My objectives for the year - Wordled!

Interesting day on Friday at the ARCLIB architecture librarians conference. Was there with a colleague giving a presentation. It seemed to go ok even though we hadn't as much time for preparation as I'd have liked, with so many projects going on and things to get done over the summer. I suspect I tend to *over* prepare, given the chance.

It was good to get a glimpse into the world of a different subject area, even though it meant missing the BLA (Business Librarians Association) conference which, in a bit of bad timing, was on exactly the same days. At least I managed to get some idea of what I as missing there thanks to Twitter.

Have brought back some notes of Web 2.0 tools to look at, or to look at in a new light, after the other presentations.

The important/urgent balance

I'm trying to do too many things at once lately and, as a result, am at risk of not giving important jobs as much time and attention as they deserve. Need to get back into the habit of sorting the important from the merely urgent. I know this, but I need to keep reminding myself. Self - pay attention! Consider yourself reminded!

A nudge

On Monday I've got an all day training course. It'll be good to get away from the desk for a while - sometimes you focus on the detail of the job so hard for so long you need a nudge to remind you to be a bit more reflective.

JISC online seminar on Twitter

I 'attended' a lunchtime online seminar about Twitter today, put on by the JISC Regional Support Centre. This was excellent timing as a few of us have just started Twittering as @SolentLibrary.

I was relieved to find that most of the content, even on third party apps, was familiar to me - I have been trying to keep up with developments - but still noted some things that I'd like to explore further. Notably Hootsuite which looks like it may have advantages over Tweetdeck in allowing multiple panels for different views, multiple account tracking and so on, and also a very handy looking 'pending tweets' feature.

I feel like I'm fairly confident now about the nuts and bolts of how to use Twitter, but I'm not sure anyone has yet pinned down just what its best used for beyond the obvious observation that it's a quick and easy communications medium.

One thing I'm fairly sure of is that some of the things I used to do here - new database announcements etc - could be better communicated via @SolentLibrary. Which probably leaves this blog as more of a reflective journal.

Essay writing

I gather some 'essay writing services' have been advertising locally. Beware - the quality of work is often dubious (you can probably do better yourself) and the use of them is a serious academic offence.

Want an argument?

An academic argument that is. Now on the 'New Book' shelf on floor 1A of the library How to Argue by Professor Alastair Bonnett.

Information is beautiful!

If you're interested in data visualization visit the Information is Beautiful site and see how you can win a copy of the book. Or wait a little while and borrow the copy the library has on order.

zzzz

Some people say libraries are boring, but there's no evidence of that. Is there?

When evaluating information sources really matters

Evaluating information sources is not just an academic exercise. This article from PC World warns of the despicable and inevitable Haiti online donation scams that are appearing. If you want to donate make sure you go to a reputable site such as the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Look for the 'https:' on donation pages indicating that the page is secure. Make sure your donation doesn't go to the scammers!

RefWorks 2.0

RefWorks 2.0 is coming!

A chance to win $100!

Proquest, publishers of ABI Inform and European Newsstand, are asking for your feedback and offering the chance to win a $100 prize.

RefWorks competition!

RefWorks is running a 'Tweet and Seek Challenge' competition next week - prizes include iPods and gift vouchers.

New media literacy

It's been an interesting week for thinking about information literacy, media literacy and such things. Old media have spent a lot of their time recently reporting on what's been happening in new media. This article in The Media Blog has an interesting graphic of what's been going on.

Swine flu

Swine flu is one of those subjects where there is a large amount of information available, some reliable and some not.

For those looking for reliable information about swine flu at work XpertHR have now added a dedicated swine flu resource, available to staff and students of the university. Follow the 'Shibboleth' option and use your university username and password to log in.

Information literacy

It's Information Literacy Awareness Month in America. This reminded me that I was once asked how to correctly format a reference in Harvard style for a web page that didn't have a personal or a corporate author. While it would be technically possible to resort to 'Anon' I couldn't help wonder why anyone would trust information if they had absolutely no idea where it had come from.

Tour guides

While I was on holiday this year I visited a wildlife conservation centre and, for some reason, during the talk in the great ape area I got to thinking about our induction week tours. The guide was struggling against the wonders of modern technology. Her mike crackled and popped and then gave out half way through. So she carried on without it. She didn't have a particularly loud voice but the group gathered around to hear because what she did have was real enthusiasm for her subject and that communicated itself without any need for amplification.

Multi-media-tasking

I can almost feel the brain cells stretching to accomodate all the various communication channels I am tuned into these days. Today I've sent and answered email, am following colleagues tweets from the CILIP Umbrella conference, have commented on a JISC blog and am helping prepare a script for a video intro to our Second Life island. All before lunch!

TGI

Got a good turn out for the TGI training last week. Much searching was done on what sort of people buy Innocent, and not so innocent, drinks!

It seems we are the first university to sign up for this service, although others are showing interest. So, for the moment, our students have an advantage in being able to get to know how an information source that's widely used in the business world works. Definitely something worthwhile to put on the CV.

Brave new web 2.0 world?

Have been reading the JISC report Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World and wondering if I was born in the wrong generation. I've always seen the web as social and interactive. That's how I've always used it. One of the first things I found the brand new internet/web thingy to be good for was collaborative writing experiments. I was on discussion lists and bulletin boards from way back in the mists of time. I saw my first flame war break out in 1996 on a birdkeepers mailing list called BIRDTECH-L. I was in virtual worlds when they were text-based and known as moos and you had to move around by typing 'go north.'

Ok, so the applications are much better and easier to use these days, but it's always been possible to see the web as a facilitator of two-way or multi-way communications rather than as a broadcast medium. I'm slightly at a loss to understand why this is seen as some kind of scary new development that us old people can't understand. After all, it's just a matter of making the online world more like 'real' life, by making the online life social.