Thing 13: Reflective Online Networker

I had better get on with this as I have left it for a while and don’t want to drop out as I had to do last year.  The reflection is always the hardest bit!  As I mentioned on the post for Thing 10, I want to leave Facebook as a more private rather than professional networking tool.  I have liked a number of professional organisations but I have, I hope, my profile locked down enough so that if I happen to have my photo taken with a glass in hand and is tagged by someone, only my network will see it!  The online footprint is very important.  I rarely use Twitter except for conferences I can’t attend where others share images and comment on any shocking revelations by the presenters!  I have been networking for a number of years at conferences and seminars and find lunch, breaks and dinner the best time to learn how someone is handling similar issues to myself or coming up with innovative methods.

For Thing 11, I know the advice of ensuring the professional image used is consistent across all online profiles, if only I could use an airbrushed one!  I have been on LinkedIn for a number of years even though I have not been applying for jobs.  I have had connection requests from people I don’t know so I see it being used by e.g. financial service providers as a way of connecting to potential customers.  I didn’t set up the ORCID number as I don’t consider myself a professional researcher.

One of the best things about working in a library in a higher education institute is the opportunity for collaboration with colleagues from all areas.  I was involved in an IT community of practice in relation to Teaching and Learning with lecturers a few years ago where we presented at EdTech.  the use of Google Docs for student collaboration was a colleague’s topic.  As mentioned in the Thing 12 post, our recent LMS refresh project offered the opportunity of collaboration with service providers and colleagues from other institutes.  The tools outlined; Google Drive, Trello and Skype were invaluable during the process.  I have been using Google’s suite of docs, spreadsheets and forms for a number of years and they are handy for sharing information with external colleagues.  As I mentioned, I was so impressed by Trello at a conference presentation that I started using it straight away to try to organise tasks.

Sorry, if my thought flow seems a bit disjointed.  I have to get the rest of the Christmas shopping done.  Happy Christmas!