It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult (Seneca)

Thoughts on 23 things:

I have thoroughly enjoyed my trip through 23 things. I was apprehensive at the beginning but the camaraderie and team spirit generated by the programme has made it a great experience. I just had to whisper ’23 things’ at gatherings of librarians and there was always a loud whisper back. It has got us all talking about widgets and gadgets which is fantastic.

I confessed in the early days to being a complete novice with all things web 2.0. I had vaguely heard of some things but had no real idea what they were. I doubted that I would be able to keep up and fulfil the tasks each week but I am pleased to say that I stayed the course and tried them all out – some more successfully than others.

My own particular favourite has been my blog. I have loved going back twice weekly to this familiar friend to update my experiences. This has been an excellent vehicle to make sure each task was completed. Without it I could very easily have fallen by the wayside but the incentive to blog on kept me going. Other highlights have been creating my iGoogle page, delicious book-marking, twitter and googledocs.

I have now discovered a confidence to use the technology for my subject areas. My next challenge will be to decide which tools to use. Determining my user base and thinking about the information they need/want will help to inform my choices but it is with many thanks to the 23 things team that I have so many tools in the box. I just need to find the best ones for the job.

A very positive knock-on from the programme is knowing that the level of support and expertise has been ramped up out there in the library sector. If I get stuck there are so many more people now who can assist – if I ask very nicely….

It has been a great trip but it is good to know that there will be many more things to do on the next leg of the journey. Thank you for the experience!

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope (Dr Seuss)

I can't believe I have just completed the penultimate thing for the 23 things programme! It is sometime since I added anything to my igoogle page but I tackled it without fear! Way back in January I would have been a bit anxious but I went with the flow and chose the labpixies del.icio.us gadget. It took me a wee moment to work how to edit it to customise it for my own bookmarks but it worked perfectly. I love the way that I can just click and I go straight into my favourite sites. Once more - hurrah for web 2.0 technology....

Using a blogger gadget

Well that was the quickest thing ever. I seem to have done this one already! I added my flickr photostream to my blog some time ago so I can tick this one off my list.

ThinkFree

It took over 4 minutes to get myself into ThinkFree which was longer than I thought it should take but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and continued with it. I found it easy to create a document and it was good to see all the familiar word processing tools on the toolbar. I was slightly perplexed, however, by the jerky stop/start experience I had as I was typing but this seemed to improve as I produced more text. As I wasn't convinced that my document had been saved properly I logged out and in again to check (which was much quicker second time round) and it was there.

I also checked out the HTML document options and was interested to see templates for recipes and travel information as well as work related documents such as fax, memos and agendas. The latter would certainly be useful if away on business and you needed a fax template for example. I did find it difficult to navigate around the Notes in the ThinkFree office though. It wasn't very easy to toggle between the templates which was frustrating. I ended up fiddling with the url to get back which wasn't very satisfactory. I probably missed a big navigation button but I certainly didn't see it today. (The back arrow didn't work but then perhaps I didn't give it enough time to work!)

On balance I think I prefer Google Docs but it is good to know that both options exist and that I can use my google login for both. It seems that once again Google knows just what the punter wants....

Google Docs

Well this was a relatively straightforward thing to achieve once I got through the inevitable logging in stage which never works for me first time. It was easy to create a document, fiddle about with it and send it on to Joanna to view. I can see that this is a very useful tool to access documents wherever you are (so long as you have a pc and internet connection).

The trickiest part of the challenge was trying to remember how to upload the screen shot of my Google Doc. The last time I did this was for Thing 3 which now seems an awful long time ago. I find with this programme that I only tend to remember the most recent things - it is so hard keeping all the old things operational in my mind....

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is well-used by my children for their school projects. We have always been impressed by the quality and clarity of content for their topic needs, with clickable links (cross-references). I must confess that I hadn't investigated it further for more 'serious' information. I read the information pages first which discussed some of my questions about page vandalism and content veracity. I was interested to read more about the history and discussion pages, and the possibility for creating watchlists of articles to keep tabs on any changes they undergo. This caused me anxiety yesterday.

