Continuing with the catch up, here are my thoughts relating to Thing 6: Online networks...
I had knowledge and/or experience of using some of the sites mentioned within the cpd23 blog, and I explored some of those I didn't have much knowledge of, before writing this post. So here are a few of my thoughts...
I first came across LinkedIn when studying Librarianship. At the time, I could see it was a popular network, and I realised it would be worth signing up. I planned to do this when I had more time (I was busy with essays, the dissertation and so on) and/or when I had a post-qualification job. I do have more time now, in that I don't have to spend evenings and weekends studying (although job applications take up a lot of this time instead), but I don't yet have a library/information job. I do work as library assistant, but only part-time after reducing my hours to do the MA. For the majority of the time, I do a non-library related admin job. With this in mind, I'm not really sure how useful LinkedIn would be for me at this time. That is not to say that don't appreciate how useful it may be in the future. I explored the site via the profiles highlighted on the cpd23 blog. This was the first time I had actually explored LinkedIn, and I do like the look of it. When I start to do more work in the library/information sectors, and I (hopefully) start to progress in my career, I'm sure I will actively engage with this online network.
Facebook is one of the online networks that I have used before. I only joined Facebook when I started the MA course. Students on the course used Facebook to communicate, and so I thought it would be useful for me too. I have continued to use Facebook in a mainly 'professional' capacity. For example, other people include relevant and useful library-related information and links to information, and this adds to my current awareness. On another note, Facebook enables me to stay up to date with other things. I mentioned in my last post that I am now following a local museum project on Twitter - I also read the latest news and progress on their Facebook page. Also, it is a convenient way to keep in touch with the lovely people I met whilsy studying Librarianship, many of whom are now working as librarians. Reading back over this paragraph, I realise that I mainly use Facebook to stay up to date with news and information, as opposed to networking. Being more aware of this now, I will look at how I can extend my use of Facebook to networking in the future.
I remember becoming aware of LISNPN when helping out at the (CILIP) Career Development Group's New Professionals Conference in 2010. I have visited the site frequently since then. I read anything that attracts my interest within the forums (though I've not posted myself), and it is useful to see what events will be taking place. The network does provide the opportunity to engage with other new professionals wherever they may be based. The network seems to me to be a place to share information, offer and seek advice, and share experiences and perspectives. Though I'm not studying to be or working as a new professional at the moment, I think the site will be of value to me over the coming years.
I had not heard of the Librarians as Teachers Network before beginning Thing 6. As I don't have a job that involves teaching, it is not useful to me at this time. As time is short at the moment, I've not had chance to look at this network, so I can't say anything about it really. However, now that I do know about it, I will keep it in mind for the future.
I am a member of CILIP, and I do visit and read blogs via the CILIP blogs landscape section of the site. However, I don't know too much about the CILIP Communities beyond the blogs. I find it is of great value to read the blogs; through doing so, I am able to learn more and engage with the wider profession. I will make the effort to sign up to CILIP Communities, and explore this online network further.
So overall, I can see that online networks, including the ones mentioned above, have the potential to be very useful ('useful' being a word I seem to have repeated through this post!). Thing 6 has alerted me to networks I had little or no knowledge of previously, and has encouraged me to actively engage more with networks I am familiar with. I think I will explore online networks - particularly LinkedIn - again in the future, so another post on the topic may well appear at some point.
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Friday, 5 August 2011
Thing 5
Continuing with the big catch up, here is a little look at Thing 5 - reflective practice. This post will be fairly short, as my views about reflective practice are quite decided - I think it is an extemely valuable thing to do.
I was mainly introduced to reflective practice during the MA Librarianship course. I had done a little bit of reflection before. When undertaking creative writing modules at A Level and during my degree, I had to provide commentaries; I was required to consider what was good/not so good, and how things could be improved. I also did a group teaching session as part of my degree, and each member had to submit a reflective report. Reflective writing was something I had always found useful; it enabled me to recognise how I could progress. Part of the assessment for the MA management module - that spanned the full academic year - was to keep a journal. We discussed a management topic or topics within each entry, and related this to our own experiences. I had worked in the museum and library sectors for over two years prior to starting the MA, and I found that the journal assessment enabled me to link the theory that I was learning to my experiences at work. By reflecting, I was able to look at situations from different angles, and consider how I might act in my future roles. I think the act of actually writing things down often provided extra clarity, and the whole process furthered my understanding of management and more general LIS issues. Thus, reflective practice is something I hope to continue with throughout my career. If you have read my previous posts, you will be aware that I am doing voluntary work in order to build on and develop my skills. I decided to keep a record of everything I was doing within each session, mainly so I could remember things when filling in job applications. So, far this has mainly consisted of multiple lists of activities that I have undertaken, but Thing 5 has reminded me of the value of reflective writing, and I will be developing the lists into more in-depth reflection.
