Judith's musings

Groundswell : winning in a world transformed by social technologies

2012-01-10T16:20:00.000+08:00

Li, Charlene & Bernoff, Josh (2011) Groundswell : winning in a world transformed by social technologies, Expanded and revised ed, Harvard Business Review Press, Boston. (available from Amazon)
More details, at the author's website.... http://www.forrester.com/groundswell/book.html

I had this text recommended when I listened to Zaana Howard's presentation for QUT on planning for social media. So, I grabbed a copy of it and took a few notes on the key points that stood out to me when reading (a side note - my first purchased ebook read entirely on the Kindle App on the bloke's Ipad). I found this an easy book to read and understand, and I'm sure that I'll be referring back to it at a later time as there was a lot of useful information and some great case studies. Other people with more knowledge than me may have found other points as key takeaways, but these are mine, in the order I was thinking about them, not necessarily chronologically from the book.

Steps to evaluating new technologies.

Does it enable people to connect in new ways?
Is it effortless to sign up for?
Does it shift power from institutions to people?
Does the community generate enough content to sustain itself.
Is it an open platform that invites partners?

Success is a combination of people and technology. Even if it ticks all of the boxes it doesn't mean it will automatically thrive, but can give an indication on how quickly it may take off...

Different types of 'users/friends/fans' are at different steps on the ladder of involvement.
Important to know how many are:

creators,
critics,
conversationalists,
collectors,
joiners,
spectators, and
in-actives.

There will be different tools for the different types.

Strategy:
What are my customers ready for? Check out interactive tool in groundswell website or else make educated guesses :) http://www.forrester.com/empowered/tool_consumer.html
What are my objectives in getting involved?

The POST framework is a methodology of determining which are the most appropriate Online Tools to use in specific situations. POST stands for People, Objectives, Strategy and Tools – and when considered in that order, they give you the most chance of a successful foray into social media.

Steps to starting:

Create a plan that starts small but has room to grow. Don't try to map out more than 6-12 months, but include first steps, how to measure success and how to build on success.
Think through how this may change the company if endgame is changed. Relationship with customers. Are there implications for suppliers? Legal implications? Issues with how marketing is carried out?
Who is in charge (ultimate responsibility)?
Chose partners and technology carefully.
Think through what could go wrong!
Because technologies change so quickly you should start off with quick, simple, staged deployments that can be reviewed and modified as required.
When problems occur, go back to POST to find out what went wrong.

In today's world where people are into social media, brands belong to the customers, not the marketers/businesses. You need to ask customers what your brand means to them, and listen!

How do you want to interact with customers? This will impact/direct your tools (P and O from Post)
Do you want them to tell you the kind of products that they would like to see?
Do you want them to share with their friends? Allow for reviews and Like and Share buttons.

Energising means finding people who like your products or services and amplifying their voices.

So, what does this mean for me? Libraries?
I guess it gets back to the key things with social media as I see them. Being quick on your feet and willing to change/adjust. Being open and honest with those with whom you are interacting. Listening more than talking. And being willing to be involved even if it means time, effort and moving out of your comfort zone.

So, who (or what) are we? And what does that mean for the future?

2011-12-03T14:09:00.001+08:00

A few things I've been reading/listening to this week (and yes, some of this is rather old - takes me a while to catch up on my professional reading sometimes and then I get taken on a tangent!) have been raising the question of whether libraries and librarians are about a physical space, a specific service or program (and specific processes to support them), a specific format in which information is provided, or something more nebulous.
Of course, this is not a new question and not one that will be answered in the short term even with the interesting conversations already taking place in print, in blogs, at conferences etc., but I wanted to put down some of my thoughts...

Our customers are moving online, but they're not all there yet. It may be another generation (or maybe never!) before we have a customer base who is comfortable with all things electronic. I'm amazed sometimes when young (to my eyes) Uni students want me to help find print materials rather than electronic (and are quite adamant in their belief that print is superior). My sister travels most months and remotely accesses many of her work tools, but finds technology too difficult/complex/frustrating to invest her private time in learning. She's smart and savvy about many things, but this is not a priority. And don't get me started on my Dad!
We shouldn't assume that there won't be a need to continue to provide existing materials and services for the foreseeable future.

The library as a collaborative space is very important to many people. But many people still crave a quiet space too. A place for research or just some peace. Sometimes these competing needs are from the same people with differing needs at different times. Juggling continues, particularly for Academic libraries!

Yes, there are many processes that we have done because they used to be needed, but may no longer be the most appropriate or required at all. Ongoing reviewing of our services/programs/procedures is healthy. However, communication of the aims of any review must be clearly communicated (and repeated as necessary) as otherwise staff may experience natural concerns about their future resulting in uncertainty. Not good for the health and vibrancy or teamwork of a library team. And review after review without benefits clearly being seen can lead to inertia or resistance (passive or aggressive). Ongoing dialogue is key to ensuring staff feel that they are an active part of the process rather than being steamrolled.

A recurring (and rather important I think) theme is “If we built it today what would it look like?” (Nussbaumer and Merkley 2010) This seems to be a good way to review our services and do some future dreaming.

Dorney and Frierson (2011) have an interesting discussion of plans for reference service provision when there is no physical library (at least, not with reference librarians in situ). The librarians will be in another physical space altogether, but moving around campus and possibly logging their locations via social media. Most 'just in time' reference services will be provided remotely.
This has relevance for Murdoch's review of service delivery (with specific emphasis for me on the reference service - I may be out of a job that I really enjoy, very soon!). Millerville's 'experiment' in alternative reference provision is certainly one to watch - nothing particularly new in the proposals, but the fact that they are not running it alongside a 'traditional' service means that the results will possibly be more meaningful.

