Harry Potter

Reading through my feeds and as usual distracted by something fun - check out my Harry Potter personality - like my star sign I'm quite happy with it!!


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

The Last Post

Sounds like there should be music playing or at least a bugle...
So Kathryn has asked the following questions:
What have been the highs and lows of the 23 Things for you? Highs have definitely been the collaboration and team work amongst ELS staff. Also how creative they have been and outcomes like the WA VDX users blog.
Highs have also just been exploring the technology.
Seeing posts by people like Dianne and Pat who I know aren't into this stuff at all.

I'm not sure if finding out more about other people has been a high or low - sometimes its interesting to find out info about other people, sometimes it feels like it is blurring work with the personal a little too much for my comfort zones.

Helping lead a team of people through this has definitely had highs and lows - there's enthusiasm, energy and innovation; and there is also fear, resistance and negative responses. I'd have to say though the highs definitely out-weighed the lows on this one - though it was time and energy consuming to keep this sort of positivity going.

It can be frustrating too - with all the systems down yesterday - Twitter felt like the perfect medium to let people know what was happening - msn is one to one, email wasn't working, not everyone can access the refdesk blog - but no-one was on Twitter....

Where to next with emerging technologies? I think Library wide we need to discuss what would be useful for us to start using. Benefits of different tools, possible guidelines that we may need with their use.
For you? For me I want to look at a few things in ELS. I have ideas and haven't had time to do them. It will be one step at a time and is the sort of thing you keep putting off because it is so big - jobs that you can break down into manageable chunks are easier to tackle.
For libraries? For Libraries in general I just think we need to keep informed, keep skill levels up there and slowly the technologies will be incorporated into our services. For our Library I think what we need to do is not so much keep looking for new things to learn about (though good to do this) - but to actually spend some time working with the tools we've just learned about - as there is so much potential from them, and it would be very sad to lose that.

And no - I don't really think this will be my last post.......

The Info Game

Was it just me or did anyone else find it annoying that the Info Game didn't tell me what I got wrong and give me the correct answer?

Retro hair

Well I did promise Tuesday night that I would post images of my 80's hair....

Retroland

Retroland - that was fun. I've just brought back memories of neon and mesh shirts, leggings, acid-wash denim, flashdance and wham fashion and making countless friendship bracelets...
Can you guess that it was the 80's?
They didn't have boob tubes though - and the boob tube dresses - maybe that was an aussie thing (or just a busso thing even)
I am very sad that in recent unpacking I couldn't find my Choose Life t-shirt.
Had a nice conversation Tuesday night about retro hair and rat's tails - fits in well with this week's thing!
Scritty

Learning 2.1 blog

Well I got to the Learning 2.1 blog and only got as far as a reference to Retroland.
How did they know!!!!
I am now going to have a play......
Scritty

My goals revisited

Hi - well Kathryn asked us to look back at our goals form the beginning and see what we have achieved over these past few weeks.
Let's see:

