All Together Now. SLJ's 2.0 Program Begins today, July 21

Some news from Michael Stephens...

Greetings! As some of you may know I am working with School Library Journal and Brian Kenney for two months running a version of Helene Blower's Learning 2.0 for SLJ staff and readers. Brian wants to open it up far and wide, so please pardon this shameless request for some link love or distribution in your channels to get the word out. I would like to see participants come from everywhere - the US, Canada, UK, Australia, etc etc... :-)

Brian Kenney announced it here: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/850000285/post/1860029586.html

SLJ's 2.0 Program Begins July 21

Have you heard of 23 Things, the self-guided program for learning about 2.0 web technology? It was developed by Helene Blowers a couple of years ago at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and since then has been adopted across the country by public and school libraries, districts, and even entire states. It consists of a number of "things," or small exercises, that you do online to expand your knowledge of the 2.0 web and social networking, from blogs and podcasts to wikis and Twitter.

For a while now (and prodded by our Technology Editor, Kathy Ishizuka) I've realized it would be a great idea if all of us here at SLJ went through a "23 Things" like experience. After all, we are always writing about different 2.0 applications, shouldn't we experience them as well? Walk the walk, talk the talk, and all of that...So I resolved that we'd do it this summer.

Then I got to thinking: if we're going to do it, why not open it up and invite everyone to join us?

So that's what we are going to do. But Iwe're not going it alone; we've asked 2.0 guru, Dominican faculty member, and season trainer Michael Stephens to join us for the ride. Beginning Monday, July 21, Michael will author a blog here on SLJ.com that will lead us through the different exercises, offer guidance, answer questions, and even provide a little hand-holding. We're calling it "All Together Now: A 2.0 Learning Experience."

There's no need to sign up--just show up. Again, we'll begin on July 21 and wrap things up in early September.

My "Gearing Up" post is here: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/290000629.html#530030053

Our work will begin the 21st of July! Starting Monday, I’ll put up a post here -- the first of our “things” - with instructions to explore. The first thing is getting a blog and trying out blogging.

I’ve worked with a lot of libraries doing these programs and folks sometimes confess they are scared to dive in. These tools seem too new or hard to use. This program is designed to alleviate those worries. Work at your own pace. Work with a colleague or friend. I kid you not, this is a perfect time and a perfect place to experience these things. These rules will help:

Explore. Try things out. Don’t worry about “breaking” anything! Ask questions. There are no dumb questions. AND It’s okay to make mistakes.

The blog address for the program is: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/290000629.htm

Thanks for the heads up on this Michael!