So in the spirit of cpd23, here is a mini reflection (I have limited time at the moment due to work and job applications) on the process so far...
I have learnt a lot about the different tools that will enable me to engage more with other people who are interested in/ work in the library and information sectors, and with the wider profession in general. The process gave me the push to start a blog; I've wanted to do this for a while, but kept putting it off. I'm glad I've had a go at creating and managing a blog, as it is something that I may be required to do in a future job role. I also realised that having my own blog will encourage reflective practice, and I plan to start another blog when I have completed the cpd23 process. Also, I have started to consider my personal brand more. This was something I'd not thought about too much before cpd23. I think I have made some progress in this area, but there is more work to do, and it is due to cpd23 that I recognise this. Again, the cpd23 process encouraged me to look at how Twitter, RSS etc could enhance my current awareness. This is something I was aware of, but felt I was missing out on. Although I still need to improve in this area, at least I'm thinking about it now, and I'm aiming to make more of an effort with Twitter etc.
So, that is my take on reflective practice. I'm really glad we had the opportunity to exlpore the reflective process during the MA. I would definitely encourage others to have a go at reflective writing.
I was mainly introduced to reflective practice during the MA Librarianship course. I had done a little bit of reflection before. When undertaking creative writing modules at A Level and during my degree, I had to provide commentaries; I was required to consider what was good/not so good, and how things could be improved. I also did a group teaching session as part of my degree, and each member had to submit a reflective report. Reflective writing was something I had always found useful; it enabled me to recognise how I could progress. Part of the assessment for the MA management module - that spanned the full academic year - was to keep a journal. We discussed a management topic or topics within each entry, and related this to our own experiences. I had worked in the museum and library sectors for over two years prior to starting the MA, and I found that the journal assessment enabled me to link the theory that I was learning to my experiences at work. By reflecting, I was able to look at situations from different angles, and consider how I might act in my future roles. I think the act of actually writing things down often provided extra clarity, and the whole process furthered my understanding of management and more general LIS issues. Thus, reflective practice is something I hope to continue with throughout my career. If you have read my previous posts, you will be aware that I am doing voluntary work in order to build on and develop my skills. I decided to keep a record of everything I was doing within each session, mainly so I could remember things when filling in job applications. So, far this has mainly consisted of multiple lists of activities that I have undertaken, but Thing 5 has reminded me of the value of reflective writing, and I will be developing the lists into more in-depth reflection.
So in the spirit of cpd23, here is a mini reflection (I have limited time at the moment due to work and job applications) on the process so far...
I have learnt a lot about the different tools that will enable me to engage more with other people who are interested in/ work in the library and information sectors, and with the wider profession in general. The process gave me the push to start a blog; I've wanted to do this for a while, but kept putting it off. I'm glad I've had a go at creating and managing a blog, as it is something that I may be required to do in a future job role. I also realised that having my own blog will encourage reflective practice, and I plan to start another blog when I have completed the cpd23 process. Also, I have started to consider my personal brand more. This was something I'd not thought about too much before cpd23. I think I have made some progress in this area, but there is more work to do, and it is due to cpd23 that I recognise this. Again, the cpd23 process encouraged me to look at how Twitter, RSS etc could enhance my current awareness. This is something I was aware of, but felt I was missing out on. Although I still need to improve in this area, at least I'm thinking about it now, and I'm aiming to make more of an effort with Twitter etc.
So, that is my take on reflective practice. I'm really glad we had the opportunity to exlpore the reflective process during the MA. I would definitely encourage others to have a go at reflective writing.
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Thing 4
This post is extremely late due to a combination of working (two part-time jobs over six days), volunteering, preparing for a presentation, ECDL course, and so on. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with the other 'Things' over the next few weeks....
So, back to Thing 4: Current awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote.
In general, I think that my level of current awareness is good, however, I could engage more with Twitter, and utilise RSS and Pushnote.