• Learn more about this technology and feel comfortable using it - well I definitely feel comfortable using most of it and would love more time to spend on using some of these tools to their full potential. That is probably my main regret - there's always been a little more that I would like to explore - particularly under the "for those that want more" sections of the weeks, but as the weeks have gone by its been more a matter of getting done the bare minimum of the week and a "I'll try and play with that later". Later is a little like tomorrow - it never comes... I would say that one tool I still don't feel comfortable with is Facebook. Its probably just me but I just don't "get it". I mean I can see what people say about the benefits they get out of Facebook, but it just doesn't sit comfortably with me - maybe its to do with networking, I've never felt comfortable with that either and Facebook in a professional sense is about networking. I can see it as a possible tool for a Public Library - but would need to explore it a lot more before really deciding on this.
• To look at ways we can use the new technology in our section and to make our services better for our customers - We have definitely already started on using some of these things in our section - the Doc del wiki for WA VDX users is one great example, plus the Doc del delicious account is another. I think because we have been doing this project as a collaboration between staff the natural progression has been to start using it as part of our work practices (Google docs is another one people have picked up and run with) and we haven't really had a chance to think yet about using it with our customers. But that will come, there are already many ideas running around in my head about things we could do for External students - maybe over the break I will have a little more of that thing called "time".
• Promote teamwork and communication across the Library and enabling staff to feel more confidant and a little empowered by this technology - well that one has been a fantastic and rewarding thing to see. Staff in ELS have buddied up at various times when a couple of them are falling behind (2 are twittering together this week as they missed doing it last week), everyone is helping each other, sharing what they've found and incorporating it into their work. The energy has gone up and down over the project, but there has always been a trigger from someone to set it off again. Then there's the comments after a night shift, that show that the Reference desk Librarian and the ELS staff have been discussing and exploring these tools together, plus there are all those tea-time conversations.... I think it has been really empowering for some of the staff - there's the power in knowing that you can do it - doesn't matter if you will use some of the technology again - you have had the chance to explore it with others also learning. And then there's those who have really gone beyond their comfort zones and presented info at a WAGUL forum - that's brave! I have to say I've been really proud of the way staff in ELS have explored this technology.
• Have fun and Enjoy work - well that one has happened nearly all the way - thanks Kathryn and Murdoch Library for giving me this opportunity!!!
  

Creative commons etc

Just wondering as I do this - are we supposed to be acknowledging who's videos and slides we are embedding - or is it enough that people can link back to the slideshare and youtube sites? This part of it all feels a little grey to me?

Slideshare - feeling jealous of Sue

Couldn't go past this one as Sue's recent photos made me jealous, I don't know if anyone else has been here - but for me it was a magical place, Scritty

| View | Upload your own

And just to prove that I really meant it...

when I said that I loved tacky and kitch, one of my faves from Eurovision......

I was in love with image generators...

but then they all disappeared (except my comic strip one)

You Tube and online virtual worlds

Hi all - found a clip about online virtual worlds - was just interesting to look at an overview of 3 different online virtual worlds. There.com looks pretty kitch which always appeals to me! I love the fact that they can go surfing and have tacky bands playing....

Which tools seem the most useful so far?

I'm waiting for an update to install so thought I'd do a post (it seems to let me write and update at the same time).
So reflecting back on what we've done so far (nearly at the end too!!)

Well the software loaded and its now a weekend later.
Its a hard one - which will be most useful - some things are obviously useful - rss, blogs, wikis, delicious - others not so obviously so.
Second Life is the most fun - but maybe not so immediately useful - and then things that I would have dismissed straight away such as Twitter - I have actually found quite good in a work sense (though it needs to some how automatically refresh).

I think most things have potential uses and maybe learning about all the things combined is what is most useful - it means as you are doing something in the future you can think - "I wonder what would happen if I tried to use a xxxxxx for that?"
And the more you keep learning and trying the new tools - the more familiar some of them are becoming - which means that sometimes you may in fact been using them without thinking about it at all.....

As we approach social networks

Hi all,
as we approach the week on social network sites - I found the post from Fiona Bradley on Libraries.interact.info interesting - How to manage your online identity
She talks about not leaving your online identities behind as you decide to no longer use these tools - how many times in all this have we joined up to things and then promptly left it there in Cyberspace to be used never again.
Particularly with social networking sites she also talks about not leaving stale information behind if you decide to stop using that site or if you no longer want to have your details available for people.
Some sites are easier to disconnect from than others. And that old thing that keeps bugging me - privacy and how people new to these tools manages their online identity is also discussed,
Scritty

