Dec 14 - Event Management

I've been on the receiving end of Doodle (for setting up times for teleconferences), Google Calendar (not so much though as it requires me to use Google Calendar as my regular diary and I tend to use my Outlook calendar instead, perhaps if I was doing a lot more stuff from home I may use it differently), and Eventbrite (eg, the next Readers Advisory seminar, Murder in the Metcalfe, is using Eventbrite to 'sell' tickets).
I like Doodle and Eventbrite as they tend to suit the relevant purpose. Doodle is quick and easy to use (both in setting up and replying to) and you can easily see what dates/times other attendees have selected; the same can be said for Eventbrite, though it has the advantage of also being able to provide agenda details etc.. That, and Eventbrite allows for better event planning based on the number of tickets 'sold'. You know from the outset how many seats are available and can quickly determine if an event needs to be promoted a bit more or if you need to remind people that tickets are going fast so be quick! The fact that respondents can log back in to their booking and make changes is great as is the planning usefulness of obtaining respondents' email addresses.
Within our team here at HQ we make good use of our HQ Outlook calendar to schedule meetings, events, etc. The advantage here is that once I set up an event in the HQ Outlook calendar I can invite myself or various others who also share this calendar to an event/meeting and the info automatically dumps in to my/their calendar - pretty much the same principle as Google Calendar.
(I still live with my desk diary open beside me every day and rarely go to meetings without it, but then again, I'm also a chronic note-taker)

Dec 7 - Productivity: more ways with RSS

I answered the various questions relating to this week's activity by commenting on the Learning 2.1 blog.

Overall I appreciate the broad usefulness of RSS feeds and know that depending on my work demands I may or may not use them often.

For me RSS feeds are a useful reference resource that I know is working away in the background collating information from sites I find intersting and helpful. Because I don't check my feeds all that often it can require a bit of trolling to find what I'm looking for but I do have them roughly organised and I do review them every 6 months or so - getting rid of old ones I no longer want and re-organising the ones that are left.

I use GoogleReader and as it works fine for want I want and have had no reason to try any of the others that are there but I may do should I need a little more finesse to my feeds and my use of them.

Nov 30 - Slideshows, Screencasting and Digital Storytelling

I had a quick read through this week's explore and adventure and contemplated cheating just a little as I've already used a few of the resources mentioned (mostly slideshare), but then I decided I'd give it all a proper run and see what else I could learn along the way. So I guess this week's adventure may have to wait until I've a little more time up my sleeve to play around.

November 23 - Nings - part 2

Adventure

Library 2.0 - Okay, I updated my profile by adding an image of myself and my 3 children (even though Luc's face is cut in half) from when we were in my office mucking around with the webcam. I'm rather fond of my old picture (of my water dragon, Dart) but it's also good to shake things up a little. I've joined the NSW Public Libraries group and Training 2.0 group and grabbed the ning badge while I was at it.

Of all the off-the-wall online communities I've joined along the way, most have been ning communities (not saying that the ones explored as part of Learning 2.1 are off-the-wall) and I've always enjoyed their sense of sharing. Oddly I have generally found ning communities to be the most active (compared to wikis, blogs, etc) which is why I've explored so many of them I guess and had fun with all the odd-ball ones.

It's great to have had the chance to revisist them and explore a little further.

November 23 - Nings

I saw the headline for this and thought "yay! finally something on nings!" and then of course I didn't get anywhere near it for over a week!!

Explore:
Mosman Readers - What did I like? I liked the sense of immediacy, that something is always happening and that the posts come not only from library staff but from library patrons and guest bloggers. It engenders a real feeling of action - I want to be at Mosman Library 'cause stuff is happening there! Did I find this ning useful? For RA purposes yes because it pointed me in places I may not have thought of going. As a library patron I got excited about some books I just might read based on some of the reviews I read. As a parent there are piles of activities I'm sure my kids would enjoy happening at Mosman these school hols. As a colleague I was intrigued by the concept of unlimited loans during the holiday period and wondering just how I could sell that to our library (it may be easier than I think). The community tabs (Forum, NextReads, BookClubs, etc) foster activity and involvement. It's a great ning.
Museum 3.0 - What did I like? I like the concept - "what will the museum of the future be like?". I like the idea that I could participate in this discussion and perhaps have a small role in shaping the future of something as grand as a museum - and if a museum then why not the future of Libraries? The bits I like best are the Forum and Events tabs, mainly for their content. Did I find this ning useful? Mmmmm, if this was an area of interest / concern for me, then yes. But as it's not what I got out of this ning was more the concept and some of the groups/events. I see my own disreguard for this ning based more on geographical isolation than content - we aren't exactly hemmed in by museums in this neck of the woods so my opportunities for exploring them and enjoying them and wanting to be involved in them is limited. But for someone who does have that level of involvement I see a ning community like Museum 3.0 to be extremely rewarding and useful.
Bibliotheek 2.0 - okay, aside from the fact that this ning is in German (at least I get to start the day laughing over this one) ...... What did I like? I like the simplicity of this site and the beautiful photos which show hands on activities for patrons, visitors and staff. What did I get from this site? The idea that even if I don't understand the language I can still garner the sense of something and be involved in that community.
Library 2.0 - I've been a member of this ning for a very long time (okay since its inception). I've linked this ning to my google reader account to keep on top of posts etc. It's been great for exploring 2.0 and heaps of fun meeting others out there.

