Exploring New Technology Rewind: Feevy and the Beginner's Mind

The Sheck Spot now rocks a dynamic blog roll! Feevy is in the house!

Many thanks to my personal help desk (otherwise known as David Silver) who gave me some pointers. And for those of you that are thinking Feevy is your cup of tea as well, David left me some helpful hints in the comments to my original Feevy posting.

Feevy will now allow me to keep track of other bloggers out there without having to spend so much time clicking in and out of pages. Efficiency, accessability, cool looking: is this not a mantra for web 2.0?

But more seriously, working with Feevy has taught me a great deal insofar as I experienced the kind of frustration that I think is most common among users who don't spend their free time playing with technology. I really wanted it to work and found myself getting really angry when it wouldn't. Yes, it happens to us all. But putting it my problems and questions out there brought me answers. And looking away from it for a few days gave me a clearer perspective.

I can't help but think about my friend Rob Williams' comment last week about my "beginner's mind." First of all, thank you. But I think it touches on the idea that for many of us who work with technology, we find "the rest of you" difficult to understand. I know that I often find myself annoyed or frustrated with friends or loved ones who get frustrated with technology (less so with students, I think because I am in a different mental space with students than with friends or family). "Sit down and play with it, figure it out," I want to yell at them. But not every one starts there. And as a librarian and teacher, I need to bring my beginner's mind to those situations and open my mind up to how to share technology with those around me. How can I share the playfulness, the eagerness, the opportunity with others? And how can I respond in a way that is constructive to those that don't take the bait?