Thing 5: Reflective practice

I don’t normally have the opportunity for much reflective practice at the moment, so this gives me a good opportunity to have a go!

So far I’ve found this programme to be very interesting and useful.  It has introduced me to several new tools, such as Blogger, Twitter and Google Reader, that are new to me, and has given me the opportunity to try them out in a ‘safe’ environment.  I had been toying with the idea of joining Twitter for some time but was a little wary to be honest.  However, writing a blog is something that I had not considered and would never have done were it not for this course.  Now I can see the benefits of exploring new tools and sharing your experiences with others via the blog.  Will I carry on blogging after this programme ends?  Possibly, but that largely depends on my employment situation by then.  I guess that blogging about any professional events or activities might be useful, but I doubt people would be interested in my quest for employment!

One area that I feel I could improve is commenting on other blogs.  While I did a burst as part of Thing 2, it has ground to a halt, mainly due to a lack of time, but also because commenting on strangers’ blogs is still outside of my comfort zone.  Therefore, I’m going to make a concerted effort to ‘get more involved’ and set aside some time each week specifically for reading and commenting on the blogs of others.  I’m also still considering my personal brand and am trying to bring consistency across my online presence.

Thing 4: Current awareness

This Thing has introduced me to two tools that I had always thought about using before, but had never quite managed.  Until now, my current awareness activities has involved periodically checking my, very long, list of favourites in my browser.  While they are organised into folders and subfolders, it is still quite time-consuming checking each site in a particular list.  The other way I stay aware is by subscribing to several JISCMail lists.  However, I am definitely excited by the tools I have tried today.

Twitter

So firstly, Twitter.  I have finally, after much deliberating, joined Twitter (@LRendle).  My initial thoughts are that I will probably use it more to stay up to date with the latest news and developments through following others, rather than tweeting myself, as I don’t feel I have much to contribute yet and I am still finding my feet.  However, I have sent my first tweet and will try to contribute when I can.  It has brought home the fact that I really do need to find a photo of myself to use on these networking sites, which I shall try to do as soon as possible.

RSS

Although an introduction to RSS  Until now.  Having investigated Google Reader as part of this course I can’t believe I didn’t try it sooner!  I have spent some time creating lists of various blogs and websites that I have listed in my favourites and can see how it will save me time as I will only have to check one place for updates.  At the moment I will use it mainly for CPD23 and other library feeds, as well as some travel related ones.  Having said that, it was not completely without hiccups – I accidently marked everything in one folder as read before having read the new items – doh!

Pushnote

The one tool I have not yet used is Pushnote, as it is apparently not compatible with Internet Explorer.  However, after reading the description of it, it does not sound like something that I would be terribly interested in anyway, at least not currently.  I will, however, reserve judgement until I am able to try it for myself.

Thing 3: Consider your personal brand

I have to admit that I have never really considered my personal brand before, and actually find the idea of me having a brand as being a bit strange.  I have always tried not to put too much information about myself on the internet due to privacy concerns.  I do have a Facebook account but use it mainly for personal use, and have tried to make it as private as possible.  I have, however, recently joined LinkedIn (after much deliberation, again to do with privacy), but that is still not available for indexing by search engines.  That is something I may come to reconsider during this programme.

It therefore comes as no big surprise that I do not really have a web presence at all.  As well as my privacy hang-ups, I now use my married name, while my previous work was in my maiden name.  Out of curiosity, I did search with my maiden name, but most of the initial results were for other people’s Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.  On Yahoo! I found some references to me in my last job on page 6, but in Google and Bing, nothing came up relating to me in the first 11 pages unless I added some other search terms (such as previous employers or locations).  A search for myself on LinkedIn revealed that, at the moment, only my profile is listed so it is reassuring to know that if potential employers search, they will only find me.

So, where to go from here?  Well, the positive point about having nothing available in my married name is that I can start afresh and create my brand from scratch.  That, I think, will be a ‘work in progress’ as this programme progresses.  I did try to think of an interesting and individual name for this blog, but as it was taking so long, I thought it would be better to just pick something and try to get to grips with the ‘Things’.  I did think of some ideas, but found they were already taken when I checked on Google.  When time allows, I intend to investigate some of the features of Blogger to make my blog more interesting, but for now the basic layout will suffice.

I have yet to investigate Twitter, so I’m looking forward to Thing 4 with anticipation...

Thing 2: Investigate other blogs

Ok, I have to confess to being a bit of a lurker in that I do passively read some blogs, but I have never before commented on any.  Following the CILIP Graduate Open Day in 2009,  I periodically read Joeyanne Libraryanne, as she always has interesting and knowledgeable insights on library matters, especially web 2.0.  I also occasionally look at the blogs in CILIP Communities, which has some useful articles and also publicises events.

However, since embarking on CPD23, I have been dipping into various blogs, and am amazed and impressed at the number of participants (the Delicious list is currently standing at over 600) from all across the globe.  As I’m at the beginning of my library career, I thought I’d take a look at the blogs of some people across several different industries.  Two that I left comments on were: angellibrarian, written by a school librarian in Bangkok, and Library Space, a blog belonging to a health librarian.

I also had a look at CPD23 as it was tagged under ‘institutional repositories’, which was the subject of my Master's dissertation.  Finally, I am very interested in the experiences of librarians based in other countries so was drawn to the blogs of some of the international participants, such as itools, by a librarian from Sudan, and papers and sandpaper from Latvia.

It was also great to receive my first comment, from which I found the blog of The Learning Librarian, who is also searching for a professional post.

I will be looking at more blogs as the programme progresses and am looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts!

Thing 1: Blogs and Blogging

This is it – my first ever blog post!!

I’ve decided to participate in CPD23 as it seemed like a great opportunity to try out blogging and explore some web 2.0 technologies that I’m not yet familiar with, as well as to develop my reflective writing skills.  I heard about the programme through a group on LinkedIn and was already committed to participating, but hearing the conference presentation about it at the New Professionals Conference really sealed it for me. 

To give you some background, I will graduate with a Master's degree in ILS this July and am entering the profession from a predominately administrative background, which involved many aspects of information management.  I’m currently searching for my first professional post and am hoping that participating in CPD23 will keep me motivated and develop my skills.