Week 10/11

Well apparently that is me all done - everything completed if not entirely understood.

I found the whole experience informative and even if not strictly relevant to my day to day role at Cass it has at least made me aware of the possibilities out there. I did have to recind my vow never ever ever to join Twitter for the purpose of knowledge, but my view still hasn't changed  - the majorioty of the tweets are just waffle from people with too much time on their hands! I'm sure that many people will contradict this view but it just isn't for me - although I can grudgingy see the benefits of instant access/update that Twitter can provide.

The scope of what is available out there to enhance your web presence is outstanding especially as much of it is entirely free of charge (got to love a bargain). I would imagine that as long as we continue to put the user first and adapt to their wants/expectations for information then Web 2.0 is a marvellous thing that offers variety and vibrancy to what can otherwise be fairly bland detail.

The end.....

Week 9 - Google and beyond

Well as I'm on a desperate hunt to organise a family holiday I've used our assignment to see whether different search engines provide any new results - the answer is no. Now this may be because a holiday is fairly generic - there are a limited number of companies that offer self-catering accommodation. However, AskJeeves did have some interesting asides in its 'Popular Q&A' section, which although not strictly helpful to my search did provide some pause for thought.

After using metacrawler I felt that the search results returned were actually less relevant and for my holiday search had actually listed irrelevant items and more 'sponsered' links.

Now to see how famous I am!!! After searching for my name I discovered that Metacrawler and Dogpile returned very similiar results - 192.com, facebook, linkedin etc. However, Zuula returned more results that were less relevant - i.e. had the words Helen and Precious but not linked as a name, which would clearly returned a wider breadth of 'or' results. Google for ease and comfort would probably still be my favourite - just familiarity!

Love the Let me google that link - although not sure how great it would be from a customer service stand point!

Week 8 - Multimedia

So the wonders of YouTube eh!

The library videos are entertaining and in particular the first video from Sydney is informative and clear without trying to be too gimmicky, you definitely come away with an idea of how to search effectively. I'd imagine that some students might find the Dalek one confusing as it mixes Dewey information with trying to be jokey about what subjects the Daleks deem necessary.

I think the duration of the clips is important - probably not more than 5 minutes would hold your attention without drifting off and thinking about lunch, your next task etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWv5S50Zww This is sooooooo dull, the narrator put me to sleep and I tuned out before reaching the end - does she also do the plane safety briefings?

I have come to the conclusion that music plays a vital role in the tutorials available online and where possible don't use real people as many seem to personify the 'librarian stereotype'.

Evernote

https://www.evernote.com/Home.action?__fp=MBranLnloA43yWPvuidLz-TPR6I9Jhx8&username=precioushm&login=Sign+in&login=true&_sourcePage=elexI8Sx0BLiMUD9T65RG-nFFPir8HPyAW_sgkunOAPkz0eiPSYcfA%3D%3D&targetUrl=#n=52c6d2b1-614a-4bba-b7f6-ce91a47cb7ce

So here goes an online note using Evernote to add to my blog page and get a pat on the back.

As a luddite with no smart phone/ipad or similar I will have to settle for using the good old fashion desktop pc.

So let's see if I can work it out......

Week 7 - cont

So having a look at Delicious now.

Again I can see the benefit of having all your links in onw place but I imagine that it must take some maintenance - already some of the links supplied by the 23 Things City blog are broken and unable to retrieve the intended resources.

However, after having a quick explore I've found the following

http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/ which seems like a good original resource for locating information for childrens' learning on line.

http://openlibrary.org/
A good resource for accessing free e books.

As discovered on many of the other social networking sites, there is an overiding dominance of American sites.

Week 7 - Sharing

Well it seems that I'm not very good at sharing!!!!

I have no presentations to my name so can't upload one to the Slideshare site. However, it does seem like a good site to encourage people to explore the types/topics of presentations undertaken by others in their field. I found it really straightforward to navigate and explore......unlike MyPBWorks.

