Wednesday 29 June 2011

Online branding and #marketingyourselfonline


And so to Thing 3 of CPD23; only a week in and already starting to come to tasks a few days after they were posted; a sign of things to come?! The topic of online branding is interesting for me, as I only (fairly) recently began to develop a professional online identity (the 'dogeared librarian' of the crudely-knocked-up-in-Paint banner at the top of this page). Prior to settling on this, I toyed with a few other approaches and pseudonyms, as well as using my own name. Among concepts I rejected were something around orangutans (influenced quite strongly by Discworld, but also because I am red-haired with long arms and a pot-belly) and something punning on 'page' (my surname).

I chose the 'dogeared' brand because I'm a dog person (which places me in diametric opposition to the stereotypical library spinster with an army of cats) and can sometimes feel somewhat battered and well-thumbed! That said, the 'brand' is still very much 'in development', with no particular colour scheme, the aforementioned placeholder header, little integration of seperate sites (save tweeting of blog updates, and the blog widget showing twitter updates), and poor consistency of approach/style even within a single site. The whole thing is a public work-in-progress; if I felt anyone was looking or cared I'd probably sort it out a lot more quickly!

I made the decision to include my own name on 'dogeared librarian' sites, but still sometimes succumb to feeling like the label grants me anonymity. Do I say things online I wouldn't out loud? No. But I wouldn't necessarily share everything I say out loud with everyone I meet. I do compartmentalise my life; sometimes to an insane amount. However, I do allow aspects of the personal sphere to bleed into the professional and vice-versa, as the poor people at bars who've been bored into submission about the value of libraries can attest! I'm aware that there is a line, but generally not until I cross it. My facebook is personal, and pretty much unmoderated these days; twitter doesn't include any non-library friends (yet). Generally speaking, I take the view which @llordllama conveniently laid out earlier this week:


The whole 'pseudonymous identity' thing is reinforced by the use of photos of dogs (generally in glasses) for profile pictures. There's a few reasons I don't use a photograph: I dislike the way I look (another work-in-progress!) and think dogs are generally nicer to look at, in particular my own dog, Jabba. In the future. I may take the @niko_nees approach (using a photo of both of us with Jabba foregrounded) for Twitter and this blog in the future; for now, I should at least get around to replacing the header with a picture of my own hound! [Edit: replaced quick-and-dirty header with slower,still-dirty header following this post].

So to the 'google-thyself' task (I used Bing as well as Google via Chrome Incognito): oh. Several eminent Thomas Pages, pretty much all dead. There is one guy with a technical-support background who has a stub website on thomaspage.co.uk, an author of a 'bio-terror novel' and a guy who works for HP. But not me. Not me for 4 pages on Bing. Google is slightly better; a twitter result towards the tail of the second page. 'Thomas Page librarian' and 'Thomas Page library' bring up no results in the first page or so. I'm a nobody L

Searching pseudonyms (I have a couple of online identities; a symptom of growing up online I guess), my personal identity again doesn't link to me straightaway (but as I took it from a book I guess it wouldn't). 'Dogeared librarian', though... links right back here! First 3 links are all for this blog, then the Blogger account, then an RSS feed which another site has generated for some reason. Unfortunately, what doesn't appear is my twitter account. I shortened my handle to @dogearedlib because I read somewhere that long handles correlated to less re-tweets etc. Maybe I should add the full version of the name to the bio field? (EDIT: never added the blog URL to my twitter profile; corrected that now!)

On the plus side, there's little out there which is incriminating. Can't say for sure with Facebook (though I would need to check using a non-friend's account), but I think pretty much everything about me online is innocuous... (portentous rumble of thunder outside as I wrote that; pathetic fallacy in action).

So, there's some branding still to do, some tidying up of online profiles (and a linkedin profile to populate; signed up last week and haven't dealt with it since - though this article (mildly NSFW) causes me some concern...). But no damage limitation needed just at the moment... (no thunder this time!).

---

On a related topic, I attended the New Professionals' Conference (#NPC2011) at the beginning of last week (but it already feels like an age ago; I've not even been that busy over the intervening period - growing old...), during which I attended a workshop called '#marketingyourselfonline'. I remember it being a lively, useful session and thought I would share some salient points from it. So I went back to my notes. Oh dear. I've gone back to not being able to read my own handwriting, something which was last a problem about 10 years ago. I clearly need to work on my IRL note-taking (or possibly use a computer at these things). Still, lets give it a go!

Consider the audience for your social media output; who are you writing for? Will what you are writing for one group alienate another? Current and future employers; peers and colleagues; friends; the rest of the world: all of these groups should be considered when spontaneously writing a tweet waiting for the bus. Pretty much everything you say online, whether considered or in the spur of the moment, is stored for posterity.

Use a good-quality photograph of yourself (good clarity, not too artful) for professional purposes, ideally a head-and-shoulders profile shot. Many people work better with faces than names (myself included), and a photograph will mean your professionally-presented profile will make a greater impact on readers.

