Wrap up and Sum up

Its hard to believe that we are now half way through the semester and this assessment is over. I have enjoyed the opportunity to discover different things and look at how these sites can help me in my career. Some of the weeks had a clear link with information management, and others I think the link was more tenuous, but I can still appreciate their usefulness in the technology fuelled environment we live in.

My goals at the start of the assessment were quite simple- to learn new things and discover new platforms that I can continue to use. I think that I have achieved this goal. Some things that we had to do, such as tweeting in the lecture or just tweeting in general, I did not find easy to do (especially in the lecture which I found distracting). I think I want to continue to use some of the social bookmarking platforms and maybe have another go at Twitter- I'll probably have to convince friends to join up! All in all, I think I learnt new skills and discovered new ways of managing all the information we are bombarded with in this day and age. 

Because many of the platforms that we have been using have been new to me, I have found that some of the weeks I had to learn a whole new platform and discover the tools of a site in a short period. Then because of the nature of the assignment and the fast pace, I didn't really continue using it to see if your experience improved the more you used it. I think that if I persisted using a site like Delicious, then I would have founded better ways to use it and integrate it better into my life. I have used Feedly since I was first introduced to it, because I found it very easy to navigate. I know that having an understanding of the sites that I won't use privately again, such as Delicious and Yahoo Pipes, enhances my understanding of different ways to manage information, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to discover these things on my own. 

Although I won't continue my blog, I have also enjoyed the experience of having one and learning things such as how to embed sites, create links and even code. Having a basic understanding of these things I'm sure will help me when I enter the work force and will make tasks which involve these things far less scary. I think if it was a longer project, or there was less to look at each week, I would have explored blog sites more, tried to make it more customised etc. I don't know what area of IM I will end up working in, but I'm sure that I will utilise these skills again. 

I am also glad to have been able to explore platforms like Twitter and Flickr. I have been curious about them for a while, but never opened accounts by myself. I don't think I will continue tweeting myself, although I will probably use it to look at other people and companies tweets. Flickr I am more likely to use, I like the simplicity of it and also the privacy options it provides. I have also gained an appreciation for how these can be used in an information management environment and how companies and libraries can use them to connect with their patrons. 

The platforms that need public input, such as Trove, Wikipedia and Billion Graves I will continue to use as a consumer, but unless I find something that effects what I am doing I don't think I will be adding to them- but this could change in the future. I do however appreciate their use in society and the way that it allows people to have control over information. 

I terms of group communication, I thing my group did more talking in class then online. Maybe its because none of us are really used to collaborating and talking over blogs. I we all have learnt a lot from this experience though.