Tag clouds from del.icio.us

Searching on Tagged sites versus Search engines

This weeks exercise took me back to those days when I used to teach the following course at my previous job "How to search the Internet effectively" - much of the course revolved around comparing subject directories, search engines, meta search engines and more....
What surprised me was that I found that searching in del.icio.us gave me the most relevant search, not what I was expecting. I didn't spend lots of time refining search strategies - it was a very "lazy" search - but maybe this reflects how lots of our users search anyway?
It didn't find lots of search results but the ones it found were good sites - and I assume this is what you would expect - if someone has taken the time to tag it - then they also think its a good site.
With the search engines and meta search engines I wasn't really finding anything much else new except a couple on Zuula, though probably CiteULike and Connotea were a little too academic for my search - but could be useful in a research context. The search engines and meta searches did the usual of bringing back a lot of "noise" - so you definitely got more results, but had to wade through much more info to find what you needed.
The subject searching on the catalogue in my opinion is for Librarians who know how to structure these searches!
I didn't find so much on Kartoo - but did like the way it provided the inter-relationships between terms and the ability to refine your searches using these links. And its always nice to see something visually!
Scritty

i'm in love with image generators

My image generator

Picture of boxes

Back from leave

Back from leave and had 146 plus feeds waiting for me.
My aim was to just clear the feeds without reading, but I got caught up in them anyway.

Highlights included:
developing avatars that have the compatibility to move between virtual worlds - so that there is no need to develop a new avatar for each new virtual world you inhabit or visit.

Wildgoose as always - thoughtful and insightful (and her new look blog looks great).

Google - a number of posts by Stephen Abram on Google and how they track your information - again that big issue of privacy and how people's attitudes to privacy are changing. The really interesting article is the one he pointed to in the Times London called Google - who's looking at you by John Arlidge
I found the quote at the end scary - " As I walk out of the Googleplex, I notice ?a new feature by the exit. It’s a giant 3-D computer-generated image of the globe which has giant red lasers shooting up into the sky. Each laser represents the number of Google search queries made at that point on the Earth’s surface. The higher the spikes, the greater the number of queries. It is supposed to be a celebration of what Google has achieved so far. But it also highlights how much of the world it has already conquered and reveals how much it soon hopes to colonise. It is the perfect metaphor for where that simple little search box we use every day has come from and what its vaulting ambitions are. It does not simply want to be a good search engine on the web: it wants to be the web."

And Librarian Kathryn has given me a challenge for later - to create a tag roll.

And I think that's enough for today!

social networks

Hi everyone,
I really like one of my rss sites or feeds - as the guy links to really brief pieces of info and if they catch your attention you can then click on the original blog and read further.
The blog is called Library Stuff and the post that caught my attention on my last read was called There are friends and then there are non-meta friends
This links to an article called You are not my friend by Joel Stein and a blog entry about Facebook by Ballad in Plain E.
Both of these entries are talking about Social Networks - and issues to do with privacy, how we communicate online and the worth of joining things like Facebook. In particular I found it interesting to think about how people are calling these people "friends" but communicating without the same level of honesty or intimacy that a "real" or non-online friendship has. It is also talking about concepts of privacy - that what people see as private information is changing quite dramatically.
I have had a number of invitations to join various social networking sites and so far have resisted or joined and then never gone back again, so I think this part of the 23 Things project will be the most challenging for me - as it doesn't really sit with how I normally interact with people.
I find it scary when my friend's little girl sends me invites to these sites that are often for adults, but I'm sure she and her friends at school are all joining and "friending" each other - and her mum's friends!
Anyway I think these social networks pose a lot of questions about relating and communicating with people, privacy and security, and ways of interacting in both the professional arena and on a personal level with friends and family,
Lots to think about,
Scritty

zwinky - i'm getting a few multiple personalities here

Talk about timely

Well I was feeling guilty as that little Google Reader kept popping up saying that I had more feeds to read - so thought I better go there.
Never got past the first post - How to put your feeds on a diet!
Talk about timely...
Now whether I actually have time to follow its advice, well that's another matter!
Scritty

The 24th Thing

Well today i was at bellydancing ( a work wellness activity) and I think each week I am getting worse rather than better. Last week we just had to concentrate on one part of the body at a time, but this week we had to try and move more than one part at a time plus add the movements of a scarf. Being very lacking in coordination skills (that's me not the others) this led to much hilarity.
We got to a point where our teacher tried to show us a basic routine - and one of the group went "that's a challenge". Another of our intrepid bellydancers answered very quickly - "don't see that as a challenge but as a learning opportunity - aren't you doing 23 Things"! As we all had hysterics - the bemused teacher watched on - and we decided that this was our 24th thing and that we really were having a challenging semester.....