In summary? We need to ensure that changes and 'moving with the times' are not at the expense of those who don't or can't move at the same pace that we want them to. There may need to be parallel services for some time yet (with cost implications of course) and above all, communication and education to help along those (patrons and staff) who just find the changes a little difficult but will get there in time.

Dorney, E. and E. Frierson. 2011. "Renovation as a catalyst for change". In the Library with the Lead Pipe http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2011/renovation-catalyst/ (accessed 3 December 2011).

Garrison, J.. 2011. What Do We Do Now?: A Case for Abandoning Yesterday and Making the Future. Reference & User Services Quarterly 51, no. 1, (October 1): 12-14. http://www.proquest.com/ (accessed December 3, 2011).

King, D. L. (2005). Website as destination.
http://www.davidleeking.com/2005/09/22/website-as-destination/#.Trqe_PLeIhE (accessed 3 December 2011).

Lankes, R. David (2011) A New Librarianship for a New Age. http://vimeo.com/32400532 (accessed 3 December 2011).

Nussbaumer, Alison and Merkley, Wendy. 2010. The path of transformational change. Library Management 31, no. 8/9, (October 10): 678-689. http://www.proquest.com/ (accessed December 3, 2011).

Strategically Social Online Seminar

2011-10-14T15:17:00.000+08:00

This week I had the enjoyable experience of sitting in on a Webinar presented by Zaana Howard (via QUT Information Studies) titled "strategically social. plan. engage. act." and then reviewing the mp4 a few days later (I remember better if I get to see/hear/consider again!)

For future reference, Zaana's slide set is available on Slideshare.

I found the whole presentation quite useful for getting my head around some of the issues regarding growing a social media strategy (either in general or for a specific tool) from scratch to ensure that it is structured and sustainable. For this post (linked to my reason for this blog in general) I'm going to just dot point and then flesh out a few of the many things that stood out to me/that I want to remember and refer to again/that I want to find out more about.

1 in 4 businesses have a Facebook presence but this is actually less than 2009 (which was a big year for experimentation).
Public and private sectors using social media very differently.
Interesting stats and comments on EU Libraries and their use of social media. Does this carry across into Australian situation smoothly, or are we different?
UTS is a great example of a library effectively using multiple channels to reach it's target community. http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/
POST framework from Groundswell. These should be considered in this order. Too often we start with the tools, but we need to first establish WHY we want to be present in Social media in the first place. Then consider:

People - Who is the audience? What are their specific needs? (Don't assume that you know them - need to ask/observe) How would we like them to interact with us know, and in the future?
Objectives - What are we trying to achieve? What actions do we want the audience to take? What benefits are there for the customers? For the providers?What will success look like in this sphere?
Strategy - How will we get there? What existing services can we collaborate with? Timelines? Are there barriers to be overcome? Map them to better understand how they can be overcome. Governance issues?
Tools - Once we have established the above, we can look at specific tools and determine which is the most appropriate. Ensure we look at where users are, and also the levels of resourcing available.

Also looked at Buy-in - both bottom up and top down buy-in are important for success. And buy-in is not a one off event - need to build a strong, consistent, ongoing relationship.
Evidence - where does it LIE? (Provide evidence that "speaks" to the people that you need to convince.

Literature
Industry
Experience

Need to establish roles & responsibilities (eg may be one key person, but they will need a support team especially for leave/holidays)
RASCI for resourcing.
Map out the first three months (slides 84-86). Make it explicit for each tool. Remember, it's about growing the audience.
Allow enough resources. For example, initially Twitter will require one person, one hour per day until they build up their presence through regular posting of good content, and involvement in conversations. However, although there will generally be one key person, they need to have a team behind them to find useful information and also cover when on leave etc. Also means not just one perspective and results in a more rounded account. Note, unlikely to see success with Twitter for 6 + months.
Measurement is very key.

Notjust followers/friends/views/click throughs although these are valuable.
Sentimentanalysis – what are people saying and what emotions are they showing? There aresome measurement tools available in this area but still being developed.
Conversationsand stories are the richest part of social media, but difficult to measure.

Some specific tips for Twitter

Plan ahead and know what you are going to post - don't necessarily limit to core business but consider other related information that will be of interest to the majority of your customers.
Frequency 1-5 tweets per day (any more can be overload)
Use relevant hash tags
Consider who you should and shouldn't follow (don't need to follow everyone who follows you)
Use @ replies
Use URL shortening services - eg Bit.ly which allows you to track stats of the click throughs, etc.

Some specific tips for Facebook

Profile vs Group vs Page (which is indexed in search engines). Once set up can be difficult to change.
What to post - as per notes for Twitter above.
Admins - who, and enough in case people leave.
Frequency of updates
Friending
Events

IN summary, a quote from Sarah Houghton-Jan "Be clear, Be there, Be Present" - paraphrased as be consistent, authentic, available.

Things that I want to follow up/find out more about:

Bit.ly for URL shortening & tracking
Foursquare - esp growth in Australia
Diigo - taken over in some respects from Delicious, but more functionality
POST framework
Groundswell (2008) by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li

Useful tools to examine (at some point!)

2011-09-20T11:14:00.000+08:00

This is another post to help with my absolutely appalling memory!

