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.