Learning Really is Lifelong

Excellent to see a couple of suggestions for my blog challenge, I'll have a go at those in the very near future.

Today I wanted to share this article with you all.  Meet Ivy Bean, a 104 year old lady from Yorkshire in the UK, who is using both Facebook and Twitter.  I've actually been following Ivy on Twitter for a few weeks now, and she's delightful.  She tweets about her day fairly regularly, and often imparts with a pearl of wisdom that to her, is just how she lives her life.

The reason I bring up Ivy Bean, the 104 social networker, is because along my campaigns to get as many of my colleagues learning new technologies and ways to find/share information, I hear a lot of "Oh it's all for young people." or "I'm not of the digital generation."

Do you think Ivy holds this attitude?  She's twice the age of most of us and so long as someone takes the time to set her up, she is jumping on in with both feet.  And as she does so, she is meeting lovely people all over the world who are enriching her life and are being enriched by her.

I do understand that for those of us between the age of about 30 and 55, computer technology was REALLY fractious and unstable back in the days when it was first hitting the mainstream market.  Personal computers died at a single keystroke (oh how the blue screen of death struck fear in my heart) and we've all cursed and cried over losing massive documents, days worth of work when a computer has failed at a crucial moment.

But those days have passed.  Technology is unbelievably  more robust than it ever was.  It is more user friendly than it has ever been.  There is more information, support, tips and tricks, and help right at our fingertips with a simple Google search.  We have more say in how the technologies we use than ever before.  You only have to look at the user generated changes to Facebook after they changed their format without consulting their users, and the feedback was bad.

There isn't really an excuse of "I'm too old" any more.  We learn our whole lives.  If we don't keep learning, we don't keep living.  And if Ivy can do it at 104, nobody else has an excuse!

Wanna hear my favourite tweet of Ivy's?

"Playing dominoes with my friend Mabel today.  She's a bit blind so I can cheat."

I hope I'm as cool as Ivy when I'm 104!

Challenge Me!

Hello readers! If there are any of you out there still for this blog. I hope so because I am intending to keep it alive.

But I feel the need for a challenge or three. I feel a little stale with my blogging at the moment and would like some energy injected by you, my readers.

I would like you to challenge me to blog about a subject. Now as this particular blog is now devoted to libraries, reading, literacy, technology and things along those lines, the only limit really is that the subject will need to tie into those subjects somehow. It doesn't have to be directly related, but needs to be tied in somewhere.

I will attempt every single subject suggestion that is appropriate!

Leave me a comment with your suggestion.

Killing Our Libraries

killing our libraries
Originally uploaded by libraryman

It's a little dramatic, but a very effective statement.

Busy times are the times we NEED to innovate more than any other. Not because something is new or different, but because it offers us a way to save money, time and energy.

I love the slogan The Libraryman has made here. If you click on the image you will see it in higher resolution.

Never be afraid of innovation. Be afraid of stagnation and irrelevance.

This is How To Library Blog

I found this beautiful library blog this morning, from Adelaide City Council:

Charlotte's Blog

It's gorgeous! It looks good, great colours and layouts, is chatty and informal yet informative, clearly tells you that it's part of Adelaide City Council without "badging" all over the place and going corporate, and draws you right to the library website all over the place, without leaving you feeling spammed or harrassed.

This is what I would love to do for us. Get rid of all the marketing rubbish that is imposed on us, keep it simple and attractive and yet draw your readers to the places that you want them to see.

I think a lot of Web2.0 technology has excellent applications for libraries. Twitter, Facebook, blogging, Flickr, you name it - we could be using all of these to create a presence in the online world, without being formal or contrived in any way. But I think one of the thing that holds us back is the fact that everything has to be "branded". It just makes it look false and boring. Marketing strategies are great for printed matter, formal information websites and the physical appearance of branches and venues, but when it comes to the online environment, formality just kills it.

I hope to see a lot more push to allow public organisations go in this direction, as ACC are showing it can be done and done really successfully.

Shape Shifting Owl

It's in Japanese, but the footage is incredible!

Stand By Me

I found this beautiful version of Ben E King's Stand By Me on the ABC Radio Queensland blog.



It's from a documentary called "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music" and features musicians from all over the world singing the one song.

Grandpa Elliott of New Orleands and Clarence Bekker of Amsterdam are my two favourites.

Almost Time to Say Goodbye 2008

Can you believe it's almost 2009? I am amazed at how quickly the year has flown past, it seems each year passes faster than the last. It's been a year of ups and downs for me, some awful things, some amazing things. From a relationship breakup, a beloved friend being diagnosed with cancer, and a lot of other stresses to a promotion at work, the tail end of my awesome trip through the US, meeting new friends and getting to see old ones after a long time, and generally just growing more comfortable in who I am.

I have some goals for 2009. I don't like the idea of resolutions because if they don't happen, there is this sense of failure that I don't feel is healthy. But I'm setting some goals to work towards. Let me see:

• Get more creative. More writing, more photography. I've already bought myself a two year subscription to FlickrPro, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_sleepydumpling/ for my photostream) in the hope that I will keep adding photos as I go. I want to purchase a good quality digital SLR camera before too much longer. I've got my eye on a Canon one.
• Spend more time on me. I love my job and am passionate about it, but I would like to focus some more on my own life outside of work.
• Find a church that suits me. That's probably the hardest one!
• Read some of my mammoth TBR pile (To Be Read) before I add to it.
• Not date any jerks ('nuff said).
• Generally just read more than I did in 2008. I lost my reading mojo a bit this past year.
• Buy a bicycle.
• Go to Perth for Christmas

I'm sure there are lots of other things I'd like to have happen over the next 12 months, but these are the ones that pop into my head at the moment.

What would you say are your goals for 2009? Post a blog to tell me about it.