Tag Archives: Google Reader

Encouragement – A Beginner’s Start

Posted on by acrystelle
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As promised, I will begin with a little summary of my PLN activity over the last fortnight…

No. of Tweets        65   (Total since July 2010 – 259)

No. of Followers Gained        2     (Total – 44)

No. of People I started following        1     (Total – 159)

No. of Blogs/Feeds added to Reader       4    (Total – 54)

When I first signed up to Twitter, or “joined the conversation”, I felt I had nothing to contribute, nothing at all. I wasn’t (and still not) an expert on any area of library and information science. So the thoughts which swam around my head were something like -  “Alisa, how can you consume other people’s ideas, thoughts, contributions, etc when you’re not contributing yourself”, and “You’re not going to build a PLN without contributing something worthwhile and interesting”. I think I literally scared myself from sending out a tweet, let alone send out a link to an article, provide significant insights or the like.

Throughout my short time on Twitter, I noticed that while I may not have had a ‘whiz bang’ idea, article, or blog post to share, I was starting to offer encouragement to my fellow, local library “tweeps”.  Also a receiver of encouragement, I’m always ever so thankful for a little tweet here and there that’s urged me on. I can only hope that my encouraging tweets have made someone’s day just that little bit brighter. It doesn’t have to be ‘over-the-top’; an “Awesome stuff” or a “Congratulations”, in my experience, can really make a difference. I like to help out and support where I can, and am also a big believer in ‘the small things’, so this has been my primary way of giving back to my PLN who guide me to key topics, issues and highly relevant information.

Offering support has enabled me to connect with members of my PLN and pave the way to maintain those connections. ‘Two-way encouragement’ has seen my participation and contributions increase, my confidence increase, as well as the growth (and strength) of my network.

The support and encouragement I’ve received makes me feel privileged to write this blog. A big thank-you to those who have encouraged me to start, not only to sign up, but also become involved – in ALIA, the LIS course at QUT, on Twitter, writing this blog and reading (and commenting) from my blog feeds.

I wanted to say more on this topic, however as I feared, the ideas’ have escaped me….But a question to ponder by yourself – Who are your ‘cheerleaders’? Who offers you encouragement to get through?

To wrap up this post, I’ll share what’s captured my attention from the blogosphere….my Top 5 Feeds/Blogs and most recent interesting reads for the fortnight are: -

iLibrarian – provided the link for “Technology Skills Library Staff Should Have” – an excellent source for PD planning

Social Media Examiner – “7 Blogging Tips From Top Bloggers” – can’t say I’m not keen! :)

Digitization 101 – provided the link to “Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography Version 2” – bookmarked this one for review at a later date. I seem to have a growing interest in digital media, digital libraries and preservation….

Librarian By Day – “How to Monitor Your Personal Brand (For Free)” – loved this one; important for those both starting out or for giving your established online presence a check-up.

dmlcentral.net (Digital Media and Learning) – “Connected They Write: The Lure of Writing on the Web” – interesting finding on teenagers use and participation on the web.

Blogs I’ve added to my Google Reader this fortnight are: -

“Ramblings from from yet another Librarian” – I’ve been meaning to add Kate for a while, but CCK11 has finally brought us together.

“Jenny Connected” – Jenny participates in CCK11. I’ve found her recent posts worthwhile reads.

“Hmmmm” – supporting a QUT LIS course student, Ceridwyn has recently started blogging too.

“Opinions from an OPL” – Clare and I completed the ALIA Folioz EBLIP Online course together last year.

To those library tweeps who are in Sydney for the Information Online Conference, hope you have a blast, take in as much as possible (please share!) and take care at the Tweet ups. For those who are on Twitter and interested, you can keep up on what’s happening by searching the hashtag #ALIAioc.

Cheers (and beers)!

So the abstract is submitted….now what?

Posted on by acrystelle
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So my abstract for the New Librarians’ Symposium (2011) is submitted. But first, a little background….

I noticed over the last few months my Personal Learning Network had started to gain momentum, both in growth and strength. After looking back at my blog reading and Twitter participation, I realised that I’ve become increasingly confident and comfortable with the online LIS community.

So how did I get started? I created my Twitter account in July 2010 and set up my Google Reader the following month (August 2010). On the advice of my lecturer, she shared a list of “must follow library types”. I honestly cannot thank my lecturer enough in getting me started. With this nudge in the right direction I then looked who other people followed, and I still use that strategy to connect with other “library tweeps”. Since that nervous start in July, I’ve sent out 194 tweets (94 of those in the last month!) and read over 1000 blog posts and articles via my Reader. Now I need to tell you, prior to last year, I wasn’t enthusiastic about the prospect of entering the online environment and attempting to use its seemingly scary technologies. Below are snippets from my very first blog posts I wrote as part of an assessment piece in my studies last year.

“At first glance my initial thoughts of this unit is that I’m going to struggle. I have been exposed to very little to the social networking technology of the day. I generally don’t need to in my current role, I haven’t seen a need for my personal use (until recently) and I don’t see it taking off (pardon the pun) in aviation any time soon.”

“Generally, I’m not comfortable with various tools that technology lends to social networking and information sharing. I really hadn’t the need for much of it in my day-to-day life. But perhaps there was always the fear of the unknown….”

I had always “kept an eye on” my progress of my emersion into the online LIS environment, but I believe now is a good time to zoom in on what’s fast becoming an evolving PLN and explore strategies for its maintenance. Reflecting on the beginnings of my PLN development triggered my proposed paper idea. Taking a closer examination of my PLN growth, “Flight Path” will begin to play an integral role over the next six months. Between now and July, I will post an update on my evolving PLN and participation every fortnight. I will begin each post with a few statistics, and finish with the Top 5 blogs/feeds catching my eye.

Another part of this project is my participation in CCK11 – Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2011. This course runs from this week (17 January) to April, exploring “the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning”. The readings and activities will feed directly into my understanding of personal learning networks and contemporary learning models, using current technologies. If you’re interested, you can still register here.

I guess your next question is – why focus on personal learning networks when there’s already presentations, wikis and papers written about how to get started? Well, my initial review of the literature has revealed gaps in which my paper (or mere project) will fill. That is, one’s experiences in growing and maintaining a PLN. There are plenty of resources available which tell you what tools to use, but not how to use them to establish and maintain connections. Perhaps a beginning information professional like myself feels overwhelmed in starting a PLN and/or online presence. I hope that this little project of mine will, at the very least, provide an assuring insight for other new information professionals to activate the connections already available to them and to start using those for continued learning and professional development.

To finish, I’d like share what blogs/feeds I’m reading most at the moment.

….And a question – if you’ve started to follow me on Twitter (@acrystelle) in the last few months, why did you?