Using Social Media in Higher Education

Yesterday, I joined some of my colleagues from the University of Southampton Libraries to attend a training event organised by the Higher Education Academy. The title of the training was 'Using Social Media in Higher Education' and the programme consisted of an introduction to social networking, top social media mistakes, creating engaging content and then a focus on several key social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The event was geared towards library staff, however anyone needing to incorporate social media into their working lives would have found some of the tips and instructions appealing. As a social media addict, I believed I was a bit of an expert when it comes to social media and social networking - I mean I know what a 'Dweet' is for goodness sake. What more could there be to learn?? Well the stats alone came as quite a surprise and have helped to perhaps put into perspective quite how ingrained social media has become in our lives (and how not embracing it could leave you languishing in the dark ages). 

This YouTube video about the social media revolution was something I was particularly struck by:

This helped to put things into perspective and undoubtedly furthers the cause to fully embrace social media - especially within an educational environment where students seek to actively get involved on networks and will predominantly be 'Digital Natives,' (someone having grown up with social media and completely comfortable using it).

So what else did I learn that is worth sharing?

• It is time to get down with Google+ (apparently it is the second biggest social network in the world)

• Create a professional profile, including a sensible profile picture (does it matter that my current profile pic on Facebook is the log lady from Twin Peaks??)

• 'Content is King' - this was heavily stressed throughout the session. Your content should be interesting, engaging and relevant. 

• Don't ignore comments on social media - engage with your followers and don't delete negative comments!

• Tweet at least once a day (weekends get the most traffic and you can use a something like Hootsuite to schedule posts) and use Facebook every other day.

• Keep it short. Posts on both Twitter and Facebook with fewer characters have much more engagement. 

I think whilst all these points are relevant and are worth paying attention to, for me the overarching message of the day was to engage and participate as much as possible. There are many 'lurkers' on social networks and this is fine - you will still get something from just observing, but true engagement with social media occurs when you take part. I am still trying to develop myself in this area, but certainly the more I blog, tweet and comment on social media sites, the more I feel connected to like-minded people and part of a community which is really what I understand social media to be about.

A Belated 23 Things Post

No one likes a show-off.....

Well I got to the end of 23 Things and was most pleased to be crowned the winner of best blog at the 23 Things celebration! This was a lovely surprise and the perfect ending to a most enjoyable programme. I'm still slightly embarrassed by my rather lacklustre acceptance speech which was a result of being completely unprepared for my victory. Still, I came away with some certificates, a cinema voucher and chocolates so altogether a good haul which made it even more worthwhile participating. After some thought, I have decided to keep this blog open and use it as a space to record any other CPD activities I find myself taking part in. One of my main decisions has revolved around whether to change the name of my blog now that my identity has been revealed and that it is clear that Sarah Lund does not actually work in a library in the South of England. However I have decided to keep it going in order to reflect my obsession with all things Scandinavian and because I have managed to attract blog views from visitors mistakenly assuming they have found a blog about The Killing. So watch this space and know that this is not the last you will see from Lund in the Library!!

Thing 22 - Reflections

'23 Things' finished! Time to go back to crime-fighting.....

Well I have reached the end of 23 Things and my overall feeling is one of satisfaction. I will try and explain in this, my final post, simply how I found the experience, what I enjoyed, and what I disliked. To begin with however I will provide a few statistics that you may find interesting. My 23 Things consisted of:

• 23 Posts
• 1103 blog views (as of 21/4)
• 36 Comments
• Most commented on post: 'Thing 15: Library Thing'
• Most viewed post: Thing 1: 'Lund does Blogging,' followed by 'Thing 13: Reflections.' 

I am quite surprised at how many page views I have, and although in the blogging world this is comparatively a tiny amount, I am still quietly impressed that I have so many people visiting my blog. I do fear however that people have found it accidentally whilst looking for information on Sarah Lund of The Killing fame!

The post for which I received the most comments was the post I probably most enjoyed writing so I was pleased to get some recognition for this. I also found this post satisfying as I was able to impart some of my knowledge and help others display the Library Thing widget. This is significant I think as really this is what blogging is about: collaboration and community. If people can learn something from my blog and I from theirs then I think this is testament to the whole exercise being a great success.

Another success for me was not just helping people out 'virtually' but actually in person. Some of my colleagues and I set aside some time each week to work through the things together and I think this was helpful for all of us involved. Although many of the things weren't new to me, I found myself learning new skills in demonstrating some of the things to my colleagues, so in this respect I have found 23 Things immensely satisfying. I have also had a chance to explore in more depth some of the 'things' I have sporadically used over the years, and has actually encouraged me to start using them again having previously written them off (for example Delicious and Flickr spring to mind).

