I think about the implications for these tools and skills for MPOW; we are soon to run a current awareness blog, and its easy to see the added appeal when an image is included.  Some of my posts to those blogs come straight out of feeds I get; I’ve very recently moved to FeedDemon so that feeds from workplace servers (ie those behind firewalls) can be established.  I’m an information filter, its what I’ve always been; just that I feel I can now do this more efficiently, and perhaps more expansively – I am covering a wider range of sources.

I’m conscious that I’ve let some of it drop already; I don’t give Facebook as much attention as I thought I would when I started.  On the other hand, I’m setting up a Flickr site for MPOW, for those of us who like to take photographs of the wildlife we see around the site, like this serious little willie wagtail sitting on that well-constructed nest.  This type of activity has the potential to add to the sense of community of a workplace, so this can be more than professional development.

Its getting late, and the reflections become hazy …  I’m off to prepare to be away from home for a few nights, at an Open Access Publishing workshop in Syd-er-ney (long live the oh!lympics), followed by a day with Monet and the Impressionists at the NSWAG!

With thanks to txt2pic.com

Yay!  No. 5 is in the basket!

The waaa relates to dropping in to wordpress to write this post.  I clicked on the write link after logging in, and then saw the wordpress tip: … or upload an avatar (hyperlinked), but I was too late (note to self, read the wordpress tips before you hit the write tab).  I hit the back button on my browser (IE7) as quickly as I could but it was too late, so for now I’ll go via the Add Media link in the Post “toolbar” … so … presenting Manga Annie:

There’s a second part to my no. 5, so I’ll tackle that after a break – might head out on trusty treadly for a while.  A piu tardi.

I had used Picasa Web previously, but only once or twice, and its been a while since the last time.  I remember the process was easy, but clearly I wasn’t bitten – I think that is more about me than the product!

So, digged deep for an old yahoo account which I was able to re-establish (yay), and have joined Flickr, with a couple of photos of Neo and another “local scene”.  This morning started with an early morning bike ride with hubby and dog, followed by delicious breakfast cooked for me (I know that I am lucky), then some gardening … well, weeding mainly!  The plants are doing well again except for the native orchid – something has been stripping the flower stalks!  These photos are from last year, the orchids didn’t do very well at all this year, but the kangaroo paw is just as dramatic, and there were lots of lovely violets because we had quite a cool winter.

Just seeing these photos cools me down … today is even warmer than yesterday – a hot westerly! That could be coming from my [what do you call the person who establishes a personalised 23 things program?] 23 things program designer, who lives on my western side … of the continent, that is … possibly encouraging me to get a wriggle on Southerly on the way, though.

Back to Flickr, I have now learned to embed the photos (thanks to a WP forum post), and get them all into one line, and get them centred; I would like to space them out a bit, but couldn’t find anything helpful … perfunctory search, though, after trying to work it out on my own >:> before heading for the forum. I hope they’re suitable I have also (drum roll)… set up an RSS feed to CW’s chihuahuas!

My #4 is about images, but before I start specifically with Flickr, I want to share a link to a YouTube video, the Large Hadron Rap.  One of my researchers, a physicist, brought this to my attention (gotta love the 2way info streams). I searched my RSS feeds, and could only see one post that included it (a science feed), so apologies if everyone has already seen this.  I just thought it was so clever!  I’m a librarian, an information provider to scientists, and seeing science presented like this is so exciting!

Off to read and learn: Flickr!

Pointing… to a great post from David Lee King, Presentation Tips; I’ve been doing some off-the-cuff “presentations” recently and I know that they could be better, less “waffle”, more concise … much of this comes down to some dedicated preparation time; I am also preparing to conduct some training over the next few weeks via a fairly new-to-me mechanism, so this is really timely.

Rambling… on a wet (almost 70mm in a day, or almost 3 inches (to be universal)), windy (65 km/h, gusting to 90, (40 m/h gusting to 55-ish)) and generally stay at home sort of day in Newcastle after a teasing, tantalising taste of Spring on Sept 1 and 2.  My GCC steps have suffered badly in the last week and our dog, Neo, is letting me know that we are falling sadly short of our average, but its no fun walking when you need to lean into the wind (feels like the upper bod is well ahead of the feet :}. I don’t mind the drenching, especially when there’s a hot shower and a cup of hot chocolate (perhaps with a shot of Frangelico in it, or peppermint schnapps, a recent discovery … mmmm) at the end of it.  I know that there are several places that are copping it weather-wise at the moment, so keep safe …

So, it all started with a Google Reader account.  I was pretty excited when I had subscribed to 10 RSS feeds, but that seems so funny now.  No point blabbing the number now, ’cause it grows on a daily basis.  There have been a few advantages from this first thing: many of my current awareness (info on clients’ subjects) and my own professional development info is collecting in one place; this encourages me to spend some quality time learning, understanding, sharing relevant bits; my inbox is being decluttered which is something I have been dreaming of for way too long.

The second thing was to set up a del.ici.ous account.  Not so successful for me yet as the GR.  I can see that I can share things that I find; am I only able to share with those who have an account?  I prolly need to investigate more deeply … hmm, having said that, I have seen some blogs that include a “recently clipped/shared” section, maybe those items comes from del…  I will need to explore more deeply.

This blog is the third thing.  I was very nervous at first, especially as I have subscribed to lots of RSS feeds from blogs, and find that so many of you are inspirational.  That has been a great motivator!  I love what I do, and what better way to exploit my passion for librarianship and encourage it in others than to talk about it?  One thing that I am having mind juggles with is whether to add links to “hobby” sites and/or client subject sites to the blogroll on this blog (maybe categorise links?), or keep them separate, eg set up separate blogs …

Along the way, I have joined Facebook, and found a friend from school; have discovered and fallen in love with tag clouds, and am contributing to wikis and other collaborative initiatives at my workplace.

This has been a week of meeting commitments, so this one is for you, Sue!

So … this is part of my 23 things learning.  A catch-cry I love is ”never stop learning”, but I realised that I was falling behind in some of the technology stakes.  Sue had recently joined my org, and during a conference discussion, I talked about needing a “technology makeover”.  Game as a pebble, Sue offered to help, and before too long, there I was being guided along.  I’ve been dragging the chain with this one, but where will that get me?  Its also not much of a compliment for all the effort and encouragement that has been shown to me. 

O’course, this is day 1 for this blog, so all I’ve done is set it up, pick a theme, and have a pit of a poke around; ooo – I’ve also just added a category, so can assign a category for this post (my cataloguing skills just came screaming out of hibernation).  Now that I am a convert to RSS feeds via a reader (with the advantage of uncluttering the inbox), I will start to build the blogroll - pay homage to all of you that have got me to this point.  You’re an inspirational bunch, you know! 

BTW, missed out on LibrariAnne (dagnabit! And, yes, I’m an Anne), so had to get a bit sly!