I've spent too much of my time today tryign to solve how to add my blog to the 'Workspace - 23Things Blog'. Logging on was fine and identifing the workspace was easy but all I have succeeded in doing is adding my blog as a comment to the bottom of the other posts - maybe some can suggest what I should be doing? Actually by the power of persistance I think I've solved it - press EDIT, obviously

Week 6 - Prezi

Well Prezi seems very impressive and I would imagine would hold the interest of an audience more than a 'boring' Powerpoint presentation. As mentioned elsewhere I think that adding too many 'bells and whistles' might prove to be a negative aspect of Prezi's abilities and we'd need to rein in our enthusiasm. I managed a lovely presentation regarding my daughters christmas presents - those already purchased and any remaining ideas, complete with shiny pictures from the internet.

Reflection week...

So I'm enjoying the opportunity to explore some of the new fangled e-tech that is available online and I can see how it may be useful for all those networking busy full time librarians who are going places. But I'm wondering how much practical application there might be for little old me, who only works here at City twice a month. It has made me realise though that all the lovely skills that I learnt during my Information Science masters should have been more closely remembered, especially all the technological aspects that I secretly loathed. Nowadays so much of the library world revolves around online accessibility that as a non I-phone owning 'traditionalist' (who likes to read books as they were originally conceived),  I wonder if there is any chance of professional advancement without joinging the bandwagon.

Social networking

So with dread and a certain amount of disdain I have opened a twitter account - something I swore I would never be sad enough to do. By reputation alone I assume that twitter is used for and by all those needy people who feel that compulsion to inform all and sundry about what they are doing every millisecond of the day regardless of merit.

However, after looking at Emily's lawbore feed I can see how Twitter may be useful - although for a part-time librarian with no real agenda or specialism I would anticpiate little use - other than current awareness.

Here goes....

Playing with images

So I managed to find a photo of myself to play with using FotoFlexer which hopefully will appear now....
Ta da....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherwilkie/63084691/

Having difficulty inserting an image - it doesn't seem to like my flickr link

Week 3 - Images

The short introduction to Creative Commons is a revelation. I think it is an excellent idea in principal which allows for the maximum exposure of your creativity. I would be intersted to know if there is any enforcement of the 6 degrees of accessibility or is it purely down to trusting those users of CC to adhere to the permission guidelines. Nowadays I think people are very dismissive of copyright infringment - as it's only one download of that episode of X that I missed, one song that I'll just use or one photo that I can put into my presentation - what harm is it doing and perhaps more vitally whose going to know?

Visual prompts and illustrations in blogs, presentations etc I think are important in grabbing and maintaining attention - especially in our world where we are used to instant access/quick fixes. In a multicultural environment a picture would enable a wider audience to be reached and an immediate message conveyed which could then be expanded upon in greater detail in a more dedicated forum.

Now I suppose I should find a witty image to insert!

Igoogle/google reader

That's section 2 completed - isn't it hard to think of websites that your regularly use that aren't just for shopping!

I can imagine that as a student that these functionailites are very useful but I'm not sure how relevant they would be day to day - surely it's just quicker to search a website directly to see what's new? maybe I'm missing the point?

Back...

Well after a long summer holiday away from work I am back and endeavouring to remember exactly what I am meant to be doing and what my google password is. So bear with the slow coaches that are the part-time members of staff (or proabably just me). Well done to all of you who have completed the 23 Things City in a more timely manner and wish me luck in getting my work brain to engage again.

So it's been a while since I last came in to work so I've forgotten pretty much everything - including my password - soooo half an hour later I'm back onto blogger and now trying to complete week 1 by adding tags.

I'm probably being daft but I can't seem to add tags to my previous posts. I can see the labels box on this new blog so shall try it from fresh!

Establishing the Blog

Well I seem to have successfully set up my first blog and have been playing around with the background/fonts/colours etc - although it doesn't seem to be showing up now?....maybe when I have completed the post?

The creation of the blog is all quite intuitive and seems fairly straightforward if you are familiar with using Word type programs.

Next task to add some tags...

Made it

Well managed to set up a blog - hoorah.

I'm Helen Precious. I work part time at City University at the Cass Business School as Sunday Supervisor and also at Regents College two evenings a week.

I'm interested in trying to find any other mum's (or dad's) out there who are trying to get back into a professional position of 'worth' whilst still being able to do the school run - does such a job exist?

Or shock horror coudl library work be done from home - remote cataloguing anyone?

Right tapping at the desk should probably end the first blog.