Thing 8: Google Calendar

Now that Catch Up week is behind us, I've decided to start catching up.

Because I'm a rebel. or perhaps because with so much coursework that needs doing, typing anything else, even if it is work related, feels like procrastination. But then I saw that my colleague was fully 5 Things ahead of me, and I suddenly decided it was a competition.

So, what to say about Google  Calendar


Google Calendar is a calendar....

There doesn't really seem to be a huge amount left to say on the subject to be honest. it's a free calendar, which is nice, and one that you can access from anywhere, which is useful, and other people can add to it, making it somewhat like every other calendar.

It's probably something I'd appreciate more if I was in a more senior position. Currently any meeting etc I have to attend are automatically added to my Outlook calendar, and as all university staff are on this system, a second one seems fairly superfluous. And any social engagements are usually stored in the brain of my fiancée, who will then remind me with as much accuracy as a computer would anyway.

And whilst the recommended blog did indeed have some good ideas on how to use Google Calendar in a library, we've yet to convince management to update our  browser from Internet Explorer 6, let alone switch over to something useful such as Chrome, so I shouldn't imagine we'll be able to implement any of the ideas here. At least not until I'm running the place.

Is there anyone out there who has found Google Calendar particularly revelatory?

Thing 7: Professional Organisations

I have shockingly little to say here. I'm a member of CILIP, but have had no real interactions with them, and have never managed to attend any of the meetup's or conferences. I'm planning on changing that this year, and will report back when i actually have some experiences to blog about.

uh... the end?

Thing 6: Online Networks

So, just as we get to Thing: 9, I'm starting on 6... And I was bragging so recently about catching up...

I'm actually pretty swamped with coursework for my qualification at the moment, so I'll have to keep this brief.

LinkedIn

I already looked at LinkedIn (very) briefly during Thing: Facebook and Stuff, and was not a fan. I've had more of a play around this time, and my opinion has changed, albeit only a little. I can certainly see that it can be a very useful tool, and one I will definitely be using more in the future. Until I actually have my qualification (sometime next year) and am actively seeking professional roles, I feel this is of somewhat limited use to me.

Facebook

I use facebook to talk with friends and look at photo's. I don't really plan on using it for much else, as I keep everything on it private so only friends can see it anyway. If I decide I want to use use a social network for, well, networking, then I'd probably use a different one, such as....

Google +

Wow, with all the hype, I was not expecting this to look pretty much identical to Facebook, although I'm not sure what I was expecting. Still, it's nice and streamlined, and I love the 'Circles' that allow you to put different people into different groups, only sharing the information you wish to, with who you wish to. Once enough of my friends have made the jump, I imagine I shall abandon Facebook for this, and use it both professionally and personally.

LISNPN

Yeah... It's pretty ridiculous that I've never really looked into this. Sorting that out....now. Account made, although I've not really had time to properly dig into it. I'll give my impressions during the next reflections period I imagine.

LAT and CILIP

I don't get to do much in the way of teaching in my current role, mostly just showing individual students how to use various databases, or teaching them that be quiet means BE QUIET. I'll look into this when it becomes more pertinent. CILIP communities is something I signed up for a while back, but have never actually found much use for. Perhaps I simply haven't looked hard enough?

Right, that was not as brief as I planned, but now I've got to go read up on how to write critical reviews for catalogue entries, which is something I didn't know anyone ever had to do. Sometimes I worry that being a librarian is to much of an adventure.

Thing 5: Reflective Practice

Having recently finished a mentorship program with one of our librarians, I was required to write a piece of reflective learning about my experiences with the program and what I felt I gained from it (Essentially a two page document saying 'lots'). I'd not done much reflective practice before this, but it turned out to be something I'm fairly comfortable with, and fairly useful.

Which doesn't mean I'm going to write a long essay here on what I've gained from CPD23. Firstly, I've only been doing it for a couple of weeks, which doesn't give me a great deal to think back on, and secondly, I have deadlines on two pieces of coursework, which have to take priority at the moment, since actually getting my professional qualification would be helpful going forward...

Briefly, I've learned that twitter isn't as terrible as I had assumed, blogging is more effort than it appears, and not as many people use RSS feeds as probably should.

There's another reflection week during Thing 12, where I hope to have the time to look back and reflect on how poorly I did Thing 5

Thing 4: Current Awareness

So, this time we're talking about RSS feeds, twitter, and Pushnote, so I suppose I shall tackle them in order of my familiarity of their use.

RSS

I remember my first few, tentative steps on the internet in the 90's. Honestly, it was so exciting at the time. I could find information on anything, I could go anywhere. Every time I logged on I would go somewhere different, like an explorer in a strange land. Would I go into one of these chat rooms I'd heard so much about? Would I read about computer games, or see pictures from around the world? I'd have no idea until I was actually doing it.

Now that the internet is so much bigger though, it seems so much smaller. In recent years, I no longer jumped from search engine to search engine, racking my brain what to look for first. The internet has shrunk to about 20 sites I checked every day. If I went anywhere else, it's because a news aggregator linked me there.