So, before this turns into an Essay (which it could, only it is Sunday night and I should have finished this last week!), I will now highlight may favourite and least favourite aspects of 23 Things:

• Favourite 'thing' overall: Twitter. 

This was quite hard to call, as there were many 'things' that I enjoyed, but Twitter is truly something I use everyday. Although I am by no means a prolific 'tweeter' myself, I do check it regularly and follow a number of feeds that truly keep me in touch not only with the world around me, but also some of the things that are most important to me professionally and personally. Twitter is a wonderful tool, and once you get your head around it, is very simple to use. I can't recommend it highly enough.

• Least favourite 'thing': Netvibes.

Ugly looking, clunky and with a distracting number of tacky widgets. It was a shame this was one of the first 'things' we were introduced to as I think it may have put a lot of people off. Looking at reviews of it however I seem to find myself in a minority with my dislike of it. It has also been touted as a worthy replacement to Google Reader. With this, I disagree and shall say no more than that!

• What 'thing' am I most likely to use at work? Probably Thing 1: Blogging itself.

This question highlights one issue I have with 23 Things in general and that is it is clearly predominantly designed for Librarians and Information professionals. In my working life as a Library Assistant I see no need for many of the things, and bibliographic software and Slideshare perhaps stand out the most here. That is not to say that being aware of many of the 'things' isn't valuable and by virtue of the fact that I work in an academic library and face a wide variety of enquiries everyday, knowing about many of the 'things' is actually quite important. I would like to think that I can in fact incorporate many into my working life, but I may only be able to do this by actively making these a part of my job. So for instance I have been actively involved in setting up and contributing to the WSA library blog, and also have access to the library's twitter feed and facebook page (mwahahaha the power!!), but I got involved in these because I put myself forward and really find that I get increased job satisfaction through these.

So to conclude, I have very much enjoyed 23 Things and although it has been a bit of a struggle at times to fit it all in, I do feel satisfied with the amount of work I have put in and the knowledge I have gained in doing so. Thank you organisers of 23 Things for all your hard work and guidance. Also, please be aware that it is my birthday this Friday - a day before the prize giving if I am not mistaken ;-)

Thing 21: Google Drive

So with technology moving so fast, it is often hard to keep up with which inventions are having the most impact on me. One development however that stands out for me is undoubtedly Cloud computing. The idea that you no longer have to save everything to portable hardware devices and can access your files from any computer (with Internet access), and from anywhere in the world, is quite outstanding. For someone that constantly loses small things like memory sticks and has always therefore been at risk of losing hours of work in the process, cloud storage has become a dream come true.

'Clouds' by mnsc on Flickr

When I first discovered cloud storage, Google Drive didn't exist (it wasn't released in fact until April 2012), so I chose one of the popular models of the time which was Dropbox. I found it very straightforward to set up and upload files, and download versions on my laptop, desktop, tablet and smartphone. Dropbox has been truly indispensable over the years, especially when I have been studying. I don't tend to use it so much to store photos (especially since iCloud has come about), but overall, Dropbox is an essential part of my technological life.

So over to Google Drive. Could it replace my beloved Dropbox?

Well one thing stands out immediately: You get more free space (5GB) than with Dropbox which is only free for the first 2GB (although you can gain extra space through referrals).  Another added bonus is that you can create files directly in Google Drive. In addition to creating documents, spreadsheets, forms, drawings and presentations, there are many more apps available in the Chrome store which will allow you to create further features such as mind-maps, videos and diagrams.

On balance, there is more you can do with Google Drive, and when you have a Google accounts for other things, then it makes sense to integrate your cloud storage with Google as well. However, after Google decided to do away with Google Reader, which must have been one of the most popular RSS readers around, I'm not sure I have total faith that Google Drive will be around indefinitely. In fact, after discussing this very fact with my husband he pointed me in the direction of the following article on the Guardian website which discusses the lifespan of Google services and APIs. It makes for interesting reading and has encouraged me to for now, stick with Dropbox which I have been happily using for a number of years....

Thing 20: Slideshare (with a bit of Prezi thrown in)

Well the end is now in sight as I begin my posts for my final week of 'things' (although I am still behind schedule at this point!). I have some familiarity with Slideshare but have never really explored it in any depth. As I have left my studying days behind me (although never say never!), I don't really have the use for this kind of software, although there may come a time when I need to use it so getting to grips with it seems like a valuable exercise. If Slideshare was just about presentations then I would favour Prezi which offers a very dynamic experience where you can zoom in and out of presentation media. In fact here is a Prezzi presentation I made myself about The Killing. This is particularly for those people who still think Sarah Lund actually works somewhere in one of the UoS Libraries.....

