You gave us 'Search Smarter...' But I gave you Rick

Okay, in my defence I had fallen behind and therefore only just noticed the 'Search smarter, Search faster' video on the 23 Things blog as I scrolled from week 7 to week 8.  Damn you 23 Things team! You beat me to it!

To make up for this slight oversight on my part, here is a video of Rick Astley.  Because, well, why not?  There's a lot to be said for dancing like your dad.  Not all of it good, mind...

SlideShare

I'm glad I didn't post this earlier today.  I was suffering from technology fatigue having discovered that no matter what I did, the link to Survey Monkey that I included in my last post just wouldn't work.  And still doesn't. I apologise to those itching to have a say on the use of QR codes as a promotional tool. I'm sure you exist in your thousands.  Admittedly the survey consisted of only 4 questions, so not exactly a reliable starting point from which to build our marketing strategy…

After spending some time quietly banging my head against my wrist rest (asbestos rumours and a general disapproval of violence at work make the wall a no-go area for such activities), I spent some time investigating SlideShare.  At first I felt pretty frustrated, concluding that it’s a bit like Wikipedia in slide format; lots of information from various sources and of questionable reliability.  I found it difficult to find something relevant, and being confronted with page upon page of results always puts me off. Especially when they feature presentations such as 'Free Ipad - Legit' and 'Herbal Viagra Guy Almighty'.  However, I work in a library.  I am not intimidated by vast oceans of information.  I took a deep breath, stopped cursing Survey Monkey (yes, there was still a slight preoccupation going on with that) gave my search terms some thought and rediscovered filters.  Aaaah.  I limited my search by language, date, user type (pro) and file type.  The results were somewhat more satisfactory and I was able to see how useful SlideShare can be for sharing information and teaching materials, promoting work and getting ideas. 

I still have concerns, however, about the authenticity of some of the information and would therefore suggest a cautionary approach when recommending it to students, particularly those carrying out research related to drug prescriptions and medical procedures.  This can be said about many sources of information though - the aforementioned Wikipedia and YouTube to name only a couple.  As long as we can get the 'never, ever, EVER cite Wikipedia as a source of information in your assignments' message across, and as long as users know they must always check the source,  then these websites can be a great way to gather information.  For example, the ’Search smarter, Search faster’ video created by the University of Sydney provides an excellent illustration of how YouTube can be exploited as a learning tool:

No time to Cha Cha, Mister Dinosaur, I’m off to make a start on Thing 17.

Prezi, Doodle & Survey Monkey

Okay, I admit, I wasn’t very patient with Prezi.  It looks straightforward but is actually…a bit of a faff.  Well, when you’re racing towards the finish line and don’t have hours to while away on it, perhaps it just seems that way. 

Anyway, it looks impressive.  I watched the one on the 23 Things blog, and the one created by ‘For Your I.A’s Only’.  Both were great – imaginative, visually pleasing and engaging.  Definitely the sort of tool you'd want to use in a presentation, and I intend to put it to good use next time I’m up there preaching to the masses.  As mentioned by the 23 Things team, it has so much more impact than PowerPoint.  I just wish it didn't make me feel the same way IKEA flat-pack furniture makes me feel - frustrated and borderline suicidal.  But that's what you get for not reading the instructions, I guess. I'll come back to this though - and will make a prezi on my experiences of using Prezi.  How brilliantly ironic of me.

On to the next Thing: Doodle.  I found this refreshingly simple.  It took me all of two minutes to set up a meeting and send out the invitations.  I always find it frustrating trying to arrange meetings with people from different areas within the university - we're a busy bunch and rarely around at the same time so this is definitely a useful tool for arranging meetings that involve people from various locations, with varying availability.  Of course, I could send them an Outlook calendar request but is this really necessary when the meeting is just a one-off? In future I'll be using Doodle to make meeting arranging a doddle.

Thing 15: Survey Monkey

Creating visible and easy to use feedback systems is something I've been working on at SHS, and the Subject Librarians are planning to use Survey Monkey during the next round of training and inductions.   It's so easy to use and I like the simple format.  I created a survey on the use of QR codes as a promotional tool:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZPSK3K6 

Overall I found the above tools useful and I know I'll be using them again and again, long after I've completed the 23 Things course.

