Pushnote

Since I've already talked about Twitter and RSS feeds in an earlier post, I'm just going to add that I have been using Google Reader a little more over the last few weeks. It seems I've been converted now that I am following more blogs (some cpd23 and some Cam23 2.0 participants).

Onto Pushnote, then - a tool that allows you to rate and rank your favourite websites and share this with others on the web. The principle of sharing information about useful websites is one that I'm sure most cpd23ers support, and Twitter is often used as a means of sharing useful websites via Bit.ly links. Having set up an account to try out Pushnote, I think it's unlikely that I will use it though. Many people like to rate things and give them scores, but this side of Pushnote isn't something that really appeals to me.

I managed to find some other cpd23ers on Pushnote and look at their latest and favourites lists. For me, a drawback of Pushnote is that (unless I missed something) there doesn't seem to be a way of organising or tagging the sites you rate and comment on. If I was going to use it, I'd like to be able to search for sites that have been rated on a particular topic (such as 'libraries' or 'technology'). If Pushnote really takes off, it could be used by libraries to rate the websites that might be useful to their users, as another form of useful links page. For most libraries though, I imagine this would only work if you could organise the links in some way. Just seeing a list of people's favourite sites may appeal if you have time to browse and like the serendipitous approach, but this isn't something I will use. However, Pushnote is only in Beta so perhaps this facility to organise your favourites may be added later. Personally, I would rather share information and learn about useful websites via Twitter and blogs. A useful feature of Pushnote then, is that you can share your favourites via Twitter and Facebook.

For me, the most interesting part of Pushnote is the browser extension, so that you if you come across a website you can click on the Pushnote icon and see how users have rated a site.

Overall, a mixed review from me. Some useful features, and I'm sure some people will enjoy using it, but it's not something I can see myself using at the moment.

My personal brand

This is something I've been meaning to think about for little while. Following Thing 3 instructions, I Googled my name and, apart from being surprised by how many people share my name, I discovered that none of the results on the first three pages were anything to do with me. Now I know that my online brand is invisible, do I want to change this and if so how?

I've been a bit nervous about my identity and name online. First time round blogging with 23 Things I went by the anonymous name of Newbie Blogger for blogging and NewbieCambridge for Twitter as my blog name had already been taken. This meant I could gain confidence in blogging without worrying that everyone knew who I was. However, because I had different blog and Twitter names, I didn't feel I had a consistent online presence. So, after 23 Things, I actually decided to set up a new blog and change my Twitter account so that LibRhi is used for both.

Ned Potter's wikiman blog had a great post on three essential things to do as soon as you join Twitter. This encouraged me to find a picture to put on both my blog and Twitter. I finally took the plunge and put my full name on my Twitter profile, as I think it looks more professional and most of my followers know who I am anyway! I found writing the short bio for Twitter the hardest thing to do, and kept changing my mind about what to write. How to sum up who I am for my Twitter followers in a few characters that says something more interesting than just 'librarian' (especially as this isn't my current job title). I decided to stick with the books background for my blog page as it goes well with my blog name, and changed the design of my Twitter so it is a little more interesting, even though it doesn't match the blog. I've had fun looking at the design of other people's blogs and Twitter profile pages, and what they have written for their bios. There are some creative people out there! I like Cam23 2.0 blogger Murmuration's use of a drawing of herself rather than a photo.

Overall, my personal brand needs more work, but I feel much happier with it now than when I first started. With experience comes confidence, so perhaps my online brand will have developed further by the end of the summer!

CPD23 blogging

I've already got behind with the cpd23 things, but the meet ups happening this week are spurring me on to do another thing before I meet some other lovely cpd23ers. I think I have subconciously put off thing 2, just because there are so many blogs out there! The Delicious participant list really helps with this though. I decided to look at a couple of blogs tagged with UK and higher education first, as this is the sector that I am in.

