So I've been thinking about everything that I have done over the course of this class and I think I have gained quite a few skills. Looking back at my learning goals they were kind of vague and ill defined; I guess this is because I didn't really know precisely what the course content was (I should have read the course guide more carefully!).

Overall I am very happy with the skills I have gained (and I feel certain that I have gained skills I did not possess before). At the outset of each week I may not have understood the point of the technology we were working with or how the skills we were developing would fit into my professional repertoire but after having worked on things for weeks now that I look back at what I have achieved and learnt I feel gratified.

I'd like to give a brief rundown of each week and how I think it helped me.

Week 1; so this week was an introduction to blogging and I stated my learning goals (briefly). I think that in stating my goals I was a little bit vague. This is probably because I missed the first class and I did not have a good handle on what the structure of the course was going to be. Still I would say that I achieved my learning goals and a whole lot more besides. 

Week 2; this was the week when we set up our twitter accounts. I learnt a lot about social media this week. One thing I really liked learning was how to tie together different types of social media (for example I learnt how to embed a twitter stream into a blog which I did not know how to do before). I also ended up following lots of awesome information management related twitters (like the National Archives, The State Library of Victory and Museum Victoria!)

Week 3; in week 3 we had a look at wikis and shared created content. Despite the fact that I was already quite into updating Wikipedia I did learn quite a lot this week because we downloaded EndNote. This was my first time using EndNote and I think it is fantastic. I am hoping to use it in all my essays from now on. I did learn quite a lot about other such sites though! I explored A Billion Graves and found my ancestors and relatives graves logged/cataloged there. I also learnt about Trove's text correction project!

Week 4; this was not a great week for me as I was having trouble with insomnia at the time. I found that I was not able to concentrate very well. For some reason I found that doing HTML classes in Code Academy was quite easy (the lessons were fantastic and I have done HTML in the past). Out group did not end up using Google docs this week but we made up for it the next week.

Week 5; this week I explored using Google docs and I also singed up for the social bookmarking site Delicious. I also ended up creating a Google map and embedding it in my blog.

So overall I feel I have learnt quite a lot. These skills i have picked up will hopefully be useful for me in my career. 

So its a little late but our group has set up a Google doc to talk about social bookmarking sites in. I am quite happy that this as eventuated as I felt like I was missing something when I looked at them on my own. Talking to other people about it I found out that most people are far more likely to use Bookmarks on their browser when they find sites they like/think could be a useful resource. I personally never use Bookmarks and I prefer to simply remember my favorite sites and useful resources. This will have to change as it is not very becoming of an Information Professional! With that in mind I signed up to Delicious and gave it a go. Although the conversation in Google docs inspired me to try out Delicious and allowed me to look at social bookmarking sites from a fresh perspective I did not feel I learnt too much from using Google docs as I have used it so much in the past. I was also inspired by the conversation we had on Google docs to check out the documentary Citizenfour. It was actually recommended I watch this in another class as well and I have to say I really liked it. I think ti was really well put together (but I might be saying that because it kind of confirmed a lot of the beliefs I already had about the internet and surveillance). On a related note I'd like to give a quick shout out to Sousveillance which I think is a really cool concept; check it out on Wikipedia.

I've also had a go at Google mapping! I don't know why but I decided to do downtown Seattle. I suppose I was thinking of places I would like to go on holiday and I would love to do a tour of the USA at some point. I actually really like the idea of Google Mapping, you could plan out a holiday, add an itinerary and put all the places you would like to visit on the map.

So I'm feeling a damn sight better today than I was last week (a good nights sleep is a beautiful thing and should be treasured) and I'm having another go at HTML. I still can't remember everything I used to the last time I used HTML but I'm finding codeacademy is a fantastic resource. I've already finished the first two lessons and I now remember/have been shown how to ad hyperlinks and embed images (along with the basic structuring of a HTML document). I am very keen on completing the HTML lessons from this website as I feel it is a shame to have spent time learning such a useful skill only to have it become so rusty; I think knowing HTML is a very useful skill to be able to bring to a workplace. I will try to finish the entire codeacademy section on HTML and CSS over the holiday, although as I have 4 essays due in at the end of my week off I may not have time...

I also need to have a go at Google mapping! But I'm hooked on codeacademy!

