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Re: Lack of postings... $0.02
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Bill Hudgins
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Apr 05, 2007 20:38 PDT
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This may also reflect the ubiquity of wikis, podcasts, blogs and other
interactive art forms that are replacing email as a form of group sharing.
With the increasing interest and interactivity of the "social web", for
example, some bloggers have taken to having "meetups" to try to revive that
personal touch.
In my own case, I'm now splitting my time between training and systems
support, and guess which one takes more time and energy?
I guess the law of entropy applies: everything we attempt seems "to evolve
toward a state of inert uniformity <http://www.answers.com/entropy&r=67>"
but I also think that computer users are becoming more knowledgeable and
less fearful, judging by the kinds of questions we deal with in class now as
opposed to those of five years ago. It took a few generations and
reiterations of the telephone before people could carry it around in their
back pockets, but when I saw one of my 80+ year old students whip one out of
her purse the other day (in contravention of a sign in the lab that politely
asks that no cell phones be used in the room), I figured we're in the Next
Generation. She later explained it was a gift from her daughter who was
worried that she might fall and not be able to get up.
Maybe it takes an announcement about the imminent death of a list to
resuscitate it?
Regards,
Bill
On 4/5/07, Michael McCulley <mmccu-@sandiego.gov> wrote:
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Bill and all,
I've had a small group over on Yahoo! groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/publibtraining/
since 2003, and though we have 176 listed members, we get relatively no
discussion or postings. You can see we started out okay in 2003, but
downhill since.. I'm not sure it's needed any longer, so I've thought of
closing it down.
Best,
Michael
P. Michael McCulley, Librarian II / Information & Technology
San Diego Public Library, 820 E Street, CA 92101-4806
Phone: 619-238-6678 / FAX: 619-238-6639
E-mail: mmccu-@sandiego.gov
| | | | | | "Bill Hudgins" <b.hud-@lanepl.org> 4/5/2007 8:02 AM >>>
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Regarding the lack of list activity, perhaps:
1) The rate of technology change is overtaking (not to say overwhelming)
trainers
2) Aging hardware is presenting its own challenges
3) The demographic of those who don't know how to use a computer is
shrinking
4) Google has become the first resort for most of our users for more than
just searching
5) Spring and summer are typically lower seasons for computer learners, at
least in my part of the world (Ohio)
6) We're burning out.
We're averaging 66% attendance over the long haul, and 2 out of 3 ain't
bad.
--
Best regards,
Bill Hudgins, Tech Trainer
The Lane Libraries
Hamilton, Ohio
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