With many thanks to Judy Connell (2011) for her slideshare post 'Taming Information Chaos' http://heyjude.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/taming-information-chaos/ accessed Sept 17 2011

http://search.carrot2.org/stable/search

"Carrot2 organizes your search results into topics. With an instant overview of what's available, you will quickly find what you're looking for."

http://quintura.com/

And of course, remember to use Google's "related search".

http://search-cube.com/

"search-cube is a visual search engine that presents web search results in a unique, three-dimensional cube interface. It shows previews of up to ninety-six websites, videos and images."

http://infospace.com/

"Powered by metasearch technology, InfoSpace.com returns all the best results from leading search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask...we look at all the results from each separate search engine and compile the best of the best in one easy place. In the end, you get a list of results more complete than anywhere else on the Web."

http://www.pandia.com/index.html

"The Pandia Search Central gives Internet surfers access to several tools that will help them become more able net searchers. Then there is a vast amount of information for Webmasters trying to achieve higher search engine rankings for their sites."

LibCampOz September 19 2011

2011-09-20T11:11:00.001+08:00

Written fairly late at night...
Stimulating, tiring, horizon expanding, pushing me out of my comfort zone, challenging... These were all things that I expected from my first unconference, and it delivered. It was a good experience.
But I also had reinforced what i'd heard about this format - you really get the most out of it if you give freely of yourself, and throw yourself into the process.
In many ways I was more of an observer than a participant - not what I'd intended.
However, I found that I had few relevant experiences to offer on the topics discussed. But I figure that is partly because of where I'm at in my life/work journey and partly because of the topics which were chosen to be discussed. And that's ok, because I learnt and was challenged and stimulated and made some interesting people's acquaintance and discovered some resources that I want to follow up, and there is next year!

Subject guides/Pathfinders/Library Guides and social media

2011-09-10T16:56:00.000+08:00

I've been doing some readingaround Subject Guides/Pathfinders/Library Guides, with a focus on their use of social media tools. My specific focus is on use in small/medium academic libraries.

Readings included:

Morris, S. and Del Bosque, D. (2009). Getting More From Your Subject Guides by Going 2.0: MPLA/KLA Annual conference 2009

http://www.mpla.us/documents/handouts/2009/morris.pdf
Yang,S. (2009). Subject Guide 2.0: A Dream or Reality? Journal of Libraryand Information Science 35,1:90 – 98 April, 2009 http://jlis.glis.ntnu.edu.tw/ojs/index.php/jlis/article/viewFile/528/522 accessed 10 September 2011

Farkas, M. (2007). The long road towards subject guide 2.0

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2007/10/24/the-long-road-towards-subject-guide-20/. accessed 10 September 2011

Hamilton, B. (2009) Integrating Social Media as Authoritative Information into Research Pathfinders http://www.aasl.ala.org/aaslblog/?p=595 accessed 10 September 2011

Lamb, A. and Johnson, L. (2010) Pathfinders, Subject Guides, & Thematic Resources: http://eduscapes.com/earth/informational/path1.html

Subjectguides have come a long way from when I first was first involved increating some, nearly 20 years ago. The inclusion of social media tomake them a two way, interactive conversation that allows for theexpertise of the users to improve the end product, seems like a greatthing! However, to do it efficiently for the ‘average’ librarianrequires an investment in time to learn the tools to use, and a regularupdating process to keep the conversation current (although this initself is not different - guides have always needed that investment oftime to keep them valuable).

Ofparticular interest is the concept of getting our guides to wherepeople are - how is that possible when we host them (hide them) on ourmulti-layered websites. I’m always amazed at how many students are notaware of the LibGuides that we have available - and they’re generallyamazed at what useful information they’ve been missing. As Farkasstates, "I think the key is to focus on being where our students are,both physically and online. If we can understand theirinformation-seeking behavior and put ourselves in their path, right atreach, we’ll be much more likely to have an impact." (Farkas, October2007).

However,I’m also interested in some of the kinds of information that ourLibGuides don’t include - subject wiki’s/blogs, social bookmarking andonline chat (presumably with the specific subject librarian). It may bethat our software (LibGuides) allows staff to use these items but thatour staff don’t currently feel comfortable using them, or they simplyaren’t aware of the options available. And I know that we can use videoand presumably podcasts. But I think we can add in twitter feeds, and Ilove the ideas from Hamilton’s (2009) blog about mashups using GoogleMaps (especially for topical subjects with changing situations).

How will you apply what you learned?

Good question.
Oneday when the time is right I will return triumphantly to an academiclibrary near me! Well, hopefully Murdoch and I will increase ourinvolvement when I have more time and they have more money. I thinkthis part of the outreach/increasing our value to our users is veryimportant and useful when done correctly. And hey, I find it veryinteresting.

I’mhoping to put together a bit of a page of links on the Murdoch Librarystaff blog that has some of this information, for those who aren’taware of what is possible...

Iwill continue to use the existing LibGuides as I find them invaluableas a casual librarian. And I will possibly look at mentioning toindividual staff some interesting material that I find that may enhancetheir existing guides.

Wow. How could I not be inspired...

2011-06-28T13:42:00.000+08:00

Just discovered a new blog through a link to the post:

Amy Buckland, “in forming thoughts » Blog Archive » the talk i meant to give,” blog, in forming thoughts, Retrieved June 26, 2011, http://jambina.com/blog/the-talk-i-meant-to-give/.

I love the passion and vision. I'm very safe in many respects, and yet I agree with her - maybe I'm more of a revolutionary than I thought! I have to say that I like the concept of Libraryland. And the power that together we can harness. I do feel tied professionally in that I'm not in a position of any 'power'. Except the power of the one to one discussion, where I help one person find what they need, or change their mind about what libraries are, or what can be done by individuals.