In terms of Twitter, I do already have an account. I created this last autumn after finishing my MA. The MA was intensive, and I went from learning and talking about libraries all the time, to just working in a library one day a week. After a break, I started to feel removed from the library world, especially as I didn't have a full-time library job. Thus, I decided to join Twitter as another way of staying up to date with library news. I also felt it would help me to stay connected to the wider profession. Despite good intentions, however, I've not utilised Twitter to its full potential. I read but I don't actively engage. I am very aware of this; I often think that I am missing out on being part of this big LIS online community. I'd not done much about this in the past, though. The main reason is feeling that I don't have anything interesting to say at this time. Not being able to secure a professional, or even a non-professional library/information job, has affected my confidence a bit. This has in turn made me reluctant to join in discussions. I'm no longer an LIS student, nor a professional (in an employed sense), so I'm not too sure where I fit in the library world in general, and also in terms of the online communities, if that makes sense. Also it does seem like a conversation that has been going on for ages, and I worry that I'm too far out of the Twitter loop, but I suppose it is never too late to learn etc. I am determined to give Twitter a go though; I don't want to miss out, and I think it will be really useful.
After looking again at Twitter for Thing 4, I added a profile photo and biog - which I avoided before - so some (slow) progress has been made! I also decided to follow a local museum project (@PeoplesMuseum), so that I can stay up to date with the progress of a new museum/archives centre that is being created in the town where I live, so I'm already finding Twitter useful! I already follow various CILIP and library related things, and I'll expand on this. I've still not tweeted, but I'll make a conscious effort to do this soon. The amount of space in this post dedicated to Twitter is relatively long because it is something I really hope to engage with.
RSS is something I knew about, and had explored when doing the ECDL course, but not really used to any great extent. I've now had a look in more detail as part of Thing 4, and can see how useful it will be. I signed up to Google Reader, and have subscribed to a few feeds to start with. I'm sure I will build on this, and subscribe to more things in the future. There is so much information, so many interesting and useful things to read online, that utilising RSS will undoubtedly be of great use to me.
I've not tried Pushnote as I don't think I have the right browser. I intend to find out more about Pushnote, and I'll look to see if the browser situation changes in the future.
Overall, I think Thing 4 - one of the 'things' I was most looking forward to - has made me more aware of current awareness via Twitter and RSS. I think it has encouraged me to engage with and utilise these very useful things.
So, back to Thing 4: Current awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote.
In general, I think that my level of current awareness is good, however, I could engage more with Twitter, and utilise RSS and Pushnote.
In terms of Twitter, I do already have an account. I created this last autumn after finishing my MA. The MA was intensive, and I went from learning and talking about libraries all the time, to just working in a library one day a week. After a break, I started to feel removed from the library world, especially as I didn't have a full-time library job. Thus, I decided to join Twitter as another way of staying up to date with library news. I also felt it would help me to stay connected to the wider profession. Despite good intentions, however, I've not utilised Twitter to its full potential. I read but I don't actively engage. I am very aware of this; I often think that I am missing out on being part of this big LIS online community. I'd not done much about this in the past, though. The main reason is feeling that I don't have anything interesting to say at this time. Not being able to secure a professional, or even a non-professional library/information job, has affected my confidence a bit. This has in turn made me reluctant to join in discussions. I'm no longer an LIS student, nor a professional (in an employed sense), so I'm not too sure where I fit in the library world in general, and also in terms of the online communities, if that makes sense. Also it does seem like a conversation that has been going on for ages, and I worry that I'm too far out of the Twitter loop, but I suppose it is never too late to learn etc. I am determined to give Twitter a go though; I don't want to miss out, and I think it will be really useful.
After looking again at Twitter for Thing 4, I added a profile photo and biog - which I avoided before - so some (slow) progress has been made! I also decided to follow a local museum project (@PeoplesMuseum), so that I can stay up to date with the progress of a new museum/archives centre that is being created in the town where I live, so I'm already finding Twitter useful! I already follow various CILIP and library related things, and I'll expand on this. I've still not tweeted, but I'll make a conscious effort to do this soon. The amount of space in this post dedicated to Twitter is relatively long because it is something I really hope to engage with.
RSS is something I knew about, and had explored when doing the ECDL course, but not really used to any great extent. I've now had a look in more detail as part of Thing 4, and can see how useful it will be. I signed up to Google Reader, and have subscribed to a few feeds to start with. I'm sure I will build on this, and subscribe to more things in the future. There is so much information, so many interesting and useful things to read online, that utilising RSS will undoubtedly be of great use to me.
I've not tried Pushnote as I don't think I have the right browser. I intend to find out more about Pushnote, and I'll look to see if the browser situation changes in the future.
Overall, I think Thing 4 - one of the 'things' I was most looking forward to - has made me more aware of current awareness via Twitter and RSS. I think it has encouraged me to engage with and utilise these very useful things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)