I Am Curious ! -- Mellow

Greetings !

This is the last assignment for the second and last semester of Project Play. I was intrigued by the video clip about curiosity and the final question to be addressed in this blog that has to do with Project Play. The questions posed are( and I paraphrase) : Do you think you are a curious person? and What relationship does curiosity have to Project Play, the things you've learned, and keeping the Project Play torch burning? Glad you asked! I wasn't sure that I would describe myself as curious, because for me the word "curious" has a slightly negative feel. So rather than be inhibited by my sense of etymology, I went to an on-line dictionary and looked up the word. The first definition is "eager to learn more" and comes from a Latin term Unduly inquisitive; prying.meaning inquisitive / careful. Which pretty much describes me. And since I was interested -- I'm the type that gets lost in dictionary for hours which I suppose makes me "curious" -- I looked at the second definition which is the one that carries the more negative connotation of "unduly inquisitive; prying". Having reached a certain age and with it at least a basic understanding of myself, I would describe myself as curious about how things work and how process works, and even about how things and process could work in the future, but I' m not -- as a general proposition-- as interested in people. And I think I'm not as interested in people because that's were the second definition of "curious" joins up with my social sensibilities and I feel that being curious about people gets you into the realm of "unduly inquisitive and prying". Let's face it, I'm a Midwestern Norwegian/Danish mix that firmly believes that if someone wants to tell you about themselves and their lives you stand their and listen and make appropriate, encouraging noises even while every ounce of your being and upbringing tells you to run away. So, I think I have answered the first part of the question. Ja, sure. You betcha. I am curious.

Curiosity and the tenets of Project Play go hand in hand. Playing and learning are deeply linked. Good learners are playful with ideas. They like novelty. They have learned to be risk-takers and try new things. "Fear is the little mind killer" -- to quote Frank Herbert in "Dune" -- and you can't think or learn (much) when you're afraid. The big issue for any hierarchical institution ( and I think you'd have to allow that most public libraries are hierarchical due to the very nature of the classification system that organizes the books on the shelves. This classification system seems to spill over into the institution so that it's easy to become tradition-bound and easy to believe there are correct answers for every question.) is how to create a culture that rewards risk-taking. Believe me, I have tried. Believe me, I don't have any answers except to try to model the behavior myself, encourage others to try, and to be sympathetic and non-blaming if things don't work out. I believe that curiosity is integral to keeping current with technology and being able to pick and choose what will work best for your library and its customers. You have to be constantly exploring the ever-changing landscape of the Internet to discover what's out there. Then you have to have the courage to choose. Courage is a attribute of the curious. You can't have risk-taking without having the heart, the courage, to overcome the fear of the unknown, the fear of failure, the fear of humiliation.

Project Play has done a great job of offering an environment where it is safe to take risks, where it is safe to fail, and where there is a "guide at the side" to help us rise from the ashes of our failures. I personally think the "coolness" factor of some of the applications we have looked at and played with have added to the learning. Never underestimate the power of cool.

I'm glad the Project Play learning community will attempt to stay together. Mutual support has been a real asset of this project. It has kept us motivated. I will continue to explore the new brave new world that is evolving daily on the web. With the help of everyone associated with Project Play, I will try bringing some of these applications to my library's users.

See you in the funny papers!

The Rat

Last Assignment

Well, now that I've survived Thanksgiving it is time to buckle down and get the last assignment of semester one under my belt (and off my to-do list). This has been terrific learning experience. I would be hard pressed to come up with which week was my favorite. If pushed, I would have to say the week this blog was created because this blog has been like a holiday tree (Okay.Enough with this political correctness. You know which holiday I'm talking about so let's just call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree shall we?) off of which all these other shiny bright things have been hung. The blog let us send our hypothetical readers to other cool things like Flickr and Survey Monkey. The blog also acted like an anchor. We grew familiar with how it worked and could add pieces as we went to dress it up but we could always come back to something we understood. I had the most fun with Flickr when I did the Nancy Perl tour of the library slide show. I think the process that has been used for semester one has been most excellent. I know there are weeks when I feel overwhelmed by my day job and getting to the week's assignment just seems like one more thing, but stretching out assignments over too long a period would let me totally forget to do them. So I think the pacing is right on. I also like that participants have been asked to reflect on what they are learning and apply it to their local situation. From what I understand about adult education, this is precisely how it should be done. Theoretical with concrete applications really strengthen learning. Any day now I will be attaching this blog to the library's web page and taking it public. I have been talking to staff about some of the cool things I've learned and we have thought of about a gazillion cool things to do. Not that these things will happen quickly, but just knowing what the possibilities are frees the mind and makes it more flexible. This has been fun !!!!!!! I've really enjoyed myself and learning new things on a weekly basis. I have every intention of signing up for 2nd semester and playing even harder!

Wonderful Wikis

Greetings!

This is the last assignment for the first semester of ProjectPlay! and a reflection on wikis and their usefulness to public libraries - this one in particular. Wikis are an open, interactive, collaborative way of having conversations where input from everyone helps create a better product than any one individual could create. Wikis are like a lot of the other tools we've been exploring this semester in that they require a high degree of trust. You have to trust those who choose to interact with your wiki or blog or those who tag. Moving away from an authoritative model -- where such things as "authority control" are considered good -- to a wide-open, highly subjective model is frightening to some and exhilarating for others. And where you land on that continuum between fright and euphoria probably depends on how much you trust the public and how much you believe in the wisdom of the crowd. It will come as no surprise to my readers that I come down on the euphoric exhilarating end of the continuum. Many will say this is because I'm an idiot and don't learn from previous bad experiences with the public. But I am a true believer in democracy and believe that as a general rule the larger the number of participants, the better the decision ( recent general elections proving the exception, rather than the rule). So, inviting more people to the party will only make the party better. I have seen a wiki used for creating a strategic planning document with good effects. I have heard of libraries attempting to use one for delivering library board packet information -- which would probably work as long as board members didn't do any editing thereby creating an on-line quorum and thereby breaking open meeting law. Wikis seem a perfect venue for getting feedback and suggestions from all library staff around policies. Front line staff often have a better take on the implications of a policy and how it might play out, then the library board or administration. I think a wiki could also be used to update a strategic plan. The document could be put out there with comments about how implementation is progressing. The public would then make comments and suggestions about how to achieve those goals-- and, gasp!, even if those goals make sense. This would be a way to check to see if the public perception (that the goals have been achieved) match the library director's. Participatory libraries is what I believe the next iteration of the public library is all about. Library 2.0 will really put the public in public libraries. I can't wait to try out all the things I've learned this semester !

Ciao!