Thing-free for the first time !

This is my first blog post since I finished my 23-Things-on-a-Stick blog project supported by Minnesota libraries.



So, the first thing I did was log onto my Blogger dashboard and skimmed through some headlines - one of the blogs I'm monitoring has to do with LIS news (multiple posts per day). I read about the California State Deputy Librarian, Stacey Aldrich, projecting four things to watch in the future of libraries, and she referenced a Sony Corp patent for beaming sensations directly into the brain - part of the next generation of gaming. Link is to the USA today story. I'll practice looking up this patent later (what's the US class, I wonder??) .



So, the system seems to be working. Except now I'm supposed to be pondering how the development will impact libraries. I think the point is that libraries, particularly public libraries, need to be aware of the development of technologies on the horizons. And I recall about three years ago, one of my clients asked me questions about computer systems which accepted input from anywhere in the room. He must have read some early promo about Wii. and now, they're everywhere (even the state fair this year) !

Before finishing up, I took a look at the recent blog additions to Science Blogs from the past 24 hours. Always something interesting there! Ah, this is fun, and relaxing!

Thing 16 - Student 2.0 Tools

I think this is the coolest tool! All those painful years, working my way up from five paregraph essays to longer papers, research papers, senior thesis, masters thesis . . . I felt I learned those lessons well, developed some reasonalbe writing skills (write, rewrite, rewirte . . .lessons I generally skip when blogging [oh well]).

I was particularly impressed by the U of M tool, which helps with the scheduling of the entire project, provides manageable steps along the way, with examples (what is a good thesis statement), links to the different research tools, databases, people, etc. The most difficult part of writing papers for me was the scheduling, and the tool gets you started (and reminds you with emails).

The RPC tool was a bit broader, and doesn't hold the users hand quite so tightly (varied schedules and tools for various disciplines). None-the-less, an impressive tool.

My son is the student closest at hand, and though still over his head, I expect there is a tool out there somewhere aimed at fourth graders.

As for work, many of my clients come to me because they need to write patents. Like research papers, patents have very specific research expectations, tight deadlines, and stringent requirements for the final product. There are many printed tools, but somthing interactive like this would be amazing. My own littlel project - is there somthing out there like this already? Let's check !