So in class today I have been commenting on other peoples blogs and checking out delicious.com. Maybe its just the fact that I only slept 2 hours last night and only 4 hours the night before but I am having trouble figuring out what delicious and similar sites are all about. I suppose I understand the concept but I just don't think I would ever be personally interested in using such a service...I am however finding EndNote to be of continuing use.

I also had a look at writing some HTML today going just from what I can remember (not sure why I chose to have a go at this, suppose I was curious). Turns out that after 2 years of not writing HTML I pretty much can't remember anything (again maybe my sleep deprivation is contributing).

We did not end up doing any work in a Google-docs this week but I think most of the members of the group have used Google-docs before. I had to use it heavily for other Information Subjects in my first semester (I put together a Gantt chart and a business report using it). I actually use OpenOffice and Google-docs rather than Microsoft Office.

So in class today we installed Endnote7. I was able to format it and get it working with OpenOffice (including getting the Harvard6 reference style set up as the default). We were also editing Wikipedia! I used to edit Wikipedia a lot. I spent many of my lunchtimes during my undergrad in the library looking up articles which I could help update using reference books from La Trobe's collection. Back then I had a dew accounts but I was only able to remember one of them. This account only had a few edits and I think I may have made it when one of my accounts was temporarily suspended for posting too much (probably posting too much in a controversial subject). Only one of the pages I edited on this account has kept the formatting I gave it. Behold the humble Handfish (click the image to see the wiki page).

 

Something else I learned about today which I found fascinating was the Billion Graves project. Using that website I was able to find the graves of my Grandparents and my Great Grandparents. I love seeing people working together to catalog and codify everyday things. It reminds me of the work I've done one the Biodiversity Heritage Library online website scanning old naturalism books.

So I wanted to update my blog after the second week of classes. Things are looking up as being able to attend a tutorial meant I got to meet and work with the people in my group. Being able to cooperate with other people (and also just being able to chat casually about blogging and Twitter) was a huge help and I am glad that everyone in my group is friendly and helpful. Being able to ask questions directly of Huan when I was unsure was also fantastic as were just hearing his suggestions/directions.

Establishing a Twitter account was interesting; I was somewhat surprised and displeased by how much information they were able to pull from my Google account. I had a bit of trouble linking my twitter feed to my blog, in the end I had to change my layout to make it work. I don't really understand microblogging from a personal perspective. For an organisation or a famous/powerful celebrity or politician I understand that it would be a very powerful tool for disseminating information and just keeping people updated on what you are doing. For myself though I don't really have any important information to share and indeed my concerns with privacy make me disinclined to post at all.

For the coming weeks I'm looking forward to doing some work with HTML and brushing up my knowledge in that area (haven't used HTML in so long that I can't even really remember any of it). I will also think about editing my blog posts before posting them instead of writing them 'stream of consciousness' style.

Well my blog is off to an inauspicious start. I was unable to attend the first tutorial this Wednesday which means that I have not been assigned a group! I am going to email Huan and ask if I can join a group so that at least I'll be able to comment online and people will be able to view what I've written. Still missing out on class discussion and instruction is unfortunate; hopefully I'll be able to make it up in class next week.

So a few thoughts about blogging to start the blog proper. Firstly I have never blogged personally before (although I read the blogs of other people on occasion). I have however blogged in a professional capacity in both an information management role and in some freelance web design work. I volunteer at Museum Victoria after having done my placement for this degree there and part of what I do is updating the Museum Victoria Library's blog.

I feel there is something of a clash between my personal view of blogging and my professional view of blogging. I have never commented on a blog before and I do not follow the blogs of people that I know personally. But I love following the blogs of professionals and experts. So for me blogging is not a social experience but a way of getting information and staying informed. I feel that this blog will be a learning experience for me in that I will have use this blog in a personal and social way (especially with commenting on other students blogs; I have never commented on a blog before). I am also hoping to learn some other skills during this course/through this blog project (I am most looking forward to HTML!).

My opinion of the linked information management and technology blogs was somewhat conflicted. I liked some of the information they provided but many of them were full of personal information about the lives and feelings of the blog writers that I did not care about or find interesting. My favourite blog layout was for The Free Range Librarian but I did not enjoy all the personal information and purple prose.