Well, it's eleven months since the University of Westminster's 23 Things programme started and on Thing 16 we are drawing things to a close. In this final 23 Things post, I'd like to take some time to reflect on the new tools I have had the opportunity to explore since last August, and revisit some of my favourites, and say which of the technologies I will not be using again.
My favourites
My surprise favourite discovered through the programme, and one I've used quite a bit in my subject blogs, is Letter James.
23 Things also inspired me to finally set up a Flickr account, which came in very handy for posting photos of my visit to Lund.
Not so keen on...
I found the podcast exercise slightly frustrating, same goes for Google sites.
To sum up, I think I would have enjoyed 23 Things more if it hadn't taken so long to complete. I lost enthusiasm for it due to having to wait so long between things and I watched in envy as the University of Warwick got though their programme in just a couple of months!
Showing posts with label 23 things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 23 things. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Monday, 25 July 2011
Thing number 15: social media
Thing number 15 is easy peasy, as I'm already using all the social media mentioned.
Facebook is what I use for personal, non-work socialising - so all my friends and family. I've been on Facebook for over four years now and it's scary how my life since joining is all recorded there - holidays, birthdays, friends' weddings, etc.
I've been on LinkedIn for 18 months or so and this is more for professional life, although some of my 'connections' are really good friends. I created a Group account for the Information Literacy Group, which is handy for letting members know about events and other IL-related news.
It took a while but I am now a Twitter convert. This kind of crosses the divide between personal and work life. I didn't want to have two accounts so I follow librarians and my favourite celebs using the same one.
Facebook is what I use for personal, non-work socialising - so all my friends and family. I've been on Facebook for over four years now and it's scary how my life since joining is all recorded there - holidays, birthdays, friends' weddings, etc.
I've been on LinkedIn for 18 months or so and this is more for professional life, although some of my 'connections' are really good friends. I created a Group account for the Information Literacy Group, which is handy for letting members know about events and other IL-related news.
It took a while but I am now a Twitter convert. This kind of crosses the divide between personal and work life. I didn't want to have two accounts so I follow librarians and my favourite celebs using the same one.
Thing number 14: create a podcast
For Thing 14, we were asked to make a podcast using Audacity. This thing has been a while coming as I encountered several obstacles along the way. I have created the audio file but am having problems posting it so you'll just have to believe me. It makes me cringe anyway so probably best it's not out there for the world to listen to!
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
13 going on 31
Thing 13 is here and it's Google sites. I've played around with this a bit before. We have a site for the ECS (Electronics and Computer Science) librarians. Also, this is where our Academic Liaison Librarian profile pages are kept.
However, in the 23 Things spirit, I have created a brand new site about my visit to Lund.
I do find Google sites slightly frustrating at times but it has lots of useful features, such as being able to add Google apps to pages.
However, in the 23 Things spirit, I have created a brand new site about my visit to Lund.
I do find Google sites slightly frustrating at times but it has lots of useful features, such as being able to add Google apps to pages.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
To Google and beyond!
The latest of Westminster's 23 Things is online applications, specifically Google apps. As I've been using Google docs for some time, I don't feel I need to do the task set. Instead, I will take this opportunity for some general Google musings.
Once upon a time, Google was merely a search engine. Nowadays, it is much more than this. I have an igoogle homepage on my laptop, I switched from yahoo mail to gmail in 2009, my rss feeds are managed in Google Reader, when I need a picture of something I use Google images, and when I need to translate something I use Google Translate. My android phone uses Google and came with a load of pre-installed apps, including maps, talk and voice search. Then there's Google Scholar and Google Books. Even this blog is a Google product.
At Westminster, our students get Google accounts for their main university email. Staff get both outlook and gmail. We regularly use Google docs to collaborate on tasks. I have found this to be a helpful tool, although it's not always flawless. Last year, we decided to have individual pages for the Academic Liaison Librarian team and Google sites provided the best platform for us to create these pages, as we could have ownership of them and edit as required, rather than relying on someone else.
To finish, here's a timely video from yet another Google-owned product, You Tube.
Once upon a time, Google was merely a search engine. Nowadays, it is much more than this. I have an igoogle homepage on my laptop, I switched from yahoo mail to gmail in 2009, my rss feeds are managed in Google Reader, when I need a picture of something I use Google images, and when I need to translate something I use Google Translate. My android phone uses Google and came with a load of pre-installed apps, including maps, talk and voice search. Then there's Google Scholar and Google Books. Even this blog is a Google product.
At Westminster, our students get Google accounts for their main university email. Staff get both outlook and gmail. We regularly use Google docs to collaborate on tasks. I have found this to be a helpful tool, although it's not always flawless. Last year, we decided to have individual pages for the Academic Liaison Librarian team and Google sites provided the best platform for us to create these pages, as we could have ownership of them and edit as required, rather than relying on someone else.
To finish, here's a timely video from yet another Google-owned product, You Tube.