Linkedin operates like an online business card, as well as providing a legitimate presence for your CV online; as such, it is a valuable, professional way to network online. It also features special interest groups and can provide useful contacts for your current role - so it's not just about finding new, better jobs! It is best to consider this a business tool, and omit friends from your contacts, as well as considering what you say, and how you say it, particularly carefully in order to make the best first impression. There were at least two recruitment-sector people in the workshop, and they attested to its usefulness in their line of work.

Twitter mixes professional and personal for many people; nonetheless, tweet with caution as potentially anyone can access this (unless you set your profile to private and no-one follows you; but in that case, why tweet anyway!). Interesting tweets can be retweeted far outside your original, core followers, possibly even reaching non-networked individuals. Facebook leaves you at the mercy of friends tagging moments of inebriated indecent exposure (No? Just me then...), and Myspace is... was going to laugh at Myspace being dead, but actually though I've not used it for 5 years, and deleted my profile once, there's still a lingering presence. So there's that.

Overall, just use your common sense and never slander people, even if you think the Matthew Davidson will never find out you called him a silly nincompoop on your blog.J

@dogearedlib

Saturday 25 June 2011

Charting the Known Blogosphere


So to the ‘meet the neighbours’ Thing. I adopted a strict rationale to make myself get out there and encounter new people from different sectors and areas of the country: using a random number generator and the full list of participating blogs, pick 5 (originally 8, but I am supposed to be doing my job too ) blogs to read for this article. I did hit one or two empty blogs; for those, I just rolled again.

http://ireadlotsblog.blogspot.com/. First thoughts - ‘this blog looks familiar...’. It's the same design I had for quite a while, which threw me off for a few seconds, but that’s the nature of blogspot templates...  'ireadlots' is an Australian - first try and I got a non-UK blogger! - doing a library qualification by distance learning. She outlines a few things she currently RSS subscribes to (which in no way influenced the RSS feed inclusion to the right of this page :) ) and a few bloggers he has picked to follow throughout the programme. As it’s useful to get an outside perspective, I will be dropping in on this blog throughout the run of #cpd23.

http://maries23things.blogspot.com/ scores a substantial win by using the Manic Street Preachers lyric ‘libraries gave us power’ as her title. A little more experienced, Marie joined up after seeing the #cpd23 buzz of Twitter. The blog is a bit of a stub at the moment; nonetheless, another promising blog to follow.

http://loopylor.wordpress.com/ is a blog which existed before the advent of #cpd23 (though updates appeared a little uneven before it’s repurposing - that sounds familiar...). Whilst not blogging anonymously, a cursory glance around produced little to place ‘loopylor’ in her context (a Scottish law librarian of 15ish years who occasionally blogged when on the no. 34 bus and likes Scandanavian crime drama - okay, that’s something to be going on). She says that she has joined up to the programme to support a colleague, but also hopes to gain from specific areas #cpd23 will cover. Her coverage of thing 2 was useful, as I had neglected to leave comments on others’ blogs as I read them, something I’m going to correct now...



...back. On with the fun! http://cpdnotes.wordpress.com/ feels a little like a blog in development, with a few of the ‘widgets’ still to have content added; however, the stark whiteness of the layout is pretty nice. ‘lis-britt’ appears to work as a translator (which is entirely outside my wheelhouse - it’s almost as if I intentionally set out to find different people rather than doing things randomly) and is interested in:
  • Firming up social media, her progress so far “a bit disorganized, quite spontaneous and not as planned as it could be” (this sounds much like my experience).
  • Finding her feet as an information professional and meeting other people in the profession (again, spot on).
  • Spending “some time on career planning and [identifying] opportunities that might match [her] skills and interests”.
  • Using #cpd23 as “a framework to follow [...] without leaving the house or paying expensive fees”.
Finally for this little jaunt around the blogosphere, number 199, http://libpara.blogspot.com/. This is the most developed blog of the five, but possibly also the blogger least committed to doing cpd 23. Her ‘thing 1’ in full:

Dithered about cpd23 but decided to start and see what happens..... So why do it? Hmmm good question? I guess I believe quite strongly in cpd in general - being a Chartership Support Officer for CILIP makes me quite fierce about it. That'll do for now!
So - that's Thing 1


Fair enough... I guess there are several people who’ve started this course whilst not being sure if they’ll stick with it (I might be one of them...). Upon looking at her full profile, it appears that Libby, the blogger in question, went through cam23 at some point, so I can understand some degree of reticence to follow a programme which shares DNA with an already-undertaken course. Other blog entries are much fuller, and I’ve bookmarked a few of the other articles to look at later.

So that was a whistlestop (is 2 hours ‘whistlestop’? Maybe without all the back-tracking...) tour around some participating blogs. I may still drop in on the blogs of twitterquaintances, but wanted to meet some random bloggers first to get an idea of who else is out there. It was fun, but maybe next time I’ll just scroll and blindly click rather than using a random number generator; that was probably overkill.

2 more hours of work to go; should probably go and see what needs doing...

