The last post...

...on 23 things that is. I have really enjoyed blogging and fully intend to keep going with my blog now that I'm up and running.

Looking back on my first few posts I see a nervousness about exploring the unknown and a definite reticence to get involved. As one of the organisers of the Sot 23 things programme I should have been throwing myself in enthusiastically. So early on I was handling a large helping of guilt that I wasn't finding the time, when I was expecting all the partipants to. My approach to the first few things was that I tried to explore everything about the new 'thing' and tried to become proficient. As nearly all the things were new to me I soon realised that I had to change this approach. If I enjoyed something and could see a use (attempt nothing that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful ) I would spend longer. Other things I explored on a more superficial level and made a note to come back to.

The things I most enjoyed were Twitter, a surprise one here, along with Flickr, Wordle and Tagxedo, not so much of a surprise as I like creative things. I  really want to explore the use of Twitter in a professional context at work, particularly with regard to the artists' book collection at WSA. I least enjoyed Netvibes - it's just not how I work.

I feel very proud both to have organised and completed 23 things. In pushing myself to try new things I have more often than not surprised myself, and there has been a knock on effect of me trying new things in other areas of my life. I feel so much more confident with social media and have really started to think how I can use the things I have learnt both professionally and socially.

I think if we were to run it again I would want more consistency with the instructions and to give more thought to the order that the things are delivered in and the time involved.

I have really enjoyed being part of the Sot23 things team and have learnt much from my colleagues Nick, Emma and Vicky. Thank-you for your patience and humour! More on the Oscar speech next week!

Right, I'm off to register my completion and finally get myself a smartphone. It's time to move on!

Drive time

As I already had a gmail account I was able to swiftly log in to Google Drive although I did switch my browser to Google Chrome for enhanced functionality. I uploaded a document I had already created and shared that with a Sot 23 things colleague. Other colleagues have successfully shared documents that needed editing with me so I can see this being a useful tool in the future. I had used Dropbox before for sending large files but with some difficulties. This I found much more straightforward.

A question of interpretation

I hadn't used Slideshare before but I will definitely use it in the future. I found it easy to navigate around and decided to look for a presentation on libraries and mobile technologies as this is currently something that the Library is exploring. Found this presentation.

ARLIS Experimenting with mobile technologies in libraries from Jo Alcock

The difficult part was embedding it into my blog. Each time I copied and pasted it in I just had a block of HTML. When I clicked preview, the HTML text remained rather than displaying the presentation. With the help of fineanddandy I realised that my options in Blogger were set to 'show HTML literally'. Once I'd changed the setting to 'interpret typed HTML' all was revealed!

T is for Tagxedo

As with Wordle this was very easy to use but what I really liked was the shape feature. Here's what I did!

W is for Wordle

Here's my wordle for my blog. I thought this tool was easy and fun to use and I can definitely envisage using it again in the future. I found it interesting seeing which words I've used most often in my blog. I'm reflecting on what that says about me....

And here is one based on the Books by Artists exhibition I have co-curated with Linda Newington at the Winchester Discovery Centre. Catch it while you can! It is on until 12 April 2013.

Code cracked!

This one should work thanks to Ric's troubleshooting! I think I deserve to crack open an Easter egg now!

Breaking the code

Or rather being broken by the code!

 

 

Here's my attempt at making a QR code. It should link to information about the exhibition 'Books by Artists' which I'm co-curating with Linda Newington at the Winchester Discovery Centre.

 

I tried using the Nexus tablet in order to read it but got into a complete muddle. I was confused by the fact that I kept seeing myself  until discussing the problem later with my son. I now realise that the camera/reader element must have been set as front facing rather than back facing. However, I was unable to work out how to change this. If you are not used to using this kind of technology (that's me as I still don't even have a smartphone) then this sort of thing is not intuitive. I did manage to scan my code and was very excited but then got the message "oops Google Chrome did not recognise that http". I've left it in this post so do let me know if it works for you!