Back to Slideshare then, which not only hosts presentations, but also documents, PDFs and videos. It has been described as one of the top tools for learning so I spoke to my husband who is a teacher, about it since he uses it quite regularly in his classes.  He pointed out that it as useful to him as a research tool as it is for his students who find it quite straightforward to work with. Comparing it to Prezi though, students find it less appealing as it clearly lacks Prezi's dynamism and interactive features, only being a space to upload presentations rather than create them from scratch.  However, the major advantage of Slideshare is of course that you can use existing presentations or documents as templates and add your own material to them - or 'remix' as Slideshare refers to this practice as. 

I chose one of Phil Bradley's presentations to embed into this blog, and it is just one of many he has created discussing the relationship between libraries and social media. Although very basic in appearance and not especially 'polished,' it does hold a lot of information (perhaps too much?? I found myself tiring a bit around slide number 40....).

   

Why librarians must use social media from Phil Bradley

In conclusion, I think if I am looking for a short presentation, with a bit of flair then I will stick to Prezi, however if I am after tools for educational purposes then I am more likely to go to Slideshare for research. There is a lot going on in this site and unfortunately I have not had the time to explore it in any detail. I will certainly return to Slideshare in the future to see what else it has to offer me.....

More Library related randomness

Before I get back to the more serious matter of actually trying to complete 23 things (which is looking like a bit of a challenge at the moment) I feel I need to share the following find. As we all know, working in a library can be a dangerous occupation. I for one will never forget the day I was nearly crushed to death in the rolling stacks.

Via Dark Roasted Blend

Apparently there is a sub-genre called 'bibliomysteries' - not come across this before but judging by the number of titles dedicated to deadly books it is obviously a popular topic! Here you will find more examples including 'The Mystery of the Human Bookcase' and 'Murder: First Edition'!!

Thing 19 - Wordle & Tagxedo

I enjoyed this 'thing' as it allowed me to be both creative and to come up with as many stereotypical definitions of Scandinavia and Scandinavians that I could think of (I hope my Norwegian colleague never sees this!). Anyway, I found this exercise quite worthwhile and can see how both Wordle and Tagxedo could be used as tools for learning, although within an academic library setting I think their value might be a bit limited. 

My Scandinavian themed Wordle example.

Tagxedo gives you more control over your word clouds than Wordle does, but I feel the site is not particularly user-friendly and is quite clumsily put together. Although this isn't especially relevant, I am increasingly finding that I desire to only access well put together sites, with clear and concise links and good usability. I don't think Tagxedo fulfils this requirement. However again, it is very useful as a tool to create interesting and striking visuals and could be used educationally, for marketing purposes or even just for the sake of art! It is free and quite fun, allowing me to again indulge my Scandinavian obsession (and get a couple of Killing references in there as well!).

Thing 18 : QR Codes

Before beginning this exercise I must admit that I had little time for QR codes. I saw them purely as a consumer advertising ploy and am of the opinion it is just quicker to enter the URL into your browser and go straight to a web page this way, rather than faff around with opening a QR reader and then getting the code to scan correctly. I was however quite intrigued at designing my own, so as instructed,  I went to the following generator and set about creating my code. I started with something basic and produced a code which links to this blog. However, since QR codes are designed to be used on printed materials and largely as marketing tools, I got thinking about how they might be used in the library.

My very boring looking QR Code.

My colleague had the very good idea to make a code for the WSA Library blog posts relating to our new acquisitions, which could be printed on a poster and placed at the loans desk. This would have the dual effect of getting more users to access our blog, and also provide a quick and easy route to seeing what new books we have in the library, rather than accessing this information through WebCat. In other words, the QR code can provide a quick and direct route to a particular website, rather than clicking through more than one link which is obviously more time consuming. I really like this idea and think that other QR codes could be dotted about the library for various purposes (by the MFDs for example with a link to isolutions troubleshooting pages). However, from a widening access to resources perspective, QR codes are problematic. Not everyone has or uses a smartphone or tablet device, so if we were to rely too heavily on QR codes, a number of users would be at a disadvantage. 

The more I look into QR codes though and recognise their value as a marketing tool, the more positive I feel about them. The following page featuring some creative uses of QR codes (including edible QR cookies!) has confirmed that they can be used in unique and innovative ways, and do not need to look like my very ordinary example above. 