Twitter and LinkedIn

Okay.  Twitter set up (@clarelou100).  No, I really didn't have a Twitter account until now.  I'll stop for a moment to allow you to catch your breath.  Recovered? Okay, good.  Let's move on.  I know how popular Twitter is, but I've never really got to grips with the idea of sharing my every move with, well, the world.  Do people really care if I’m wearing my novelty 'Tuesday' socks on a - gasp - Thursday?  No. I don't think they do. Or do they? I spent some time looking at friends’ Twitter accounts this week and suddenly I DID want to know how their morning run went, what they wore to their cousin’s wedding, that they ran out of washing up liquid just before the in-laws came round for dinner.  Strange.  Clearly, I’m easily swayed.  So I had a go at posting a few tweets.  I found myself addicted and suddenly almost every thought was Twitterfied in my mind to 140 or fewer characters.  This is cause for alarm.

I can see the wider benefits of Twitter, though.  It provides opportunities to connect with a broad network of people, to get our opinions out there, to link with others who share our interests or views (or not, as the case may be), to engage in professional debate etc. I could go down the social sciences route now and start talking about democracy, the younger generation, election voting, X-Factor, the London riots etc, but you’ve heard it all before and I’m already 6 weeks behind, so we’ll save that for another time.

We already have a School of Health Sciences Twitter account (@CitySHSLibrary) which is updated on a daily basis with health-related news, information on free e-resource trials, service updates, promotions etc and we currently have 145 followers.  I don't know what that means in Twitter world.  Are we the wildly popular head cheerleader or last to be picked for the netball team? I have no idea, but it does mean we're able to connect with 145 individuals/organisations that we wouldn't be able to in such an informal fashion/on such a regular basis otherwise. How many of our users actually have Twitter accounts is debatable, given that a high percentage of them are mature students with families and jobs to juggle, but we are constantly striving to promote social media, E-resources, online account access etc, and the stats tell us we’re making progress.

I've also set up a LinkedIn profile and have added some contacts.  It was interesting catching up with old colleagues and it’ll be useful to be able to get in touch with them should I need to draw on their expertise (or vice-versa, of course!) 

Anyway, 1.5 days to go.  11 Things to catch up on. #Stressed.  

Librarian on Location!

Okay, I had to have a play on PhotoFunia.  All I can say is you don't want to see a photo of me as a cherub.  I actually scared myself.  Instead here are some photos of me as a work of art (ahem) and a film star (I'll have to work on my serious look).

Remember the days..?

So, still being behind, I've just looked into Creative Commons. Yep, it makes sense. It works for the creator of the work and it works for people like me who don't much fancy being sued for using someone else's stuff. Everyone knows where they stand. I found this CC licensed image on Flickr and it got me thinking about how quickly things change in the world of technology.

Eleven years ago I got my first mobile phone. I was beside myself at the prospect of being able to contact anyone, anytime, anywhere. And I did. Oh, I did. Until my credit ran out. Then it was back on the parents’ blower and back to threats of "Hang up that phone this MINUTE before I…" Well. I probably shouldn’t say. The dates that were never arranged! The rumours neither confirmed nor denied! The…Okay I’m getting carried away. But remember those days? The days when we actually (half) believed people when they told us they lost our number and had no other way to contact us? When we dashed home to breathlessly dial 1471 to see if he’d called? When we picked up the telephone just to check for a ring tone. Six times in an hour? When we refused to leave the house in case we missed that call? I’m not painting a great picture of myself here am I? Come on though, we’ve all been there. But no more! Or not so much anyway (even technology has its limits). Thanks to new technology we can connect with others at any time, via numerous devices and technologies – mobile phone, iPad, Facebook, Twitter, Skype to name but a few…We’re constantly available and able to find out more about one another than ever before. Hmm, comforting or scary?

And of course our work lives have changed. Email has made communication easier, and people fatter. Why pick up the telephone or wander over to your colleague’s desk, all of nine feet away, when you can email? And munch on a chocolate biscuit as you do it? Of course, there’s always the risk that something said in jest may not come across that way via email (and do you really want to resort to the winky face?), so there’s still a lot to be said for face to face communication, or maybe for not saying things in jest via email at all.

In addition to email, work related Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts and the MyCity portal mean there are few excuses for being behind on recent goings on as we are constantly connected to other departments and other sites. As a result I’m sure we at West Smithfield are far more ‘in the loop’ about things than we may have been in the past, and people at other sites are actually aware of our existence, which is always a bonus.

