CPD23 Thing 4 – Tidy Up Underway On Things I Appear Not To Have Posted On

Because I decided to do CPD23 a few weeks after the Programme had started there are Things from the beginning of the Programme that in the sheer attempt to keep up with In-Coming In-Coming new Things I never posted on.

Like the White Rabbit I’m Late, I’m Late finishing CPD23 anyway (mainly still got Thing 18 to do) so also going back and making sure I’ve covered the early stuff blog-wise. I suppose I want to know when I’m finished that I’m REALLY finished (otherwise it’ll niggle).

Thing 4 is, thankfully, easy to fill and short and sweet and about using Twitter, RSS feeder, and Pushnote.

Twitter

I think I’ve covered my Twitter use more that sufficiently in at least two of my posts relating to later CPD23 Things (Thing 3 on personal online brands and Thing 12 on role of social media) so (hurray) – not going to go back over old ground here.

RSS

Well here I should admit that my last RSS Reader is long abandoned, I used it for a good while (honest guv!), but I just found that the sheer time it took to go to it and read through things wasn’t available to me and it floundered at some forgotten point… So under the aegis of giving it another go have set up a Very Focused Small set of feeds on Google Reader (might as well, seem to have so many Google things going now mostly due to CPD23 it makes sense to move it).  I’ve put in a small amount of stuff – a) because I see it’s changing next week anyway(!) so no point spending time on aspects that will vanish and change; and b) it’s the time thing.

How does it compare to my former RSS Reader?  Well initially I wasn’t exactly impressed. However, it’s a new Reader to me, and it’s about to change anyway. Proper look next week at the changes.

Do I feel it enhances life to be back on stream with a Reader?  I would have said no, that anything really important I’ll pick up through Twitter or be emailed about anyway.  But actually its done me a good turn already I have to admit, something I wouldn’t otherwise have noticed, which in under a day is not doing badly.

Pushnote

I have never used this but I well recall from reading lots of posts on it at the time that not a lot of people found it exactly useful. As it isn’t available for the browser I use I have cheerfully decided I know it exists, what it’s supposed to do, have read a range of opinions on it. And that will suffice.

CPD23 Thing 21 – Two short sentences and lots of self-control

We’re asked about what we like and dislike to do and what skills are evident in the things we like and what we get satisfaction from. To think about recording our skills, what this means in terms of c.v.’s, interviews….

Things I’m Not Going To Concentrate On!

I’m not about to list my skills and activities because I have mostly done Portfolio that needs submitted next year for my next FCLIP Revalidation already sitting here which includes up-dated c.v. etc etc so I don’t see the need for a replication exercise. Not going to focus on the interviews aspect either, I’ve done a few down the years from both ends of the table. Mostly it’s about getting comfortable with it, more you’ve done, more different types and contexts, it helps relaxation a lot and focus. Both those things help immensely….

Likes and Dislikes

I like – achievement, focus, completion, perfection, commitment, learning, impetus, a sense of caring about things.

The subjects I apply this to differ – anything to do with the profession, anything to do with ancient history, and there really isn’t time for much else.

I dislike – feeling I don’t manage the attributes in the above ‘like’ list(!), being too tired to care or process while surveying the long queue of things I haven’t managed to do yet I feel guilty about, feeling I’m not getting enough done.

When did I last feel deep satisfaction?

I do quite a lot actually, in an odd way perhaps, e.g.

1) Presentation researching for something I gave earlier this month, a mad frantic rush admittedly, but it felt really good at points in it too where I was deeply immersed in the material. (ancient history life)

2) A few weeks ago I was Chair’ing something particularly large and complicated and I enjoyed it. Exhausted but good afterwards. (professional life)

3) Some urgent research I did today with a very good result. (work life)

4) I have a really horrendous schedule, I actually feel deep satisfaction through the entire heroic accomplishment of just getting through each day with it reasonably intact and building on it without something slipping massively. It is actually its own accomplishment. (many lives)

Changing the Pattern

Everything done or progressed is a victory, and above all I believe in progressing things I care about. I’ve always over-done things, never been exactly tidy in my use of energy, the tendency is all-out effort or post-completion puddle and frenetic activity at all hours.  I’d really like to have a higher percentage of commitments that I can turn around in reasonable timescale and just be finished than now. That would be wonderful. I’d also like to have more free time, and to feel less tired. The scary answer to be brutally honest is less commitments to juggle in the first place.

2012 – The Year Of Less Is More. 

Finish some things. Do not take more on in substitution.

Two such small and simple sentences in theory!

