Getting organised - not particularly.

I'm covering Things 8 & 9 in this post - both personal organisation tools and both left me a bit so what?

Google calendar

Yes, it's a calendar. I'm used to using an Outlook calendar at work and I can't see a way of sharing or uploading an Outlook calendar to Google which would be a really useful facility. I combine the Outlook calendar with a paper diary and provided I remember to "synch" them both it all works ok.

I see some libraries are using Google Calendar to share opening hours with users, which seems handy, but I'm not sure it's any better or easier than keeping your web page updated. Having said that, the widget on the cpd23 blog which lists all the past and forthcoming topics, plus meetups and links to the full calendar, looks very smart, and is useful. Once I'm back in work I can really imagine using this for listing training courses for example. It does have the huge advantage that nothing needs to be installed on the pc.

Perhaps I'm just not exciting enough in my private life to need a calendar The more I think about this though, the more I think maybe there would be uses if only... I could workout how to get my pink phone to connect to the web... I could be bothered to type in appointments on the tiny onscreen keyboard...I had a really exciting social life.

I signed up for this but I just cannot see what I'd be likely to use it for. I see some bloggers getting very excitied about the possibilitites but...

I'm clearly missing something, but perhaps I just don't have the problems which Evernote was set up to solve. In addition, I'm still not clear whether you need to download something - this is of course an impossibility for NHS people.

In the cpd23 blog comments some asks about using Mendeley - I can certainly see a use for reference management software and this is coming up later on.

Catching up

Managed to blog 3 times this week - still not caught up, but it's interesting to see that there's a mixture of those behind and those keeping up.

Catching Up

OK, so I'm still really behind with my 23 things. I'm determined to catch up though, so I'm going to aim to blog 3 times this week. Probably today, Thursday and Friday. I've committed myself - now I have to do it!

I was already a (fairly half-hearted) user of social networks before signing up for 23Things. I had a Facebook account which was largely unused as well as a LinkedIn account, also not much used.   Partly as a result of being unemployed and having more time to think about and act on this stuff and partly as a result of signing up for CPD23 I’ve improved my LinkedIn profile and joined some more groups. I’m going to try to keep this current as it does provide a way to present a professional profile.

 I don’t think I’m ever going to be a real Facebook fan but I’m not really sure why. It certainly seems more of a social space than a business space and I suspect I’m just not that comfortable with the idea of having hundreds of friends.

Facebook is also blocked from most NHS computers which makes it difficult to use as a professional tool in that context. LinkedIn is accessible as far as I know.

I have registered for Google+, but again not sure I will make use of it. If Facebook is social, LinkedIn professional, what space does that leave for Google?

The networks I use tend to be the more specifically targeted ones. Professionally for example, as a CILIP mentor I have a profile on CILIP communities and I belong to the Librarians as Teachers network. Both of these actual sites have useful information as well as allowing networking which may be what makes them more worthwhile to me. Privately I belong to Ravelry and an Archers messageboard.

I fear I may be coming across as a cross between a Luddite and a Hermit. While not actually true this may contain a grain of truth.  I quite like being anonymous but I accept that this is not a good tactic if I want to become more professionally visible which is going to be increasingly important in the job market.