Bad blogger

So it seems I have taken an impromptu blog holiday - still have a few things to catch up on if I want to finish and get my hands on the prize! A combination of work and illness have been to blame for my hiatus. However being ill has its advantages, namely lying in bed and exploring the wonders of the net which led me to the following most random tumblr I have seen in a while (and there are a few!). If you have a penchant for either Nicholas Cage or Pokemon then I suggest you check out the following site. 

© 2013 Nic Cage's face on all 151 1st generation Pokemon.

For other random Tumblrs see Weird Tumblrs - it will make you giggle I promise.

Thing 17 - Creative Commons

I must admit that I find anything to do with copyright law a bit of a minefield, especially when it comes to using images found online. With sites like Pinterest and Tumblr encouraging you to 'repin' and 'reblog' it is easy to forget how the image got onto the Internet in the first place, and whether it was properly credited when it was originally uploaded. I often add images to these sites and am left wondering whether it is entirely ethical, or if I am infringing on someone's rights. I feel that I am covering my tracks if I credit the author of the work, provide a link back and add a copyright symbol, but I'm also aware that this may not be enough. For example, for the Flickr exercise I uploaded a couple of pictures of posters I had taken at WSA at the second year Graphic Arts show. Although I mentioned in the description that the photos were from here, and made no attempt to pass these off as my own work, I do not know who created them so I wonder if they should even be on Flickr?  This 'thing' has therefore been something I have paid quite a lot of attention to, and is certainly very pertinent at a time when we are being encouraged to upload images to our blogs. 

Creative Commons is something I have been aware of, but until now, didn't fully understand. After having looked at the site and watched the helpful You Tube video, I set about completing our task 'to find an interesting image and blog about it.' I decided to go a step further and find an image I could modify and use to create my own work. I therefore searched for a particularly uninspiring image, selecting the box 'modify, adapt, or build upon' on the Creative Commons search page, then opened it up in Photoshop. So this jumper that I found on Wikimedia Commons:

By Joan Rocaguinard (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL
(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Has become this:

This is Bengt. From The Killing. He is NOT real.

To upload the original image I first attempted to copy the HTML code directly from Wikimedia Commons,  however something went terribly wrong in Blogger and I had to give up so instead I have just copied the attribution (which looks very messy). What I am a bit confused about is that although I have modified the original work quite extensivly, it seems that I still have to apply the original attribution, meaning I have no rights over the above work (can someone please correct me if I am wrong or perhaps suggest a better way to supply the attributions?!). 

I also had a look at Creative Commons licenses in relation to Flickr, and discovered that it is very easy to apply Creative Commons licenses from 'Owner Settings' in the sidebar, and also that there are surprisingly, many many images that can be used quite freely, including this rather beautiful Norwegian Fjord below:

Norwegian lake by Kosepote on Flickr.

Again, by copying and pasting the code directly into the HTML, I have the correct attribution and I can feel confident that I have referenced the image properly and have stuck to the terms of the license. Phew!

In conclusion, although I think getting your head around copyright and Creative Commons can be a bit confusing, and with so many different licenses available it is important to pay attention to what you can and can't do, anything that encourages the sharing and use of creative works is worth getting to grips with. I still want to delve a bit deeper into Creative Commons, especially as I intend to continue to blog after 23 Things and want to be able to use images without fretting too much about breaking the law!

Library Related Amusements - No.3

If you haven't already discovered the Awful Library Books blog then you must check it out. I am bemused that some of these books ever get published. I'm also wondering though why we haven't got the following in the library at WSA - surely it would make a valuable contribution to our collection??

The Pantyhose Craft Book
Laury and Aiken
1978
via Awful Library Books.

Thing 16 - Flickr

Floral Composition no:1 © Melissa Donne, 2013.

With so many rival sites offering platforms to showcase creative works, it is hard to choose which one to invest your time in, and indeed new sharing sites seem to be popping up all the time (recently, another photography sharing website 500px has emerged as a significant rival to Flickr). Flickr however has been around since 2004, and remains a key site for managing and sharing personal photographs online. I haven't really used Flickr that much before, as regrettably I don't take nearly as many photos as I would like to. I have also jumped on the Instagram bandwagon (which I prefer in many ways to Flickr), or as one colleague once put it, the app that makes a £500 phone act like a £5 disposable camera. Hmmmm. Where Instagram is useful though is for snaps you take 'on the go'. Flickr on the other hand is for more serious photography, and is used by many professional photographers for the exposure it can bring (no pun intended).