I know that this CPD program is giving me permission to continue to learn, to be challenged and, when I re-enter the workforce and am (hopefully) in a position of influence I won't shrink back but step up, stand up for what I believe in, and help build the future I think we should have.

Favourite quotes:

true thought leaders, true revolutionaries, are willing to overthrow the system, or join it, if that’s what works best for their community.

I think we overlook the 'change from within' option too much. We see things as threats to be fought against, but sometimes we need to be willing to work with things, maintaining our core of separateness and 'right' if necessary, for a better outcome for our community.

it’s a kickass time to be a librarian. so many opportunities to make society better. and that’s why we do this, right? we aren’t becoming millionaires. we aren’t going to rule the world (ok, maybe we will).

Can't help but love the way that this is put.

That's it for now...

And from the Daddy of the Web...

2011-06-28T11:48:00.000+08:00

On the 20 years anniversary of the web, Tim Berners-Lee has writen a piece for Scientific American. It's a bit of a review of where we are now, and some of the potential issues.

Berners-Lee, T. (2010). Long live the web. Scientific American, 303(6), 80-85. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web&print=true25 June 2011.

Some of the key issues that he sees are not new, but how they will be worked out is yet to be defined, and requires discussion amongst the users - not just governments or those in big corporations. It may be that many of the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted now, may be eroded. Or there may be potential for the freedoms to impinges on the rights to privacy that we now enjoy.

Universality - is the ability to access regardless of age, gender, religion, disabilities but also physical location and interface being used. This is under threat in some cases where providers are limiting access to certain sites (slowing download speeds to sites outside of the company's domain etc.) There is also the more obvious threat where certain governments have tried (with varying success) to limit the access of their people to non-approved sites. It's linked to Net Neutrality.

He also sees a threat to this as being silos of information - people being (intentionally or not) stuck using just the subset of information that they are comfortable with. Perhaps only using Facebook with it's chat, organisational pages and advertising. Or only using Google products because they are comfortable with the interface. This is something I hadn't considered as a threat and I can see that there will be more people in this situation. The innovators and tech savvy will move to new products that better meet their needs, but many people don't have the time or inclination to spend learning a new interface or working out the quirks of a new product. I'm not sure how much of a problem this will be in the short term, but if it reduces innovation long term then it is a definitive concern.

Another issue that I hadn't considered is the huge increase in smartphone apps threatening access to information. I do know it's painful if you can have a fantastic app on Iphone for example and not on Android and move from one to the other. Or have both platforms in one family and cannot share as you should... He makes an argument for the apps to be web apps that also run on phones. I don't know enough about the technology behind to make an informed judgement - I'm just a user who is happy when it all works & syncs across my phone, desktop & ipad.

Net neutrality

Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality) is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as communication that is not unreasonably degraded by other traffic. Wikipedia, accessed 28 June 2011

This is another big issue in relation to free access, regardless of your personal, economic, geographic position. Given some recent situations (Google and Verizon are mentioned in the article) Mr Berners-Lee suggests that government legislation is required to protect net neutrality. I can't see this going down well in certain quarters, and it would be challenging to do so in an internationally acceptable way, but I can definitely see his argument. As we have seen in the last 12 months, neutrality of technology can play a key role in allowing political dissent and freedoms to blossom!

Also linked is the issue of snooping, particularly by government agencies. Web freedom overall is the general thrust of this article. As he concludes:

Now is an exciting time. Web developers, companies, governments and citizens should work together openly and cooperatively, as we have done thus far, to preserve the Web’s fundamental principles, as well as those of the Internet, ensuring that the technological protocols and social conventions we set up respect basic human values. The goal of the Web is to serve humanity. We build it now so that those who come to it later will be able to create things that we cannot ourselves imagine.

Can't argue with that!

Keeping up with the Jones's

2011-06-25T14:57:00.001+08:00

I'm trying to catch up on some of the readings I've been doing lately, and keeping my information in the one place. So, here's another one. Thanks to Kathryn Greenhill for pointing me towards it.

Sheehan, K. (2010, August 3). Keeping Up with Keeping Up. ALA Techsource. Retrieved June 20, 2011, from http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2010/07/keeping-up-with-keeping-up.html

Very interesting article - clarifies some of my thoughts and gives guidance on what really are appropriate actions to do to try to keep up with technology and changes. It can feel so hard with limited time. And I feel like I'm really not doing very well compared with the people who's writing I follow. I need to target my work/reading/development because I can't hope to do it all (as Kate Sheehan points out clearly).
However, when I compare myself with many of my collegues (not that I intentially try to benchmark, just what comes up in conversation) I realise that other people are struggling even more than me, or have less interest/see it as much less of a priority. Again, as pointed out by Kate Sheehan.

Soooo, how will I implement this new knowledge? Well, although my current work is in Higher Education, I still have a passion for public libraries, and a growing interest in school libraries.
The areas that I find easier to keep up with and most interesting are more social networking - Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, etc. The areas that I find more difficult are the issues around DRM, ePortfolios and some of the content creation areas (Vimeo etc.). So the areas that I am less confident with are probably the ones which aren't focussed on in public and school libraries as much (although of course they are still relevant). And I do read enough to know of the basic issues/that there are issues with DRM, that there is a variety of ePortfolio platforms and software and that there are some absolutely amazing content creation applications out there.And where to go or who to talk to, to get more information. Which means that (according to Kate) I'm doing ok.

