At this stage of the programme, you will have looked at a number of tools and techniques. Some of you have mentioned that you have looked at some of this before but that it’s too hard to maintain awareness and monitoring through RSS or other means. This might have meant that your goals were unrealistic or that you didn’t actually set any personal objectives around ongoing awareness.
So, in this module, we are going to look at some further tools to discover and participate and think about some tools and techniques for managing/monitoring our information channels. A word of warning. Managing our info channels is you dependent. There is no complete across-the-board answer. You will need to find what works for you.
Commitments
(This section is presented for completeness - you should have already documented your commitments in LAMS)In order to be able to manage your information flows, it will be necessary to put some personal objectives in place. You may already have these, in which case, read on … One point to note is that while these objectives should relate to work, it’s not a clean boundary between work specific/personal/general information access and management. There will be crossover.
These objectives should be in the following areas:
Content – what do I want to monitor? Do this first. You will be adjusting it later anyway. So make a list. In LAMS, you will need to do this before proceeding.
Time available – How much time do I wish to/can I make available? Think about this in terms of daily or weekly timings. When would this be?
Now backcast – put the time available against the content you want to monitor. You will want to monitor some content most days. Other content on a weekly basis. If there clearly is not enough time, you need to decide what’s most important about the content you will monitor.
Weeding & Reviewing – inevitably you will find new information sources and places in which you want to participate. Some of your sources will become less important to you. How often will you review… and weed!
Making Connections
During the RSS, Newsreaders and Podcasts module, you will have selected a reader and set it up to pull in some feeds for you. We are going to look briefly at some other tools that make getting to regular information sources a little easier.CCL Power Tools
Have you noticed that in the footer of the Christchurch City Libraries' web site, there is a link to power tools? These are there to help customers and staff do some tasks more efficiently. We will focus on two of these.
- Start by reading through the power tools page
Bookmarklets
Read about Bookmarklets!
On the CCL power tools page about bookmarklets, follow the instructions to add at least one bookmarklet (Use QS Library Catalogue or QS CINCH). Note that in Firefox, you can just drag the bookmarklet into the Bookmarks Toolbar.
Here’s another one from OED Search OED Online
This one works well in Firefox but not in Internet Explorer (well at least not the latest version). If you have Firefox, just drag it to the Bookmarks Toolbar and then try it. If you select a word and then click it, it should take you to OED (via your premium databases login) and find the word. If you don’t select a word before clicking it, it will open a dialogue box so that you can enter a word.
Do a quick trawl round for bookmarklets on the web. You might wish to try one or more.
Nice URLs
Read about “nice” URLs and how to make them. Be sure to note why you need to do this and what you need to do in order to be able to give a library database (Catalogue, CINCH, Papers) link to a customer. You can also save links in Word or other document if you want.
ListServs
Email is still with us and many people use it in preference to RSS or other techniques, although it’s not the best way of accessing information for everyone.
Listservs are still a great source of information, although they can sometimes be overwhelming. A lot of other tools still allow you to set email notifications … In effect, a listserv acts as a social network. It’s just that the tools are a little less sophisticated. However, for some people, the benefit is that email is “in your face” and you don’t have to remember to go and look.
Two important lists to belong to:
Monitoring & Managing
Well, it is pretty easy to get information and to set up a number of things in which we publish, create or participate. How do we keep track of this in any meaningful way. Well, there are no fixed answers, but I do have some favourite methodologies.John’s Way
However, I do have some favourite methodologies. These are quite simple:
I organise my browsers well. I am careful about favourites/bookmarks. Well sort of... I am careful about what I keep at the top levels of my favourites/bookmarks. I suppose organise my most favourite favourites and bookmarks well.
Use of tabbed browsing: I generally set my browsers to open with multiple tabs. Currently I open Internet Explorer with 8 tabs (These reflect my current interests/projects) and Firefox with 4 (RSS feeds and personal interests). The maximum number of “home” tabs allowed by IE is 8. A number of these tabs allow me to see if anything has changed or been updated quite quickly.
- Not sure about tabs? Both Internet Explorer (v6 onwards) and Firefox allow you to use tabs. Tabs allow you to access multiple sites while having only one browser window open. You can find new tabs under the File menu.
I am careful about RSS. I love news RSS, but have eliminated my BBC & CNN and just left Radio NZ. Who can spend all day trawling through news?
I don’t use podcast reading software. It’s just one more thing to worry about. I use my RSS reader to tell me that something is there (generally RNZ or BBC) and make a choice to listen or download. I often download for later listening on my mp3 player.
I access listservs (I would prefer not to. However, professionally I think I need to). I do filter the listserv mail into folders other than the inbox so that they are less intrusive. I flick through them at least once a day (well most days).
I wonder how Google Wave will handle listserv stuff? I can’t wait for Google Wave! Read, watch and listen at: http://wave.google.com/
I also use both iGoogle and Netvibes to some extent but …
Some considerations
One of the down sides with my methodologies is that it ties me to one machine, at least in terms of this organisation. When using a mobile device, or other computer, I don’t have it! This is of significant disadvantage.
Some practical considerations then:
- Do I always use one computer?
- Do I want my organisation to be locally (ie PC) based? Or cloud based? Or a mixture?
Read about Delicious
- About Delicious by Delicious : quick, easy and to the point;
- Views from three expert fans : base article is well worth reading. Don't bother with the posted comments;
- Wikipedia article : if you are interested in how it works hierarchically etc
- If you are convinced then Join and try it out.
What about getting everything into one place? Accessible from everywhere.
Well cloud computing and some other tools are starting to make that possible. Can I make a single anchor point for everything I want or need?
We’ll investigate one or two tools from this point of view.
Igoogle/Netvibes?
You may have met these two personal portal tools already, in the Widgets & Gadgets module, or elsewhere.If you have an account at iGoogle or Netvibes
Access it and try to create a page or two which give you reasonable access to
- Your RSS feeds
- Your favourites/bookmarks
- Your contacts
- Your email
- Your calendar
Experiment with iGoogle
- Watch the Igoogle animation
- Set up an account at iGoogle (you can use your existing google account)
Experiment with arranging, adding and deleting widgets.
- RSS
- Favourites/bookmarks
Optional Extra: Using your blog as an anchor
Perhaps you could use your blog as that online anchor. Depending on what blogging platform and what other tools you have selected, you could add RSS, Delicious and other widgets to your blog
- If you have time, experiment
Your Findings
Blog about what you have found out. Some possible themes- How you organize your time and the content you regularly look at
- What tools work for you
- What tools and techniques work for your colleagues
One more thing!
Do you think a team blog or team iGoogle or Netvibes page would be of use?- What would it be used for and who would maintain it?
- How would it link to other similar pages developed by other teams?
Comment in the LAMS forum (next LAMS activity in this module)
