I enjoy the beauty of statistics, they tell you things you didn't know, or verify things you did. They provide evidence one way or contradict another - glorious.
I also love the fun which Twitter adds to the information it shares - things like Tweet Stats.
This nifty little app looks at my twitter traffic and gives me stats back showing my activity, breaking it down into months, days, hours, etc. Exciting stuff for someone who likes stats (bizarre given that I generally loath library metrics, though I find it satisfying to create synopses of PLEG stats, go figure).
Who knew that I spend most week-day mornings in Twitter? (well, actually I did know that but here's the proof!!) Or that I do most of my Tweeting on a Friday??
This is a brilliant little app. I look at it and can straight away understand why my twitter traffic was higher in March, May & June this year. That would be the RA seminar, Reference seminar and Games seminar respectively. Nice to see the correlation.
Okay, back to work. It's Tuesday so obviously a slow Twitter day for me..... ha.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
federal election 2010 - rant
A federal election has been called for August 21. When we started the year we had Kevin Rudd as PM at the helm of the Australian Labor Party, going into the elections we have Julia Gillard.
I think it's great that we have a female PM, don't get me wrong, I just don't like how she got there.
Prior to the election being called there has been much debate around the national broadband network (NBN), internet filters, and education. There's been debate about other things too but these are the ones that I have opinion about.
The NBN would be great, if it worked. Maybe then I'd get broadband connected at home.
Internet filtering is just plain bad (a much milder phrase than the one I'm thinking mind). Along side here is the whole rating of games fiasco - take a look at any gamer mag to find out why.
Our education system is weak. I took an active role in commenting on the Australian Curriculum, I think the idea of a national curriculum is great. What worries me is that my children have missed out on essential schooling skills because previous changes to the education system took them away - seriously, is there some particular reason why children can't be taught to spell correctly rather than good enough will do?
And in the midst of all this, what about libraries? Where do we fit in the grand election promise? have we actually raised ourselves to the point where we do matter? Teachers can strike, health workers strike, but when Librarians strike who listens?
I feel very disheartened at the moment about the state of all our major political parties. I've just finished reading a news item about the allocation of preferential voting. It's ludicrous. If my vote counts then I want it to count how I say, not in some predetermined fashion. I've been thinking about how I would vote in this next election and after reading through this news item I'm tempted to tell them all to take a hike. None of them are listening to the Australian population and I don't think that any of them deserve my vote.
The really sad thing is that it's not really me who will suffer, it's my kids and the future which is being strangled before they have a chance to explore it.
Another news item I noted was about the continuing brain drain from Australia - and they wonder why........
Rant over.
I think it's great that we have a female PM, don't get me wrong, I just don't like how she got there.
Prior to the election being called there has been much debate around the national broadband network (NBN), internet filters, and education. There's been debate about other things too but these are the ones that I have opinion about.
The NBN would be great, if it worked. Maybe then I'd get broadband connected at home.
Internet filtering is just plain bad (a much milder phrase than the one I'm thinking mind). Along side here is the whole rating of games fiasco - take a look at any gamer mag to find out why.
Our education system is weak. I took an active role in commenting on the Australian Curriculum, I think the idea of a national curriculum is great. What worries me is that my children have missed out on essential schooling skills because previous changes to the education system took them away - seriously, is there some particular reason why children can't be taught to spell correctly rather than good enough will do?
And in the midst of all this, what about libraries? Where do we fit in the grand election promise? have we actually raised ourselves to the point where we do matter? Teachers can strike, health workers strike, but when Librarians strike who listens?
I feel very disheartened at the moment about the state of all our major political parties. I've just finished reading a news item about the allocation of preferential voting. It's ludicrous. If my vote counts then I want it to count how I say, not in some predetermined fashion. I've been thinking about how I would vote in this next election and after reading through this news item I'm tempted to tell them all to take a hike. None of them are listening to the Australian population and I don't think that any of them deserve my vote.
The really sad thing is that it's not really me who will suffer, it's my kids and the future which is being strangled before they have a chance to explore it.
Another news item I noted was about the continuing brain drain from Australia - and they wonder why........
Rant over.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
r u game? post event happenings
It's almost 3 weeks since the rugame2010 seminar in WoW and in that time it's been great to see the wiki grow as participants add in screen shots, an edited transcript, websites mentioned, etc.
On top of that it's also nice to catch up with what others have put together from their experience of this event (thanks Kim).
Overall, this was an exciting program for public library staff and has opened doors for more of the same. The success of the online session in World of Warcraft certainly validated the scepticism that some felt for such a venture. Too often as Librarians we feel comfortable where we are and don't want to explore new ways of doing things. Events like this, which to many would appear mundane, make us uncomfortable. We lose sight of its inherent value.
I look back at this event when I sat glued to my pc for 2 days following Twitter and think how I would most certainly go through that again for the benefit I got out of it. I cannot promote to enough colleagues the value of events like this which push the boundaries just a little.
Planning is now underway for next year's Reference @ the Metcalfe seminar and I'm very excited about the proposed program. It too pushes the boundaries of what's comfortable just a little and to be perfectly honest I think we need that push - really.
I'm also looking forward to designing a new shirt to add to the RISG collection on RedBubble.
On top of that it's also nice to catch up with what others have put together from their experience of this event (thanks Kim).
Overall, this was an exciting program for public library staff and has opened doors for more of the same. The success of the online session in World of Warcraft certainly validated the scepticism that some felt for such a venture. Too often as Librarians we feel comfortable where we are and don't want to explore new ways of doing things. Events like this, which to many would appear mundane, make us uncomfortable. We lose sight of its inherent value.
I look back at this event when I sat glued to my pc for 2 days following Twitter and think how I would most certainly go through that again for the benefit I got out of it. I cannot promote to enough colleagues the value of events like this which push the boundaries just a little.
Planning is now underway for next year's Reference @ the Metcalfe seminar and I'm very excited about the proposed program. It too pushes the boundaries of what's comfortable just a little and to be perfectly honest I think we need that push - really.
I'm also looking forward to designing a new shirt to add to the RISG collection on RedBubble.
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