So I will leave you with my new favourite quote:

“Keeping up with technology” seems overwhelming and huge and ridiculously hard if it’s presented as a monolith that must be scaled. Keeping up doesn’t mean knowing every single tech trend that’s out there. It means being engaged with your community and knowing what your patrons are using. ... Just like the rest of librarianship – it isn’t about being an expert; it’s about knowing where to look.

Technology and Learning

2011-06-25T12:49:00.000+08:00

I really enjoy reading blog posts by Judy O'Connell and others working in the Education system. Having a sister who is a literacy consultant to small independant schools (and who finds technology frustrating) and also having two children now in Primary school, I find myself viewing it with different perspectives. So it's good to see someone championing technology and using it in innovative ways.
Today I read in one of her posts:

We use technology to think and learn. We don’t use technology because it’s a cool tech tool, and because our syllabus says we need a certain percentage of technology in the curriculum. http://heyjude.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/leaders-can-make-magic-happen-too/ Accessed 25 June 2011

I like the concept, but I don't think we are there in my children's school, or in the schools where my sister is an educational consultant.
In the former, the Library Officer (untrained but fantastic) is also expected to assist teachers with the bank of computers in the library. These are (to my knowledge) the only bank in the school, although there are individual machines in most classrooms, and electronic whiteboards in a few. The teachers and other staff are moving on the continuim towards using technology as a basic part of their toolkit, but for many there is a long way to go.
And in my sister's schools, many are remote and have limited net access, and very few staff at each location. If the teachers aren't passionate about using technology, then the machines will sit in the corner and gather dust. It's all just too hard, just trying to teach the kids the basics of literacy and numeracy with all of the issues of ESL, cultural issues etc.
Hmm, now I'm slightly depressed. BUT it is a continuim, and as new teachers move through the University system we should continue to move to Judy's world!

And this is my problem....

2011-06-23T15:33:00.000+08:00

"It’s very easy to buy all the bestselling business books and read everything novel that comes up on Twitter or your favorite blogs but, your competitors probably do the same and… this will only lead to information overload.
The real goal with knowledge – and where you can out-learn your competitors – is to internalize learnings and let things you learn change you. After all, you can know the name of all the tools in the shed but, if you’ve never learned to use any of them, your knowledge isn’t worth very much.
By actively seeking opportunities to learn, absorb and reinterpret knowledge, you build the thinking that will allow you to out-learn and, eventually, out-teach your competitors.
Make sure you have the best learning process in your market. Reading is only half the battle."
How I Managed to Out-Learn the Competition. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 23, 2011, from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-i-managed-to-out-learn-the-competition.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifeHack+%28lifehack.org%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Although I am not in a competitive situation in a business sense, I am trying to compete with my memory! I tend not to internalise the information that I take in or, when I do, I don't keep appropriate or detailed enough records. So, yet again I am planning to come back to this blog to keep myself on track.

Banana Cake (Gluten Free)

2011-06-23T12:52:00.002+08:00

We've recently begun a journey to become gluten free. This is mainly for DD1 and DH, but when it comes to snacks it will be for all of us. So I'm experimenting. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not. And then I can't remember what worked!
Today I'm going to jot down the details of a recipe in case it does work - cause it was simple :)
200g brown rice flour (I used whole rice & ground in the thermie)
50g potato starch
200g raw sugar
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp baking powder (I used a gluten free one from the EDC book)
pinch salt
2 eggs
230g ripe banana (from the freezer)
120 ml rice bran oil
120 ml rice milk

Combine dry ingredients in Thermie (approx speed 3 for 5-10 seconds, scraping down the sides as necessary). Add remaining ingredients and mix speed 3 until blended. Then turn up to speed 6 for a minute or two.
Oil/grease a decent sized cake tin (or use as muffins)
Bake at 180' (fan forced) for 50 min for cake, or 20 mins for muffins.

It's currently cooling & smelling very good, but the proof will be in the tasting!

Future job musings part two.

2010-08-17T11:35:00.001+08:00

Whilst thinking about what area I would like to head into, so that I can get my skills together in that area, I thought I would keep an eye out for relevant job specifications with interesting bits. And pull them together here, in the one place. So, in no particular order, and in the knowledge that this will be added to and modified over time, I present:

Investigation of emerging technologies relevant to materials' management and customer services.
Improved awareness and use of a wide variety of technological solutions by library staff and customers.
A planned and integrated approach to the use and deployment of technology that will enhance library services and facilities in conjunction with corporate strategies.
Proven expertise and experience in the application of information technology in the library environment, including the ability to develop and implement innovative programs, effective actions within broad policy guidelines and a commitment to quality improvement practices.

My dream job...

2010-07-04T14:52:00.001+08:00

I've been thinking that I need to get more organised with regard to my Professional Development. So, the first step I'm undertaking is completing the PD kit from ALIA (available for ALIA members from http://membership.alia.org.au/lib/pdf/education/pd/kit.fulltext.2005.pdf)

The first thing that I decided to do is to look at what is my "dream" job... This is something that I've suggested to other people, but not recently looked at for myself. And it has changed since the birth of three children! So, here goes (and not in any particular order)...

Flexible hours (both the number and the timing)
Decent dollars (money is not a major driving force but I'd like to be paid what I'm worth, and enough to be able to justify working :))
Constantly learning/challenging myself (but self paced)
Helping people (that's part of my job satisfaction)
Using 'new' technologies (and having decent technology to work with)
Working in a team but responsible for my own 'stuff'
Passing on knowledge/adult education
Recognition by peers would be nice, but from 'clients' is more important
Flexible location (ie possibilities of telecommuting) would be nice :)

I'm sure there are more things that should be here and that I'll be adding to this list but that's what springs to mind right now.

