I've been using Google Calendar for three years because I need access to my events while working on as many as five different computers. At the library I work in a Windows environment, but at home I have a Mac. So, my calendar has to be platform neutral. In addition, I want to be able to share my events with my wife at her workplace. Google Calendar allows me to easily manage these requirements.
I have imported/subscribed to several public calendars, such as US and Christian Holidays, and, of course, the schedule of my favorite college football team. I have imported/subscribed to my wife's work calendar, and iCal on my Mac. I also download or share my Google Calendar with my iPhone and iPad.
Of course, since Google Calendar is web-based, I can access it from any of the computers I use at work via the web browser.
One thing not covered in Thing 8's tutorial is setting up alarms. I find important events are much easier to remember if I get a timely reminder. The alarm is flexible to allow for the reminder to occur at a user-selected interval prior to the event. It could be 30 minutes for something that happens at work, to 24 hours for birthdays and anniversaries to that I have time to purchase a gift.
I know that some businesses with small staffs have utilized Google Calendar to schedule employees' work. I tried doing it for a branch library, but our needs were pretty complicated, and I couldn't get it to display in an easy to understand manner.
However, it's really nice to have a universally available, free, and easy to use calendar to keep my schedule.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
CPD23 - Thing #7 - F2F or Professional Networks
I have my feet in two professions. My degrees and most of my career have been spent in the Music Education field. I have been a public school and college educator for over 25 years, and started working in the library field about 3 1/2 years ago.
So, my professional memberships are in the Music Education field and include: Music Educators National Conference, Nebraska Music Educators Association, Nebraska State Bandmasters ASsociation, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, College Band Directors National Association, American School Band Directors Association, and most recently the Association of Concert Bands.
I receive publications from all of these organizations, most with articles to promote professional development. They cover many topics, including: anaylses of composer's works, methods of teaching instruments, methods of conducting effective rehearsals, planning interesting concerts, making wise equipment purchases, traveling with your ensemble, and so on.
Most of these organizations host yearly professional conferences. I regularly attend those in Nebraska, and occasionaly travel to other cities as well. Usually, I am inspired by a great performance by a featured ensemble or by an especially instructive clinic session. I enjoy seeing colleagues, many of whom I have known for a number of years.
It is my priviledge to have been elected to serve the profession as Research and College/University Affairs Chair for the Nebraska Music Educators Association, and as President of the Nebraska chapter of Phi Beta Mu.
So, I am well versed in the role of Professional Organizations, and their benefit in professional development. And while I am interested in developing my knowledge and service excellence in my current position in the public library, I am not pursuing memberships in professional organizations at this time.
So, my professional memberships are in the Music Education field and include: Music Educators National Conference, Nebraska Music Educators Association, Nebraska State Bandmasters ASsociation, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, College Band Directors National Association, American School Band Directors Association, and most recently the Association of Concert Bands.
I receive publications from all of these organizations, most with articles to promote professional development. They cover many topics, including: anaylses of composer's works, methods of teaching instruments, methods of conducting effective rehearsals, planning interesting concerts, making wise equipment purchases, traveling with your ensemble, and so on.
Most of these organizations host yearly professional conferences. I regularly attend those in Nebraska, and occasionaly travel to other cities as well. Usually, I am inspired by a great performance by a featured ensemble or by an especially instructive clinic session. I enjoy seeing colleagues, many of whom I have known for a number of years.
It is my priviledge to have been elected to serve the profession as Research and College/University Affairs Chair for the Nebraska Music Educators Association, and as President of the Nebraska chapter of Phi Beta Mu.
So, I am well versed in the role of Professional Organizations, and their benefit in professional development. And while I am interested in developing my knowledge and service excellence in my current position in the public library, I am not pursuing memberships in professional organizations at this time.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
CPD 23 Thing #6 - Online Networks
Thing #6 presented networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as professional resources CILIP and LISNPNP. I was already familiar with LinkedIn and Facebook, having a presence on both. CPD23's blog linked to some wonderful individuals on LinkedIn whose resumes and profiles were very well developed. As I continue to work on my branding I will return to these profiles as models for how to develop my page. Seeing that LISNPN and CILIP seem to be UK associations, I'll forego getting involved with them right now.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Cpd 23 #5 - Reflective Practice
I find true reflective practice to be challenging. Like many others, I am on the go, and have many activites crammed into my life. So, finding, or taking, the time to reflect is difficult.
From the UK version of CPD 23 I learned a simple three- step approach to reflection. 1) What?, 2) So What., 3) Now What? Let's review and reflect on our participation so far.
1) What? we've restarted our dormant blog, viewed colleagues' blogs, considered our public brand, and lookead at some social networking tools.
2) So What? Blogging is a way of onlline sharing our discoveries in this professional development exercise. since we're seperated by distance and are forced to communicate online the blog serves as a good tool for accoomplishing that purpose. Actually, just writing itself is a form of reflection. Hence the diary or journal.
