Thing 6 - Now it's finally time for online networking

I'm very behind with the times when it comes to social networking. I've only really got into Twitter since this course, I've tweeted tonight but at the moment I only tweet cpd23 stuff. I'm not on Facebook or LinkedIn and had never given them a second look before until now. I haven't really made my mind up whether I'm missing out by not using them. I joined Facebook and LinkedIn tonight rather half-heartedly as I think I can't really comment on them unless I have actual experience of using them. I think I'll probably go back and have a good look at my profile on LinkedIn at a later date as I think this one looks the more useful of the 2 professionally. So far, I've just done the briefest of profiles and joined the 23 things for professional development group. I also had a quick look at the CILIP Communities, again I think it's going to be one to revisit at a later date.

Thing 4 - Are we nearly there yet? Yes - we're on Pushnote.

I've got to admit that I hadn't heard of Pushnote before I started this course. Unfortunately, my browser is Internet Explorer so I won't be able to get practical experience of this. I had a look at their FAQ page which didn't give me much more information that I had already known.

I then looked through some of the other participant's blogs to see their views. Alot of the Thing 4 blogs had done the Twitter and RSS Feeds but hadn't looked at Pushnote. The ones that had tried Pushnote were mainly quite negative about its usefulness. Comments included that Pushnote wasn't offering anything new to other social networking sites that already exist such as Twitter. Quite a few of the bloggers had also given up quite quickly citing that they just didn't get it.

I found one blog - Charlie's 23 things for professional development - that offered some useful comments both positive and negative and also referred to a couple of useful recent articles on the Techcrunch website. This blog highlighted one major problem that a website’s owner couldn't remove any of the Pushnote comments linked to their site which will be a problem if the comments are false or malicious.

Thing 4 continued! - RSS Feeds

When will Thing 4 end I ask myself forgetting that I've been easily distracted? I went in my blog last night to work on Thing 4 and to my horror noticed that my last post was full of spelling mistakes. I knew I was tired but..... Liberary? Sevices? After giving my blog a good spell check, I had a light bulb moment and remembered how to change the font as I had thought the font was far too small on my blog. So after playing around with that for a while and sending a few tweets, I remembered the reason why I was on my blog.....RSS Feeds.

I've set up an RSS feed for the CPD blogs and participants and had a look at the recommended list and set a few feeds for these too. Phil Bradley then planted the idea of setting up an RSS Feed for the BBC News which I thought was a good idea. I then thought about all of the other sites - professional and leisure - I regularly look at and decided to work through those. I then got distracted again and started adding other gadgets to my google page, totally forgetting about Pushnote.

I got to admit I thought RSS Feeds was just the automatic emails that came to me on a regular basis from Freeprint, Internet Librarian, Information Today Europe, CILIP, ICan and National Autistic Society, so accessing news from your Reader was something new. It's certainly a quicker way of checking your favourite sites for updates and probably better than getting hundreds of emails which you ignore for later as you're too busy and then never get round to reading it.

I can also see why RSS Feeds is a desirable requirement for library systems to let readers know what new books have been added to the catalogue in their favourite subject or author.

Thing 4 - Twitter continued

After a busy week with a full governor's meeting as a parent-governor at my son's school last night and helping out at Sight Village in Birmingham on the RNIB National Library Services stand today, I've finally managed to sit down at 9.30 tonight to have another look at twitter. I went through some of the recommended twitter accounts and decided to have a maximum of 5 to follow.

Publiclibnews and UKpling
I thought it would be useful to keep abreast on what's happening to UK public libraries and the opposition to library cuts.

infolitgroup
I've always had an interest in information literacy stemmed from my work in college libraries.

CILIPinfo
For obvious reasons!

Philbradley
My enthusiasm for Web 2.0 has grown since this course, after being indifferent before. Who else would be a better person to follow!

I also posted another tweet myself and had a look at libchat. I'll like to have a go and join in to see how this works. I can also see the benefits of tweeting at something like a Conference as I've just found out that Kent Libraries has won the Libraries change lives award through twitter.

Thing 4 - Twitter

I've finally managed to start looking at Thing 4 and set myself up a Twitter Account, only to discover that I already had one which I must have set up on the Web 2.0 course back in 2009! I actually had gained 4 followers who didn't have much to do following me the last 2 years.

I think the problem with the web 2.0 course back in 2009 was the lack of relevance to me at that time as we weren't allowed to use things like twitter etc at work, web 2.0 technology isn't very accessible for visually impaired people (our customers) and I didn't have a computer at home.

I updated my profile and managed to link my blog to my twitter account with few problems. I've sent a couple of tweets so far, seems pretty straight forward though quite a challenge to stick to the character limit. Also tried to see if I could easily add my tweet button to my blog but need to find a bit more help on how to do this.

My next step is to get in the habit of sending tweets on a regular basis and try and get some followers! The cyber world can be quite a lonely place. I'm also going to look at some of the recommended tweeters and pick a few to follow.

On reflecting on the 23 steps so far, I certainly would keep the blog going and would try and put something on most days. I would also perhaps have a go at some none library blogs. I also want to design my blog more - add a few images and gadgets such as the tweet button.

With regards to Twitter, I think I need to give it a few weeks before I decide on its usefulness for me.

23 things for professional development

I'm currently in my second year of revalidation and any chance to take part in any type of professional development must be a good thing, especially that it's free! It's also a chance to share my experience and knowledge with other librarians.

I've very limited experience with social media. I did the web 2.0 course a few years ago but then didn't have any opportunities to use it so it's all very vague. The only evidence that I did this course was when I went to set up my google account, I had one set up already! I had a minor panic when I decided to look at other blogs to see what everybody else had written that they all seemed very competent and very literate and then when I went back to continue with my ramblings, my blog had disappeared. I'm also had fun with updating up my profile which doesn't want to save that I work in the non-profitable sector in the uk. It keeps changing back to non-specified. I'll have to have another fiddle with this later, no doubt I'll be wanting to experiment with this and the template as I get more confident with blogging. I'm just getting used to the basics of blogging - logging on and off, editing etc

I'm happily listening to 6 Music Glastonbury Highlights - been some of those plus some low lights as well! I'm going to attempt to publish this and register myself and then cook some dinner - Spinach and feta cheese pie, potato pilav and cabbage and tomatoes - Middle eastern style.