Interesting that there isn't anything that screams 'library' as such. But that's still where I feel drawn to be, if possible. And my current weekend reference shifts at Murdoch University library tick quite a number of these boxes - just not all :)

Thing 23 - Second Life

2009-01-09T12:25:00.002+09:00

Introducing Buji Balazic :) I have to admit, I like the name OK but have seen some just wonderful ones from other people.

Like a number of the 23 things, I've found it fun & reasonably easy in the workshop, but don't seem to be get back to "play" in more depth. Well, I've logged on once and managed to get myself lost while trying to work out how to teleport :) For this non-game-player it's not all that intuitive once I get past the basics.

But I WILL continue to find out more about Second Life and similar tools - just perhaps not for a while - perhaps those very early morning baby feeds in a few months time when I will just possibly get some quiet time to be able to take it in! (If I can stay awake of course).

I'm a bit sad the 23 Things have come to an end - I liked Kathryn's recent post about the things she is hoping to learn about in 2009, and will continue to follow this and a number of other blogs to try to piggy-back on the learning of others... I've been pleased with the way I've been able to take some of my existing skills and discover that I can reasonably quickly adapt to these new technologies. Trying to keep up is going to be difficult with a new baby but there are shortcuts available (ie the piggybacking) so I'm hoping that my brain won't atrophy too much!

Thing 22 - Gaming

2009-01-06T13:18:00.002+09:00

How might we adapt our instructional material to better engage digital natives?

I have found this a really interesting area and have done a little more reading on it - enough to know that there is a lot yet for me to know! But some of the points that I have picked up on so far include:

From: Engaging Digital Natives http://www.slideshare.net/cliotech/engaging-digital-natives accessed 19/12/2008

* used to receiving information really fast
* parallel processing & multi-tasking
* prefer graphics before text
* work best in networks
* instant gratification & frequent rewards
* prefer 'games' to 'work'

From Van Eck, Richard. Digital Game-Based Learning: It's Not Just the Digital Natives Who Are Restless in EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 16–30.

* require multiple streams of information,
* prefer inductive reasoning,
* want frequent and quick interactions with content, and
* have exceptional visual literacy skills

Must be engaged to retain information

” For gamers, learning “is consumed in very small bits exactly when the learner wants, which is usually just before the skill is needed” (Beck & Wade 2004b, 159)
Beck, John C., and Mitchell Wade. 2004b. in Got game: How the gamer generation is reshaping business forever. Boston: Harvard Business School.

* risk taking,
* data immersion, and
* trial and error

"It’s a rapid cycle of hypothesis, experiment, and analysis. And it’s a fundamentally different take on problem-solving than the linear, read-the-manual-first approach of their parents” (2006, 111). Wright, Will. 2006. Dream machines. Wired 14 (4): 110-112.

Basically, they don't want huge screeds of information that they think may or may not be of use to them in the future - they want shortcuts for things they are already using, and the ability to quickly find the exact answer to their exact query - at the point they have it.
So, rather than some of the more traditional lecture type situations, hands on involvement (preferably in a fun format) and comprehensive searchable material (that covers all possibilities) for later reference seem to be more appropriate to their learning style. Still thinking on this & it's implications - obviously we're already part way there (at least in what we attempt), but some of the preparation could be hugely time consuming (some examples of educational games required huge dollars as well). Hmmm...

Thing 21 - Ustream and the impact of ubiquitous video

2008-12-16T10:09:00.003+09:00

I watched Kathryn's demo of Ustream with interest but would have liked to see the chat functionality in action. I've now registered and will have a play at home, away from the security restrictions (well, hypersensitive IT-savvy husband aside) to see how that side works.

Thing 18, 19 - Join Twitter, Tweet for a Week

2008-12-12T11:05:00.003+09:00

The Twitter registration process was quite simple and clear - pity I was meant to tweet the week that I only had one day at work :) But I've been enjoying reading other's tweets, and also found out quite a bit more about some people's roles.
I also read something quite interesting:

Terrorist 'tweets'? US Army warns of Twitter dangers

Not that this is a new idea or unique to Twitter - as others have written, the whole point of many of these new technologies is to enable faster communication. Most technologies can be used for positive or negative results depending on the outlook of the users...

Thing 20 - Slideshare.net & YouTube.com

2008-12-12T10:58:00.002+09:00

I wasn't sure what to search for, but was having a pang of regret at not being in the Top End, so searched for & found a short video about a section of Litchfield National Park. This shows a section near the Buley Rock Holes - a FANTASTIC swimming spot we visited regularly. This video was taken in the wet so it's not the normal sedate plunge pools but it still brought back great memories :)

I found the embedding process very simple and I have seen a number of instances that this has been a very useful way of sharing information.

Things 16-17 - Join Facebook, add Facebook friends

2008-12-02T12:41:00.004+09:00

I've been on Facebook since Feb this year. I decided it was the best way to keep up with a friend who moved to Malawi with AVA for two years. She updates her status regularly using her mobile phone and uploads amazing photos when she is near a large town. It's also been good to keep up with a number of our interstate and overseas nephews & nieces (who range in age from 29 to 4 - not all of them on Facebook!) and all of their doings...

