About

The original 23 Things program, called Learning 2.0, was created by Helene Blowers at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County (PLCMC) to encourage her co-workers to experiment with and learn about the new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the way people use the Internet today. It was inspired by Stephen Abram's article called, 43 Things I Might Want to Do this Year written after he'd discovered the personal goal-listing and sharing website called 43 Things.

I have to admit that I'm feeling a little professionally isolated in our small learning centre situated on a lane/drivethrough in the south zone. The view out my window is the back wall of the strip mall. Don't get me wrong -- we're a going concern, but the daily dialogue and exchange of ideas you get in a bigger mainstream school just isn't possible here, so I have put together this '23 Things Surrey-style' in an effort to reach out to old SD36 friends and to meet new people as well.

I thought it would be interesting to try learning these tools myself, and rather than struggle on alone it seemed more fun to share ideas, frustrations, and successes with colleagues and friends as we go along. After all, that is the essence of a 'social network' & school staffs know how to do that really well. Doing it online just takes it into the realm of Web 2.0.

If all this seems a little overwhelming, this was how I felt about using online tools 16 months ago.


Sources that I drew from include:

BLOGS:
Vermont's 23 Things
School Library Learning 2.0 (California School Libraries)
23 Things on a Stick (Minnesota)
Infopeople: Our 23 Web 2.0 Things (California State Libraries)

WIKIS: (if you aren't sure what these are now, you'll soon know!)
Webtools4U2Use
K-12 Learning 2.0 (Atlanta)

P.S. Holy upgrades, Batman! I haven't even launched this 2.0 program of discovery yet, and I've just found out that vs. 2.1 is up and running strong!