And E-books! Students now have access to an ever increasing supply of books they can access anytime, anyplace. The "My dog ate my text book" excuse has almost had its day. I love to see that look of skepticism replaced by one of enlightenment when I tell our users that E-books also mean no due dates and therefore no fines. E-book usage at SCHS between July 2009 and July 2010 more than tripled and I’m sure Patron Driven Acquisition will increase their usage even further; based on a report I read recently, PDA items which are available electronically are twice as likely to be accessed by students than non PDA items, also available electronically. Which makes sense. Meeting demand and expectations is half the battle.

The introduction of iPads and Kindles also mean E-books are becoming part of our daily lives. When you see someone reading an electronic version of the latest John Grisham on the commute, you know E-books are no longer the reserve of academia and are here to stay.

So it's great that we're all embracing recent innovations. They make our lives easier and our arms less tired from lugging around all those books. But has it made our lives more simple? For though we feel more organised, we are constantly switched on, constantly available, constantly 'plugged in'. Am I the only one who occasionally aches for the days of old, when you could board a bus without being abused by iPods, ring tones, the tap, tap, tap of Blackberry keys and a complete stranger’s mobile phone rantings that "Keith was bang out of order last night, mate! BANG out of order!"? Perhaps this is also partially responsible for the uptake of new technology – how many of us have developed an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ mentality and have a panic attack if we get on the bus only to discover we have left our iPod at home and will spend the entire journey learning all about Keith’s failings the night before?

Whatever the reason, and for all it's positive and negatives, what we do know is that technology will continue to progress and continue to shape our lives. Many of us choose to embrace it, others try to shun in favour of a more simple existence. But one thing is for sure - when your gran knows how to tag you in a Facebook photo, there's no going back.

Image: Sean MacEntee (Flickr)

Google to the Rescue!

Right.  Onto week 2.  iGoogle set up (although it took some convincing that I’m really, really not in Algeria) and RSS feeds added to Google Reader.   So what do I think? Well, at first my iGoogle page was a bit of a mess, with gadgets from all over the place winding up there.  But after some careful editing I can now keep up with news, update my to-do list, download free music, follow Google Reader RSS feeds, have a giggle at the daily comic strip and view the date and time.  iGoogle will handily inform me when it is 17:00 and time to go home. Er, I mean when it's time for my next meeting.  Not bad. 

Like others, I’ve set iGoogle as my homepage and hope it will help me organise my time better, and possibly even my life. I wonder how long it will be before Google is doing my weekly shop, paying my bills, cutting my hair and booking my holidays?  What’s that you say? It can do this already? I really wouldn’t be surprised.

I checked out the video on Upgrade and set up some RSS feeds, including all the 23 Things participant blogs.  Phew, that took a while! It’ll be great to view everything in one place though, and being located at one of the smaller sites, it'll be a good way of keeping up to date with everyone at Northampton Square etc and get to know some of the new faces that have appeared since I left.   

So, onto week three.  Where are those embarrassing holiday snaps..?

Catching Up

"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say "hello." Goodbye! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" The White Rabbit (Carroll,1865)

Well maybe not a date as such, and I'm not quite as frantic as Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit, but you get the idea. 

So here is my first post.  And it's three weeks late. If this was a book I'd be looking at a pretty hefty fine by now.

I decided to sign up for 23 Things as, like the White Rabbit, I feel the constant changes in social media etc are impossible to keep up with.  I'm therefore hoping my involvement in this will help me to gain new skills and keep abreast of changes and new information.

This is my second venture into this sort of thing, having kept a private blog for a few years.  I follow a number of blogs and I think it’s the personalised nature of them that attracts me; information that comes direct from the individual has so much more substance and depth than that which comes from a faceless company or organisation and this is what keeps me going back again and again. 

It's clear that blogs, as well as social networking sites such as Twitter, have altered the way we share information; it's now acceptable to communicate with a wide audience in a relatively informal manner - we can tell others what we had for dinner in one sentence, and share our political opinions in another.  Although tempting to blog about my culinary adventures (roast chicken with garlic and lemon last night), I plan to use this blog for work related posts and will try to avoid boring your socks off with tales of my personal life. Riveting as it is.

So, what next? Looks like I have lots to do before I catch up with everyone else on here so, like Alice, I'd better get a move on.