More trouble with the thinging in Twitterland

So I think that I must be one of the first to have done things 10 and 11 since I could only find Katharine on Twitter.

I had never used Twitter or Facebook before today. In fact I had avoided them like the plague because it seemed to be the narcissists dream. To gaze into my own mundane existence in the 'cyber-world'. To tell the world just how wonderful I am. Just look at my portrait, my friends list. We become enraptured by our cyber-image and cannot but stare at ourselves. Besides who cares if Fry has got up and had eggs for breakfast!

However, I have entered this world and just because it is the narcissists dream does not mean that it can't be useful. In fact, I can see that it may have some real functionality for the library environment. In Twitter you can direct others to posts, keep up with the latest news and keep in contact with people. I think that unlike a blog the twitter stream is more immediate. It is less meditated and so it is also less involved. But it gives one

Twitter then has its uses in being informal and immediate unlike an email but like the telephone. It can be directional because of the ability to link material. And the retweet option allows an issue to remain 'hot' or reignite the topic.

The ability to restrict tweeting to certain people is quite good. I can see this working if you wanted to get any information down as it occurs to you and only to those to whom it may concern. UPDATE: I didn't realise that the Message function was restricted to one person. Every tweet made is viewable by those who follow you or look at your profile. Still the restriction may come in handy in some circumstances.

Will I use Twitter in the future? I will look back over it as more people join the #UoW23 twitter world. And I may find that I have use for it elsewhere. Again though the danger is that ones stream of consciousness can just flow on. We may become as tragic as poor Echo.

More thinging with Doodles and Foxes

Doodle

I had never used Doodle before today and indeed had little need or recourse to do so. The format is very simple and accessible. It did seem to become messy with all the incoming emails that one gets. There are the emails with links and emails you get each time a participant gives feedback. And it is not terribly convenient writing a separate email to invite the participants and copying over the link. However, once all the feedback is given it is clear what is happening. I have seen the Outlook form of Scheduling and have used it and that appears to be more effective from a work perspective simply because it ties in with the work email.

Firefox

I can barely even remember a world without Firefox. Back when it was first introduced I remember being very much in the mindset of 'No! I like my IE format and browsing, keep away ye heathen foxes'. But since I converted to Firefoxism I have never looked back. The only reason I ever open IE is to look at the slight differences of appearance that occur in the Millennium OPAC. I never use anything at home apart from Firefox. (I haven't been quite convinced of the power of Chromism and only occasionally use it. (I must confess my dislike of the Google giant, even while having a Gmail account, using blogger, using Google Books, iGoogle and ... well nearly everything-Google).

I love the add-ons which are always growing. I do think the background themes are a bit naff and indeed I find them most distracting.

Still a most useful session of Thinging. I look forward to the next round of Things.

More thinging with 23 Things

I had already set up my iGoogle account and had used it vaguely. I think RSS feeds are great in theory, but I find that I ignore most of them when they come up. It is a lot of messing around getting all the feeds you want. I tend to keep up with the blogs I like by having them permanently open in tabs on Firefox and I use Xmarks to keep all my bookmarks. Still it is fun to play with iGoogle. I'll will certainly give it second chance... or is that a fifth chance?

UPDATE:

Proof-reading the your blog posts is a very good idea.

The First Thing to do

Is create a blog entry on the blog. No wait that was the second Thing. Better get on with the third...