Extra Credit: 10 Random Things About THE Scott Woods

1) I'm a writer, not just of poetry, but of fiction. I've completed two novels, but only one of them is good.

2) I DJ as Scott's Groove Locker around town.

3) I firmly believe that exercise will kill you.

4) I am a total gaming addict: board games, video games...games....mmm...

5) I've released over 10 CDs of music, mostly under pseudonyms.

6) Pizza is my favorite food, and I divvy up which pizza to buy based on mood. My favorite go-to pie is Masseys. It used to be Tommy's, but then they changed the pie.

7) I will go see any movie based on a comic book.

8) I've been working on my will lately. It's tough when you care where stuff goes.

9) In CML there is a significant difference in the same job based on location.

10) If you ever hear this line from Patrick Losinski:

"When you work at Main you're working in service to the institution that is CML and all it represents. When you work in branches, you are in service to the community. Neither is good or bad; just very different missions."

...he stole that from me.

#23 - So what does it all mean, Alfie? (or, Scott 1.25, maybe)

Before I launch into what is likely to be a lengthy missive about my thoughts on the CML Learn & Play experience, I'd like to drive home what my opinions are being measured against to formulate the information that follows. The stated goal of L&P was:

"[To] encourage staff to experiment and learn about the new and emerging
technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet
today."

...with the following three objectives listed as a strategy to achieve the goal:

-encourage exploration of Web 2.0 and new technologies by CML staff;
-provide staff with new tools (that are freely available on the Internet) to better support CML’s mission: to promote reading and guide learning in the pursuit of information, knowledge, and wisdom, and;
- reward staff for taking the initiative to complete 23 self-discovery exercises.

I will also try to wrap up this post having answered the questions asked of the final entry task:

- What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
- How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
- Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
- What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
- If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

In so much as the goal was to expose staff to "new and emerging technologies", I guess that's something CML can chalk up as a "success". Staff was exposed to stuff online.

But I must be honest: I found the whole experiment largely inconsequential to the business of work. Was this fun at times? Of course, but mostly a vast use of time and energy spent with little to show for it in terms of practical application, and almost no day-to-day benefit to customers.

What sites I discovered that were new to me that I enjoyed had almost no library-related practicality. I love StumbleUpon and YouTube, but how would I apply that to what I do every day at CML? I wouldn't. At best I might help a patron navigate such sites, but in general patrons are pretty set in what they're using computers for. I found this to be true of almost every application I came into contact with, with one exception (online PC - VC - and online storage). What I know and use online on a regular basis is pretty vast, but has no CML application. I find it hard to imagine CML would spend the amount of time and work that it did so that I could Twitter every day...particularly with the amount of time most staff aren't in front of a computer.

As far as training goes, this exercise - while engaging and generating some measure of co-worker interaction (mostly centered on how to navigate exercises they didn't know and were likely to never use again) - would hardly qualify as little more than a cursory glance at what any of these applications has to offer. I've taken Excel training through CML, but I'd be lying if I said I used it with enough regularity post-training to be even mildly versed in how it works, and I certainly wouldn't suggest that what I did learn stuck. It's not training if you do it once and you never have to use it. Anyone who went through these 23 items and then turned around and said, "I have become so much better trained in how these things work" is bucking for a Section 8. We have largely been introduced to these things, but we have not been trained in them. I received more consistent and better training for Horizon - for months and with handouts and gurus and an assortment of support material and heralding, I might add - and we never even acquired it. I think I have more Horizon chops than I do Twitter chops.

Halfway through the program staff was given more time to delve into items, but that isn't what staff were largely complaining about when it came to the issue of time. They didn't want more time to delve; they wanted more time to set aside all of the things they do every day to even get to a computer and pursue this at all. To paint that dynamic as time well spent would be disingenuous at best. And most part-timers? Forget about it.

That there was so many staff members that opted not to participate at all is equally telling, but this is par for the course in large organizations given choices. With an organization this size you will always have a large contingent of people who will not participate in anything except the bare minimum of work as long as exercises and training remain optional. That is true for libraries and retail stores and garbage collectors and hospitals and universities...any industry you want to pick. If it's optional, it's going to be treated like an option...and how will staff at large benefit from that and the lessons within it? The self-access mode of training only works if people are invested in the outcome. Prizes is not an outcome.

If this or something like it were offered again I would be hesitant to participate. Half of this I know (or know enough about to know I wouldn't want to use it) and it largely left me with just enough information to be puzzled sitting next to someone else trying to figure it out. There is no substitute for bonafide training, and CML should largely shirk methods that suggest that optional time-consuming checklists are adequate replacements.

It's hard to argue with "success", but I gave it my best shot. Mind you, not because I'm a contrarian, but because I think there are useful things here that, given their proper due, might benefit staff and customers in more than an oblique way. personally, it didn't make me Scott 2.0 or anything. More like Scott 1.2 and a half maybe.

#22 - MOLDI (aka, Over Drive, aka, what?)

Much like it's namesake, this is the thing that's so old it's new again, like a sheen of fungus spreading over a log that, given enough time, turns into penicilin.

This is a service that, while CML has had a relationship with it for some time, hasn't rerally cracked the shell of the avergae customer. I've never had a customer come up to me about digital downloads or books (or anything else except for music) or how to get them. Most of the regular customers of our collection are still die-hard hardware users: cassettes and CDs, please. The stuff may circulate (I've heard the stats, "They're always checked out!") but you wouldn't know it.

The largest issue I've seen with MOLDI is that its collection is unappealing (old) and what is new can't always be had. Also, until rec3ently, you couldn't use it with the most popular digital device on the market: iPods. Now that you can, it's too late: iTunes sells what people want at a fraction of the cost (which they're willing to pay if they can own a good title) and without the horrible browsing interface, the works-when-it-wants-to website, and the front page full of titles that are largely unappealing to anyone under the age of 40.

It's a great idea, but because it's free, it's kind of a trade-off that doesn't pan out. You get what you pay for, and MOLDI too often proves it.

#21: Podcasts

Guess what: as a podcaster, I was already familiar with this one too.

I am a diehard iTunes man, and I recommend it to anyone looking to dig around and have cool content come to them. There are a ton of things out there, probably a podcast for just about anything you can imagine. It's like having a radio show in your pocket that you can start and stop whenever you want, and that never goes away.

I grab a lot of DJ mixes, but I also have my share of NPR-like talkie shows, with an emphasis on writing and poetry pods.

#18: Web 2.0 presents "Esnips"

If you do a lot of onine work, storage is always an issue. You either have to carry flash cards or thumb drives or laptops to have your work with you. With eSnips, and sites like it, you just upload files and organzie them online and you can acceess them from any computer.

The thing I like about ESnips is that it's fast and it's simple. Doesn't run a bunch of bells and whistles, or at least you don't need to fire them up to do a simple thing. It does require some trust on the part of the host, but they dont' seem too invasive...yet.

I recommend the site, and you can get 5 GB for free, so that's nice.
http://www.esnips.com