And then I discovered Google reader, and all my internet comes to me. This is incredibly useful and convenient, but makes me kind of sad. The internet no longer provokes a sense of wonder in me, it's just a tool I would struggle to do without.

None of which has much to do with the task at hand I suppose, I was just in the mood to ramble. Be glad I didn't go into a whole globalisation metaphor, it would have been tedious for both of us. So, inane waffle over.

Right, self-pity aside, I find RSS to be an absolutely amazing feature, and one I've been using every day for about a year now. I'm honestly amazed I went so long without looking into it, despite seeing those little RSS feed links everywhere. I've only tried Google Reader, and I've been so happy with it I've not looked into any of the other options out here. I assume they are all pretty similar? If you're currently not using RSS feeds at all, I strongly suggest you look into it, especially if you have a regular cluster of websites that you use frequently

Twitter

I've avoided twitter for the longest time. I was one of those mentioned on the main CPD23, who assumed it was mostly full of C-List celebrities telling the world about the awesome sandwich they had just made. Having now joined twitter and followed some of the recommended twitterati of the library world, I can certainly see it's professional use. Passing interesting articles and useful finds back and forth in such an easy manner is actually pretty fantastic.

I also keep seeing mention of cyber bullying over twitter on the internet, So I guess I should give that a go while I'm trying new things...


Pushnote

I can really take or leave this to be honest. I can see if's use, and I'm kind of intrigued to see if it catches on, but I'm not really sure I have time for yet another piece of software pointing me towards websites and articles I should read. My Google reader keeps filling up to 1000+ as it is, plus I'm now getting links off twitter, and I still have a huge amount of reading and coursework to do for my Masters. So I'm going to sit this one out for now. I'll probably go back and check it out again at some point, and if I do I'll put my thoughts up on the blog (I know, I know, you can all barely wait).


Right, I'm nearly caught up now. To Thing Five!

Thing Three: Personal Brand

Apparently, being forced to look at other people's shinier blogs wasn't humbling enough, so now I've been forced to see all the more Google friendly Matthew Davidson's in the world. Amidst the published author, respected university professor, professional ice hockey player and aspiring artist, I can't even find my Facebook page.

Which, on reflection, is probably best, as I've never really considered my 'personal brand' whilst posting photos on Facebook. Do prospective employers enjoy seeing a surprising number of pictures of me climbing trees? I'm thinking...maybe? It shows agility, if nothing else.

Truthfully, I didn't expect to find anything at this point anyway. Creating a personal brand is among the main reasons I started The 23 things in the first place, as I knew I was pretty much invisible online. My Facebook page is set to private, and is only used for personal communications, and I've never created a twitter or LinkedIn account (hello Things 4 and 6).

So I'm on my way to establishing an online presence, now I just need to decide what that presence should be. If the entire point is employability, then perhaps including 'unprofessional' in my blog title wasn't the smartest move. For the record, I chose the name because I am still working towards my professional qualification, and I liked how it sounded.

I suppose I should probably put more thought into the whole thing, and I tried, but it ended up making me feel disingenuous. I understand that creating an image for prospective employers is no doubt very useful, but I do want that image to reflect who I actually am, rather than what I think people might want to see. If everyone does that, all of our 'online brands' will start to look remarkably similar. Sell yourself, certainly, it's a competitive market, but don't use false advertising. I don't tend to put on a front during interviews, I find it easier to act like myself, occasionally make some jokes if it seems appropriate (or at least not too inappropriate) and this usually works well for me, and I'm hoping the same will prove true online. I will present myself as a professional, certainly, but also as a person.

So yes, I may join some Facebook groups that will help keep me updated on the various goings on in the information sector, but I'll also still post random abuse on my friends walls. And I'll certainly create a Twitter to see if it's as useful a tool as I've been told, but I'll probably also subscribe to God_Damn_Batman, because I'm geeky enough to finds his tweets pretty funny. As for LinkedIn... we'll see if I make it as far as Thing 6 before I worry too much about that one. Chances are I'll end up making it look much like everyone else's and I'll be forced to add 'hypocrite' to my blog name.

At the end of the day, if someone is looking for a staff member who knows his stuff, is good at his job, and has a genuine interest in the field, then I'm sure I'll be fine, because, truth be told, I am good at this, and i love working in a library. Whereas if they're looking for someone whose entire social network revolves around their work and nothing else.... well, I doubt I'd have wanted the job anyway.



Unless the money was fantastic

Thing Two: Meet the Bloggers

For our second 'thing' we were tasked with reading the blogs of other people currently going through the 23 things.

 Using the information skills I have honed to a razor edge over the last five years or so, I chose blogs from the list based on how cool I thought their name was. I thought this would give me a fairly random collection of people at different stages in the program, and different skill levels. Turns out, judging a book by its cover is an awesome thing to do.

Every blog I checked was both up to date on the 23 things timetable, and of a far more professional quality than my own, which was entirely expected and entirely depressing at the same time.

From a CPD standpoint, it was probably an ideal result though, as it let me see the various ways I could improve what I'm doing, as well as exposing me to some interesting ideas from people in similar positions to myself.

So, thanks for the inspiration everyone...and stop making me look bad.