I have good friends who are every bit as bad as me (like must attract like!!), this is what I sternly say to them several times a year. They say ‘yes, I agree, but’. I know, I feel the ‘but’ about applying it to myself too. I want to do it, ‘but’ I also want to have my cake and eat it. Two short sentences will require a great deal of self-control (and sitting on my hands physically while humming desperately probably).

CPD23 Thing 19 - Integration is the nature of the problem

Well this Thing is about integration (identifying what has been useful thus far and how to integrate it into routines and life) and reflection upon.

Use….

Of the actual tools I didn’t already use covered by the Programme (up to Thing 17, cheerfully admit not done 18 yet!) I suppose the ones I’m using in an on-going manner thus far are  this blog (!), Evernote, and Google Calendar.  Everything else I’ve either used in a kind of one-off way to facilitate completion of the Thing and posting on it but not gone back to or it was something that was already integrated into my life (Twitter etc) before the Programme anyway.

With this blog, Evernote and Google Calendar I fully admit I’m not exactly consistently integrated.

And integration…

I have junked my personal printed diary in favour of Google Calendar on my phone. I forget to put things into it and find it more finicky to add things directly in through my phone than my paper diary was, I end up having to go back later and edit it at times from my pc which somehow has more options, but it also has functionality my diary didn’t possess I really like. So I’m persevering.  

Evernote I haven’t added to much at all since my initial afternoon activity at it – but the information I loaded in I use all the time through my phone, and there’s more things I need to add in before I forget how!  I really like it.

This Blog now has (good grief!) 30 entries on it. Somehow that makes me smile, this time I did not start a soon-abandoned blog (have before!). Most are related to CPD23 but not all and I’m pleased I initially named it nothing to do with CPD23 so it can go on in its own right very easily and will. It’s rather fun (for me anyway!).

Things I need to investigate more…

Some Things I haven’t used much at all compared to others. So I need to use DropBox a bit more, and have another go at Mendeley for instance, before I really know if I’ll use them on an on-going basis or not.  And there are Things I have still to do anything on at all.

Purpose…

But one of the main reasons I decided to do CPD23 was to do with getting to know a lot of programmes etc, have used them, have them in some form.  It’s achieved all of that.

End of the day the things I still use in six months will be the ones that are easy for me to access, fulfil a purpose, and be something I need to use regularly to achieve it.

CPD23 Thing 17 cont’d – Slideshare as the silent world

You know what they say about less haste… I forgot to put in anything about Slideshare in my original Thing 17 blog….

Would I put any of my presentations up on it?

Thinking about this my presentations fall into three categories

1. Oft-given and with a changing section that is up-dated each time.

2. Oft-given but not for a while so in need of up-dating.

3. One-off point in time presentations.

So yes, one-off point in time presentations no problem. But I wouldn’t go back and up-date something just for the sake of posting it somewhere. And with ones I give where the content changes a bit each time…. Well that disinclines me because the ‘current’ version changes sometimes twice a year.

Does the Slideshare environment change the context?

I’m also thinking that without the spoken word, audience, interactivity, it’s quite a different beast a presentation. Ideally I’d augment it before putting it on Slideshare (the silent world) for that reason.

What do I tend to use Slideshare for as a punter?

Mostly to try and track down Conferences and events I was interested in but couldn’t attend. I’ll end up following the hashtag, looking for blogs, looking for anything posted on Slideshare.  It depends on the event, but for some that combination of mediums does get you fairly close to what you missed and is a wonderful thing.  So I tend to be looking quite specifically…

What does a quick look at some presentations on Slideshare tell me?

Well I was highly amused to be reminded that something I jointly gave is already on it – I’d totally forgotten about this to be honest. So coming across that was amusing. Generally I conclude that the sheer volume of things on Slideshare allied to lack of obvious authority level or reliability information on some things is a bit of a problem. I want to know what date it was, who gave it, what’s their level of knowledge and expertise on the subject. Often that information is there, often it isn’t.  It’s also things like has the subject moved on, do I know enough about it to realise if this is the case?

I also noticed just how visual a lot of it was. I’m a words-based person (one overall look at this blog tells you that). I think presentations probably divide into those put together by visual people and those put together by text-based people. Which do you do first and augment with the second?  I know I tend to do images last, I ‘squeeze’ them in. Which you would think makes me a PowerPoint person. But I rather enjoyed Prezi, which I think is far more a visual medium.  I was also astounded to see some folk actually used the Script part of their Powerpoint – I’ve never done this in my life, I tend to talk to headings, it’s just my style.  However for Slideshare with a very visual presentation it would definitely help impart the subject matter.

In conclusion

For one-off presentations I think Slideshare would be sensible to upload to where I want to give audience easy access to the full thing without bits of paper and allow wider access. So, next time I’m doing a one-off I will… but it might be augmented slightly for the different environment from what I give on day.

