Thing 23: Final Thoughts

Oh, where to begin? I gained several favorite new Things through 23 Things. I went from having no idea what Facebook was to using it daily to keep my long-distance social life on track. I didn't understand why people want to blog (why so many people want to blog!) and now I'm tentatively considering starting a personal blog once I sign off on 23 Distractions. And let's not even get into listing the online productivity tools--those are just plain fun (and useful--a win/win situation!). Plus there were the old Things I was already familiar with that I was happy to see during the program: seeing LibraryThing on the list made me feel like I was already being trendy and innovative on my own.

Naturally in a list of multiple options, some will be less attractive than others. The idea of doing much with my photos online just leaves me feeling exhausted, not creative. I keep forgetting I have a Delicious account, much less that I can use it. Second Life may have to wait until I put grad school behind me and get a faster Internet connection. But at least now I know that these Things are out there and I've tried them, rather than just hearing about them and idly meaning to look into them someday.

I liked that I knew people, usually coworkers or fellow students, who were also going through the 23 Things. It was always interesting to read their takes on stuff; often they picked up on aspects of something that I didn't consider important or vice versa. And yes, if you do a "23 More Things" or "Another 23 Things," I'm likely to sign up.

Thing 15: Online Games and Libraries

When I first looked over this Thing, I thought, Oh, something completely out of my experience. After all, I'd never heard of Puzzle Pirates and while yes, I know of Second Life, having a dial-up connection on my home computer pretty much prevented ever playing with it. But then it occurred to me that I am playing a couple of games online, albeit through Facebook. I admit I haven't done much with Knighthood other than build several buildings, but I'm still fairly new at it. And while playing a Scrabble-clone with friends is maybe not what the point of this Thing is, it's a game and it's online--I'm going to call it an online game.

Sorry: I'm just not feeling motivated to tackle Puzzle Pirates. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean and it was a fun movie, but that's the extent of my interest in piracy.

I was all ready to plunge into Second Life (if I could find a fast-enough connection) until I watched the video tour of Info Island. It was so jerky and pixelated that I decided that Second Life itself must be a really unpleasant experience. If I had to watch my avatar twitching walking like that, I was going to get a headache (it was so much better when the avatar finally took off and flew). This is maybe not the best video to promote this Thing with! I then watched Ohio University's video and realized that this was probably a more accurate picture of what Second Life is like. So while I've been beset with technical difficulties lately for getting a fast connection, I think I will take a closer look at Second Life, maybe even create an avatar and fly around a bit.

This is definitely one of those Things that looks to have more application for a public library or an academic library than a law library. Not that you couldn't build a law library on Info Island and stock it with the finest in brown books with red and black stripes on the spine. But I don't know how many law library patrons would want to go through Second Life to visit one. For the most part, the law is just not Fun. Maybe when today's teenage virtual reality devotees have become tomorrow's law clerks, this will be more feasible, but right now it doesn't seem worth the effort to establish a presence in Second Life.