Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Here I am - Where the Journey Starts...

Well, my first post. How strange this seems. And how strange that it seems strange. I've been chatting and posting to bulletin boards and email lists and groups and what not since before the internet had web pages, but somehow, Web 2.0 came along and suddenly everything old is new (and different) again. And I need to catch up.

As an example, I remember the whole "Second City" social/avatar/world thing from way back. I can't even remember the name of the place anymore, but I remember hanging out in people's "pads"and chatting to all sorts of interesting people (and admiring their avatars) and having quite a good time. But do I know anything about Second City and who is using it? No, I don't.

Somewhere along the way, a whole new (dare I say) paradigm appeared, with all the supporting jargon, acronyms, tools, languages and uses and I was busy programming business apps and missed it.

Then I started paying attention to what my husband was doing as head of the Information Technology Services Department of the ACPL (Allen County Public Library) and it blew me away. All the things I used to do that were just considered playing or obscure or geeky or "kid's stuff", suddenly have a real and practical (and accepted) use. And it is not just acceptable, it is valuable.

And the possibilities are screaming at me. I want to learn and see and do and create and be involved in making a place and finding the opportunities in this new land. I have so many ideas that I want to implement and so many contributions that I want to make. But I need to learn the tools and words and ways to do it. It is frustrating since I have been programming all my life and there is typically nothing I want to do that I can't do without too much trouble. So now I feel humbled by the amount of things I don't know.

So hang with me and you can watch me on my path and hopefully we can share with each other along the way. It is a new way and a new day. It's all things Web 2.0.

No comments: