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!