Sometimes it can take a while for the penny to drop...

Today is my rdo, I'm at work though because I want to use today's rdo next month to take my son back to school and revel in a line-up of parent/teacher interviews at the same time. I am also as sick as the proverbial dog ( and I really must find where that saying comes from because surely the proverbial dog is to blame for a lot of ill health lately) - simply put, I have the flu. Oh, and I am sharing it with everyone (whilst also being very health conscious washing my hands often, coughing away from people, throwing the gazzilion tissues I've gone through straight in the bin, etc). :)
Anyway, back to theme of this post. Yep, you'd think by now I'd just know these things. Apparently not. Apparently I still need to have those belated ah-ha moments for myself. 
So, I've been using Google+ for a little while now, not actively just flicking to it most weekends, sending stuff to it on occasion (mostly photos from my phone), and generally just keeping an eye on it for interesting things popping up in my feeds. I like it, it's kind of cool the way you can create circles of contacts / friends / family / etc. However today I had my ah-ha moment and I have to admit I actually feel a bit silly about it now.
This morning I read my #blogjune post over at the love2read2012 blog (and yes, I think the little android is kinda cute) and for something entirely different I used the option at the bottom of the post and I Google+'d it. A short while later I went to my #blogjune post from yesterday over at the #ALIA2012 blog and also Google+'d it. 
My ah-ha moment? Well, how easy was that? Yep, that was it. Silly isn't it?
I re-tweet posts, I share posts on Facebook, I'll write blog posts about other blog posts, I'll email people with links to blog posts. But a simple little re-post to Google+ has simply slipped past my consciousness ... and now I see how truly simple it is. 
So that is my #discovery for today - even though I am already fully aware of Google+ and already think it's a great thing I have suddenly come to realise that there exists a quick, smart, and easy way for me to make better use of it and to benefit the traffic within my Google+ circles.
And yes, I still feel a little silly that something so simple and ordinary has been an ah-ha moment for me today. 

Fifty Shades of Grey

I finished reading Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James earlier this evening.

This book wasn't my usual choice for reading material but given the furor it's generated in some US towns/libraries I felt that I couldn't really comment on its appropriateness, or not, should the question be asked if I hadn't read the book. So I did.
Fifty Shades of Grey is the first installment of an erotic fiction trilogy. Book two is titled Fifty Shades Darker and book three is Fifty Shades Freed.
Yes, it's erotic fiction... it is quite descriptive about various, numerous sex acts. There's quite a bit of Sado-Masochism and a serious look at questions of dominance and submissiveness within a relationship. But the book isn't just about eroticism (or S&M). 
The Fifty Shades series explores the relationship between two diverse characters who feel compulsively drawn to each other -  yes, there's a sexual attraction but there's more to that going on in the undercurrents.
I can envision future phd students writing doctoral papers exploring the themes of this series - sexuality, depravity, control, stalking, dominance, submission, naivety, experience, power, pain, the list grows endless... it will be interesting to see how this one novel, this single series raises the profile of erotic fiction (and by association romantic fiction) across the globe. 
Personally, Fifty Shades of Grey doesn't tick the boxes for me. I see little intrinsic difference between this series and the erotic fiction which Mills & Boon puts out. So there's nothing really new there. I don't like the characters. I don't like how they're drawn. I find them weakly presented and annoying... I will however admit that the ability to describe, and describe well, is of merit. E. L. James can nail the task of describing the setting, the view, the decor, people's appearance. This honed skill serves her well to distract the reader from the weakness of her characters.
Will I withdraw this title from my library's collection? No. As mentioned, I've read some Mills & Boon titles which are far raunchier (I'm still recovering from the last Western I read which actually made me blush) and I see nothing offensive in the content. Anyone reading this book knows what they are reading as the words 'erotic fiction' are on the back cover.  I also consider that the number of reserves sitting on my library's copies as fair indication of public demand. I've checked out reviews on GoodReads and Amazon - both the book and the audio are hugely popular and admittedly to a varied audience and with mixed success. 
Fifty Shades of grey is having an impact on the adult reading public which "Harry Potter" had for kids a decade ago - people are reading and it's what they want to read. Then again, maybe it's more like Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" in the light of the supposed public outrage regarding its content...
Will I read the rest of the series? Maybe. I would like to see if Ana and Christian mature as characters, but I'm not fussed either way. This title will get an 'it was okay' rating from me on my GoodReads shelf but that's more because I simply don't like the first-person narrative and whilst the quality of description is really good, the characters don't excite me and the setting is passe. But then my 'reading doorway' is language which quite possibly explains everything...

xtranormal

@ellenforsyth recently pointed me towards xtranormal as a useful storytelling tool for creating video content for those shy retiring Librarian types who have something to say but are somewhat camera shy...
I've messed around a little bit with Blabberize but am keen to explore the options available in xtranormal for exploring the #ALIA2012 themes of ...
D - Digital Assets and Rights Management
I   - Interesting Things (which are bold, new, & different)
S - Spaces (physical, virtual, mind, outer)
C - Connecting People with Content
O - Opportunities
V - Valuing our Services
E - Emerging Technologies
R - Redesigning, Rediscovering, Rethinking, Rebooting
Y - Year of Reading


It should prove an interesting discovery of its own.

