Thing 17

Prezi...what a fantastic boredom alleviator! I haven't had anywhere near long enough to investigate it properly but the examples of how it can be used that I've looked at are really inspiring. I think creating a professional looking presentation would be easy if you posses a good sense of spatial awareness as it's so animated. Getting to grips with how it works and how best to link information would need time to get right I think, and sadly at the moment time is not something I have a lot of. So again, as with all the "Things" I think would be useful, I shall come back to it. However I'm sure it would be a great way to engage those attending the Library talk at our Corporate Induction...the usual glazed look in their eyes may actually clear for five minutes!

Slideshare looks a great way to promote yourself and your service. I've had a look at some of the visual CV's that are highlighted and they're a great attention grabbing idea, but it does cross my mind that soon we'll all be doing it and the impact and freshness of the idea will become the norm. But then that's the reason new and more dazzling tools emerge and progression happens so it's all part of the process, it's just that it's hard to keep up! I'm also constantly overawed by the way others express and present themselves with such wit and impact... failure at the first hurdle I fear!

Thing 19

I know I have to be reflective for this particular post and I have to say that I think that this time I'm going to find it a bit easier than at the beginning! I've really learnt a lot so far and as the weeks have gone by have managed to keep up quite well, which I never thought I would. On a personal level I've realised the social benefits of Twitter, but not really considered it's use for work, whereas being introduced to Dropbox and Jing have definitely given me food for thought where these tools are concerned in the Library setting. My role at work is due to change shortly and I may well need to start being more concerned about Library promotion (and my own!) so all that I have learnt on this programme will be incredibly valuable I'm sure. I would have liked to have more time to explore the Blogs of  others on cpd23 and although I could look back on them in the future, it seems to me that the value of this programme is in it's immediacy. Sometimes I feel that I haven't given the "Things" enough time to fully realise their potential, but I do think that this has been a valuable opportunity for me to be made aware, and briefly explore, tools I haven't yet had a need for but may well do in the future. Probably the most valuable thing for me overall is this Blog (as a record of what I have looked at) and the process of writing about the "Things" (as a means to learn to be reflective).

Thing 18

I've not tried Jing before, but have done some online learning for my own cpd which has obviously used similar tools. I wondered how it was done...and now I know! I really like how simple it is to use and can see lots of opportunities to create simple tutorials for users of the catalogue particularly to help with searching and remote book renewal. I've shown what it can do to my colleagues who can also see it could be useful, but I think we might have to draw straws for who gets to do the voice overs!
Not sure about podcasts. I, like others who've written about them, wonder if perhaps they aren't used as much as they were and I'm not sure that in our Library setting they would be particularly relevant, so I'm not going to investigate them any further at the moment I'm afraid.

Things 15 & 16

This will be brief I fear as I have little experience of either of these 'Things' to share, although I recognise the benefits of both on a personal professional level, and in the case of advocacy, for the profession as a whole. I haven't had an opportunity to attend conferences as yet, and have certainly had no desire to speak at one, but I think that perhaps in the future, as my current job role develops attending such events would be of great value. I'm passionate about the role of Libraries socially and educationally so must therefore be a sub-concious advocate of them; I will do all that I can to change people's perceptions of the quiet, fusty environment of the stereotypical Library...and sadly of the typical Library worker!

Thing 14

I've opened a Zotero account and had a look at what it's capable of (which is awesome) but at the moment, as I'm not studying for anything specifically, I think it's use for me is limited. It's quite difficult to trial and get the best out of a tool like this if you haven't got a piece of work to apply it to. Only being able to use it with Firefox might be a disadvantage for some too. However, what I will be doing is making our users more aware of these types of applications as we have more angst ridden students desperate to sort out their referencing than anything else at times. I'm not sure if they're made aware of these tools by the Universities, or if they're just told at the beginning of their course when they're facing information overload! It would certainly relieve a lot of heartache at a later date if they were...