Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Flaneur

Have I become a Flaneur of technology? How did THAT happen? Awake before 5 a.m. this morn and my mind was on full-power reviewing some of the interesting facts that came out of a Video conference/chat last evening. The LIB3 "gathered" and some had visual and sound, some had sound sometimes, one could see and one could hear, but typed to communicate. It all worked very well. Speaking of technology ... (!!)
I learned the word Aggregator last night. I roughly knew the meaning of the term outside technology, but learned about its application within. Constituting or amounting to a whole, total, to come together, sum of its constitute parts (Dictionary.Com)
In technology, for instance, a person can gather together in one spot, information as it is added to another location. So, for instance, the LIB3 instructor can gather all student BLOG posts to one location; it saves her the hassle of going "into" posts to keep up! Very cool. I suppose this was what a Clipping Collector used to do for news about a specific celebrity. Comb all printed text for reference to a specific person - and now technology, in many sophisticated ways, can do the same thing!

flaneur \flah-NUR\, noun:One who strolls about aimlessly; a lounger; a loafer. (Dictionary.com)

Can one become a flaneur of technology? Can one be a techno flaneur: always on the Internet, always learning more, always grazing and roaming and ranging over the hills, valleys and peaks of technology? Inference of never becoming quite expert, but interested vaguely and always on the move. I feel as if I am in technology-flaneur mode and the aimless lounging and loafing is the learning - try this. Experiment here. Invest some energy here. Go ahead - you can do it! It is the aimless strolling through technology that has some amazing outcomes for my learning. My aimless strolling in the last eight weeks has opened up my eyes, ears, and mind to just how much is going on out "there."

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4 comments:

Deb Kitchener said...

I love the word flaneur....I am a total flaneur, in fact I am flaneuring all over the web....

I could be a professional flaneur, wait...am I already??

Deanna said...

Lorna, I also found your use of the word flaneur intriguing. I think I've been doing a lot of flaneuring in my lifetime. My blog name, Bespeckled Hen, has a several origins. The word “hen” is a Scots term for woman or girl. There is an English beer called “Old Speckled Hen” which a Scottish friend of mine bought for me one time in an effort to be humourous – good thing for him I like beer! Lastly, I added the “be” in front of “speckled” to indicate that I wear glasses – a play on the word “bespectacled”. It took me a while to think of it – I think it’s rather creative! D.

J Martin said...

I learn something new everyday...thanks, Lorna, I now have a new word to use at cocktail parties.

The word flaneur rolls of the tongue so eloquently. I aspire to be a flaneur.

Lorna Reads said...

What charming responses!!

Aren't WORDS so amazing??

Thanks for the feedback.
L