Lots has happened since I left for Seattle to get all oriented & stuff in preparation to become Educated. Not much of it is very interesting to anyone else, I would expect. Except for a couple visits with northwestern friends, the Seattle trip was a lonely time -- lots I needed to discuss, but everyone with whom I might have discussed it was off doing other important things. I did actually network with my new fellow students some, and also with a member of faculty or two. My Google T-shirt managed to irritate one of the prominent personages in the school and in the field, pretty much as intended. That word is very much the conversation starter in those circles. (And don't blame him for his sparse directory listing -- this is a new format for that resource that they've not had a lot of time to update.) I appreciated that one opportunity during the entire program to meet people, and the hands-on sessions with the tech tools, including the library's online search tools, but overall the experience wasn't remotely worth the trip. I did enjoy the close-up view of Mount Ranier from the airplane window on the in-bound flight.

I then completed the first class, an overview of the field and its issues compressed into 2 weeks. It was mostly a handful of recorded lectures plus readings with online discussion. I pontificated enthusiastically on the boards, and I think I added some value. I would appear to have received credit for the class (which is graded credit-no credit only), so yay. And I've begun another quarter-long class, including interacting in ways I hope are helpful with assigned team members for the group project. The first graded assignment is due a week from Monday, and I'm on the hook to compose the first draft -- all 1500 words of it -- the first half of this coming week so everyone will have some time to review & revise. I probably dump 1500 words at a time into this place, so I'm anticipating no trouble. In that case, they need to actually count for something versus the blather here, but I think I'm up to it.

Speaking of blather here versus counting for something, just yesterday I got the chance to turn this post into an assigned discussion board post on an information need I had experienced and my approach to meeting the need. I hope the story offers some interesting points for discussion.