LIBR 246-04/13 Web 2.0 (Spring 2010)

1. How has your view of social software changed since starting the course?

I have always viewed social software with great potential, but until this class I had no idea how much potential there was.  I learned about social software tools that didn't exist and I also expanded my definition of what social software is.  Or maybe a better way of putting it is I learned one that social software isn't just Facebook, Flickr, LibraryThing, but wikis and blogs and so many others.

2. What technology did you find most interesting for your personal use? What technology did you think would be most useful professionally?

I have fallen in love with RSS feeds both personally and professionally. I had played with Google Reader a bit, but nothing compared to what I do now.  Through this class I have been made aware that RSS feeds exist in a lot more places then I expected them to.  I love that I can keep on professional feeds and personal feeds all in one place as long as I tag them properly and keep my reader organized.  I am excited about the possibilities of RSS and book lists.  The thing that makes me the most sad is that people aren't aware of the potential of RSS feeds.  At this point I think RSS feeds are most useful professionally to keep track of what is going on in the professional blogosphere and even journals.

3. What surprised you during the course?

The amount of different types of resources we found and shared with one another.  I found this so helpful and valuable.  I have been bookmarking like a mad woman and plan on double checking to make sure that I've made note of all the resources from both classmates and Meredith

4. What suggestions do you have for improving the learning activities (exercises, assignments, blog posts, readings, examples, etc.)?

I appreciated half way through the semester when we started tagging each of our blog posts making it much easier find and keep up with what each other was posting.  I wonder if it would be possible to us a social bookmarking site to post the weekly resources and then have a RSS feed to the class website.

5. How did your experience using Drupal differ from your experience in Angel classrooms (or classes using other traditional course management systems)?

For the most part I liked using the Drupal site versus Angel.  What I liked most about the Drupal site is the ability for non-classmates to see the discussions.  I was able to share a few things and I appreciated when others noticed that we were talking about them.  The thing about Drupal I found most annoying was the inability to save posts and then the difficulty in copying and pasting from other programs.  I am a bit fascinated by Drupal and would love to explore it further, maybe even try create my own playground!

6. Looking back, how would you sum up your experience?