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.