Nov 16 - Evaluation

For those of us who are responsible for compiling PLEG data the whole point of this week's tasks is fairly obvious - statistics tell a story all their own which provides necessary background material (and often justification) to various projects, etc.
I count myself lucky, I guess, in that I feel comfortable with this scenario - I've used Survey Monkey to create evaluation forms for training I've presented to library staff, I've replied to other surveys which have been created using Survey Monkey, I've analysed Google Analytics data and been impressed with the picture it provides and the ease of use, I've gotten to the point where it's second nature to demand some sort of evaluation tool for every online service we provide. I use Google Alerts.
This is something of an odd week for me then in regards to some of the tasks we're being asked to complete - mmm, done that one, got that one, have two of those...... I like that though - makes me feel like I'm on the right track and that I have realised and accepted the importance, the cleverness, of evaluation tools - even on my blog.

I suppose I also like the idea that whilst I may not be learning anything terribly "new" to me and have very little to complete in regards to any of the suggested activities, there is still that sense of validation in my attitude to evaluation and the way I already use it within my work. This week has managed to make me feel good about me - thankyou.

Nov 9 - Delicious

I found this week's focus on Delicious to be really helpful. I've explored Delicious a whole lot more as a result, linked it to my Twitter account, and generally had fun.
I'd really like to find tags and link all bookmarks using those particular tags to my Delicious account rather than find the url and then link them but it may just be the way I was approaching things today (being Friday).

I already had a rather simple tag cloud on my blog but now I've put the tagroll and linkroll and placed them all together under my tweets to see how they look. Once I decide which one I like best I may delete the others but in the meantime my blog is getting pretty crowded there along the side.

The instructions for the various activities this week were really straightforward and easy to follow - especially for someone who, though I've used Delicious a little bit, is not a regular user.

Wonder what we're up for next week? Can't wait!!

Nov 2 - Twitter - explore

Played around with searching for 'library', 'librarian' and 'libraries' in Twitter - found 'librarian' to be the more interesting set of results (quite enjoyed the "effing librarian" and his rant about the future of libraries, am now considering buying a cafepress shirt with the words "effing right I'm a Librarian" printed across the front but not too sure I should wear it in front of my children). Curious to note that the "Wine Library' scored high up in the list in the "library" search. Generally found the 'library' and 'libraries' searches provided different results but also somewhat "boring" results - all had images (mostly logos) but there was little to inspire me to click on any of the entries - perhaps that's something libraries need to consider when they have Twitter accounts : how we look to the outside world, what will make someone new come be our friend and follow us??

Nov 2 - Twitter - discover

Yep, I skipped Explore and have gone straight for Discover (I'll get back to 'explore' a little later).
1. have had a Twitter account for a while - but it was fun to update my profile settings and change a few details about myself and also the background (bit of a theme at the moment). Oh yeah, I added my blog url in too.
2. agree that tweeting at 140 words or less can be a challenge but have found I can overcome the challenge by breaking down what I want to say into short chunks and do a couple of posts all at once. I enjoy the challenge of being concise though and admit to being a non-abbreviating poster too - perhaps once I started abbreviating I'll find it easier
3. now following a few people - Chrystie Hill, Ellen, ALIA, etc.
4. used the '#nswlearning2.1" tag into a post but noted that Twitter didn't seem to like the dot between the 2 and the 1 - I can search for the full tag but it doesn't hyperlink well from within the post itself - something to remember for future tweet tagging
5. linked my flickr account to Twitter - connectivity plus!

may go and explore now