I currently have 37 "friends" - family, local & interstate friends, people I have worked with (some over 10 years ago) and I've just been found by a couple of high school classmates after 20+ years!
I get frustrated by people who want to send me all their wonderful invitations to play games or add pretty things, but I love the ease of ignoring them :) I'm still at a dip in & out stage - every couple of days is enough for me, but I can sometimes find myself getting a little addicted and staying on much longer than the time I have allocated myself.

I haven't yet done much playing with less social type things - I am a member of the ALIA group, and Aussie Librarians, but that's about as far as I've gotten. I'll be interested to hear how other people are using it.

Thing 14 - Flickr

2008-11-28T14:34:00.003+09:00

I've looked at other people's images on Flickr (sometimes being amazed - as I am with Facebook - how much private information they're willing to give out about themselves) but haven't joined or contributed until now. I can see it's definite benefits in a personal setting but (like many of these tools) I could also use a different 'thing' to achieve a similar result - in my case that would be sharing images with family & friends that are interstate.
I did like Ian's work example and can see the value in something like the Cambridge Library's display with catalogue links - but would also think that it would create a huge amount of work. I do wonder at the time/value equation - although I suppose as with many emerging technologies, someone needs to put in the time & energy initially. Long term there may be huge demand and the time/value equation may swing, but until someone has done the work to allow users to get to know it, it won't happen. A case (possibly) of 'if you build it they will come!' Or not!

Thing 15

2008-11-28T14:27:00.003+09:00

http://www.TrippyText.com - Trippy Text
http://www.MakeYourSpace.com/ - MySpace Layouts

Thing 13 part 2 - the feet!

2008-11-28T13:43:00.004+09:00

At the Friday workshop we did a group photo of our feet - spectacular but it did surprise me how many of us were wearing 'sensible' shoes!

Thing 13 - Upload an image

2008-11-28T11:30:00.005+09:00

This is a photo my husband took (but I uploaded to our PC at home :)) of McNaught's comet in January 2007. Lucky us only had to walk 25m across the street to get this view - so we were able to enjoy on a number of nights.

Thing 11: Social tagging and search

2008-11-25T10:40:00.003+09:00

I did a very basic search on the term 'survivor'. I was interested to see what wildly varying results I got, and I wasn't disappointed.
Delicious, Google, Zuula and Kartoo focused on the TV series, a music group, and a clip of that name.
Murdoch Uni catalogue had only 4 titles - related to the surviving partner and their needs, and the UQ catalogue had 119 results with a smattering of fiction & non-fiction.
CiteUlike had a medical focus, and I couldn't get Connotea to work for me.
I found Kartoo quite disconcerting = I'm obviously not as visual a person as other people, although maybe if would grow on me given time :)

Thing 12 - delicious.com

2008-11-21T12:42:00.003+09:00

I'd heard quite a lot about delicious over the last year, but it all seemed a bit too hard when I was just working with my bookmarks on my home PC. Then when I started at Murdoch I knew it would be worth checking out - so I was pleased to find it was one of the Things.

After an initial glitch (which was my fault) I found the set-up very simple and the different methods of tagging quite easy - although I can see that I already want to modify some of the tags that were imported. And I'm guessing that to make them useful setting up more of the tag bundles would be a good idea.

After adding Kate to my network I found my husband and added him also. I need to explore the social side a little more as at this stage I'm simply seeing delicious as a way to share my bookmarks at home and work. But I do think that (given time to explore) it will be much more than this.

My test Google doc

2008-11-14T13:18:00.003+09:00

I decided to play a bit with formatting to see what I could do...

The trials and joys of interstate family!

Most of my family (biological and in-laws) live interstate. My husband grew up in Victoria and spent a year in Western Australia before moving to South Australia to study. This is also where he met me (a native South Aussie) and we married. But I always knew S.A. wouldn't keep him happy for long - and we moved to the Northern Territory a few years after we married. We loved the lifestyle there (and one of my sisters also lived nearby) but the weather eventually wore us down and we moved to a new opportunity (close to one of Shayne's brothers) in W.A.

Living a long way away from most of our family (Shayne has five married siblings complete with their families, and a Mum in the eastern states, and I have two married siblings complete with their families, and both parents in SA) wasn't really a problem until our cherubs came along. It was just a good excuse to have a decent holiday every few years...
But now, we realise how hard it is to keep our children in touch with their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, when they only see them every couple of years, and we also miss advice and babysitting close by!

However, on the plus side:

any visit to family is an adventure, and we almost never outstay our welcome!
when the grandparents have come to stay, the children get some pretty full on attention.
we don't have much friction within the family over unsolicited advice, and we get on fantastically with our in-laws.
we've learnt lots of new technological tools to help keep in touch - Shayne's Mum is one of the most technologically connected 75 year-olds I know! We have a family website where we blog and post photos www.beachmob.org/family (password protected) and there is a fair bit of skyping and some video conferencing that happens. And watching Shayne and his siblings sit around together at a table, with half a dozen laptops between them, chatting almost as much online as in person, is something to be seen :)

So, like most situations, there are positives and negatives about where we live. Just wonder if my feelings about this will change when BB3 arrives!

New baby is due end of April 2009 -Judith Beach 11/14/08 12:19 PM

Well done! -Margaret Solosy 11/14/08 12:25 PM

Google Docs - what a good idea

2008-11-14T12:59:00.003+09:00

I had a bit of fun with this - and will post my document in later...