Monday, 7 March 2011
Latest Thing: Technorati
Our latest 23 Things assignment is Technorati, an internet search engine for blogs. I'd looked at the site before but never really bothered exploring properly, so I'm happy that the 23 Things programme is allowing me the time to do this.
Inspired by all the World Book Night excitement over the weekend, the first thing I did was look at some of the top blogs for books. I was pleased to see that the top blog Novelr's most recent post was about my favourite author Margaret Atwood.
I then had a quick look at the Top 100 Link but couldn't see much that interested me so I quickly moved on to searching within the blogs. Continuing on last week's theme, I searched for Matt Damon. Yesterday afternoon, I went to see Inside Job, narrated by Matt, at the Ritzy in Brixton (my favourite London cinema). It's an excellent insight into the global financial crisis and shows that some of the people who caused the meltdown are still working for the US government. I commented to my friend that I thought Matt Damon was disappointed by Obama's performance so far and so it's quite appropriate that the first result in my Technorati search was Matt Damon Tells Piers Morgan He’s Disappointed By Barack Obama.
The next task was to sign up to Technorati and submit this blog. The signing up bit was simple enough but they needed me to include my claim code in a post before my blog could be verified. The original post included this but I've since removed it.
I finally received the claim complete notice two weeks after submitting it. This means any new posts I write will appear on Technorati.
Inspired by all the World Book Night excitement over the weekend, the first thing I did was look at some of the top blogs for books. I was pleased to see that the top blog Novelr's most recent post was about my favourite author Margaret Atwood.
I then had a quick look at the Top 100 Link but couldn't see much that interested me so I quickly moved on to searching within the blogs. Continuing on last week's theme, I searched for Matt Damon. Yesterday afternoon, I went to see Inside Job, narrated by Matt, at the Ritzy in Brixton (my favourite London cinema). It's an excellent insight into the global financial crisis and shows that some of the people who caused the meltdown are still working for the US government. I commented to my friend that I thought Matt Damon was disappointed by Obama's performance so far and so it's quite appropriate that the first result in my Technorati search was Matt Damon Tells Piers Morgan He’s Disappointed By Barack Obama.
The next task was to sign up to Technorati and submit this blog. The signing up bit was simple enough but they needed me to include my claim code in a post before my blog could be verified. The original post included this but I've since removed it.
I finally received the claim complete notice two weeks after submitting it. This means any new posts I write will appear on Technorati.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
23 Things: search engines and bookmarks
It's two in one this time, as I've had to catch up with the programme.
Thing 9 was creating our own search engine using Rollyo. You'll notice that I've added my Rollyo search engine to the right. From here, you can search this blog, a selection of websites on Ancient Egypt, or the web. Feel free to try it out!
Thing 9 was creating our own search engine using Rollyo. You'll notice that I've added my Rollyo search engine to the right. From here, you can search this blog, a selection of websites on Ancient Egypt, or the web. Feel free to try it out!
Thing 10 is tagging and folksonomies, specifically looking at delicious. I've used delicious in the past but didn't really take to it. In the spirit of 23 Things, I've had another look at my account. I saved some bookmarks this time last year, when looking at other University library blogs for inspiration when starting our subject blogs at Westminster. However, most of the bookmarked blogs hadn't been updated for ages, so I've deleted them. I saved some new bookmarks on Egyptology and (my other obsession) Matt Damon. You can see all my bookmarks at on my delicious page If you haven't seen the youtube clip of Matt slating Sarah Palin, I strongly suggest you do. Just one reason why he's such an amazing guy!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Thing #8: Being my own librarian
In the eighteen months when I lived in my own flat and had space for two bookcases, I went into librarian overdrive and ordered my books not just in alphabetical order but also by type (fiction, travel, etc). Now I have barely space for one bookcase and most of my books are stored in boxes under the bed, so there is no order whatsoever! Maybe this is a good sign, as it shows I have better things to do with my time.
Anyway, for thing number 8 of Westminster's 23 Things Programme, we have been asked to create a personal library of our books using LibraryThing. As you may have noticed from my LibraryThing gadget on this blog, I have already done this. I mainly use it to record how many books I'm reading, as well as what type. As you can see, I've been reading far too many vampire romance novels recently! Due to my lack of book space, I tend to borrow books from my local library (Balham) or from friends, rather than buy them. Handily, LibraryThing allows you to tag books as read but unowned.
In the spirit of doing something new as part of 23 Things, I've finally got round to rating the books I've read. I still can't be bothered to write reviews of them though!
Anyway, for thing number 8 of Westminster's 23 Things Programme, we have been asked to create a personal library of our books using LibraryThing. As you may have noticed from my LibraryThing gadget on this blog, I have already done this. I mainly use it to record how many books I'm reading, as well as what type. As you can see, I've been reading far too many vampire romance novels recently! Due to my lack of book space, I tend to borrow books from my local library (Balham) or from friends, rather than buy them. Handily, LibraryThing allows you to tag books as read but unowned.
