Thing 12 - so far

It has been an interesting journey so far, some social media was familiar, but most were not and the whole exercise has been very useful and interesting.  I can appreciate the new dimension of these tools in the modern profession, in particularly the capacity to reach a large and diverse audience with up to date news and information, as well as receiving feedback and exchanging information.

I certainly feel more confident about using the social media, though I am not sure I will become a regular user, possibly it is something that will grow and develop for me, rather than making a one off conscious effort to start. If I find that my work, in particular freelance work starts to involve this media, then I will certainly start; that has been the the way I have expanded the ways I work in the past. 

I could use the social media, and colleagues already do in my freelance work to engage with the community of audio describers and also visually impaired users, though the problem there is that this is generally something that will mainly hit younger users, many blind people are elderly and less likely to be familiar with social media. The benefits to using the social media within the library profession are so clear that it makes me feel lazy for not having explored them before.

Obviously in the library professional side of life it would still take an effort to make these sites my automatic choice for spreading information.

Firefox and iGoogle have been the most useful areas for me, as they make the way I work easier, keeping all the relevant tools at my fingertips.

Thing 11

Twitter and Facebook are the things I am most suspicious about, having never wanted to get involved in Facebook, or tweeting, on a personal basis.  Having created a Twitter account, it is strangely compelling; it was very tempting at first to follow too may Tweets, but I quickly pruned them down to about six, which I do check on my iphone. I have also finally managed to send a Tweet, though I am not sure I would so regularly.   As far as Facebook goes, though I have never been tempted to set up a Facebook account, something to do with not wanting to stray onto my sons' territory, and they certainly would not want to have me as a friend!  Checked out Facebook pages for libraries and other sites, including audio description organisations, which need to spread information to both users and other professionals. I can see how both Twitter and Facebook would be an ideal way to disseminate information, to a wide range of users, targeting a much more diverse audience, than say email.  Having checked out, without signing on, a few websites, my sons, and also libraries, and it seems to me that it is a very good way of getting information out there.

Doodling and foxes

I found this section more complicated, a bit harder to get the hang of, but finally I have managed to schedule a meeting correctly.  The reminders are useful, I already use the system on my phone to remind me of upcoming meetings. 

I have used Firefox as my default browser for several years now; I began as at the time it displayed the diacritics on foreign language works better, and I prefer it to any other.  I have always used it as I found it and it was good to learn about all the options, customizing the home page and using the add ons.  I have now switched to Firefox on my new notebook at home, and am playing around with it. 

One more step

This section was easier than the last.  I found this very interesting; a quick and easy way to arrange and receive news and information.  It linked to the way I use the apps on my iphone, and is easy to set up and use.  One of the unfortunate results is that is massively decreases the amount of time I spend getting up from my desk at work, or my chair at home, thus making trips to the gym even more essential!