Thing 5 - Reflective Practice

Just to follow on from my last post, I tried Storify at home, and had a look at what is being produced, and tried it out myself.  It does require a certain amount of editing yourself, and some people will be better at making a story more interesting in this manner, but it's a great way to bring together tweets and other social media in an accessible, readable manner. 

Onto Thing 5, Reflective Practice.  With this blog I do this already, to a certain degree, and I can see how it helps me to improve, by considering what is useful to me and what isn't, in this case with Social Media.  I can also see how in general Reflective Practice is a good idea - I may consider quickly how things are going, but properly looking at your activities and if they are achieving what you want is a positive activity.  It really is one I should consider doing more of!  I'm not sure that another blog would do the trick - perhaps a simply handwritten diary might be a better idea.  I was never very good at keeping a diary, despite plenty of encouragement at school, but with a more narrow focus on what goes into it, I can see it as a genuine tool for improvement.

Thing 4 - RSS Feeds, Twitter, Storify

Firstly, I love Twitter!  I tried it years ago, and it seemed pointless, then as it became more popular I tried it again a couple of year ago and really got into it.  I have two accounts, a private one and a work account (@SiobhanWGLib), which I have on my smartphone.  I do like the spontaneity of it, although some people have had issues with this!  It's good for conferences, and generally getting the zeitgeist of whatever subject you may like.  There is also plenty of nonsense, as well as Justin Beiber, for some reason.  So, swiftly moving onto RSS feeds - I have set some of these up, and they are a great idea for keeping track of loads of different websites, without having to visit each one separately.
Storify is something that I hadn't tried before, and it reminds me of paper.li, which creates a newspaper out of your twitter feed.  This is even better, though, as you can add all sorts of social media and other websites to create your story.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work on my work computer, but I will try it at home, because it's the sort of thing that I may find very useful in the future.

CPD23 - Things 1 - 3 review

BLOGGING: Although I did do these Things last year, I've decided that a quick review won't do any harm!  I already have my blog, and as it's only for CPD23 I'm not worried about followers - I'd need much more interesting content to make it worth people's time, but I do like looking at other people's blogs, which are becoming better and more likely to pop up with genuinely useful content on internet searches.
Having had a quick look at the Delicious bookmarks, I glanced at a few local (as in Wales) blogs - some have vanished already!  I did like this one though:Library Cat: CPD 23 - Thing #2 as it had an interesting link about how to write the perfect blog post.  It's really aimed at marketers, I think, but if I really wanted people to read my blog, the tips are spot on.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-tips-on-how-to-write-the-perfect-blog-post/
I do still find using blogger a bit of a pain - it seems to be a bit fiddly, and for some reason it doesn't show the whole post before I publish it, which makes editing it a bid fiddly.  This may be because the work computer is still on Windows XP and IE 8 though.
A few of the blogs are genuinely interesting with photos, but I can't do that on my work computer, and don't really want to be doing this at home!

ONLINE BRAND:
I'm glad to see none of my shocking escapades have made it online, although there is now a Mirror columnist of my name, writing about her life as a widowed mother of one.  The girl who previously had some quite embarrassing stuff on her facebook appears to have locked it down a bit more, although she lists Poodle punching as an interest, which may be a euphemism, and my Linked In profile is available with professional details, which I'm perfectly happy about. 


  

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!

I'm rejoining CPD23 Things again, hopefully to finish it in line with the schedule this time.  Really, I've already done the first 7 things, but a review is no harm!  Last week I went to the CILIP Wales 2012 conference, as well as attending a meet-up to discuss CPD23 Things after work, so I've really properly explored Thing 7 now. 
The meet-up was an enjoyable few hours having a couple of drinks and general chat about what is involved, and how it can be useful career-wise.  The conference was useful, interesting and exhausting in equal measures, plus added cake, which is always a Good Thing.  It was particularly good to see the Welsh Minister for Housing Regeneration and Heritage (libraries are in the last bit!) Huw Lewis show such interest in public libraries and say how important the Welsh Government thought they were.  There was also a fascinating talk on the redevelopment of Birmingham Public Library, which looks magnificent, and well worth a visit.  Phil Bradley boggled everyone with the massive diversity of online social media available, a real eye-opener.  It was nice to meet up with someone on my Masters course, as well!

