Thing 2: Getting Started / Web 2.0 Concepts

The whole idea of blogging is both exciting and daunting to me. I enjoy writing and working with words to express myself. And I am enjoying the opportunity to learn something new and write at the same time. The fact that it becomes public for anyone to read and comment on once I put it on my blog is the daunting part. It almost seems egotistical to think someone might be interested in what I have to say. And it is unnerving that people I may not have even met could be reading and commenting on my posts. I find myself second-guessing every word I enter here and that itself is humorous. But from watching The Machine is Us/ing Us, I can see blogging and its place in the world of Web 2.0 is a logical progression of the ever-evolving internet.



The concept of Web 2.0 is still somewhat confusing to me although I think I have some idea of what it entails. The reason I chose Down the Rabbit Hole as the title of this blog is that Web 2.0 reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. Things are constantly changing and being redefined. And even though this may be a terrible analogy, the further down the rabbit hole into the world of 2.0 I go, the more bewildered I become. But what I do know is that more and more students in the community colleges use many aspects of Web 2.0 already and their professors are also beginning to use it for class assignments. I myself have begun using some features, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and RSS feeds to maintain social and professional contacts and to keep up with new developments at my community college. And I do know what the Wiki is and confess to using it occasionally myself. I am just not thrilled when I see students in our library rely on it as factual information in many cases. So I have traveled down the Rabbit Hole just enough to recognize some of its inhabitants and am looking forward to being more comfortable discussing and using it. Hopefully, our own library at Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown will be able to take advantage of blogs, Facebook, etc. to reach out to students and keep them informed about what resourches the library has and what we can do to help them while they are here.