CPD23 Thing 23 - All Aboard the Skylark, we (almost) have lift-off...

Of Theoretical and Real Lives

I’m cheating the formal Programme schedule more by the day.  If I had a theoretical instead of a real life I’d have done each Thing in sequential order and more or less to time. But my life is very real and full so instead you could call it an attempt in three parts at CPD23. Every few weeks it’s a massive head-down catch-up attempt but that’s okay, I knew that would be the case going in. It was always going to survive in the cracks between my various very busy worlds.

So as part of this merriment of bedlam I’m going to post my Thing 23 while still having various ones (but less and less) still to do.

It’s called get the finished ones done and dusted (i.e. Posted). The rest will follow on in now typical barmy convenience order…

The Experience

So here is the link to my CPD23 Experience Prezi

http://prezi.com/thsy-o_50biu/the-cpd23-experience/

Summing Up in Phrases...

And here is a related list, in story order, of various six word phrases that sum up CPD23 for me as I found it in Thing progression order…!

Oh why not, it looks fun

What a lovely group of people

The cpd23 webpage is so slow

Keep downloads to a minimum please

Taking me into some new territory

Too much content, not enough time

A lot of fun all round

Useful reflection space away from schedule

Bit behind, but will finish soon

CPD23 Thing 17 – Captain Pugwash Arises Early In The Morning

There are a lot of good things to be said for being a bit behind in CPD23, it does allow for some interesting approaches. Coming to Thing 17 somewhat late has been a good case in point.

Seeing It Before You Suss What It Actually Is

A couple of weeks ago I sat through my first Prezi presentation, I just didn’t know what it was I was watching. If I’d had time to get to Thing 17 the penny would have dropped instantly, but as it was I didn’t match the two together for days afterwards. 

So what did I think of Prezi as a presentation mode? Well, a bit nauseous actually, it was all that large screen swooping back and forth across the information landscape early on a Monday afternoon...  It made me feel like a very quick cut cinema presentation in the front row.  It was interesting, but it wasn’t giving me any inclination to try it out or give up PowerPoint in its favour. 

Devious Prezi’ing

What was really useful was having sat through a Prezi presentation very recently. I thought I would give it a go creating a very small one, and based on reflection of my overall CPD23 experience (this is called deciding how to get two Things out of 1 creation as I try to get myself finished and catch up on the Things I’m missing!).  So it’s a Prezi that will paste nicely as a link re the actual content for most of my Thing 23 post as well!

Sketching Presentations Rather Than Writing Them

And because I’d already sat through a Prezi and knew the kinds of things I did and did not like about it what I basically did was I drew it on a sheet of A4 paper as I wanted it to look and then figured out how to replicate that look and layout into Prezi.  Perfection it isn’t, but as a rough guide to my CPD23 experience and musings I think it works very well.

Prezi as an option…

It’s just possible that I might actually use Prezi again. There are types of presentations that I think it would actually work for very well, and others where I’d definitely stick to my Powerpoint. I think for short narrative stories that progress and can be shown visually Prezi is quite a good option though.  But it’d be important to view it on a large screen first before deciding it was finished. Just in case you’re swooping a lot more than you thought, we don’t want to induce sea sickness in the native audiences!

The CPD23 Experience

http://prezi.com/thsy-o_50biu/the-cpd23-experience/

CPD23 Thing 20 - Exploring Communal Career Routes and Motivations...

Library Routes

I’ve already done the roots / routes musing under Thing 10 I think, but I’ve gotten around to linking it into the Library Routes blog.

So I decided I’d have a bit of a dip into other entries  on the blog. I’ve looked at some people I already know, some in the same sector to me, and some who just had really fascinating looking job titles. 

What I get from this sample is that some people came into the profession by accident, some by intent, and some because it was natural, it was already in the family.   Some people on this last route had made a conscious decision early on, others had done a lot of other things first and then drifted back.

I really like that last natural / in the family one because that sums up me too. Although it wasn’t conscious for a long time that it was a career options precisely because I spent so much time there in my local libraries.  I had an uncle who was a Chief Librarian so why it took so long to twig it was a career option I have no idea, but it did. Anyway, I’m kind of amused and pleased that there’s more of us around through that route than I thought.

The other thing I take from the blog posts I’ve read on this is something Phil Bradley said “Being a librarian is not a job, it's a passion and a vocation”.  We really do encourage each other in what we do and cheer each other up. And that’s incredibly important.

