Jing/podcasts/screen capture- Thing 18 (cpd 23 Things)

I've not done a great deal of this personally, but I have been involved in the production of podcasts. Professional sounding pod cats done in a studio take a while to do and even longer editing. If there's an easier way to do podcasting this would be great!

 I like the idea of screen capturing tools, and jing being the one mentioned in 23 Things amongst other things, seems like a good solution, relatively easy to use. Not being aware of these tools before, I've done some very basic instruction sheets before on Word functionality for colleagues. Screen capturing tools are a definite upmarket improvement on this and worth remembering for next time I need to show a colleague how to do something!

 The only thing to mremember with these tools I think is to keep them short. I think several minutes is actually too long and I've seen many cases where podcasts are ten minutes or longer. If these are especially aimed at college / HE students then they need to be short and sweet. Personally I've never clicked on a podcast or video which is longer than eight minutes, at an absolute push (and only if it's something I really need).

Advocacy and publishing - Thing 16 (cpd 23 Things)

We all do advocacy in different ways. Sometimes it's verbally representing ours organisations or libraries, and others are more public about it. In think we med both. I think we can all do a litle bit if we think creatively enough.

 Recently I've become involved in a bibliotherapy group. The attendees of this group wouldn't know that is what this is, but it is. This particular group uses poetry as it's focus. There are groups all over the country using literature in all its forms as a means to help people feel better, connect with libraries, literature, each other, and go home feeling better. This is what happens with this group. We meet once a week and talk about a poem, maybe two or three, and see where it leads us. It leads some members to some dark places where they can talk about problems, illness, mental health, depression, coping with day to day living, and feel supported. It's a safe place where members come together and where a lot of laughter happens: everyone goes home feeling better.

 All this as a result of reading a poem. It's not really important that the reading is a poem - it just happens to be what the group is used to, and it provides a springboard for discussion and for everyone to talk about how they relate to the piece and find common ground. All this as a result of meeting in a library once a week, away from problems and away from other distractions.

Our libraries make us feel better.

Seminars, conferences and other events - Thing 15 (cpd 23 Things)

Conference.  A word to strike fear into the hearts of those who don't like to make small talk.  I think there are more of those who would care to admit it, judging by the numbers of people who go to conferences with a colleague.  And in my shame I"m afraid to say that at the last conference I went to, I did seek out some people who I knew and ended up standing in a space that was supposed to pass as a garden talking about the new series of Midsomer Murders starting that evening, and was it worth missing the last session in order to get home for it?  I didn't admit that I had never seen it.  

Possibly this means that the conference wasn't very interesting?  

Anyway.  

I went to a few conferences in my former life as a careers information officer, but have never presented myself.  I've read many accounts of professionals who urge that whatever your professional position, you can contribute something, but I've never felt sure about this.  The service I previously worked at, in all honesty, offered little possibility of innovative practice (too little money) and I now don't work in the information profession officially.  It's been a while since I've been to a conference of any type.  In any case, I hope that one day I'll be in a position to feel I have something to speak about in which others would be interested.  

I''m hoping that I can expand my research literacy knowledge by attending seminars about research practice at some point.  I find this interesting because I can look at research from both ends of the spectrum - as an information professional and as a researcher.  

Referencing Tools - Thing 14 (cpd 23 Things)

Thing 14 talks about referencing tools, namely freely available downloads such as Zotero, Mendeley and Citeulike. I've not used these myself but have read some comments from those who have, and my impression is that there is no one perfect solution for free reference management but you may find that one of these fits your particular need.

In my day to day work I use RefWorks as this is the tool used by my institution. It works well and makes my job easier and quicker -I handle a large number of references whilst working on a different potential and current research projects. Using Refworks means that I can collate all my references and go back to them at any time, insert them in documents and produce lists of articles of interest for the senior researchers.

I wasn't completely enamoured with Refworks initially. I used Endnote when I wrote my Masters dissertation and found this to be far more intuitive to use (one of my pet hates is reading instruction manuals, so anything I can use by just 'figuring it out' gets my vote!). In contrast, I found Refworks clunky and I needed to use the help menu, even though I was familiar with how a referencing system worked.