I then did some searches for a variety of subjects and finally landed on the Refugee Studies Centre page which was a bit out of date. I dithered about editing but felt safe to add a line about the RSC Library collections moving to the SSL in August 2009. I made the change and hey presto - an updated section within seconds! This really brought home the point at the start of the information pages that while Wikipedia is an encyclopedic reference tool it is also a frequently and readily updated news resource. I also appreciated the fact that there were no advertisements. I was really irritated by the blinking adverts on the wiki page yesterday.

Wikipedia seems to be quite the phenomenon and so very different to the beautifully bound multi-volume set of Encyclopedia Britannica that informed my childhood school topics all those years ago. I must show them to the children next time we visit Grandpa...

Exploring wikis

I have subscribed to wikis in the past but was unable to remember any of my passwords to go into them. So I created a new user ID on Wetpaint to enable me to run amok on the Oxford web 2.0 wiki. Well not quite but it would be very easy to do some damage. I felt quite odd in the wiki not quite sure what to do. As I browsed I spotted some stray 'OULS' references and did as Jane instructed - I changed them to 'Bodleian Libraries' but in hindsight I wonder whether I should have. They were in a page discussing the Web 2.0 Working Party project which was 'working' during the OULS period. This must happen all the time that changes are being made by others when they shouldn't be 'interfering'. How is this managed? I was asked to provide a note for my changes so it is clear that I had done some editing so I suppose there is a trail but do original authors of content find their work constantly being changed, not always to the good?

I found another page for 23Things 2010 and added some extra text. This I felt I improved it a little but I still felt strange making changes to text without the originator's permission. Aghhh... perhaps I'm not cut out to work with wikis....

Engaging with Twitter

I found the #ox23 group and was able to strike up conversation with Ed. Felt a bit slow in not realising that I had to type in the hashtag - I spent some time trying to find a tagging link but it did become clear eventually. I'm not sure that I want to be a slave to Twitter, keeping it fed with interesting (or not) snippets but I can see that it could be useful for updating readers if used sensibly.

I was sorry to see that little bunny has had to be sedated after her mad tweeting spree yesterday. I look forward to her being on top form again...

Tweeting and twittering

Well I've now signed up for this and feel a bit like a stalker having chosen to 'follow' some of the usual suspects! I hope you don't mind me tagging along. It was all relatively straightforward but I'm not quite sure what I do now. I have left a couple of tweets which look rather inane. I must try harder to lead a more exciting life! Perhaps Thing 16 will make it all seem much clearer. I see that it is something about striking up a conversation which will be a bit more useful. I will investigate this anon.

LinkedIn

I have spent all week dithering about whether to join this or not. I feel very uncomforatable about having my personal details so publicly available to an initial community of 60 million people (!) and then some. I have, however, now joined with very basic information about myself so that I can experience the experience.

I can see that this site has much potential for professional networking and making new contacts with people in related fields; for job opportunities; and for keeping an uptodate online profile for those times when a CV is needed. However, I don't think I am ready to plunge head first into providing all the information that I could at this stage. I am sure that there will be a need for such services that LinkedIn can offer in the future but at the moment I am happy with the network of contacts that I have chosen to build for my professional life.

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking tool that appeals to students so I can see an effective use for it in marketing libraries and their services to this group of users in particular. I like the different elements that can be used to create Fan pages: a section for library information (hours, location, collections); the Wall allowing posting for quick messages of interest and announcements eg new accessions lists; boxes providing links to such tools as catalogues, delicious bookmarks, blogs, search boxes etc; and the facility to to add multimedia such as video tours of the library and photos.

Information on Fan pages is accessible to non-members through the Internet which is useful to those not wanting to join as a fan. The ability to keep track of the number of visitors is also important as it will help to inform whether content is appropriate and useful. I was impressed by the Facebook sites amongst the libraies in Oxford. The information appears so much more current than that posted on websites.

YouTube

I expected the 'funnies' on YouTube but was amazed by what else was available. I decided to spot check some key historical events and found them all. Nelson Mandela's first interview in May 1961; Martin Luther King's 'I have a Dream' speech; film about the Mau Mau uprising; and most amazing of all footage from the Battle of the Somme. I was struck by the possibilites YouTube has for teaching. Film has an important place in education and it struck me that seeing and listening to Mandela as he was fifty years ago would make more impact than just reading a typescript. Very thought provoking.

