Thing 19: Catch up week on integrating 'things'

So far, so good....

Blogs - as well as updating my own for 23Things I have been busy reading other peoples' blogs using the Google Reader widget on iGoogle. I need to be brave and start blogging about non-23Things stuff.

Twitter - still using this to keep up to date with library news. Have been following some of the #savelibraries stuff. Had one tweet retweeted to about 800 people! I remain selective about who I follow as I use this for professional and some personal stuff (although the personal friends are also librarians).

iGoogle - using this at work to read personal email (don't tell anyone!) and use iGoogle to read library-related blogs. Has made keeping up to date with new blog posts much easier and is starting to become a useful daily habit.

Evernote - really like this. Have access at home and work but use it mainly for 'notes to self'' so that I can transfer them between the two locations. Beats using flimsy post-it notes. Proving very useful in terms of compiling a Xmas list! Introduced my Dad to Evernote who is using it as a diary with pictures and voice notes - puts my use of Evernote to shame.

Screen capture tools - I continue to experiment with these. I've been using Screenr for a while but I'm trying out Jing to see how it compares.

Prezi - ouch! Still working on this one but it hurts my head. I think I'm too linear in my outlook and I'm finding it difficult to design or follow the freestyle route that Prezi allows. I need more time and thought to get to grips with this one. Looks like a great tool and exciting alternative to PowerPoint but I haven't quite got it yet.

Thing 8: Google Calendar

Well I've downloaded Google Calendar, added it to my iGoogle page and inserted the cpd23 dates but I won't use this tool for work. The team at work already use a shared calendar via the email system which we populate with all our outings/meetings/appointments. However I also use a printed diary for work because I don't have a smartphone that will sync with the online calendar. It feels 'safe' to have a paper version - I've jokinly asked for a netbook at work so that I can go more or less paperless - but no word on this yet. it is somewhat disheartening to go to a meeting to find you are the only one who has to print out the papers instead of read them on the netbook. Online calendars are important for team work in the office - we can pitch in when we see others are having a busy day and give accurate 'she's not at her desk, she'll be back at so and so o'clock' reports to telephone callers. It can sometimes feels like online calendars are used to keep tabs on staff (maybe I'm paranoid) but all in all I find it useful.

Thing 4: Current awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote

I already use Twitter for a mix of personal and professional activities but haven’t reflected yet on why I do so. I am somewhat lacking in tweets but use it instead to follow other people – a few librarians (one who sits on the desk behind me at work which says a lot about how open plan offices work), a few libraries, the local theatre, some cyclists on the Tour de France (don’t ask!) and several comedians.  I’m not entirely sure what I should tweet about and I suspect this will need to be considered in terms of my online brand but at the moment I’m happy to follow the others. Many of the people I follow use it for commercial purposes - plugs for their TV shows etc which is ok as I follow them because I like them and I will probably watch their shows anyway.  The Twitter accounts I like best for librarianship news are @Philbradley and @ijclark.

Google Reader is the most useful tool I’ve discovered this week. I’ve added all the librarianship blogs that I follow. I’m getting used to seeing everything in the one place although it does seem a bit cluttered.  I’ve decided to restrict it to librarian blogs only so that I can use it purely for current awareness.  My best blogs for current awareness are Phil Bradley’s weblog (to keep me up to date with the different products available), Sheila Webber’s Information Literacy Weblog (local to international news etc for info lit) and Dean Giustini’s The Search Principle Blog (I like his use of Slideshare and I’m looking forward to week 12: Presenting information which includes Slideshare).

After reading Helen’s 23 Things post I’ve started an iGoogle page. I’ve kept it quite simple and only added widgets/gadgets for Hotmail, GoogleReader, Twitter, calendar, YouTube, weather, To Do list, BBC news and just for fun some waddling penguins which frankly are the best thing on there at the moment. I kept this open on my work screen for the whole of yesterday and it’s quite nice to scan everything at once but will only be of use if I remember to log in each day (I fear I may have to write myself a note to remind me!).  I've put iGoogle on a trial but it looks promising.

iGoogle seems very similar to Netvibes which I have messed around with in the past. Yesterday I saw a great example of how to use Netvibes for current awareness from Emma Aldrich at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Libraries  MTW NHS Trust Knowledge Services I’d like to do something like this for the students I support at the university but web 2.0 tools are looked at with some suspicion here. LibGuides and Wikidot look like other useful tools and maybe my workplace will explore these at some point.