the second time around

As I was trying to say, I think it is great that we can learn and play around with this technology on the job. My husband regularly deals with another individual in his profession whom, as he puts it, he has to “pull – kicking and screaming – into the modern world” of computers. I overhear his phone instructions to highlight file names, click and drag items, attach documents to emails, track editing changes, etc. and smile to myself. That could be me in so many areas. It is to be hoped that by the end of this summer, Library 2.0 will have pulled me into the modern world of blogging, wiki-ing, tagging, etc. Or is it? Just because I can do something (in this case keep a blog) doesn’t mean I should. But at least I will know how. Many discussions are going on around the library now about the 2.0 initiative. The most common opinions seem to be “it’s great” and “I don’t know if I want to put myself ‘out there’ for all the world to see.” This puts me in mind of a college class I took on landscape in literature. One assignment was to keep a journal. At the end of the quarter, the instructor collected all the journals and graded them. I was taught that journals or diaries are private affairs, where we practice baring our thoughts (and souls in some cases) to our own eyes. They seem to be less common today than in years past. Now Shakespeare’s statement rings alarmingly true. All the world is a stage. “Everyone” blogs and brags about the number of hits they get. I wonder - have those same bloggers considered applying the popular expression “too much information” to their own pages?