 

If we were to take these seriously and start using them across the Library we would need to know that more users than not had the technology to read them. In my naivety I thought all smartphones came with the capacity to read QR codes but this doesn't seem to be the case. I also feel that much information is more easily accessible in other forms. We have experimented tentatively with using QR codes at WSA library. We produced holiday opening times as a QR code and some users, mostly our international students, did find this helpful. This sort of infromation seems more suitable for a QR code rather than, for example, a website.

 

It was good to learn about QR codes but I can't see myself using them in the future and remain in need of convincing of their worth to libraries.

 

 

Sharing things

Jessop's Hospital, Sheffield

I successfully found the above image of the hospital I was born in through Wikimedia Commons Unfortunately, it is currently under threat of demolition. I checked the licensing section for this image and found it came with permission to use in any way I wanted. I simply chose to insert it into my blog.

I have found this exploration of Creative Commons an extremely useful exercise. The information on the website helped clarify the various approaches and levels of licensing. I found the Youtube video really interesting in terms of the projects it outlined, particularly in relation to the way the students work at WSA. I have used images from CC before but having the time to fully explore the website has meant I feel more informed for when I use it again or when I have to answer any queries about it. Definitely something i will be continuing to use.

Picture this thing

I love taking photos and organising them so it has come as no surprise that I like Flickr. Rather than following Ric's advice to set up a Yahoo account I took advice from my son whose experiences of Yahoo were far from complimentary (apologies Ric), and set up my Flickr account through Google. This was then more complicated than it needed to have been because I hadn't set up a gmail yet. Having set that up though I was in.

The site was very easy to navigate around and I successfully uploaded some photos for the open air category of the competition. I then proceeded to create a set, add contacts, set up a gallery, favourite a photo, and join a couple of groups, although I'm still waiting to hear back whether I've been accepted into Sot23things group!

I will definitely be exploring and adding to this more. Here's the link to what I've done so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cathcando/

I've just followed the instructions to share and blog about one of my Flickr photos. I was expecting it to appear here but to my surprise it is already on my blog! Very slowly getting the hang of all this.

Frenchmen's Creek

Frenchmen's Creek, a photo by artcath on Flickr.

This was taken on a fantastic holiday to this Landmark Trust cottage on Frenchman's Creek. I read Daphne Du Maurier's novel of the same title whilst there. Sublime!

LibraryThing

This was really easy to set up and good fun.The only frustrating thing was that I couldn't always find a match for the exact edition of my copy.

In terms of the exercise I had 3 books published in the last decade with fewer than 10 other LibraryThing owners.And the author of those 3 books was a certain Martin Polley.

I am sure when I have a bit more time I will return to this and start adding in all my books, particularly those nineteenth century favourites.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again

Or was that Mendeley?

I have no need for this tool at the moment but it was useful to become more aware of  how it works. I am often asked by staff and students to recommend free bibliographic software and it was good to have the time to explore this. I am most familiar with Endnote and have some knowledge of Zotero. However, this exercise has been useful for me in terms of weighing up the relative merits of each and feeling more informed.

I think I should add Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca to my LibraryThing now!

Delicious things

There are far more delicious things out there than Delicious. I have followed the instructions and set up my account and bookmarklett. However, nothing about the site was exciting or intuitive.and so I decided to quit while I was ahead. This way of working is not for me.

Books by Artists

Photo by @kristiannedrake

Despite my good intentions I am already a week behind...My excuse is that I have been involved in a couple of events over the last week. First was a talk on photobooks from the WSA Library's collections at John Hansard Central as part of their E-book show. This was a great show and I really enjoyed being part of this and meeting so many interesting people.