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Blogs, blogging and reflection on coming reflection


So... why do #cpd23? Well, why not?! It's an ideal opportunity to learn a few new skills, brush up on some others, and become better at reflecting on my practice. It should provide evidence of continued personal growth for rigid mechanisms such as the Chartership process; and it will probably, at least sometimes, be entertaining! 

Of course, it does require fairly consistent blogging, which I've pretty much failed at in the past. Indeed, in order to properly engage, I need to try and stay fairly current with the Things; looking back over the past month or so, I've never quite caught up to reality, always a day or two behind on email (and considerably more with RSS feeds), rendering what I find exciting news to be old hat to those around me. Maybe the structure of the program will force me to catch up a bit and make a concerted effort to remain abreast of developments.

Another element of #cpd23 which appealed to me was the burgeoning sense of community which already surrounds the project. I'm a relatively-neophyte tweeter (who really hasn't got the whole concision of language thing down yet), and this offers a valuable opportunity to be part of something larger than myself and the local half-acre of intellectual real-estate. Of course, in reality this may translate into even more people coming to know me as a crashing bore, but you can't hide who you are forever... :)

So, what are my aims? To be better (never was good at setting SMART targets)! To engage to show professional development; to be part of (and contribute towards) something larger; to refresh my ability to write long spiels of random thoughts and make it seem like there was some underlying plan (I'm award-winning in that last area, believe it or not...). One further personal aim: to write a few more straightforward sentences, without using colons and hyphens for awkward pauses or ending a thought on ellipses - that one may take some work...

Right, onwards and outwards, to explore a selection of the other blogs who're engaged in this enterprise! Please leave comments; I welcome abuse as well as faint praise, and deserve nothing more. [/selfdeprication]

Friday 10 June 2011

Shh!!

During my PDCR (on which there is likely to be more to follow, as I vent frustration at jumping through the ridiculous hoops the process presents) the topic of roving support on our silent floor came up. This conversation is a hardy perennial within our library eco-system, with no easy solution.

This year, we have followed a 'draconian' policy (where we only tell people to be quiet three times before politely asking them to leave; we may need to revisit our definition of draconian...); however, whilst there has been largely positive feedback regarding this approach in focus groups, staffing levels render this a challenge. Further, it appears that there is inconsistency across the team, with some people tolerating low whispers and short, functional conversations. In previous years, such exchanges were the norm. Problems are exacerbated by having group study rooms on the same floor, leading to a considerable amount of noise bleed which sometimes renders efforts on the main floor ridiculous; asking whisperers to be quiet whilst people are shouting unchallenged on the other side of a plasterboard divide has led to some confrontations.

The adoption of t-shirts and sashes in a vibrant blue, to be worn when roving, have made staff more noticeable. This has had both positive and negative results, however. On the plus side, a blue-shirt in an area automatically hushes conversations to a whisper, with some students looking up guiltily as you approach to remind them of the rules. However, some have taken this change as licence to begin talking again when that member of staff leaves; further, staff who are not wearing this uniform now get odd looks when they address talking students on their way through the area. The adoption of 'uniform' has also increased the perception (on the part of both staff and customers) of rover-as-policeman, with focus increasingly on enforcing rules and regulations, to the detriment of offering on-the-spot support for problems.

I'm not saying that I am not equally guilty of falling into the 'enforcer' mindset at times, nor that my colleagues are doing anything inherently wrong. However, there remain issues surrounding definition of what is, and is not, acceptable, alongside consistency in applying the rules. I have tried to think of suggestions for ways forward, but they all seem trite, have cost implications or lay the blame on single groups. Ultimately, students say they do want silence: they just can't agree on what silence is.

***

Since first drafting this post, I have done a rotation of roving upstairs as a 'blue-shirt', during which I:

  • quelled noise slightly aggressively (snapping at one girl who began speaking again just after I had told her group off);
  • sarcastically told one individual off for belching and then laughing about it (actually, this is another problem of definition - bodily noises (such as belches and hiccups) and giggling can be more disturbing than low chatter, but our  signage says 'no talking', so it's hard to address this);
  • 'patrolled' the floor, perpetuating the expectation that the few students up there could not be trusted to be quiet of their own accord;
  • went on my break, leaving no-one to maintain the quiet atmosphere I had to that point inculcated. 

Maybe I'm the problem...

Tuesday 7 June 2011

#CPD23

Wow, I really followed through on maintaining a blog there...

New plan: 23 things for professional development, to fit in with the whole 'summer of self-improvement' thing I'm pretending will happen this week. We'll see how far I get... Also, I'm attending a few events and stuff in the next month or so, so I'll probably write a post on each of those. The impetus for this new wind is two-fold:
  1. I've pestered someone into mentoring me for Chartership
  2. It's really time to actively pursue new jobs, so evidence of development since finishing my MSc would help!
There was no reason to do that as a list other than to play with the GUI editing elements of Blogspot. If I can be bothered, I may yet use HTML/CSS to alter the look of the page; however, I suspect the template will suffice for my purposes...