RSS

Ok so this week we are doing RSS and it is the thing that has taken me the longest to get.
I now "get it" but still can't see that I'd use it - I think this is why it was hard for me to "get" - as I just can't see that I'd use it - but I'm open to changing my mind.
I've gone into my Google Reader and had the first read of my posts or feeds - interesting but feels a little extravagant as I have so many things to do and spending time reading through the posts takes a while. I also have the problem of what do I do with them once read.
I find with all this stuff (and previously it has come into my inbox from different lists) - that I file away or leave in my inbox the useful or interesting stuff but never get time to go back and do anything with it.
So I feel like my Google reader is going to be exactly the same. I've starred the ones that look like they could be interesting or worth going back to - but I don't feel like I'll ever get back there.
I also find that you have to do that extra step of going to Google where-as with email it all just comes to me without any effort on my part!
But I'll keep checking the reader twice a week for the 23 things and see how I find it.
It feels a little like it is just adding to my information overload!!

My Goals and my learning styles

Well I started thinking about my learning toolkit, but didn't really think about my goals or how I learn. So my goals...
ummm - well obviously I want to learn more about this stuff and feel more comfortable using it.
I defintely want to see ways that we can use it in our section and other parts of the Library to make our services better for our customers.
I also would like this programme to be an opportunity to promote teamwork and communication across the library and to help other staff feel a little more confident with technology, and maybe a little empowered by their knowledge?
And I have to admit one of my goals is to have fun and enjoy my work and this for me definitely helps with that!
now learning - i learn more by doing than reading - so this is great. though sometimes i have trouble translating the written instructions into actions - so i suppose that is where the mentors and other people come in. I often have to paraphrase something into my own head or words for it to make sense to me, so that also helps. I'm an impatient learner wanting to jump from one thing to another - and i guess i'm a bit attracted by glittery things - a bit like that bird (is it a bower bird) that grabs shimmery things and puts them in their nest. So i suppose i'm easily distracted and not always following instructions. It can take you to exciting places, or also leave me frustrated cause I missed a few steps and got totally lost!
Well that's enough reflection for now.....

My Meez

I'm excited I also have a Meez!!

My Learning Toolkit

Well I've been travelling through all the new blogs that are being posted as part of the 23 Things project and am hanging out to see everyone else's blogs!
Sue's blog has inspired me to actually do what I'm supposed to and reflect on this whole learning process.
So My Learning Toolkit...

• Well the obvious one time
• And the not getting caught down in the minutiae of all that stuff you do every day, that is piled into your in-tray, on your desk, that never ends etc
• My colleagues are the next one - from getting that handy hint, from asking for help, from listening to everyone swap blogs in the work-room and make me want to go back and look at mine
• Then all those other people out there in Library Land posting information, generating discussion on email lists, presenting information at conferences, unconferences, workshops, sharing stories at meetings
• And I think just all these wonderful resources that are coming to us as part of this 23 Things project and helping me find some direction in what is a mass of information

• And lastly - I'm sure the belly dancing session yesterday helped immensely, it made me relaxed, happy and ready to have fun - probably looking after yourself is a big one!

Well I think that is my starting tool-kit - possibly also enthusiasm!!!

My first post!

Hi everyone else in 23 things.
This is my first post and I'm not really sure what to say.
I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to explore all these new technologies and I think it's great that all the staff in the Library here have been given this opportunity.
I find the idea of a blog a little alien - it will be interesting to see how I feel at the end when I have been doing this more regularly,
Seeya
Scritty