Things 10 and 11 reflecting on social networking mainly

I can see that it would be useful to have a mentor in life. But I'm not motivated enough to get one! Next!

Back  on more comfortable ground...social networking.  Here is where Facebook is really handy for communities.  For example, there's a group of volunteers who do conservation work on the hill opposite my house.  Their FB page shows how their work is improving the conservation and facilities on the hill.  I haven't seen a slowworm for decades, but there's a great photo of one found on the hill and now I can't wait to go and find one!  I like being able to share my own pictures and reflections.    Also Bridport has an active twitter community and I have been to one of their "tweet ups" at a cafe so I do recognise the people I'm following.

Not sure I like the terminlogy "lurk".  Are we all lurkers now..?  Discuss...

Thing 10 - Masters degrees, qualifications

I can clearly remember who planted the seed of doing a Masters in Information Studies in my head - it was one of my pharmacology tutors, probably thinking "Jill will never make it as a lab scientist".  But how right she was on both counts.  Turns out that pharmacology degree + MSc. Information Studies is a killer combination for pharmaceutical employers as it means you understand the scientific terminology but handle information rather than pipettes and chemicals.  So that's what I did, with a year as a Graduate trainee in the Library at the (then) South Bank Polytechnic in London.   I did my Masters at Sheffield University.   I see they now offer an MA in Information Literacy or an MSc Information Management - looks like my course was a cross between the two.  The course gave me a really good grounding in information retrieval and database management and I have used these skills extensively in my career.  For me, the thorny question is whether to bother with Chartership.  Would it really be worth the effort at this stage?  I have managed very well without it thus far...views welcome please!

Image credited to Snowyowls http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CoMFA.jpg

Thing 9 - Evernote

I am beginning to use this a bit now and can see that it could be good for synching work and home internet favourites lists for example.  I like the "add to Evernote" button which makes saving things to Evernote very easy.  However, it does require some input from the user with tagging and folders/notebooks.  I found the notebooks are not well explained.  I would have liked a more engaging tutorial - perhaps Youtube has one. I had a look at the case studies - mostly creatives "types" in California...its great for working up your latest movie pitch apparently!

Thing 8 - Google Calendar

Although banned by my current employer (!), I have used Google calendar in another NHS region (I don't make the rules) and it was very useful to have read/write/edit rights on someone's calendar when they spent a lot of time out of the office.  In the library office, the shared calendar on MS Outlook is sufficient as everyone in the team can access and edit it.  One website I really like for scheduling is Doodle...no access to other people's calendars is required. 

Thing 7 - working the room...

The NHS libraries in the South West where I'm based do have a strong network that benefits the library community.  Most of the day to day contact is through the LIS emails, but there are opportunities to meet up too.  I have been able to attend meetings on Copyright, Marketing and a Christmas get-together and put faces to those email monikers. 
I am a member of the regional "Circulation group" and "Trainers Group".  The former tends to have webex meetings, but I have attended Trainers' Group meetings in person which has been useful.

I am an Associate member of CILIP and am fortunate in having the subscription paid by work.  I have not been to any of the meetings yet - as others have noted, they do tend to be in London.  However I find the newsletter of interest and if you are job seeking it is an expectation for many professional roles to have membership. 

Thing 6...gonna get myself connected...

I'm not doing badly on this Thing.  I've had a profile on LinkedIn for several years and I do use it as a sort of handy CV.  Most of my connections are from my previous roles in pharmaceuticals, where job stability is a rare commodity.  I like the fact that you can have recommendations on your profile and that is a good thing to have.  Of course they are going to be from people that have something positive to say about you/your work, but it's better than a dry statement from some HR person you've never met who will respond to any reference request with only your dates of employment and salary and who will not comment further for fear of being taken to court.

I have Twitter and Facebook accounts  - for personal matters.  I look forward to having Library accounts from my workplace but I wonder how long that will take to be approved.  One thing the NHS Library is good for is the networks - I am on several and they really are useful.  For example, LIS-MEDICAL which is for  the UK medical & health care library community. All sorts of questions are asked...and answered by the LIS community so it is a very valuable resource.

Thing 5 Reflection...You what? Why not..?

I've been dragging my feet over this one.  Reading about and doing more in the way of reflective practice are of course on my to-do list (near the bottom, but hey, they're on there!). At first glance I like the sound of the pithy 'what -so what- now what' model (Borton), so will start with that.  It occurs to me that the annual apprasial at work is something I spend time reflecting on and planning outcomes/what next so I guess I am doing it a teeny bit already.  It is the "Review" part of the cycle that is the hardest for me - planning and doing are not too bad at all.  Also, assessing "impact" is a big thing for NHS Libraries and I have tried to get more feedback on this from people who have asked me to do literature searches for them, or people I have run information skills training for.  I feel that reflective practice cannot be done in isolation without feedback...it would be too subjective.

What's going on..? Thing 4

One of the best tips I got from Phil Bradley about how to keep track of what's going on is to use netvibes.  It does make life so much easier.  I can see at a glance my Twitter feed, Facebook updates, email, the weather, time the International Space Station is visible from my house and other essentials.  Netvibes uses RSS feeds to update the content...RSS feeds are not very interesting in themselves.  The "dashboard" is so handy because I do not need to waste time logging in to FB, yahoo, Twitter individually in order to see the latest update.  I do go into the websites if I need to see more detail or create a new post, but not every day.

There are some very keen Twitter users in Bridport where I live. I attended a meet-up in a local restaurant so I can put a face to some of the Twitter names.  I moved here relatively recently so the goings-on reported by the local Twitterers are of interest to me and I feel more part of the community.  I follow about the same number of people as follow me - I can't remember what that signifies...

Present and correct - Thing 3

I am enjoying thinking about Thing 3 - my personal brand.  I realise I have not got consistency in my branding in terms of design, but hey, I'm not selling artwork!  Getting a more up to date photo on my Linkedin account and a photo of me on the blog is top of my to-do list.  I find uploading photos a bit of a faff, hence the procrastination. A check on my name in google shows my twitter, linkedIn, FB and now blog pages all on page one.  I guess my name is not that common - unlike some (so glad I do not share the name of a murderer!).

I heard an interesting discussion on the subject of personal branding on the BBC Radio 4 series The Digital Human.  David White commented that once you get beyond about 80 people in your Facebook network, you are moving into the realms of broadcasting your image and from that you are then moving more into the world of celebrity.  What a thought! Glad my FB page has about 40 followers and that's enough for me.

Thing 2 - checking out the CPD23 blogs

In the last week I have discovered how inspired people are when naming their blogs.  For consistency, I have kept mine the same as my Linkedin profile.  I am relieved that not all the posts are about Libraries - phew!  I was fascinated to read about a sort of "chain cake" which sounds ominous, but it certainly looks yummy on the photos.  Thank you to Justmichthatsall for sharing.

Fiddling with fonts - Thing 1

I am feeling happier about the look of the blog now I have adjusted the background and made it less generic.  I've chosen one that reminds me of Angie Lewin's designs.  Mustn't get too carried away with the look when I should be thinking about the content...

Take a deep breath and...plunge into 23 Things!

I've been interested in this course since I heard about it last year.    I attended a talk by Phil Bradley in October 2010 and was really inspired to use Web 2.0 more fully, though probably more on the social side, say no more!  CPD23 is a good "peg" to hang a blog on so we'll see what happens.

Not cloud computing...

These are real, but an unusual variety - noctilucent clouds.  This photo was taken one June morning at about 3am.  In those days I had a good view of the Eastern horizon - that's flat Cambridgeshire for you!  Not so, from hilly Dorset. Thank you to Mark for the photo!