Thursday, June 30, 2011

Thing 2, Thing 3 and Boomer Angst

The blog recommendations in Thing 2 were very helpful. I have subscribed to "Librarian by Day" & NeLearns 2.0 on Facebook. Of course, my blog mentor is NP's own Dancing Thoughts from Cranefarm.

The best part of the NCompass live presentation was listening to Charlotte and Niamh. Their enthusiasm is contagious! In addition, the global scope the project demonstrates the power of social media.

Now, Thing 3 really got me to thinking(always a dangerous thing)about my online identity. I don't have a strong online identity, only this blog as my professional platform and a Facebook page w/a small friends list for my personal life. I have spent 35 years or more crafting my professional "brand" in my community, so do I really need to increase my online presence? Do I have time to maintain it? The answer to the time dilemma is, probably not.

So, if I were to expand my own online brand I would use the suggestions from Boyd and Fleet. I would connect to the global community using cpd23 as a staring point. I would become more vocal in Facebook, make more comments to the participants of NElearns and cultivate more connections in the library community outside of where I live.

As part of Thing 3 I did Google myself. 14 Gayla Ward's are found online. Unfortunately, one is a murder victim. Yikes! That dampened my interest in the exercise.

Thing 3 did make me examine how I do present myself online and how I could expand what I have already established.

Monday, June 20, 2011

CPD23: Thing 1

I learned a lot from the first 23 Things, so I'm excited to get started with cpd23.

Where am I in my career? In 2006 I started with Basic Skills classes and volunteering in the Public Library. A year and a half ago I was given the opportunity to find a new job (I had been employed in retail for over 30 years). I was very lucky to find a full time job and I'm still volunteering at NPPL. I hope to keep my certification up to date and so the 23 Things for Career Development is just what I need!

Thing 1 Blogging. Even though I have been blogging for a couple of years, it takes me forever to compose a post. I hope to become more comfortable with the process! No more dithering over what to write and how to say it. I'm hoping to gain some ideas and insights from other blogs and bloggers. So here we go and let's hope I can get my next post done in less than an hour.