White stuff

Snow arrived yesterday morning, and it has wrapped us in a blanket of white. It's beautiful, but deadly for most of the plants I imagine. Even the greenhouse perlagoniums look distinctly unhappy. I have never encountered a single snowfall this deep in this part of the world. It's at an over-the-top-of-your-wellies level in some places.

Those pesky cats

Brrr, what a cold snap. Relieved those bulbs are planted and the perlargoniums are now safely inside the greenhouse. Still, I got out there today and cleared up dead leaves and cat turds. Why don't cat turds decompose? What is it they put in Kit-e-Kat these days? I snipped more holly sprigs from some bushes on nearby common land that doesn't appear to belong to anybody (sorry if it's you) and put them down in the vain hope that I will find fewer fresh turds next week-end. My more pleasant discovery was a single pink rose, clinging on despite the frost.

Thing 20 - Thinkin' Free

Crikey. ThinkFree Office is really a posher (and therefore slower) remake of Google Docs. I like the look of this environment, with its fluffy white clouds in the background. Its compatability with existing Word files is neat, too. Now all I need is for it to work at the pace to which I have become accustomed.. i.e. without having to wait for 10 minutes. I'm still not all that keen to entrust confidential information to a cloud-friendly site, either. But this is (probably) the office of the future. Enjoy this rainbow of irises, discovered a few days ago. Yes, they are all irises.

Thing 19 - Google Docs

I haven't felt the urge to delve into 'Cloud Computing' until now, as Microsoft Office is installed on every machine I use. And I have access to the work department shared drive as well as my H:Drive via the internet. Google Docs makes it easy to create and share "documents" outside the department environment. What a good tool for collaboration. It's simple to use, so there's no need to procrastinate. The web-based application overcomes software compatability issues, and it's beautifully portable. But you might want to avoid adding confidential information, for obvious reasons.
Phew, we've had a scorching few days over here. Wonderful.

Thing 18 - Wikipeida wisteria

Wikipedia is fiendish, whatever its critics say. Yes, it may be less than 'reliable' as anyone can contribute, but who gets to define 'reliable' anyway? I love its accessibility. Where else could you check what a (90 Series) Toyota Starlet looks like and brush up on some facts about wisteria within a minute? Whatever you feel like checking is bound to be someone's pet subject, and may become yours. I'm addicted.

Thing 17 - It's a wiki, wiki world

Wikis can be, in my opinion, an effective collaboration tool. I say 'can be' because they seem to work best when they are used for a one purpose and when all collaborators agree to use the wiki (and only the wiki) for that purpose. A few years ago I joined a wiki that was set up for a small group of scattered librarians, whose common purpose was to create a coherent set of teaching sessions for a residential 'Teaching Evidence Based Medicine' week later on in the year. It was a successful substitute for email, because:

• The wiki had one purpose, which was defined and agreed before we started


• We agreed to use this as the only communication tool for this purpose - any parallel emailings on the topic were banned


• It was unintimidating to use - functional rather than flash


• It was simple to amend and update session plans and presentations, which cut down the temptation to procrastinate (I speak for myself)


• It was easy to see and re-order session plans and presentations, with instant access


• The alternative (email) would have resulted in overstuffed mailboxes, version mismatch, and general confusion.

Lurking

How interesting. I abandoned the blog for over a month and then I find that it's gained more followers. Thank you, new followers! OK, so I missed the ticket to the Award Ceremony (for those who completed their 23 Things by the deadline) but this project will be finished.

I lurked within Twitter at a conference recently. It was fun watching various tweets pop up during the sessions. Then, as usual, the Active Few decided to harumph about the lurkers lurking. Well, I don't know but I was struggling to follow the tweets whilst keeping up with the sessions. Finding Interesting Things to tweet as well as both of the above was quite beyond me. Something to aim for?

Thing 16 - Hush hush hashtags

Hashtags make sense, if only to encourage folk to focus on a particular topic. So many tweets veer into random thought territory... and oh, what a waste of time that is.

Hashtags also help speed up the virtual equivalent of passing notes around during a conference. It seems a bit subversive, somehow. I can't wait to try this one out.

Thing 15 - Oops. I just tweeted

Twitter disturbs me less than Facebook. It seems that you can put your tweets out there, anonymously and without all that 'friends' or 'friends of friends' or 'friends of friends of friends' palava. It's possible to 'follow' and 'unfollow' others on a whim. I like that, and can see how it can be used as a tool to promote products (several publishers) and publicise services (OU_library). Stay focussed though, or I'll unfollow you.

Aargh

It might be interesting (for me, if nobody else) to tag these posts with words that describe my reaction to each Thing. 'Yes' will feature as a tag, as well as 'Aargh'. But what is the received spelling for 'Aargh' and do we care? Although it's Old Hat now, The Aargh Page nabbed the top Google spot for several variants. Why? It provided the most frequently-used spellings of the word in a nifty clickable grid. Crikey.