Second, I have been helping set up the Books by Artists exhibition, which I'm co-curating with Linda Newington, at the Winchester Discovery Centre with colleagues from Special Collections. Jane Birkin had prepared twelve wonderful large scale photographs of some of the artists' books to go around the atrium space at Winchester Discovery Centre. Before these went up, we had the painful and backbreaking job of peeling the adhesive panels from a previous exhibition off - harder than it sounds, as witness the painful wounds to the fingers. However, no pain no gain (thanks for reminding me of this saying Jessica!), and the results look fabulous.

Meanwhile, in the City Space, the display cabinets were moved into their positions and all the books have been carefully placed within them by Anne-Marrie Steel and Jessica Crann.The exhibition opens on World Book Day, 7 March 2013 and runs until 14 April 2013.

Reflections

The things that I have experienced and enjoyed the most on the Sot23things programme so far have been the actual process of setting up a blog and developing a voice for it, and Twitter. I enjoy the reflective activity that goes into creating a new post and I love the keeping up to date aspects of Twitter. The thing that I have found most difficult has been juggling the administering of the programme and taking part at the same time, alongside work.

Photo James Polley Photography

I am determined to participate in the second half of the programme in a more organised manner. Following other participants it would seem that the most successful are those who block out some time at the beginning of the week to take part in the week's 'thing' and blog about it straightaway. So roll on next week!.

A future thing

My experience of Linkedin to date has been a number of email requests asking me to add myself to someone's network. I have ignored all of these because I didn't know enough about how it worked and because I wasn't on it myself.

I have now talked to others who use Linkedin and explored the site, which I found easy to navigate around. I would say that it is very useful for networking, especially if you are freelance. However, it is not for me at the moment. I can see a professional use, particularly in relation to my interest in artists' books, but I need the time to set it up properly. So, something for the future.

Facing up to things

I set up a Facebook account years ago but rarely use it and really don't like it. I don't want to share every thought I have for all to see. If I do use it I always message rather than post on the wall. I never do games. I would like to remove myself but do acknowledge that for some friends who use it all the time it's a useful way of getting in touch, so never quite get round to it. And yet here I am writing a blog for all to see. Somehow the lack of adverts and simplicity of the blank page when composing feels a more comfortable place to record and share thoughts.

I have used this opportunity to reset my privacy settings, a long overdue task.I have had a proper look around the University of Southampton's Facebook page and was impressed with what I saw.I also took a look at Royal Holloway's and University of Sussex's Facebook pages. They were all almost identical in approach to ours: :news of events, polls, photos, library announcements. They all still look like it's a big effort but I think we need to keep a presence as it is more likely that students will link to and check Facebook than the website, especially when on the move.

My favourite thing

I approached Thing 10, Twitter, with trepidation. I live with a family of tweeters. The more they enthused the more I thought this is not for me. I resisted. I turned my back on it. However, I now had to confront it.

I started simply by going through the motions and following the instructions. And then something happened! The instructions were so clear, the results so quick, the composition of the tweet such fun that I was hooked. I started receiving surprised tweets from friends who thought they would never see me on Twitter!

And then when the tweets started pouring in from those people and institutions I had elected to follow I was even more enthused. It was like an instant current awareness service for all of my #favourite things. 

Tweeting in the snow

This photograph which I took of a robin tweeting in the snow reminds me of an artists' book I made entitled 'Small animals' as part of an exhibition Librarians' books.

I am not sure how much I will tweet but I do love checking in. However, this afternoon I saw a story on libraries in crisis that might interest my followers so I tweeted about it.

I like the challenge of writing to 140 characters. I have learnt how to add in URLs, photos and links and have even created my own #hashtags, but I am yet to re-tweet.

This is definitely something which I will now be using beyond 23things.

Browsing things

Browsing 1940s style

I'm using the reflection week of the programme to catch up on a few things that I haven't had the time to explore. And so this afternoon has found me trying out different browsers.

I have to admit that up until this point I have been very set in my ways and have got so used to Internet Explorer that I rarely try anything else. However, I have been pleasantly surprised. All the links to the introductory guides and videos for the different browsers were really helpful and I tried out the various tasks successfully.