Things 8 and 9 - Google Calendar and Evernote

Thing 8 - Google calendar. I was really impressed with this, and despite using google quite a bit, I don't think I'd even heard of it before.  I don't really need it for work as everyone uses the Microsoft Outlook calendar, but it's good to know about this, and having read about the way it can be integrated into websites and blogs, it's really one to remember.  The only thing is to do with privacy - and google finding out even more about you.  I would be very happy to use it for work, and unimportant personal things, like maybe setting up an event with family or friends, but nothing really personal is going to go on there. That's just asking for trouble!  I do wonder if the privacy issue is going to be google's downfall.

Thing 9 - Evernote. I have got an account already, but I haven't been using it much.  Reading this week's CPD23 blog and looking at the Evernote website has reminded me how useful it could be, so I will be trying it out to report back next week. I don't think I've used it to its full capability so far.

Thing 7 - at last! Face-to-face networks and professional organisations

With Xmas, New Year, and a button-eating cat, I've gotten quite behind in my 23things! 
With some reference to the Thing 6, I've become a member of CILIP now, and I'm just waiting for my details to arrive so I can have a look at the members-only area of the CILIP website. 
While I haven't been working my way through 23things, I have been keeping an eye on Twitter, although I don't really post that much.  I usually only have time to glance at it, and I don't want to just retweet, or post without thinking, and I don't have that much time to ponder over what to tweet!  I suppose it's just a habit I still need to get into, to consider what I could tweet earlier in the day, what may be of use or of interest.  For quick, bite-sized news though, Twitter has no equal!

Thing 7 - Face-to-face networks and professional organisations
Well, I haven't cheated and read all the things in advance (I may have skimmed over them..), so this is perfectly timed!  I am on the LIS-Wales webmail list, from which I get items of interest in the library professional area, such as important press releases and training courses, helping to keep me informed.
As I mentioned above, I joined CILIP, as I've been meaning to do, but the offer of £25 of gift vouchers to the member who sponsored me (to be spent on library books, of course!) gave me the impetus to fill in the form and get it sent off. Although I already kept an eye on the CILIP website, I will now have access to some member-only areas, which will hopefully be of use.  I am already a member of the CILIP Linked-In group, as it's got open membership, and have followed some discussions on various areas of interest. 
I have noticed various training and networking opportunities, and was able to take part in a local tour of the Atrium library not far from where I work, and have a little chat to some fellow librarians the day before the general Save Our Libraries Day on 5th February.  There was mainly discussion about the various cutbacks, and how people are doing their best with ever-more limited funds. 
There are definitely plenty of training and networking opportunities available.  A fellow student posted on a facebook group, as well as LinkedIn about a library unConferenence in Leeds, which sounds good, but is a bit far, and the tickets sold out very fast too!  This Library Camp idea sounds like fun, and I do intend to try and get to one eventually.

Thing 6 (Part 2)

Moving onto the rest of Thing 6 this week, although as a quick aside, Karen Blakeman's latest newsletter (here is her blog: http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/) mentioned www.paper.li, which is a brilliantly simple way to read your twitter account!  Trawling through twitter can be a bit of a chore, and this turns it into a newspaper that's a much easier read on your screen. I could see it being used to present news and commentary in areas of interest to a wider audience.  I'm still investigating it, but you can rename it suitably, and add Editor's comments, publishing weekly, daily, or twice daily.
Back to the Thing!
LISNPN  - This is short for the LIS New Professionals Network - so ideal for me.  One of the first things that you see on the homepage are the forums - and the most important thing about forums is that they are active!  These are - not horrendously so, which is just as well, but it is obviously used by a number of people.  I've had a quick look at the download section, which has how-to guides, a couple of  which look excellent. Definitely one to keep on my "to be checked regularly list"!

Librarians as Teachers network - This isn't really of use to me at the moment, but I should be providing training in the future, and I will come back to it then, as I have no experience of this! Although started for people doing teaching courses, it's aimed at anyone with an interest in the area, and really that will probably be anyone looked to advance their professional development.

CILIP communities - I'm not a member of CILIP, although the library does have membership.  I will probably join next year, as I can definitely see the benefits.  There are a lot of CILIP-related posts, and a lot of different groups that you can join which look to be of interest.  There don't seem to be that many comments or replies, but those there are do look useful.