Thing 18 - Creative Commons

Creative Commons by Giuli-O

For the duration of 23 things I have usually been illustrating my blog posts using Creative Commons licensed images I have found through Flickr. It's a great way of enhancing any blog, and I'm always surprised at the variety and quality of the images available. Inspired by this I have given some of my own photographs in my Flickr photostream a CC license, and actually start to practice what I preach!

I do think its a great tool to show how sharing information (in this case images) can be hugely beneficial and encourage others to share too. It also shows the strength of a site such as Flickr, in creating a platform where these images can be easily found and shared - and as Flickr is such a huge site, shows how that sharing can be international as well as local. For example the image I am using to illustrate this post is from Italy - how would I have been able to easily find this image and know for certain that I could publish it before Flickr and CC came along?!

Flickr

Dale Chihuly sculpture at V&A

I've written the instruction for this weeks things, mainly because it gave me a good excuse to spend time properly looking at Flickr and seeing what it could do.

I've had a Flickr account for a few years now - but haven't used it for much, mainly because I didn't have a digital camera of my own. However due to a rather timely birthday present I now have no excuse, and I must say I'm finding it rather addictive... Flickr makes it relatively simple to upload photos and I particularly the way that you can upload and edit photos in bulk.

The groups feature of Flickr I hadn't used until 23 things, but this project was a good reason to investigate. It was easy to set up and a simple process to join as a member. This community aspect of Flickr is something I think really sets Flickr apart from photo galleries which stay only on your computer, and I love the idea of sharing your images with like-minded people. The image included in this post is one of those taken at the V&A with my lovely new camera and also now on my own Flickrpage.

Zotero -uh - oh!

Before 23 things I was unaware of Zotero - I have used Endnote for quite while, and have found it very useful as a way to store references, though I still don't trust any tool to cite anything entirely correctly. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I always have to double check, and to be honest still have tons of paper references too!

zzZzz by Eypor

I found downloading and starting with Zotero in Firefox pretty straightforward, and found the simple tools to capture data easy to understand. Unfortunately I had more problems using Zotero in Chrome, which is rapidly becoming my preferred browser on a pc,  as Zotero was designed to be used with Firefox. However, after a bit or rummaging on their website, I found an extension plug in for Zotero that should be used in Chrome, but I am still struggling to get this to work. On further investigation I also found information about the Zotero everywhere project, which should hopefully create a standalone version of Zotero which could be used by researchers using any available browser. So for the moment, to use Zotero effectively I'd have to stick with Firefox. Also, as I use a Mac at home as well as my work pc, I found it really useful to register my account, so I can access my references from the Zotero server wherever I am.

One major advantage for Zotero is that in theory it could be accessed anywhere, and I particularly see potential for its access on mobile devices. I couldn't find an app for it in the Android marketplace for my mobile, so I can only assume that it is only available through my phones web browser - I think this is a real shame, as it does slow down access. Maybe a future development possibility?

On the whole though, I do feel like I have only scratched the surface on Zotero, but will try and use it whilst I am doing my library qual as well as Endnote so I can compare them when I am actually actively researching a particular topic.

Diigo, go, go!

Moleskine Travel Kit by dmpop

I think I've been really fortunate, as I found Diigo really simple to sign up to (I guess that's because I used my Google email address rather than my Warwick one).

It was also really straightforward to export my old bookmarks in delicious to diigo. However, I worry whether I will use it in the same way as I did with delicious - intermittently. I've always been very bad at using delicious (useful though I know it can be), I think due to laziness on my part - yet another site for my tired old finger to click to!

This may be counteracted though, by installing the toolbar (and as I'm persevering with Chrome there is a nice little tool I can download for the browser) that should hopefully make me use it more consistently. After all, I had similar reservations about iGoogle and now I'm using it every day!

Reflection week

So far 23 things has been very interesting to me. Though I already felt familiar with a number of things before I started, it has surprised me how much my attitude to some of them has changed. For example, I had played with iGoogle before, but then abandoned it, but by having the time to focus on personalising it for me, I am finding that I regularly using it again - and finding it useful!