Library Day In A Life Project

It is also suggested we have a bit of a scout through blog post’s on this so I’d better come clean and admit that after years of not remembering it in time this year I decided – ho hum – to do it for a week.  That was a bad idea.  Because I managed the first couple of days fine and then didn’t find time and then there seemed little point posting a random 2 days somehow.  So next time whether I do a day, two, or more then Most Important Thing to remember is to write and post it day at a time by editing the page as blog or just tweet as I go and not get disheartened and give up if it all goes pear-shaped under the schedule / to do list / asaps around it.  I prefer blog posts for this kind of thing admittedly.

Anyway, I’ve had a look at the blog and mostly what’s occurring to me is I really wish folk would just link to the actual blog post and not their blog home page for this.  I’ve gone straight to very few Librarydayinthelife posts. 

However one that I did was a gem, not because it’s my area or topic but it was just a really good sense of the slightly barmy frantic pace of life. I can entirely sympathise with waking up at 5am thinking about abstruse things to do with what you’re working on and wondering if someone else would think you were slightly deranged.  And then piling through a day of various other things and ending up back at what you were considering at 5am again  many hours later. It made me smile (in recognition)! And yes if I’d been paying sufficient attention I’d have linked to it but many other blog gazes later I can’t remember what it was called…

However. Coughs.  After reading a few still thinking come next round in January I shall have another attempt at this.

CPD23 Thing 22 – To Boldly Go….

I'm all behind again with CPD23 so I'm opting for the practical forget the precise order and just catch up whatever way is most convenient for me. As (almost) per Morecambe & Wise - all the right Things, just not necessarily blogged in the right order! Hence here goes Thing 22....

And no I have no idea why the idea of volunteering is triggering images of Star Trek and James T. Kirk in my brain this morning… Apart from the fact it can be a bit of a leap, for all kinds of reasons, a new environment.

Volunteering Has Made Me What I Am Today

The above seems a bit of a full-on statement - but actually on reflecting on this Thing and my experience re, it’s true. See my Thing 10 post on how I came into the world of law librarianship. Back in my student days I volunteered myself to The Royal Faculty of Procurators Library in which I assisted in a small one-off project for over the summer holidays after first year. As a result of that I worked there most of my university holidays as a paid library assistant thereafter (so I didn’t have to work during term), and I went back full-time for about a year after I graduated until I found a graduate professional post also in law a few blocks round the corner.  Fifteen years on I’m still a member, have lots of good friends there, and I haven’t emailed them today for oh…. At least 10 minutes for something….  Fifteen years ago I had no idea what I was getting myself into, no idea what was involved, and it was scary and a huge learning curve. But it set my career course, got a lot of good friends out of it.

Different types of volunteering

The volunteers I most come across these days are the Placement Students I take from the Local Library School annually for about a month.  It’s not a compulsory part of their course, it’s not marked or examined, so they do it because they feel it would be useful experience and help them get that first job in the sector or one at a higher level or in a different area of experience. My firm also takes a fair amount of school placement students doing very short placement periods working in a range of departments but for very short periods of time.  So I get Masters librarianship students for good periods of time, and I get 15yr olds for 3 hrs with little comparative knowledge of libraries. It varies considerably.

A long time ago during my various librarianship courses I was the volunteer on Placement. I had some very good experiences, I also had some bad ones.  I try to ensure that working here is thus a good one.  If nothing else it’s a very good way of keeping up with what’s happening in library education, course syllabuses, and the job market for new graduates.

The Big Question

There’s been a lot of debate in discussing this ‘Thing’ about recession impacts and whether people would be comfortable doing volunteering jobs to keep their hand in in the sector or not if their own job disappeared while they searched for paid work e.g. see #libcampuk11 musings post re. I think it gets back to the concept that volunteers are an additional short-term or short hours over a longer term resource. And they vary hugely in skills, ability, knowledge and confidence.  They need supervision and they need training and the experienced person to go to if things are going awry.  End of the day they’re not being paid for this, you (hopefully!) are, you’re responsible for them and their work.

If it’s going to ensure something gets done that’s nice but would never get up the priority list enough for the paid expert staff to do it then fine. Volunteers get experience and skills, get to try out different contexts and jobs, and hopefully get a lot of enjoyment (or why do it?), the workplace gets ‘x’ that has been bugging them for years actually done. Or if it’s an organisation (e.g. a small voluntary group) that was never going to be able to afford to pay someone anyway so it’s not a case of taking any potential job away.  If it’s job substitution without the pay (whether the volunteer concerned is qualified to do it or not) then it’s a much more difficult decision. And I think it probably comes down to an individual assessment of the exact context allied to the job requirements itself and the personal situation of the individual at that time. A sweeping ‘never’ is a bit grand gesture for a very real and practical conundrum that will face some people.