Linked out

Maybe I was a little harsh about LinkedIn. Having snooped around the blogs of some fellow 23 Thingsers, such as James whose wife "made many good connections and got work through Linked In", I concede that it could be a Good Thing; a useful career tool. Sorry about the paranoid moment.

Thing 14 - Linked?

My big brother asked me to LinkIn months ago, so that I could admire his profile. And I did. Why did I LinkIn so readily, but have a Thing about Facebook? Is it because of that reassuring sentence on the LinkedIn About Us page: "All relationships on LinkedIn are mutually confirmed, and no one appears in the LinkedIn Network without knowledge and explicit consent"? What is a 'qualified professional' anyway? And how are they more trustworthy than Ordinary Folk? So many questions.
Here are some less demanding early spring crocuses.

Thing 13 - The F.. word

Nnnng. I just can't bring myself to join and use Facebook. Yes it would be a tool for communicating with friends and family. But I fear Facebook, because of perceived (actual?) disadvantages: making myself available to those I'm not that keen to meet or 'meet' again, having my pokes rejected by others who feel the same way about me, having pitifully few 'friends', etc. Perhaps I'll get over it in time.

So I'm not qualified to offer anything other than a biased and ignorant opinion about libraries on Facebook. So here it is. If I try to imagine reliving my student days during the Internet Age, I think I'd feel irritated or even patronised by a library asserting its presence on my social network. The library isn't my friend or even my 'friend'. But maybe that's just me.

Despite my luddite reservations I don't see the harm in setting up and maintaining a Facebook Group or Fan Page to raise the profile of library services to those who are already on the network and who Get It, so I'd delegate this task to someone who is and who does. But only if they can convince me that they have the resources (i.e. enough time) to keep it fresh. A stale Group would be worse than no Group for the library's image.

Thing 12 - Do YouTube?

YouTube is great. I've already discovered some cartoon masterpieces, and have benefitted from video demonstrations of some tricky IT manoevres. Having enjoyed and - more importantly - remembered what I have learned via video demonstrations and discussions for a distance learning course, I can understand how YouTube clips could be used to bring information and ideas alive for learners.. and for anyone who is just curious about something. Their visual content makes them more immediately appealing than podcasts, and easier to dip into when using a visual medium in the first place. In my opinion.

For example, How to read a Gothic cathedral Facade. Help. How would you get this clip to show up here in an appealingly clickable rectangle?

Update: I've got it, thanks to Laura. Enjoy.

Thing 11 - Too many pods

I'm not sure how I feel about podcasts. They could be useful for work, as means of conveying news and updates to people who are already familiar with this territory. And I can see their mileage for teaching, and for catching a missed radio show. But I have been (and still am) overwhelmed by the choice. I went to the BBC Podcasts page, as instructed, and felt bamboozled. Then I went to Podcast.com and felt the same. But I'm not one to give up, oh no. I browsed for a couple podcasts via iTunes Store and slipped them into the 'Podcasts' bit of my iTunes library, in the hope that I might remember to have a go with them on the way home one day. They will have to be truly breathtaking to prise me away from what is already on the radio, though.

Thing 10 - Social bookmarks

In the true spirit (I'm guessing) of Web 2.0 I spent some time wafting around Delicious Tagland, looking for the bookmarks of people I have never met. Sarah Washford, you have also bookmarked the SWIMS catalogue and I like your technology bookmarks so I have become one of your 'fans'. I've also selected a couple of your other fans for my network. I could spend a lo-o-ong time doing this, lest I miss the secret of the Universe. Yes I purchased a 1-year licence for the cartoon. Fun, huh?

Thing 9 - As delicious as Sunday tea?

I set up a delicious account a few months ago, and then abandoned it because it wouldn't let me arrange my bookmarks into folders. And I hate feral bookmarks. Now, thanks to the good people at 23 Things Oxford Programme, I finally understand the point of tagging. This is better than folderising (?word), because one bookmark can have more than one tag. And it's easy to list the bookmarks that have been given a particular tag. And I can view the 'public' bookmarks of other people who share the same tag words. Fiendish. This is almost as good as my Sunday tea.

Thing 8 - Playing with Picnik

This was interesting. I added more 'heat' to these San Fransisco hot dogs. The one on the left was flat out, but had a sudden doggy nibbling-fleas moment just as I snapped him. Grrr.


Then I sharpened the focus on a St. Andrews sunrise, and created a blue border. But no, I don't want to get more with Picnik Premium for as little as $2.08 a month.


Finally, I couldn't resist giving these roses the Lomo-ish touch and embracing them in a Drop-Shadow frame. Cinematic was appealing, but Neon didn't work. Not for these roses anyway.

Thing 7 - The Flickr Exprience

This is my first foray into a new world of sharing photos. How fascinating it is to drift around the place, poking my nose into snapshots of other people's lives. It was easy to set up a Flickr account, and I was *delighted* to find that I could create my very own Flickr URL. Each to their own, I know. I don't think I will ever feel comfortable about entrusting All Photos to cyberspace, but this looks like a fun way to share sets of photos from holidays and events with friends and family. Time-consuming? Oh, yes.

