Thing 12 - Putting the social into social media

It's been longer than usual since my last blog for a number of reasons. During Thing 12 Week I was away from home visiting family & did not have access to a computer; I don't enjoy typing at length on my smartphone. It was also coincidentally the week of the riots in the U.K. & I have to confess that taking the time to consider the pros & cons of social media didn't appeal. As a relative newcomer to social media & its uses & pleasures I felt a bit let down - like discovering that your 'new best friend', who you thought was really great, has a nasty side to them. It certainly didn't spur me on to write the blog. By the following week I was starting a new part-time job & Thing 13 came & went...which is a shame as I'm really looking forward to trying out the tools suggested in Thing 13. In fact, I'm probably resenting (unfairly!) Thing 12 as an obstacle to reaching the next one.  So here I am with the prospect of a bank holiday weekend  & the intent to catch up on cpd23.

So, O.K., I will now get down to considering social media (briefly) although I feel that I've covered my personal use of it in Thing 4 & 6 :

- One particular advantage of social networking (in the context of professional development) is the opportunity to remotely follow conferences & other professional events which you might not otherwise be able to attend for logistical, financial & geographical reasons. Indeed, social networking provides real-time access opportunities for the otherwise disadvantaged, crossing social boundaries.
- Possible disadvantages could be that people become so preoccupied with social networking that they neglect face-to-face networking & become isolated in a virtual world with a virtual version of themselves.
- CPD23 has definitely helped me to make contact with people I wouldn't normally have done, particularly as I am new to the library & information profession & didn't have many face-to-face contacts.
- Having had a completely different career in the past, I hadn't used social media for career development. When I was starting out in my first career, social media didn't really exist! I will now definitely continue to use it - Twitter being my current favourite for its pithiness & immediacy.
- I have certainly felt part of a community since using Twitter & blogging for cpd23. Social networking is so far-reaching that you discover & 'meet' people on a great scale. Personally, I really enjoy the sense of a shared experience.

Returning to the matter of the recent 'abuse' of social media, I think that I have come to some sort of peace with social networking. I just need to remember that technology is neutral & can be used for good or bad, just as older media have done in the past (e.g. the handwritten word on paper, the printed word on paper, theatre, film, television & radio). The end result is in the hands of the user, & we should, to coin a phrase used by many alcohol awareness campaigns in the past, "enjoy responsibly".
 

Thing 8 - Google Calendar

I have to confess to not having used an electronic diary or calendar before either in a work or personal context & I am very fond of my paper diary which feeds my addiction to lists. I decided, however, that as I have been spending more time on my computer lately (especially with cpd23!), it might be worth trying out Google Calendar. Installation seemed simple enough &, so far, I like the look & feel of the calendar.

In an attempt to develop this week's 'organizing' theme, I made Google my homepage in the hope that this will prompt me to both use the calendar more & check my RSS feeds in Google Reader (to continue the good work from Thing 4). It's been a great week for me to start a new system of diary management with several good entries to make -  I have signed up for LibraryCampUK2011 (very excited...), was offered a part-time job as a records library clerk in an NHS Trust (will help to 'keep the wolf from the door' & is, I guess, a step in the right direction of  information management work), & made contact with the guys at Dorset Ad Lib (the action group working  to save the Dorset libraries earmarked for closure) in order to offer my help. Maybe this means I've also managed to fulfil/line up some face-to-face networking opportunities in which I was sadly lacking last week when blogging Thing 7 !

Returning to Google Calendar - I have one problem with it. I have not been able to sync it with Outlook or my iPhone. I seemed to solve one error message by re-configuring my Outlook account details in relation to my Google account, but now the message Error 2016 keeps popping up. If anyone can shed any light, I'd be very grateful!