Branding is a concept that I became familiar with a few years ago, although I didn't actively organize my online personna to consolidate it. Since rreading that toopic I have made a few adjustments, notably on my LinkedIn profile, which is dedicated to my music personna. I have more difficulty consolidating my facebook and twitter personnas as they serve for my two careers, librarianship and conducting, and my family and friends as well.
3) Now What? AsI continue to work through the 23 Things I'll keep blogging, perhaps it will become a habit. I'll also read colleagues blog to keep up with their experiences and discover ways that I might continue to grow. I'll keep monitoring my brand on my online social and professional networks and in print media for my conducting.
Whew! That's a lot of reflecting for me. On to the next activity, and on to Thing #6.
From the UK version of CPD 23 I learned a simple three- step approach to reflection. 1) What?, 2) So What., 3) Now What? Let's review and reflect on our participation so far.
1) What? we've restarted our dormant blog, viewed colleagues' blogs, considered our public brand, and lookead at some social networking tools.
2) So What? Blogging is a way of onlline sharing our discoveries in this professional development exercise. since we're seperated by distance and are forced to communicate online the blog serves as a good tool for accoomplishing that purpose. Actually, just writing itself is a form of reflection. Hence the diary or journal.
Branding is a concept that I became familiar with a few years ago, although I didn't actively organize my online personna to consolidate it. Since rreading that toopic I have made a few adjustments, notably on my LinkedIn profile, which is dedicated to my music personna. I have more difficulty consolidating my facebook and twitter personnas as they serve for my two careers, librarianship and conducting, and my family and friends as well.
3) Now What? AsI continue to work through the 23 Things I'll keep blogging, perhaps it will become a habit. I'll also read colleagues blog to keep up with their experiences and discover ways that I might continue to grow. I'll keep monitoring my brand on my online social and professional networks and in print media for my conducting.
Whew! That's a lot of reflecting for me. On to the next activity, and on to Thing #6.
Friday, July 22, 2011
CPD23 - #3 Your Personal Brand
I've been aware of branding, especially for organizations, for awhile, and I have even checked my name on google a couple of times to see if I'm even listed. Surprise! My new google+ account profile comes up first on the search page. Who knew?
I show up most often under my full name and secondly under my self-assumed nickname. Often there are links between the two. There is some consistency with use of name, but less so with images. I like two professional photos that I display on Facebook, google+, and my blog, but for some reason have chosen a "Flat Stanley" for Twitter. Perhaps because when I first started posting Twitter was more a newsy "here's what I'm doing" kind of app. I need to change my old photo on LibraryThing, and maybe Twitter, too.
Since I work in the library field, but really live in the wind band world, I guess I'll have to live with a little inconsistency to my total brand. Does this mean I'm schizophrenic? Should I consider separating my two identities? How does that work on Facebook where I crossover?
For now, I think I'll clean up photo images and pay more attention to what I write, and how I write it.
I show up most often under my full name and secondly under my self-assumed nickname. Often there are links between the two. There is some consistency with use of name, but less so with images. I like two professional photos that I display on Facebook, google+, and my blog, but for some reason have chosen a "Flat Stanley" for Twitter. Perhaps because when I first started posting Twitter was more a newsy "here's what I'm doing" kind of app. I need to change my old photo on LibraryThing, and maybe Twitter, too.
Since I work in the library field, but really live in the wind band world, I guess I'll have to live with a little inconsistency to my total brand. Does this mean I'm schizophrenic? Should I consider separating my two identities? How does that work on Facebook where I crossover?
For now, I think I'll clean up photo images and pay more attention to what I write, and how I write it.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
CPD23 - Thing 2 - Blogs continued
As a part of setting up a blog to comment on our own personal development, CPD23 members were asked to visit other members blogs. Since I work and live in Nebraska I decided to look for colleagues. Along the way I discovered some interesting things.
1. CPD23 is sponsored by UK librarians, so most of the blogs and news listed on the CPD23 blog are - British. They've been setting up some area meetings - in the UK. OK, time to look somewhere else.
2. I imported CPD23 to my iPad's "Flipboard" app to make it easier to read the blog posts. But, I got mostly the UK info when I wanted the Nebraska stuff. I finally located the Nebraska page and now can view colleagues' posts.
3. Many of my colleagues submitted their blogs from previous years' 23 Things and haven't yet started blogging about this program. I also noted that most of the colleagues are from rural libraries. Since I work in Omaha we won't find a lot in common. Fortunately I also live in a small town with a library of its own. I think this year's 23 Things will teach me more about what a small town librarian's life is like.
Finally, I amamazed at how quickly one can fall behind in this project, and I appreciate receiving Twitter posts from CPD23 to help keep me on track.
1. CPD23 is sponsored by UK librarians, so most of the blogs and news listed on the CPD23 blog are - British. They've been setting up some area meetings - in the UK. OK, time to look somewhere else.
2. I imported CPD23 to my iPad's "Flipboard" app to make it easier to read the blog posts. But, I got mostly the UK info when I wanted the Nebraska stuff. I finally located the Nebraska page and now can view colleagues' posts.