I found a fellow blogger who, like me, was also just getting started with the things and commented on their post. A few bloggers have registered but not yet posted about cpd23 things, so it is reassuring that I am not the only one who hasn't got to thing 7 yet!

Having decided to also try a serendipitous approach, I clicked on a couple of blogs from the list showing the latest updated on the cpd23 site. I enjoyed reading A Librarian Learning to Blog (and other things!). I've discovered a few other bloggers who are working towards chartership, or are new professionals in other sectors to mine. I'm hoping that by following some of these I will see new perspectives on the things and learn a bit about other library/information sectors. Like PalelyLoitering, I was also drawn to blogs with names or post titles that looked interesting or just happened to catch my eye.

Following a few links on the blogs that I read led me to the Neon Librarian (love the bright picture on the blog page), and back to Cambridge, where I recognised a few blogs from the Cam23 Things and Cam23 2.0 programmes. Nice to see some familiar blogs as well as new ones!  Looking forward to following some of blogs that I have found throughout the programme - hope we can learn from each other!

Screenshots - no more tears?

I had never heard of Lightshot before, but reading about Thing 5 I thought it sounded great. Then I tried to download it...

Perhaps I was just having a bad day, but I didn't find the download process very user friendly. In fact, I tried three times because it didn't seem to have done anything and I didn't notice a feather in the corner of the toolbar. So I gave up and tried to print screen something, when to my surprise the screen greyed out and the Lightshot icons appeared.  Once I got going with Lightshot, I found it easy to use and much less fiddly than editing in Paint. To remind myself of how fiddly editing screenshots in Paint is, I had a go at some and all the memories of trying to select a section that won't all fit in the Paint window in order to crop the picture came flooding back. Lightshot makes this much simpler. Here is a screenshot of my Twitter page, complete with new tweet from Twitterfeed.

In general I tend not to bother with browser addons, because I'm always using different browsers and have never felt the need. Hopefully discovering Lightshot will inspire me to try out some others. After all, I don't know what I am missing if I don't know what is out there...

Thoughts on Twitterfeed

Just a quick update to my last post. I like Twitterfeed as it does exactly what it says on the tin, with no fuss. I didn't find it the most user friendly interface in terms of setting up an account and establishing a feed from my blog to Twitter, but now that is set up it is very straightforward to review. When I published my last post, hey presto, a bit.ly link to the post appeared on Twitter and I received a comment almost straight away (thanks Annie!). Think I will carry on using this.

Tweets and feeds and extra things - Cam 23 2.0

So, first up is RSS feeds. I think these are very useful, but I'm not sure if I use them in the most effective way. I just logged into Google Reader to see the feeds that I had subscribed to last time round in 23 things. I haven't looked at Google Reader once in the last year! I do, however, like to add feeds for blogs to my iGoogle page and my blogger dashboard. I find these easier for following a relatively small number of blogs. On first impression, Google Reader is just a bit too confusing for me - there are so many options down the left side of the page, such as notes, starred items and trends that it's hard to know where to start! I would prefer my subscriptions to be at the top of the list and not hidden away at the bottom! On the plus side, it is useful that it highlights the unread items and shows how many unread items there are. If I find myself subscribing to more feeds, then I may well revisit Google Reader and would probably get used to, or at least put up with, the layout!

Next up is Twitter - the thing that surprised me last time round with its usefulness! I'm not much of a regular tweeter although I do follow several librarians including other 23 Thingers. I've just had to refresh my memory of how to search for people and hashtags. Luckily, it's user-friendly and so this wasn't too tricky. I had never tried any of the applications before, apart from Bit.ly which is very useful for posting links. Hootsuite looks like it would be a very good application for those with multiple accounts, or for teams who contribute to an account, but neither of those apply to me at the moment so I didn't bother to try this out! I have just signed up for Twitterfeed, which looked like the most useful application for me. I will have to revisit this once I have published this post and have tested how it works. Watch this space!