I decided to play around a little with the formatting to see what it could do, and was pretty impressed with the range of functionality - it's certainly not as rich in formatting options as Word (for example) but for producing a useful, workable, collaborative document, it seems great.
And I think that it's key use could be in collaborative efforts - particularly when people working together use different platforms or software. It's close enough to Word with it's shortcuts that most people who are comfortable with that software could just pick it up & run with it.

I don't think I would use it for work documents as there are those lingering issues of management of organisational records, security and access (if the unthinkable happens & Google went into receivership for example).

But in general, I like it...

Firefox and Extensions

2008-11-07T14:27:00.011+09:00

This week's things (7 & 8) are not completely new to me, in that we have a couple of extensions on our home version of Firefox. BUT I didn't add them - just used them, without really realising what they were and how many options are out there. I've spent quite a lot of time looking at this week's things, mainly at home ( :)) - I've installed a Harley Davidson theme (didn't work very well for me - too bulky), a black one (found sections hard to read), Walnut for Firefox (I can cope with it but it is a bit distracting) and finally settled on a boring but usable one!

Details of my things below:

Add a theme - I finally chose Microfox for Firefox

Add an extension - I added a couple - ChromaTabs Plus 2.1 (I like the idea of seeing at a glance the originator of different websites - didnt work very well with the walnut theme but is fine with my current one) and Mouse Gestures Redox (we use something like this at home and I'd gotten used to it :)) I'm also thinking of installing Foxsaver to have a nice screensaver of photos of my kids :) Just need to find out if it uses too many PC resources...

Add the 23 things toolbar - done

Download Zotero and LibX - done

Add some resources to your Zotero Library. Try to include something from the Library Catalogue, a database and a website such as Google Scholar. - done

Choose one of the extensions covered in Things 7 and 8 and write a blog entry on whether you would use it and why.

I've been using the 23 things toolbar to keep in touch with other participants blogs and the RSS feed of the 23 Things blog. I also like the ease of which I can get to the 'things' It's great but I figure longer term I'll be using the LibX toolbar more consistently.

RSS Feeds and gastro

2008-10-30T16:14:00.005+09:00

Well, it's been an interesting week to say the least. Two children sick, then a rather amazing bout of gastro myself, and trying to keep life functioning at the same time. The children are now back to about 110% which is lovely for them but a bit trying for me :)

But, a bright spot today when I hid myself in the office and worked through this week's Thing - subscribing to feeds.

I've subscribed to a few different feeds - a couple of professional ones, some individual's personal blogs, and my sister-in-law's travel and family blog (just back from Europe & Thailand lucky thing :)).

One that I've been particularly interested in subscribing to is called LifeHack - I've had a few posts forwarded to me in the past, and I've found them really quite useful. Different authors give their views on topics such as productivity, lifestyle, management, money, and technology. Their 'about page' states:
"The phrase describes any hacks, tips and tricks that get things done quickly by automating, increase productivity and organizing."

I figure anything that helps me in this area is worth spending a couple of minutes reading, especially when it comes 'to my doorstep'.

I like to blog...

2008-10-24T13:49:00.003+08:00

Up until now my blogging has been very basic - a family website (access restricted by password) which I use more to update interstate and overseas relatives about the goings on in our family - more specifically my kid's lives, and to save filling up their inboxes with stacks of photos.

It's going to be interesting with this blog to consider how 'outside' people might react to my musings, and to see if that impacts on my honesty and how I express myself :)

So far I think I'm going to let myself chat away and hope that no-one really feels all that excited about reading/judging - hey, we're all in the same boat. I do wonder sometimes how some bloggers that I've read on the net decide what to share - they seem so open and honest - sometimes to the point (it seems to me) where they open themselves up to a dangerous situation. Hmm little off the point now!

It's now Friday afternoon and I have completed week 1. Yeah!

23 Things - first musing!

2008-10-24T11:38:00.000+08:00

I'm really looking forward to this program. After four years out of the library world (apart from trying to keep pace a little through personal reading and elists in between changing nappies & bandaging knees) I am really looking forward to having a chance to learn some of the key technologies that are coming forward and being used in our library world.

I've always enjoyed learning new things, but find the amount of 'things' out there at the moment a bit overwhelming. So to have had someone select some good examples of emerging technologies is making it all seem much more do-able.

From the video:

Which habit of lifelong learners is easiest and which is hardest for me?
Hardest would be habit 7 - teaching/mentoring others - partly because although I enjoy sharing information with others, I don't always feel best qualified to do so (it's such a big responsibility) and partly because at this point in time I don't work closely enough for long enough with other people who have less skills in this area than I do :)

Easiest - habit 2 - accept responsibility for my own learning. In my last 5 working years (ignoring the four year hiatus) I started 7 different jobs (lots of contract work in Darwin :)). These were generally in quite different workplaces with different systems, software and different political environments (including local government, state government, university and non-profit). I didn't always get a handover with previous staff but I found it a real challenge to learn as much as I could and to become as productive as possible in as short a time as possible. I suppose I just like learning new things :)

My goals for the 23 Things?
Generally, a greater understanding of some of the new and emerging technologies, how they can be used, and how they may/will impact on our service delivery now and in the future.
Specifically, I am interested in learning more about Twitter, del.icio.us, Flicker and Second Life - these are the things that I hear people talking about but I don't feel like I 'have a handle' on at all.

What I need in my learning toolkit to achieve these goals?
Thankfully, I know that many of these things are available already.

Good net access (more of an issue at home potentially)
Digital camera
Headphones and microphone
Time - an issue for everyone, but working 10 hours a week I expect to be doing some of this at home so that I can really explore and understand