Thing 6 - Feeding time

Here are some snowdrops I spotted in Somerset during the week-end. Nope, they are not relevant to this week's task, but I thought I'd share a moment of early Spring before listing the five feeds that we have been instructed to find. Enjoy.

There seems to be no end to useful work-related blogs/feeds out there. How do you decide what to follow, because you can't read 'em all. Here are five that I have stumbled across or stolen from other people's blogs, and added to the Feed Reader:

• Phil Bradley's weblog - 'Where librarians and the internet meet: internet searching, Web 2.0 resources, search engines and their development.' Why haven't I discovered this one already? It's been around for ages, and it's bursting with relevant information and commentary. Thank you, Fred.
• Novoseek - 'A blog about information technologies in the biomedical sector'. Thank you, Isla Kuhn of Cambridge Medical Library blog fame.
• OA Librarian - 'Open Access Resources by and for librarians'. It looks up-to-date, which is just as well because Open Access seems to be evolving in all directions.
• BMJ Editors at Large - looks like a blogging board for random opinions, which might be fun or really annoying. Let's see.
• Grazia Daily - all work and no fashion tips makes Jo a dull girl. For 5 Februrary 2010: "First off, let's get one thing straight ladies - clogs are cool. " What's next? Blogs on clogs?

Another idea I've nicked from Fred (thanks again, Fred) is to add a blog list to this blog. This would be good for blogs to drift into now and again, such as UK Medical Library blogs. The Cambridge one looks well-established, and someone at St. George's Library University of London has developed a blog 'dedicated to the needs of our NHS staff'. So this is how they are helping their readers to navigate the University/NHS resources divide. Let me tell you that we have just established a direct link to our NHS online resources on the front page of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust Intranet, which makes me very happy (I'll get my coat...).

Thing 5 - An overdue lightbulb moment

I've just realised that I have been following several blogs for months, via Google Reader. O brave new world, indeed. Duh. Now it's time to move on from faffing about with gadgets and provide some information.

Work-related blogs I've been following include, in no order whatsoever:

• The Scholarly Kitchen - 'what's hot and cooking in scholarly publishing'. Extensive range of wordy rants here, including 'Things about the iPad that really annoy me'. Fun.
• Krafty Librarian - 'things of interest to a (North Amercian) medical librarian'
• Research Information - 'the international publication for online content and information management'. This isn't really a blog, but I'll throw it in anyway.
• Musings about Librarianship - 'keeping track of interesting and cool ideas that might be used by libraries for the benefit of users'. This blog is interesting and the author is cool in a not-taking-himself-too-seriously kind of way. And it attracts news and comments from all over the world.
• Oxford University eResources - much closer to home; useful.
• OxfordStaffDev - ditto.

Other blogs include:

• Gardeners' World - 'latest news from the Team'. Helpful and motivating reminders for this gardening novice. Good on pests too.
• Timeless Information - 'words of wisdom'. All that stuff about living a happy and successful life that we know about already, but forget. Easy to read and not patronising.
• Pinkstinks - 'the campaign for real role models'. For anyone who is perturbed by the extreme gender stereotyping of children's clothes and toys that seems to have become the norm in this country. Yes there are weightier issues to ponder, but this one gets right under my skin. Good blog.

One of my colleagues thinks that this blog is 'a bit Forestry Commission'. Hmmph.

Thing 4 - O brave new world! That has such bloggers in't!

Yes, very pretentious. And achingly unoriginal. But this is where I get to gush about blogging, isn't it? It does feel like entering a new world. It's fascinating to watch these 23 Things Oxford blogs evolving, and to observe how different we are. And the range of gadgets is eye-popping. After toying between 'cute dolphin of the day' and 'gourmet meal picture of the day' I plumped for the fish because you can change their size/colour/number at the click of a mouse. So we won't get so bored of those. They are quite mesmerising too. Zen fish.

Thing 2 - playing with screen dumps

Cool. This was easier than I expected, thanks to the helpful step-by-step instructions. Am now feeling inordinately pleased with this baby version of my iGoogle page. Marvellous.

Must remember to tag this Thing.

Thing 1 - getting better

Not the best start. I forgot to give the first post a "Thing 3" Tag Thing. Oops. But this page looks pretty. I like the green.

23 Things

Why am I participating in this 23 Things thing? Firstly, I need to overcome my natural suspicion of New Participatory Things and learn to embrace this Web 2.0 Culture Thing. Otherwise, as a Resources Manager, I may as well hang my head in shame. Secondly, I need to participate in something Web 2.0ish before I can begin to know how any of this can be used at work or in other areas. I know a few things about Web 2.0, but (as anyone bothering to read this can probably tell) I haven't dived in yet. In at the deep end. Bear with me, as I'll be several Things behind most of the time but I'll get there.