Layla in Kazan while in Russia in 1991 and has two great kids.

Please join me welcoming R.A. Meyer as Learning 2.1’s first international Discovery Guide. I’ve already had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak of some the discoveries that R.A. has lined up for this month and from what I can see, it’s going to be great fun.

BTW: If you’re interested in also taking a turn at being a DG (Discovery Guide), just send us an email. We loved to have you join the party!

Welcome Serena - September's Discovery Guide

Well it's September and that means it's time for Serena to take the helm as our Discovery Guide. Serena Morrow is a seasoned "floating" senior library assistant here at PLCMC, which (in addition to meaning that she "walks on water") means that she is seasoned enough to cover everything from the Circulation Desk to technology training in the Virtual Village.

When prepping for this introduction I asked Serena to share some of her interests with me. Here's what she had to say: "I love to discover new sites (especially social networking sites) and share them with coworkers and library patrons. Last year I participated in Learning 2.0 and had a blast which you can read about here. Whenever I'm online I'm usually on Flickr, MySpace, or blogging on Vox.com

Welcome Serena. It's great to have you on board!

August's Discovery Guide

Wow, it's August 1st already. The summer truly seems to be slipping by. But as I look at all the new discoveries that Julia has led us to this past month (BTW: I love Mr. Picasso Head) I'm getting even more excited to see what Mary Kyle has in store for us this month.

Mary is a MacBook lover, but also plays a lot with Windows too. She is a Technology Assistant at ImaginOn's Tech Central and has hobbies and interests that "run to the enviroment and technology." According to Mary, what she likes "most about Web 2.0 is that it bridges the gap between the two operating systems since it runs in a web browser."

Please join me in welcoming Mary as August's Discovery Guide. I can't wait to see what she has in store.

PS: The image is Mary's Meez avartar. Want one of your own? Check out Meez.com

Introducing July's Discovery Guide

I don't know about where you are, but it's hot here and it makes sense ... after all it is July! A huge thank you to Jamie who did a super job guiding us through four new discoveries over the last few weeks. This month, our Discovery Guide leader is Julia Hanson.

Julia's a terrific gal and a very seasoned technology trainer who works in the Main Library's Virtual Village. Although she's not one to tout her own accomplishments (& I'm sure she'll blush when she reads this), I do have to share with you one other little tidbit about Julia... she's also a 2005 NYTimes Librarian Award winner.

Anyway, please join me in welcoming Julia as July's Discovery Guide. I hope you're as excited as I am to see what adventures she has in store.

First Torch Pass ...

Wow! I can't believe it's June already and half the year has nearly gone by. But with dawn of a new month, I'm pleased to begin the torch passing and introduce Jamie Christenbury who will taking the reins for the next 30 days as our Learning Guide.

Jamie's a dynamo trainer at PLCMC's Virtual Village and a social networking diva (she's also responsible for setting the Ning community as well), so I'm really looking forward to following her discovery suggestions and learning a few new things myself.

Anyone can be a Learning Guide for Learning 2.1. All you need to do is to submit a sample post and commit to adding three or four new discoveries during the month. If you're interested, please feel free to drop me an email. The best thing about a learning community is that we all can be teachers and students at the same time. So why not think about it and sign-up to carry the torch for a month. :)