One of the most useful things was, ironically, not to do with browsers as such but was the Windows 7 snap feature that allows you to have to windows open at the same time. I hadn't made use of this before but will be doing so from now on.

I used Google Chrome at home and  liked the feel of this browser and the tab feature and the bookmarks bar so much so that I may consider moving over to this at work.

A small thing

In my world of things calendars look like this!

This is a calendar which I inherited from my Gran. It always sat on her windowsill overlooking the garden and she religiously changed it everyday whilst watching the birds. When I went to stay I had the job of changing it which always felt an honour. This is a small but still very special thing.

And now for something completely different! Decided to kill two birds with one stone and use Doodle to set up a meeting with staff at Winchester School of Art Library whereas normally I would have automatically gone to Outlook. I found it very easy and fun to use and I like the ability to offer up lots of days and times which is not so easy on Outlook.I didn't like all the adverts popping up but that's just something you have to deal with and try to filter out. I still think that Outlook will be my default option for work but I would definitely use this when organising future social events with family and friends. That said a small spanner in the works of this idea is that my parents haven't got a computer. Back to the telephone!

I had already added Doodle to Netvibes as part of that activity but interestingly I forgot to go to my Netvibes page as a quick way to access it. Netvibes is still not a go-to thing...

I'd rather be making things than doing 23 Things

I am forcing myself to find the time to look at Netvibes when really I'd rather be joining the first year students in the foyer at WSA experimenting with every kind of printmaking...

However, I was determined to see what Netvibes could offer me.When I hit the first hurdle within seconds (it took three attempts before I correctly transcribed the letters in the 'are you human?' section of registering) I was quickly frustrated. Having no previous experience of personalised dashboards I approached Netvibes with caution. Within seconds my dashboard was populated with an overwhelming amount of information, most of which I wasn't interested in at all. Netvibes immediately became the enemy and I really disliked how busy the screen looked. I longed for simplicity and started striking off all the irrelevant information. Following this rather violent attack, I started to rebuild.

I took a different approach and decided to create a new dashboard for artists' books, a particular area of interest of mine both at work and personally. I found that if I searched for "artists' books" in inverted commas my results were reassuringly smaller and a hundred percent more relevant. Encouraged by this I started to add relevant widgets and links, including the Sot23things RSS feed, although frustratingly some of the widgets didn't work.

I think at this stage of Sot23things, I can be bold enough to say that this could be a useful tool, and that I intend to create several subject specific dashboards for different areas of interest and work. I intend to explore Netvibes over the coming weeks to see how useful it proves to be.

Collecting things and thoughts

I want to be more creative with some of the things I have collected than I have been in the past and in particular I want to explore how developing this blog could help in this process. I recently discovered some alphabet blocks from my childhood. As I wanted to learn how to insert a photo into my blog post, I used them to spell the word 'blog' and photographed them. Unfortunately, I then had to fall back on using my son's adept knowledge of editing software (a step too far at this stage!) to come up with the final image. I liked the idea that the blocks now spelt a word that they would never have been used for back in the 1960's. This activity has produced the first germ of an idea for an artists' book, but it's also shown me that engaging with social media could play a more positive part in my life than I was prepared to believe.

Things versus things

I have struggled to find the time to explore things 4, 5 and 6 during week 2. On reflection, this has been in part because I have been incredibly busy, but it is also to do with my reluctance to dive into the world of social media. I naturally err towards the side of real things. I am a collector. It takes great courage for me to throw anything away. I love things but do I love all 23 Things?! I now want to push this negativity aside and use this blog as a way of marrying my love of things with learning about the Sot23things.

Where will it take me?

23 things

This is my blog for the Southampton 23 things programme. The hardest thing has been coming up with a name, particularly one to match my fellow founders, Nick and Vicky. In the end I went for a name that would  inspire me to think big. So here goes....