Wintery scarves

I love scarves. I have an absolute weakness for them, so when I started messing around with different ways/ideas of identifying the social media team at #ALIA2012 I just had to explore a scarf option (the conference is, after all, being held during July). My exploration led me to scarfmaker.com and to designing some very simple scarves for myself.
You can see the end result for yourself - all the way from Estonia (across the bay from Finland & right next door to Russia).


I know one thing for sure - I'm going to be warm!

a modern day Sherlock Holmes

I discovered the BBC Sherlock  series over the weekend (having borrowed series one on dvd from the library), and instantly became hooked. This brilliant series from collaborating writers Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss (of Doctor Who fame) takes the classic Conan Doyle tales and reinterprets them within a modern day setting, context and framework. The result is beautiful and an absolute delight to fans of the original Sherlock Holmes tales & the various movie/tv versions.    I am now hunting down series two on dvd - which of course the library doesn't have ... yet.

"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges..."

My involvement with the #ALIA2012 social media team has meant I've spread my discovery wings to quite a few new places this year - one of those was the process of designing button badges for the team to wear during the conference. 
We considered a few options for identifying the team (there'll be a post over at the ALIA Biennial blog later this month which chats about that)  and settled on badges as a good option. I would have loved to have created pins but time was working against us. Cost was also a factor.
Anyway, I threw some designs together, hunted around on the internet for a supplier, and ended up going with RW Promotion who, I have to say, were absolutely brilliant to deal with. 
I found the creative process really interesting - I learned a whole lot more about using word art and drawing shapes in Publisher than I realised. It may seem quite a simple thing to some (especially if you're often designing yourself) but for me this was a hefty step forward... now I'm off to design some more button badges.

Springpad discoveries

Quite recently I was introduced to Springpad - 'a free app that helps you remember'. It's fun.

http://springpad.com/#!/CatyJ

A while back (okay, we're talking years) I used Delicious to collect and sort all my bookmarks together in one place. When Delicious went down I stopped collecting bookmarks for a while and even though it was re-launched in 2011 by Yahoo! I still remained reluctant to bookmark stuff. (I must admit though that I was never much of a keen bookmarker in the first place.)


Anyway, a couple of months ago @crystalibrary introduced me to Springpad and I've found myself using it increasingly often each week. What I like best about Springpad is how I can create themed notebooks, arrange them in a particular order, and even manipulate their various colour schemes, etc. Oh yeah, and I can bookmark urls, create notes (or other productivity related events), save images, files, tv shows, wine lists, books, music, movies... I get excited just thinking about it!


I've got notebooks for shopping lists (yes, I know, how mundane), recipes (okay so I cheated a simply bookmarked taste.com.au, this site is a winner I can tell you), library stuff (hey, it's my job), notes to self (read: to-do-list), writers and writing, gaming, and even a gadget wishlist (*sigh*).
It's fun. Mostly because I now find myself in the habit of discovering something new, funny, and brilliant online and immediately thinking "oh, I must go and spring that right now", and I do.


My Springpad is still in its early stages but I can certainly see me using it well into the future and maybe even creating a notebook titled "Done".

#risg2012

image courtesy of nswRISG's RedBubble portfolio

I actually started writing this post way back on May 8th - while Reference @ the Metcalfe was happening, but you know, life got in the way. So, here I am back again to quickly direct attention to the presentations from the day which have been uploaded to the RISG wiki and can now be viewed in all their glory.
Unfortunately I couldn't attend #risg2012 but I did follow the day via twitter, so a huge thank you to all those peeps who shared their experiences and viewpoints on the day - certainly made for some interesting reading!


Enjoy.

Playing with Prezi

Reference Excellence May 2012 on Prezi

For quite a while now I've been intrigued with Prezi - an online presentation tool which my daughter started using at school last year. Viewing her amazing production got me thinking that I'd really like to mess about with it. It really appeals to me creatively.

But it wasn't until last month that I finally bought a membership (joining is free but I wanted some of the extra perks that come with parting with cash) as I wanted to experiment with Prezi for my planned presentation at the annual State Library of NSW seminar Reference @ the Metcalfe. I have also been inspired this year by the upcoming ALIA Biennial Conference theme of "Discovery" to explore a bit more of the wonderful array of online tools around me.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the seminar but thought I'd still use the basic content I had and put the presentation together anyway - a short update on the Reference Excellence wiki. 

And so, voilà! It's not much, but I certainly learned a lot about Prezi through the process of putting this together.

Stock Quality Health Check 2012

This time round a new team has gotten themselves together to select 500 Junior & Young Adult titles which best typify a healthy collection (this includes picture books)

Collection Health 2012

Of course, after a week of upgrading new members of the RA wiki to Writer status I finally couldn't help myself any longer and started adding in my own suggestions of authors & titles & series & so on. As an avid reader of everything, and with 3 teenage children, I've got a lot of info to impart.... I also felt it worthwhile commenting on titles which I thought were in the wrong category and why as I'm sure my feedback is just as important as my suggestions.
It was also fun to add Steampunk as a genre!
So, what would you add??

messing with blogger display

I've had a lot of fun today playing around with the way that some blogs can now display in alternative ways - quite often depending on the mood I'm in. Whilst I do prefer the more linear arrangement I'm also quite attached to the highly visual 'magazine' style...

I admit that my own blog is pretty staid but that's okay, I like seeing what I can do to other ones too.
What does your blog look like?

more RedBubble discoveries

Today I learned how to promote my RedBubble creations using a blog widget - this may seem like a fairly small fry achievement but I have to admit, my sense of accomplishment is high. :)