I decided to create a new account as similarly to many of the other 'things' I had already signed up to Flickr. However I wanted to start with a fresh profile and try and explore it from scratch, in case I had missed out on any features the first time around. I added some photos from my Instagram to begin with, which disappointingly when uploaded are so tiny that you could do with a magnifying glass to see them properly (*update - I have since removed these and re-uploaded them directly from Instagram, thereby massively improving the image quality). I then added a few photos from my camera roll which hadn't been edited first, and once uploaded, I liked how these larger images helped my Photostream to begin to take shape. I then completed the Flickr exercise by adding 23 Things Soton as a contact, creating some sets and favouriting and commenting on some photos. I enjoyed looking at other people's photos and again like the social aspect of the site and the fact that you can favourite photos without having to subscribe to the photographer's photostream.

Edited in Instagram, then shared with Flickr.
Floral Composition no:2 © Melissa Donne, 2013

I have actually grown to quite like Flickr and have now downloaded the app on my iphone. It seems to have had a major redesign since I was last on here and it appears far more streamlined, easy to navigate and responsive. I am still using Instagram to shoot photos and apply filters, but I discovered I can share the photos I take on Instagram with Flickr. I ask myself is there much point keeping both apps running, but actually they do serve different functions. Instagram is more 'fun' and is I think for more personal, informal pics (and of course if you don't have a smartphone is utterly pointless!), whereas Flickr has quite a nice interface that lends itself well to displaying your portfolio, if you are a photographer, or indeed if you want to upload pictures of any of your creative work. I certainly intend to keep my account active, and when I get round to taking more photos with my SLR camera and not my iphone will upload these to Flickr - I'm even hoping there may be a winning photo amongst them!

Thing 15 - Library Thing

I am a geek so it was inevitable that I would join something like Library Thing, and this I did, some years ago, not to catalogue my entire book collection, but simply to keep track of what I was reading, had read and wanted to read, and to see what people with similar reading tastes were recommending.  I spent a good few days adding all my books, and continued to add to my catalogue after finishing each book I was reading. As time went on I grew tired of the commitment required to keep an up-to-date catalogue, and gradually my use of Library Thing dwindled. Later on, I discovered Goodreads which allowed you to sync your account with Facebook and post book reviews there as well. By now I had cancelled the email account associated with Library Thing and could no longer access it, so I stuck with Goodreads and built up my catalogue again. When I saw that we could create a Library Account for 23 Things, I decided to re-open the account and found I could import my library from Goodreads, therefore making the exercise much easier. Some of my book covers weren't recognised but this was easily fixed. So I didn't add all these books manually (well not this time although I did once upon a time!). I still prefer the Goodreads interface though, and their Blogger widgets also look more appealing than the Library Thing one in my sidebar. Both catalogues do much the same thing - i.e offer a place to list your books, connect with other readers, recommend titles and post reviews, but I still prefer Goodreads. It just looks less dated than Libray Thing (see below) and it is also completely free (Library Thing is free for 200 books and then you have to open a paid account). 

I'm not entirely sure why I use online book catalogues - I guess I just like to keep a record of what I've been reading, much as you would keep a book journal. It doesn't bother me that it is online (although maybe I get a bit nostalgic for good old-fashioned pen and paper), but it is very quick to add books and I also like that I can see what my friends are reading, as well as what are considered the most popular books at any given time. 

Onto the actual exercise.....

 'Catalogue at least 25 books on your shelves, published in the last decade and with an ISBN, and see how many have fewer than 10 other LibraryThing owners.'

What did I discover??

Well I have a few more than 25 books, and many are not published in the last decade but I did nonetheless discover some interesting facts:

• The book in my catalogue that has the highest ranking in terms of popularity is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone with 71.363 readers, making it no.1 on Library Thing.
• This is followed by 1984 with 45,104 readders, making it no.11.
• The book I have read with the lowest number if readers is Urien's Voyage by Andre Gide with 34 reads.
• I don't have any books in my collection with fewer than 10 other owners - and there I was thinking my collection was quite original!

This has possible been my favourite 'thing' so far, although I now look forward to Flickr and the excuse to take photographs in the name of work, and the little matter of a photography competition....

Thing 14 - Mendeley

This is probably the 'thing' that I have so far spent the least amount of time investigating. Although I recognised the name I wasn't sure where I had heard about it and what it was exactly. It soon became clear  that it was in fact bibliographic software, and therefore not one of my favourite things. In the past I have used both Endnote and Zotero (finding the latter much easier to get to grips with). I developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with Endnote, recognising it's usefulness but wanting to tear my hair out after another failed attempt to get the bibliography to format properly in Office for Mac. 