One thing I hadn't used before was Google reader, and now (after adding it to my iGoogle page) I am finding it invaluable to keep up with the posts of my other 23 things participants, as well as other blogs I follow, and by having them all in one place, it is saving me time. With the social networking week, I was happy to see other people getting used to Twitter, and in a way it gave me a chance to start with it again 'from scratch' to create a more work orientated account.

The biggest challenge I have found so far has been the actual blogging itself. Though I read blogs, I had never blogged myself. However it is strangely therapeutic organising your thoughts in this way, and a good tool for reflection, so I definitely think I will be looking at this further - in fact I'm already starting to look into tumblr and wordpress!

I'm looking forward to the next half of 23 things, well except for the writing of the Week 7 things! But don't worry, I'm working on the instructions as I type...

Image Credit: Reflections (A) by Camil Tulcan

Facebook

I have a Facebook account, a legacy from my student days, and unfortunately because I have friends who only use Facebook, I can't delete it! (Though I would, if I could)

There are a lot of reasons why I don't like Facebook; I dislike the constant stream of invitations to such entertainments as 'Farmville' or 'Zombies', I hate how clogged up my email account gets with messages etc. from Facebook and I cannot bear the constant privacy changes that Facebook continually initiate with little warning. However, so long as I make sure my privacy settings are fully up to date, I'm ok with keeping my Facebook account open to stay in touch with my Facebook-loving friends. My Facebook account is only for friends, and I have a strict rule that no work colleagues or strangers are added as a friend. I think that at least keeps the account manageable, and less open to abuse.

By contrast, Facebook is a good thing for institutions to use, as it is such a widely used network. I'm sure that most students use or are aware of Facebook, probably much more so than Twitter, as the latter does seem to reach an older demographic. Having a Facebook page allows an institution to show a (slightly) less corporate face, and the informality of the site might mean that users would feel more comfortable contacting the library. In the case of libraries using Facebook, I think it is a good way to advertise events or special notices, and also to connect to their users, giving them an informal way to comment and feel part of their library. If an institution does decide to use Facebook, I believe it really is important to keep posting on the account, to keep the information fresh and current. An unused Facebook page is really no better than a website.

So I can see the benefits in using Facebook - just don't expect me to enjoy using it!

Image credit: Facebook by Skander

Twittering on...

When I joined the group for 23 things, I was so pleased to see Twitter was included, because I love it! I've used it for (I think) a couple of years now, and much prefer it to other networking tools, like Facebook, simply because I can dip in and out of the stream of 'tweets' whenever I choose to. It's also not that prone to spam (unlike email unfortunately), and easy to block and report spammers, which is something I really appreciate.

I think Twitter is difficult to explain to someone but when you start using it, it does make sense. I am fortunate enough to have a smartphone, which enables Twitter to be something 'there' in the background of my daily life, and not something I have to log into - which I prefer. I also think it's really important to follow people and participate with 'tweets' yourself rather than just reading other people's, as that is when the idea of a 'network' starts to make sense - and I find it's great to use to send people links to things they would might find interesting - and if they don't, it's quickly lost in the Twitterstream anyway.

Twitter is also useful - for example I follow a number of art galleries, and tweets from them about the times/dates of their exhibitions often reminds me to visit far more effectively than an email would do. A lot of campaigns gather pace quickly using Twitter, such as the current #savelibraries , which is fighting against the proposed cuts to public libraries, and helps to spread the word about events and developments concerning this issue.

One thing I would suggest to anyone using Twitter for the first time is to use a client such as Tweetdeck, which shows at a glance the tweets in your Twitterstream, and enable you to reply and follow people easily - using this you can also set up an alert, so you get a pop up which appears on your computer when you receive a tweet (This is not annoying as it sounds, as it automatically disappears after a few seconds!). I've also found a TwitterGadget for iGoogle, which displays a small list of Tweets of your followers and also enable you to tweet whilst your on the iGoogle page.

Anyway, for the purpose of 23 things I have started a new Twitter id @suzanne_atkins and have started to follow other people doing 23 things. I look forward to tweeting with everyone in the near future!

Image credit: Twitter Logo Map 09 by thenextweb.com