3. Many of my colleagues submitted their blogs from previous years' 23 Things and haven't yet started blogging about this program. I also noted that most of the colleagues are from rural libraries. Since I work in Omaha we won't find a lot in common. Fortunately I also live in a small town with a library of its own. I think this year's 23 Things will teach me more about what a small town librarian's life is like.
Finally, I amamazed at how quickly one can fall behind in this project, and I appreciate receiving Twitter posts from CPD23 to help keep me on track.
Monday, July 4, 2011
CPD23 - Thing #4, Twitter, RSS, and Pushnote
OK, I'm doing some of the things out of order. We just returned from our Summer vacation to see all 3 kids and 6 grandkids. For awhile we didn't have wifi access, and then we were just too pooped to pop. However, following a wonderful nap and waiting for the Fourth of July specials to come on TV, we're up and at it!
I've been using Twitter for a couple of years now, although I was on a self-imposed hiatus for about 9 months. When I first started using it Twitter seemed like a Round Robin conversation where everyone speaks and no one listens. Have you ever been in a conversation where you were talking about one thing, and then after pausing, the other party began speaking about something completely unrelated? Well, that was Twitter--then.
Twitter:--now has morphed into sharing news and other websites with your followers. It's a way of keeping followers up on the latest news, and as such is a valuable tool for libraries. My branch has several programs each week, so there's always something new. We can communicate with patrons who are followers to keep them updated on the latest program. I like this approach to twitter much better.
RSS feeds: It's very easy to get inundated with RSS feeds and not have time to read them all. Be careful what you sign up for! Again RSS can be a valuable resource for libraries in communicating new events to patrons. Recently, I purchased an iPad and found a magazine-style RSS aggregator that I like very much. It's called "Flipboard." It comes with facebook and twitter feeds as well as news, sports, lifestyle, tech, and flickr interesting. You can add RSS feeds of your own to the app. All the pages show photos, icons, and text arranged in a magazine format--so very visual and easy to read. If you have an iPad check it out!
The new thing for me is Pushnote. I had not heard of this app/extention before and am still learning about it. Setting up a Pushnote account was easy as was the download and installation of the extention in my Safari browser. Initially I tried downloading it on my iPad, but that didn't seem to work. Pushnote's fax indicates that mobile extentions will arrive soon.
My Safari browser has a new star located in the address bar. When I click on it a new window opens with the current browser page listed. Supposedly if others have rated the page the star will turn colors. Maybe it's if other friends have rated the page the star turns color. None of my facebook or twitter friends apparently use pushnote yet. Anyway after assigning 1-5 stars you can add a short comment about the page. You can also view other "hot" pages highly rated by other pushnote users.
For Pushnote to become a valuable library tool more folks will have to begin using it, and I certainly have to keep playing with it to learn more of its functions.
Are any of you using Pushnote? How valuable have you found it to be?
I've been using Twitter for a couple of years now, although I was on a self-imposed hiatus for about 9 months. When I first started using it Twitter seemed like a Round Robin conversation where everyone speaks and no one listens. Have you ever been in a conversation where you were talking about one thing, and then after pausing, the other party began speaking about something completely unrelated? Well, that was Twitter--then.
Twitter:--now has morphed into sharing news and other websites with your followers. It's a way of keeping followers up on the latest news, and as such is a valuable tool for libraries. My branch has several programs each week, so there's always something new. We can communicate with patrons who are followers to keep them updated on the latest program. I like this approach to twitter much better.
RSS feeds: It's very easy to get inundated with RSS feeds and not have time to read them all. Be careful what you sign up for! Again RSS can be a valuable resource for libraries in communicating new events to patrons. Recently, I purchased an iPad and found a magazine-style RSS aggregator that I like very much. It's called "Flipboard." It comes with facebook and twitter feeds as well as news, sports, lifestyle, tech, and flickr interesting. You can add RSS feeds of your own to the app. All the pages show photos, icons, and text arranged in a magazine format--so very visual and easy to read. If you have an iPad check it out!
The new thing for me is Pushnote. I had not heard of this app/extention before and am still learning about it. Setting up a Pushnote account was easy as was the download and installation of the extention in my Safari browser. Initially I tried downloading it on my iPad, but that didn't seem to work. Pushnote's fax indicates that mobile extentions will arrive soon.
My Safari browser has a new star located in the address bar. When I click on it a new window opens with the current browser page listed. Supposedly if others have rated the page the star will turn colors. Maybe it's if other friends have rated the page the star turns color. None of my facebook or twitter friends apparently use pushnote yet. Anyway after assigning 1-5 stars you can add a short comment about the page. You can also view other "hot" pages highly rated by other pushnote users.
For Pushnote to become a valuable library tool more folks will have to begin using it, and I certainly have to keep playing with it to learn more of its functions.
Are any of you using Pushnote? How valuable have you found it to be?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