How did it get so late so soon? (Dr Seuss)

I enjoyed browsing through the various podcast 'supermarkets' but came back the good old BBC as the alley was a bit scary and alien in its content. I successfully subscribed to 'Chris Evans Breakfast - the best bits' having come across him on my day off and 'Friday Night Comedy' from Radio 4 as I particularly like the banter as I cook supper at the end of the week. It was very easy to add them to my Google Reader. I just need to find time to listen to them now...

Be awesome! Be a book [mark] nut! (Dr Seuss)

Wow! Well that's a bit more useful. I wasn't convinced by Delicious for personal bookmarking yesterday but I can see how useful it would be in the library context. I am now itching to do something for my subject area! I investigated and added the VHL and HFL Delicious sites to my network, and toggled back and forth. It was much easier today, probably because I was excited by the task and its potential. I am also embarrassed to say that I was unaware of the OULS web 2.0 directory but I will now be exploring it further. Thanks!

I am not sure how Dr Seuss would feel about my addition to his quote but it seemed an appropriate tweak...

You can steer yourself, any direction you choose (Dr Seuss)

My steering was a bit hit and miss with Thing 9 until I got into the swing of it. No problem getting a Delicious account - I was pleased that I could use my Yahoo details. I did however stall a little the next day as I was unable to provide the correct username and password which didn't make sense. Problem diverted when I spotted the Yahoo ID button... I failed miserably to install bookmarklet - something to do with licencing (??) so resorted to copying and pasting urls which was straightforward. I liked the intuitive picklist of suggested tags which was helpful but it took me a while to realise that you had to miss out spaces in your tags eg '23things' rather than '23 things'. As I write this I realise that I should perhaps have read through the information 'How do I get started' but I didn't...

I saved my blog to ox23 but wasn't able to find my fellow ox23 taggers first time as I'd typed in Ox23 - case sensitive as well... (I'm certainly learning by my mistakes!). I had another 'duh' moment when I failed to work out how to save bookmarks - it was a bit boring copying and pasting until a save box magically formed in front of my eyes after the titles of the sites I liked the look of. I think I'm too old for this...

So here I am with a nice selection of bookmarks to browse through. How do I feel about Delicious? I think the same as I would after running a half-marathon - hot, bothered and a bit (lot) tired and I thought that this would be an easy week! I will try and persevere with it but I must say that googling sites and adding to my favourites has worked very well for me so far....

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened (Dr Seuss)

Reader in the Reading Room 1
Originally uploaded by Sarah R.2010

Here's a picture I've brought in from Flickr of the old RSC Library. It was a small specialist Library which housed materials on the causes and consequences of forced migration. This image is of the reading room. Through the window you can see Worcester Street and the wall of Worcester College, though thankfully the rather scary barbed wire along the top of the wall is not visible. Although the physical Library no longer exists you can now visit the staff and collections in the Social Science Library.

Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well (Anon)

Well that was fun! I just had a brief foray into Picnik and had a 'good go' at one of my images. I'm not convinced I improved on the original but it was very easy to crop, play with colour (saturation and temperature!) and generally do some experimenting. It has certainly given me the confidence I needed to deal with my home photos and I'm looking forward to tackling the dreaded red-eye in due course...

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh the thinks you can think if only you try (Dr Seuss)

This was the week I wanted to find out more about but worried most about! My main worry was how to get photographs in a place that could be downloaded into Flickr. I finally tracked down some photos of the old RSC Library taken in 2007 which were easily retrievable and perfect for the task.

Setting up the Yahoo account was relatively straightforward apart from the old password and username game, but progess followed and the Flickr account was up and running. While I wait for my membership to be approved to go into the group pool I have worked on my newly created set of images entitled 'The old RSC Library'. They have been tagged, titled and described. One image was also rotated successfully. To old hands this may seem very basic but to me has been a major achievement and thanks go to Joanna for helping me through the process.

I look forward to sharing pictures of the old Refugee Studies Centre Library as it was before it was integrated into the SSL in August 2009.

A quick update. Six images have now been added to the pool. Hurrah!

