Week 2: Blogging

Well, after some fiddling, which is part of the fun and part of the distraction of Web 2.0 applications, and help from my 16.5 year old son (choosing a blog name) I have started
"The Humanitarian Librarian" which I hope will live on beyond this online course... :)

http://humanitarianlibrarian.blogspot.com/

I found setting up the blog rather simple, but got too emotionally involved, in a negative way, with trying to set up my avatar from the suggested Yahoo web site.

http://avatars.yahoo.com/

I was continually frustrated that one had few choices and age ranges of avatars. Since I am a woman in her early 40's who feels young at heart I had difficulty choosing a "hype-looking young chick" for my avatar -- I'm not sure if this has to do with my feminist leanings, my varied lifetime experiences, and/or my concern as a mother that the media messages we continue to send continually perpetuate the myth that younger is better -- and then I lament why am I wasting so much time thinking about this?

In doing a quick search I saw other types of avatars, so perhaps during a "lull" in our course work I will continue to look for the avatar that feels right for me -- of course, as I am continually learning in our technological/literate worlds finishing a task may never happen because you can constantly add, refine, update, and/or change your assignment, homework, etc.

Week 1: Introduction and Pointers from Lifelong Learning

Philosophically I have always felt like a lifelong learner, thus librarianship as a career choice has been a good decision. At the same time I struggle with keeping a balance in my life between home-family and work-career. I relish time spent learning new skills and applications in this Web 2.0 world but can often get swept away and lose track of time... (hmmm, sounds like a lot of our students).

I need to continue to strategize ways to be effective in my librarianship and my home world. I am hoping that this online course will be a part of the ongoing solution to incorporate these different aspects and interests of my life.