What saved Refworks for me was the fact that there is a compatible web based version in which you can create an account, and then import or export references with your desktop version of Refworks. This is great when working at home as it means I can import or export all my refences to one place and I don't have to be using my work PC. The web based version is also free.

Google docs, wikis and dropbox - Thing 13 (cpd 23 Things)

Google docs and Dropbox

I've not used these before and I can already see huge potential for the role I'm currently in. I've just finished working on a collaborative project which involved constant emailing of updated versions with subject headings in capital letters of 'LATEST VERSION'! Using something like google docs or dropbox would have saved this particular headache, and I was already starting to think along these lines, which would have been so much easier.

The challenge: changing the way academics work. Some academics are not technical friendly and would find the hassle of having to remember another login just a bridge too far, and I can see how in the course of a very busy day it can seem like having to create another account and keep track of another login (who can remember them all anyway?) this would be too much. I think the benefits outweigh the initial 'getting to grips' with a new system, so I'll work on selling document sharing to some of my colleagues.

Wikis

I've used wikis set up by others for projects before, eg. I've participated in the library routes project, and used it for work before but not set one up myself. I'll be looking for ways these can be used in academic research.

I think all in all, technology is underused is research, so it's really interesting to try and find new ways, or even trying to establish some basic ways that technology can be used. It's quite exciting!

Social Networking - Thing 12 (cpd 23 Things)

I'm guessing even the most unenthusiastic social networker uses social networks.   I know people who don't know how to text and refuse to learn.  Perhaps they don't need to.  They do use email prolifically though, so what's the step from emailing to social networking?   I wonder what's that little push?

I don't actively use facebook, but I do keep an eye on posts that come directly to me.  I can see that there's benefit in using these online networks, and I'm slowly building up my professional network which is really important to me.  Online networking is really my only link with what's happening in libraryland, and it's the only place I get to hear about what other info and library people are talking about.  

There is a down side, though.  I love my friends, but I don't really need to know that they are suffering from a hangover.  This is the thing I dislike about social networking.  I've seen ex-colleagues talking about clients on their facebook page.  I've seen people talking about a colleague they share an office with on Twitter.  You all know that this is a complete no-no, and yet when there is just you and your keyboard/phone you think that the person you're talking about will never see your comments.  And I don't think I will ever be able to bring myself to list what I've had for breakfast.  Also, for me personally, I hate swearing.

Once you put something out on social media it pretty much stays there... that's one to think about.  

Social media has brought me into contact with loads of people I wouldn't otherwise have come into contact with, and would have had no way of coming into contact with.  That's quite mind-blowing when you sit down and start to think about it.  I've had contact with people who are sleeping right now because of time-zones. It makes staying in touch easier than it's ever been, although online contacts are very different to any other kind of 'relationship'.  It's different mind-set, a different groove.

Mentoring - Thing 11 (cpd 23 Things)

The only experience I've had of mentoring so far is being mentored for charterhsip. My mentor was someone I knew of beforehand, but I didn't known very well. It's been useful to have someone with experience to bounce ideas off, and good to talk over little niggling problems. The only down side of the experience is that, being manically busy in an academic library, it can be really hard to get an appointment to see her - it once took me four months! So, my mentoring log is quite a short one!

I think having a mentor of some kind is a great thing anyway, and need not be related to something like chartering. Someone who has experience of the working world and can give you a different perspective sometimes. This doesn't have to be someone in your industry, just someone who understands the problems you might face, and these are often more universal than you might think; problems with colleagues, projects, office politics are all problems everyone faces at some point, regardless of where they work.

My sort of unofficial personal mentor is my other half - he has loads of experience working in offices of all kinds, and being freelance, of organisations and office cultures of all kinds. Any problem I face, he has faced it already: sometimes we face the same problem at the same time and we act as a sounding board.

The good thing about having someone to discuss all these things with makes you realise that you are not alone in the issues you face at work, on then other hand, you might say that these things never go away...