Many fine things can be done in a day if you don't always make that day tomorrow (Anon)

Decided that I should really push myself and investigate my Google Reader a bit more. I now know how to star an item and email interesting snippets. Joanna was pleased (I think) to receive an item on pruning Autumn raspberries. I have also 'managed' my subscriptions which didn't work as I thought it should yesterday but looks ok today (what is all that about?). I now have relevant folders for my feeds which makes them easier to find. I usually live in a rather random world (according to my family) but this task has sorted me into one with a more organised outlook. Perhaps I should try to apply these skills at home...

(I'm now rationing my Dr Seuss quotes for 'new things' but have discovered additional 'thing' quotes in one of my feeds. So these things can be useful after all...).

Being crazy isn't enough (Dr Seuss)

Well perhaps I am crazy enough. The annexed blogs from yesterday have provided me with 36 new posts so Jane's tip to prune them might be sensible. Perhaps they will settle down once the feeds stop being new? The posts do seem to go back a bit in time. I think I was expecting the most recent post for each not older messages as well. I see there are additional tasks to manage my subscriptions. I'll tackle those later in the week when I feel stronger.

If things start happening, don't worry, don't stew, just go right along and you'll start happening too! (Dr Seuss)

Well rather scarily things started happening very quickly after I popped in to see Joanna. She gave me a couple of annexing tips and suddenly I was rampaging through more blogs than I knew what to do with.

After taking a deep breath I decided I needed a more systematic and sensible approach and that I should limit myself to a few feeds only. Joanna and Emma's blogs have been added as have Dr Seuss's quotes (my stockpile is rapidly diminishing); frugal recipes (the kids need feeding cheap and filling meals); crime and thriller book reviews (for those moments when I might have time to read); digital photography tips (for when I'm out and about with my camera); and organic allotment tips (for when the ground is actually diggable again). It was fun adding them. Not sure what happens now. Will I be deluged with tips? Have I been too rash with my selection? I'll see what happens tomorrow because I really don't know what these feeds will do...

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple (Dr Seuss)

I couldn't understand why I appeared to be logged into Google Reader when I hadn't put in my username and password... Anyway I did seem to get myself in and successfully annexed the 23 Things blog to my new Reader. Well if nothing else I appear to be getting the jargon...

From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere (Dr Seuss)

Just discovered that I have to post my thoughts on blogs. Looking at the ever increasing number being created by my fellow '23 thingers' I must say that I am very impressed with what you can do with them. What a variety of backgrounds, images, clever twiddles and interesting snippets people write. They are not too hard to create, very easy to add to and fun to explore. I think I could be a happy blogger!

They say I'm old fashioned and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast! (Dr Seuss)

Well here we go... Setting up my Google ID. No worries apart from thinking of a memorable password that Google won't reject. Done. It is all very exciting. I now begin to progress... but not too fast...

Oh the things you can find if you don't stay behind (Dr Seuss)

Well I did it. So Laura was right! I managed to set up an iGoogle page and feel ridiculously proud that I managed it. It was even quite easy to add gadgets so now I'm uptodate with the Oxford weather, the time and date, quotes of the day, the BBC news and the gruesome images that YouTube seems to pause on. Joanna showed me how to move the image down so that it is out of sight and how to sort out my Google Bookmarks. Thanks Joanna! I changed my theme to mountains having skiied in the Alps for Christmas - a great reminder of a fun-filled family holiday.

As part of the SSL team I have discoverd that many of my colleagues are also doing Things too so somewhat by accident the chat function has also been investigated! An excellent way for me to keep in touch with those on the 'other side of the wall' and to find the support I need when I find myself in a pickle.

If you never did, you should. (Dr Seuss)

When I first heard about 23 Things I thought of Dr Seuss and the Cat in the Hat who has lots of Things to help him clear up the mess he makes.

Having high levels of anxiety about starting on new projects especially when they involve technology I was reassured by Laura that even I could do it. So here I am embarking on my Things, hopefully not needing additional Things to sort me out if I go horribly wrong! I hope to follow the programme and complete it successfully because I want to prove to myself that I can do it after all. I need to know what these things are if only to keep up with my scarily technologically savvy young sons. Surely if they can do then so can their old mum!

As I continue I will try to remember the remaining words from the Dr Seuss quote alluded to in the title: If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good.