Thing 4.

I have had a Twitter account for some while now but am ashamed to admit that I had never sent a tweet before CPD23. I think the main reason for my reluctance to be more active was that I always felt Twitter was more of a social calendar-type thing and also that I  wasn't getting the full picture when trying to follow a conversation. (A bit like when you arrive late at a party where everyone is already mid-conversation). 

Still having worked through this part of Thing 4 I now know better and having signed up to follow several of the people recommended in the post for thing 4. In this way I am hopeful that I will be able to decipher the mystery of hashtags!

I have been into RSS feeds for some while mainly through Google Reader. I use them to check up on things both in a professional and personal sense and find them easier to read as well as more informative as there is no character limit (perhaps that’s why I failed with Twitter in the past).  

My particular favourites at the moment are Phil Bradley's Weblog and The Wikiman which I discovered  while working through Thing 2.

Regarding Storify I really struggled with it and couldn’t create a story as my browser wasn’t supported although I did take the guided tour and looked at several of the recommended stories. I also looked at several stories relating to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012 which were really good with lots of video clips.

But to be honest I am not sure how (or even if) I will ever find a reason to use it again. Though to be fair I can see that it has its uses and I might suggest to some of the tutors that they try using it with their students when evidencing their research for assignments.

By the way I also really like the current awareness tool Pulse News and find it really simple to use. I would recommend it to anyone using a tablet.

Thing 3

"Consider your personal brand" brand" Jo's posting read for Thing 3 and to be fair she did warn that it might take some time to achieve.
How right she was!

It's been over a week later since I started this Thing and I am still not sure that I have got the presentation right in terms of font size, colour scheme etc. for all my different presences.

One thing I found particularly difficult when designing my "brand" was finding suitable images, whilst managing to avoid the copyright pitfalls. In the end, as I don't have any artistic talent at all, I nagged my husband to draw my "bear with a book" and background images for me.

Regarding the "Googling" activity I tried using my name and "library" which as well as the expected links to Facebook and Twitter did throw up a couple of surprises. One being a document about an MLA-sponsored Sills for Life project that I worked on years ago and had thought was long gone (I even downloaded a copy to keep, how sad is that!)

When reflecting on the idea of a personal brand I have to confess that although I think a lot about how I present myself to others in terms of face-to-face, telephone and email encounters I hadn't really thought about having an online presence until now. This is something that I feel will require further consideration, especially in terms of maintaining consistency across different online platforms as Jo advised.

Thing 2

Having just read some of the other blogs linked to cpd23 I have gleamed two important pieces of information.

1. Everyone else but me seems to be an early-bird!

and

2. I am going to have to get a lot better at deciphering the word verification thingy as it took me longer to post the comments than it took to write them!  

Thing 1

I decided to take part in this course primarily because I graduated from university last July with a shiny new degree and high hopes that my role as an academic librarian would provide plenty of opportunities for continuing professional development. Unfortunately nearly a year later I don’t feel that those hopes have been realized (and the degree isn't quite so shiny).

Therefore rather than waiting for someone else to come up with opportunities for skills development I decided that it was high time that I put my librarian skills to good use and so started looking for myself. This was when I came across the cpd23.course.

Despite feeling a bit nervous about some of the "things" (and a complete newbie to blogging)  I am always up for a challenge and hopeful that this course will provide me with opportunities to develop existing skills as well as acquire some new ones.

The start of the journey...

Have just created this blog in order that I can register for the new cpd23 course, which starts on Monday.