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!