In the spirit of doing something new as part of 23 Things, I've finally got round to rating the books I've read. I still can't be bothered to write reviews of them though!
Monday, 17 January 2011
Thing #7 of Westminster's 23 Things - tag clouds
Thing number 7 is tag clouds, specifically concentrating on Wordle The example to the right shows some of the words I associate with the 23 Things Programme.
My colleagues and I sometimes use Wordle to jazz up our drop in session leaflets. I've also used it in PowerPoint presentations, as something to talk around.
I've found it especially helpful for highlighting the most common words used in a piece of text. For example, putting in my blog URL generates this cloud:
This is the first time I've attempted to put the cloud into my blog and I'm rather disappointed with how small it is! However, if I try to enlarge the image, it makes the text blurry. Is there a way round this?
I then tried the same with Tagxedo, which I first heard about through the Festive 24 Things blog
I had to switch browsers for this, as it wouldn't work properly in Internet Explorer. Firefox came to the rescue though. Tagxedo also creates word clouds but can make them into different shapes, such as the cat below:
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Thing #6 cont...
As I enjoyed this latest 'thing' so much, I've been playing around with Big Huge Labs a bit more and, inspired by my colleague Ellie, have created this map of where I've visited in the world.
Clearly, I have a lot more exploring to do!
Clearly, I have a lot more exploring to do!
Monday, 13 December 2010
Thing #6 - image generators
Image generation is the latest task for Westminster's 23 Things programme. I've had great fun with this, really enjoyed creating festive images on the three sites.
Letterjames can be used to manipulate text into an image. Here's my example, using an image of Cologne Christmas Markets:
Letterjames can be used to manipulate text into an image. Here's my example, using an image of Cologne Christmas Markets:
Big Huge Labs can be used to create lots of different products from blog headers and profile widgets to magazine covers and pop art posters using your images. The child in me came out when I saw a letter to Santa as an option :)
Cooltext.com can be used to create logos or button designs. So, sticking to the theme:
I could see how these sites could be useful for marketing purposes, as they provide a quick and simple way to generate interesting images. If I was to pick a favourite, I would probably go for Big Huge Labs, as it has the most potential for fun and creativity.
Monday, 22 November 2010
Thing #5 - Creative Commons
After a bit of a break whilst first semester busyness took over, 23 Things is back! Thing 6 is to add a Creative Commons license to our blogs, so you will now find details of this at the bottom of the page. I wasn't sure which to go for but in the end I went for the more restrictive one. I may reconsider this at some later point in time. Generally, I think the Creative Commons is very useful.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Westminster 23 Things - thing #4 using photos, images and Flickr
Image by Emma Woods, all rights reserved.This week's task is to create a Flickr account. I've used Flickr to find images but never to share my own (I tend to use Facebook for sharing photos with friends and family). I already had a yahoo ID so it was very quick and simple to set up my account.
I've uploaded a few photos of my Nile Cruise holiday earlier this year. See them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodsemma For now, I've decided not to share them through a creative commons license.
I was inspired by a post on Twitter to join the Guardian's Green shoots Flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/guardiangreenshoots/ This provides me with a great excuse to go photo taking around Wandsworth Common tomorrow instead of writing an essay about Egypt and Nubia :)
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Westminster 23 Things - #3 RSS feeds
The third 'thing' in the 23 Things programme is RSS feeds. I'd already subscribed to some using Google Reader but this was an opportunity to review my selection, deleting and adding subscriptions as necessary. As part of this, I've subscribed to all the feeds from others at Westminster who are participating in 23 Things.
The task is to write a reflective blog post telling about an item of interest from your reader. The one I've chosen comes from Sheila Webber's Information Literacy weblog and concerns a survey about Informs and the Virtual Training Suite. As you may be aware, they will not be funded for much longer, and the survey explores options on alternative ways they could continue e.g. through subscription. I think the Virtual Training Suite is an excellent resource and it will be shame if it isn't updated or developed after next year.
You can see the blog post at http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2010/09/informs-survey.html
You can complete the survey at http://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=128524501923 (ends 6th Oct)
The task is to write a reflective blog post telling about an item of interest from your reader. The one I've chosen comes from Sheila Webber's Information Literacy weblog and concerns a survey about Informs and the Virtual Training Suite. As you may be aware, they will not be funded for much longer, and the survey explores options on alternative ways they could continue e.g. through subscription. I think the Virtual Training Suite is an excellent resource and it will be shame if it isn't updated or developed after next year.
You can see the blog post at http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2010/09/informs-survey.html
You can complete the survey at http://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=128524501923 (ends 6th Oct)
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
23 Things
Westminster has recently launched 23 things, a way to get staff up to speed with web 2.0 (thing #2 is blogs, hence this post!).
The blog documenting the scheme is at http://academicliaison.wordpress.com/
Thing #1 was widgets.
The blog documenting the scheme is at http://academicliaison.wordpress.com/
Thing #1 was widgets.
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