Mendeley however (like Zotero) has the added benefit that it is free, and ultimately, just looks much more user-friendly than Endnote (which appears quite dated in comparison). I did set up an account, added a few references including journal articles, films and web pages, then imported them into Word and created a bibliography. I was satisfied that I (sort of) knew what I was doing, but I left it at that. If I ever have cause to use bibliographic software though I will probably start with Mendeley this time, rather than wasting my time with Endnote.

If you are interested in comparing the various reference managers available then MIT libraries have produced the following helpful page. I personally have no real call to use bibliographic software at the moment, but simply being aware of its purpose and how it is used, I think is quite valuable to anyone working in an academic library. At least now if someone drops Mendeley into a conversation (why would they?!) I will know what they are talking about.....

Thing 14: Delicious

I first heard of Delicious when as a postgraduate student it was recommended to me by a lovely Liaison Librarian from WSA. After discovering what it had to offer I did try and factor it into my research 'toolkit,' however, I never really got to grips with it and just eventually stopped logging in. Returning to it now, I don't initially see any major improvements, and certainly logging in proved to be challenging (although I think this was down to a browser compatibility issue). As I have no academic project on the go, and couldn't get into my old account I decided to just pick a topic and see what I could find. It may not be any surprise to know that this ended up being Scandinavian related! Below is a screen shot of my home page which does look nice and organised with a three column layout featuring my tags, links and comments from other Delicious users. 

What surprised me was that as I got into the process of adding links, creating tags and building tag bundles, I became increasingly taken with Delicious. It was easy to find what I was looking for and and although I currently use Bloglovin to follow my favourite blogs, which works well for me, I have to use bookmarks to save other sites I want to revisit. With Delicious I can save everything in one place. It is not the most aesthetically pleasing site, but at least it is easy to navigate and looks 'clean,' (unlike Netvibes).

So from initial annoyance (logging in), to feeling unispired and unsure as to what Delicious could offer me, I know find myself wanting to explore it further. My conclusion then? A (tentative) thumbs up for Delicious!

Thing 13 - Reflections

If only I had followed Bengt to Sweden. Sigh........

Almost forgot about this 'thing' and wanting to start this week up-to-date leads me to pen a quick post about what I think about the programme so far.....

I found the initial setting up of the blog straightforward,  although settling on a name was the hardest part! I am not new to blogging so was quite confident that I wouldn't have any problems registering the blog or customising it, however when it came to posting about the first thing I wasn't quite sure what tone I should take. As time has passed though I feel that I have got into my stride and am now comfortable both posting and commenting on other blogs.

I have enjoyed reading other people's blogs and adding the odd comment, although it seems that a few have fallen by the wayside as the weeks go by which is a shame. From my own perspective I have found it a bit of a struggle to fit it all in and consistently put together meaningful posts, although I am grateful for a few quiet stints on the loans desk allowing me time to catch up! I fully intend to see the programme through to the end though and remain an active participant since it is clear that you get as much out of this programme as you put in....

The highlight of the 'things' so far has definitely been the Twitter activity which confirms for me that Web 2.0 really is all about networking and collaboration. So although writing reflective posts is important, I think there should be more commenting on each others posts as well - perhaps a tall order considering the number of participants and posts to read each week.....

Thing 12 - Linked in

I'm not going to spend too much time posting about Linked in (mainly because I have spent ages on things 10 and 11, and everyone around me seems to be working hard whilst I've been on Facebook (for research purposes of course!). I do have a profile on Linked in and have had for a little while, but I very rarely use it. In fact I get 'Linked in network updates' emails every week and proceed to delete them immediatley.


For this activity I did log in and played around with my profile a bit, but gave up fairly quickly and doubt I will return to it again in a while. I think Linked in is probably indispensable for some people working in certain, more corporate industries, and also if your job depends heavily on networking. However for my work, I don't think it is necessary  at all. That said, I won't be deleting my profile just yet, and with social networks being revamped and updated all the time I may stick around and wait until it has something to offer me and the work I do.

Thing 11 - Facebook

I,  like many others I'm sure, have very mixed feelings about Facebook. On the one hand, it provides an opportunity to stay in touch with friends, create groups (this can be particularly useful for students), invite people to events, and with numerous pages to 'like' it is really easy to stay up-to-date with news from a wide variety of sources - be it a favourite shop, band or TV show, a blog, newspaper or magazine, or your local public library or arts centre. It seems that most organisations now have some presence on Facebook and all use it exclusively to promote their services and keep readers interested with a steady supply of information. It provides much the same function as following someone on Twitter, although in a far more visual manner. Whereas on Twitter you will have to follow a link in order to see images (other than Twitpic for example), on Facebook images are fully integrated into individual pages, which I think serves to make them more readable and appealing.

