Taking a mildly pro-active approach to Social Media and Networking

In the interests of further developing and broadening my employability skills (ahem) I have boldly gone and created a Twitter account, a Pinterest account and a Linked In account. I did use my real name on LinkedIn for obvious reasons. One difficulty I faced was filling the "Where are you employed and by whom?" sections. When I tried to type that I was employed by children, at home,  LinkedIn was quite unhappy so I changed it to student. I guess that's accurate too. LinkedIn offered to help me find the right smartphone app and I did just that. I haven't fully finished my profile but I want to take the time to get it right.

Then I created a Pinterest account using my alter ego - Jeanne Buckfield.  Didn't have much time to play with that one so I just got as far as pinning an image from NASA re: plans for Mars and creating a board. It is all pretty straightforward and I like the option there for keeping pinterest boards private to select followers. I will play with Pinterest more over the weekend. That's the plan anyway.

Twitter was a little more annoying to set up. First it was was reluctant to accept my email address. Once I convinced it do that Twitter became pretty insistent that I select a pile of twitters/tweets to follow to create my timeline. So I am following one daughter, The Mercury, Manchester United, NASA, JPL, Universe Today, Top Gear, another daughter, my son's teacher, Chandra, Angela, the English football team (World Cup coming up soon) and Mars One. Then I tweeted to one daughter and promptly lost interest. My daughters' will be startled by the presence of a certain Jeanne Buckfield following them. Both Twitter and LinkedIn searched through my contacts list and offered suggestions as to who I should follow or connect with. 

After that I moved on to playing with OwnCloud which is provided by the domain my main email address is through. But it crashed and I lost interest again. It's all open source and still in the teething stage; not too mention occasionally unstable on Windows platforms. No real surprises there folks. 

RSS Feeds

I have used RSS Feeds before for news updates and with my Assessment Blog I also experimented with adding an RSS Feed gadget. I used the RSS gadget to add a feed from NASA concerning Mars. Also, once back at home where the wireless is reliable, I was able to use Feedly with some degree of success. I am now following all bloggers through Feedly (which is a pretty silly name). I do like the idea of being informed through one platform rather than accessing news and what have you through different sites. It's definitely far more convenient.

It's another information source libraries can use in the networked world either for keeping clients up to date with the latest library news or for being kept informed on other items of interest to the client base. As with just about everything on the net it's important to rely on your own judgement and research rather than assuming that the RSS Feed you subscribe to is accurate. 




Social Media by mkhmarketing under (CC BY 2.0)

RSS feeds

I have added an RSS feed gadget to my blog but some kind of security measure means it can't be viewed over a secure connection. So you'll need to take it on faith that the RSS feed is there. To keep any stress levels to a minimum, and reduce deaths through curiosity, I can let you know that is a feed to the ABC news website for world news.

Update! The RSS is now working as you'll note down the bottom of the blog. I'll just blame Google.

Multimedia Assessment Task

Surface pro from jbuckfield

I decided that as one of the assessment tasks for Multimedia also needed a powerpoint presentation that it would be a good idea to embed the presentation in my blog. It's a good way to practice the skills learned in Chandra's class. I also uploaded the presentation to Slideshare.

Chained Library (and correct referencing)

Wimborne, Chained Library  by www.dorsetforyou.com licenced under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

These are beautiful. Now you can buy a handful of pre-loved books from any Vinnies store for the princely sum $2.00

The referencing took me longer to get right than it ought to have done but I got there in the end.

Embedding Chandra's Presentation in my blog.

Still playing around with slideshare and embedding presentations in my blog. So far it's a better idea to use somebody else's presentation. I find the idea goes wrong somewhere between my brain and the screen. Still, it's the thought that counts isn't it?

Manchester United & Social Media

Manchester United in Social Media from Simplify360

I chose this presentation from Slideshare because it's about the best football team in the world although I wish Sir Alex would come back. I miss him on the sidelines. It seemed to tie in with the subject too - we are developing our social media skills and this presentation is all about how much attention Man U attracts through social media. Twitter is very popular with fans. I'm tempted to give it a go.

Affordable Housing Anyone?

This shot was taken near my humble abode while out walking one day. I don't know how they managed to set this up but I thought the ladder a really nice touch.

A really lame and very substandard powerpoint presentation

The Big 6 Presentation from jbuckfield

And don't say I didn't warn you. I'm not the creative one in my family - this presentation attests to that. I have aunts who do amazing things, get pictures in galleries, have exhibitions, make cute stuff with pottery. I got stuck at stick figures in Prep. Sundry failed experiments have convinced me to stay with stick figures.

An Infographic on Infographics

Its all about Infographics from Aditya Dhotre

This was actually quite interesting pointing out to viewers that the idea of the infographic is not new. Cave Art and early art that depict the basics of life centuries ago are an early form of infographic. It is well known that the human mind tends to process & absorb visual information more quickly. Infographics are a valuable resource for teaching, instructing and sharing knowledge

Change of Name

Observant readers will have noticed I have changed the name of my blog. It just sounds snappier. I thought that a new post would be good too. I also updated my profile, so for any who decided to check out my google+ page (or whatever it is) don't be alarmed by the fish. It was under size limits so we let it go. And anyway, I don't really look like that. I do come under size restrictions for some things - I'm too short to be a fast bowler for example. I was very accident prone as a youngster and was once knocked out cold by a heavy glass and wood door. I went back to school 2 days later with a huge lump on the side of my head. Everyone was real kind though. Not a person who went by passed up the chance to comment on the lump.

The same image - embedded. Viewers can now scroll through my image. One day there may be more

This image has been embedded from Flickr. We were asked to do this. Alas it has caused problems with the wireless at a local educational institution. With 15 people all blogging or flickring the lights went dim and pages either refused to load or crashed. I was pretty lucky in that I finished the sharing tasks quickly and missed out on the major crashes. The author of this photo was me. It comes under the creative commons - non-commercial use and no altering

An interesting cacti at the local botanical gardens

This image is not embedded. See later post for the exciting option on scrolling through my image. We promise more images in the future. My image has been shared in an obscure fashion on account. I did not take this picture. I would have been inclined to move more to the right side of the plant (looking at it that is)

Stop Press! Google allows local housewife to create a blog!

So, now what? The first post is bound to be a let down for both composer and reader. The title doesn't really imply any major ground-breaking news story. The content most assuredly proves the lack of any newsworthy. On an excitement level any age group with any given heart condition may safely read this - I can guarantee no weak hearts will collapse on reading this.

Stay tuned. With a bit of luck or blogger's interest some kind of image or something may appear. Don't bet your firstborn on it though