However, there have of course been massive issues with privacy, and although Facebook do seem to address these after they surface in the media,  it doesn't seem like long before another controversy hits. I always get slightly irritated when I'm notified that a photo of me has been added to my timeline which I didn't put there, or being tagged in a post (although you now get to authorise any post you have been tagged in before it appears on your timeline). My most recent annoyance relates to having to see everything my friends have liked or commented on, including pictures that I have not liked myself filling my news feed.  However, despite these complaints, I do believe that for promoting a service, Facebook can be quite indispensable. For the purposes of the library, I think it has proved very successful, and a quick comparison with other university libraries in the UK reveals that we have amongst the highest number of 'likes.' Other things I noticed are as follows:

University of Portsmouth

• Boasts one of the highest number of 'likes' for University libraries.
• Has a rival chat service, with a not exactly unsubtle advertisement!
• Even has a You Tube channel with videos on how to renew loans and issuing/returning using the self-service machine.
• Lots of regular posts and a bright, image-filled page.

I think this is probably the best Library Facebook page I have seen - there just seems to be so much going on. So thumbs up for Portsmouth (and their brilliant football team - controversial!).

University of Manchester Library

• Surprisingly low number of likes for a large University library.
• Few links on the dashboard - only a map and photos.
• Bright, image-filled page.
• Slightly sporadic posting.

I also managed to look at a few other pages but with the format being identical for any page on Facebook it soon became clear that there would be little variety between these. One thing I noticed is that pages with lots of images accompanying posts are far more interesting to read and simply stand out more. Looking at our own page it is very text heavy and I feel it could certainly do with a bit of brightening up! In terms of gettting likes though it seems we are doing better than a lot of the competition so this is encouraging. With the potential for our pages to be filled up with spam and inappropriate posts, I also feel that we seem to have largely escaped this and that most users treat the page with respect, using it as it is intended. 

Thing 10 - Twitter

I love Twitter, although I am by no means a prolific user compared to those who have somehow found the time to post 10,000+ tweets! I am not new to the social networking site, having set up an account a couple of years ago. However having only tweeted around 600 times, I feel like I have probably not experienced the best that Twitter has to offer. I think that Twitter is a site that undoubtedly gets better the more you use it. Although you can just follow people and never tweet yourself, this lack of engagement can make it a very one-sided experience. 

Following the #UoS23 things feed has renewed my interest a bit, since before this I hadn't tweeted since Christmas and had no inclination to either. Much of this is due to a reluctance to fill my feed with boring facts about routine activities (still better suited to Facebook I think!), although I have mainly used Twitter  for promotion purposes, firstly when I was doing my PhD, using it as opportunity to connect with fellow PhD students and academics, and more recently to promote a store I have on Etsy. For these purposes, Twitter is brilliant. I think if Twitter is used predominantly for networking and following people with similar interests then it can be a very valuable tool. On the other, less serious side, Twitter can provide pure escapism and there are plenty of people out there worth following just for laughs.

Back to #Sot23, I did enjoy the #filmlist activity, as any opportunity to talk about films is most welcome, although after this initial discussion things seemed to go quite flat on the feed. I am hoping though that conversations between colleagues I have followed and who have followed me back will continue and don't simply end after 23 things is over.....

On a related note, I wonder if the library should promote their Twitter feed more as the number of followers is significantly lower than for the Facebook page. I have noticed this number going up more lately, but I suppose in terms of considering target audiences, students will tend to flock to Facebook first. The trick to gaining more followers on Twitter is of course to follow more people - and Tweet very regularly! Something to bear in mind perhaps???

Thing 9 - Browsers

I have particularly enjoyed this 'thing' since I have come to appreciate that  the five main browsers do have some nuances and whilst on the surface of it may not behave that differently, can in fact offer quite distinctive features. Having played around with them for some time I can quite confidently say that I certainly have my favourite and would also gladly avoid one or two altogether.

There was once a time that I thought all web browsers essentially did the same thing. When using a PC I would faithfully stick to Internet Explorer, and on my Mac, Safari would be my browser of choice. On discovering Firefox I found that it ticked all the boxes and did all that I needed it to do at the time.  More recently I tried Opera and although it claims to be the 'fastest browser in the world,' I'm not sure I agree. Then, one day, I discovered Chrome.....

I ♥ Chrome

Chrome is a browser developed by Google, so if you are already a fan of the Internet giant then it makes sense to check it out. Some sources say it is the world's most used browser (although I must say I don't know many people who use it). What I like about Chrome is that I can log into my profile from anywhere and I can access all my bookmarks, favourites etc. I also have the option of creating more than one profile so I can have a google account associated with work, and a personal account as well.

The Chrome web store is also a welcome addition and features some great apps including Google web lab, Evernote, Tumblr and Google web highlighter. I could probably go on for a while about how much I love it but I think that makes me sound quite sad so I shall leave it there...or at least after a few pros and cons:

Pros:

Web-Store - loads of excellent add-ons to make life easier. From my toolbar I can pin images to Pinterest, open my Instagram feed, add items to my universal Amazon wishlist, bookmark articles with Diigo....

Easy to customise - loads of themes to choose from and you can have a different theme for each profile.

Integration with all other Google accounts - easy to access Google reader, Picasa, Google Drive, Gmail from your apps page (see image above).

Cons:

Some compatability issues -  From a work perspective this is quite irritating as I have to switch between Explorer and Chrome when I'm using certain programmes, although Library Chat works well and has a little pop-up which is welcome as I can now mute my speakers!

It's Google and some think they are evil.....http://www.wired.com/business/2012/06/opinion-google-is-evil/

Things 7 & 8 - Doodle

Image credit Sean Macentee

Ok so not a fan of Doodle - for 4 main reasons:

1. Too complicated and too many emails circulating for the sake of making one appointment. When I sent my invitation I received about 5 emails including notification that I had initiated a poll, a link to the poll, and that information had been provided on the poll by both myself and the invited party. I wish I had just sent a text.
2. My first poll disappeared somewhere into the ether. Where did it go? 
3. Annoying flash adverts all over the site.
4. Unable to sync my Outlook account. Permission denied.

I am sure that Doodle has its place but it's not for me - I find that Outlook meets all my appointment making needs and I am quite satisfied to stick with this for now.

Thing 8 - Added Doodle to Netvibes. This was straightforward but I still don't like Netvibes. I'm being really rather negative aren't I?? Still, with twitter on the horizon things might be looking up......

Library-related amusements: no.2

Library book returned 55 years late!

http://consumerist.com/2013/02/06/book-returned-to-new-york-public-library-almost-55-years-overdue/



Image - Fort Washington Branch Library via The Consumerist

Gives new meaning to a 'Long Loan'......



Things 4, 5 and 6 - Netvibes and RSS Feeds.

Although I am pretty familiar with RSS feeds and personalised dashboards, Netvibes is entirely new to me. Or so I thought, until I tried to set up a new account and was told that an account already existed. With absolutely no recollection of ever signing up, I concluded that Netvibes couldn't have made a lasting impression on me. Returning to it now I do indeed find it pretty forgettable. After an initial panic that I wouldn't make sense of what looked like a complicated and messy page, I did manage to begin to navigate the features and have come up with a dashboard that I am quite pleased with. However I don't think I will be using Netvibes with any kind of regularity. In fact I am still very content with plain old Google reader.

My Netvibes page

After playing around with backgrounds, customising it and giving it a library theme, I then created various tabs for organising all the feeds I had added. The page above shows the libraries tab I created and here I have added feeds including the British Library, Phil Bradley's netvibes page, the Soton library page and of course the Sot23 things updates. Although it is neatly laid out and you can play around with how the information is displayed, adjusting size of text etc I still find it quite sterile and uninspiring.

In terms of collecting RSS feeds then I will continue to use Google reader and further explore a relatively new platform Feedly, which is a stylishly minimalistic news deck that syncs with reader and integrates with twitter, facebook, instapaper etc. Although I found it very straightforward to add the Sot23 Things blog page to Netvibes, I still prefer a more traditional feed aggregator, without all the fancy widgets that Netvibes encourages.

In conclusion, even if I never proceed to use netvibes, simply being aware of it as another way to collect and organise information is worthwhile. Similarly, although I have some experience of RSS feeds and use Google reader regularly, playing around with a different platform and just being aware of it's existence has made this exercise useful - even though I plan to stick to what I know and feel comfortable with. Change is hard!

Library related amusements - no: 1

The widely re-tweeted photo by @Dane_Murray.

This notice from a Sydney library has been proven to be a hoax - and an internal investigation is under way to discover who the prankster was. Of course us library folk know that arbitrary re-classification like this could never occur! 

Thing 1: Lund does blogging......

    Doing this 23 things lark should be a lot easier than:

- Chasing psychopaths
- Moving to Sweden
- Patching up my jumper
- Interpersonal relationships

So, her går!!