Over the Summer Vacation Jane Acred, the Assistant Librarian, participated in '23 Things Cambridge', an online Web 2.0 programme for University of Cambridge departmental and college librarians, see: http://23thingscambridge.blogspot.com/.'23 Things' was a self-directed course designed to introduce University of Cambridge UL, faculty and college library staff to Web 2.0 technologies (such as blogs, wikis, Google documents and apps, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Mendeley etc.). The aim was for staff to spend a little time each week over 12 weeks exploring online tools for communication, promotion, and new ways of working. Throughout the course the practical application and relevance of the tools to the library setting were explored. The programme ran from 24 May to 27 August 2010.
The course was quite demanding - each week participants were introduced to 2 things and were asked to spend 1 hour on each, and to blog about them - but in reality Jane sometimes had to spend much longer than that if the things wouldn't work, and often setting them up took longer than expected.
As a result of the course Jane has introduced using Doodle to schedule the Saturday invigilation rota, created a Google calendar that we can both access, and we are planning to use Delicious to create a list of useful bookmarks for specific types of reader. It has been really useful for Jane to learn about and use the new technologies that our readers are now using. We both now understand them and can develop them to our own advantage, and support our readers' use of them.
Not all of the participants managed to complete the course, but Jane persisted and attended the 'Oscars' style Grand Closing Ceremony at the end of the course, where she received her Amazon gift vouchers. Well done to Jane!
In case you're interested, here's the complete list of Things:
Week 1 (24 May)
• Thing 1 - Set up your Google ID and build an iGoogle page.
• Thing 2 - Add the RSS feed of the Cam23 blog to your iGoogle page.
Week 2 (31 May)
• Thing 3 - Create your own 23 Things blog on which you will record your progress.
• Thing 4 - Register your blog. Add a screenshot. Explore other Cam23 blogs.
Week 3 (07 June)
• Thing 5 - Use Doodle to schedule a peer support meeting with another participant.
• Thing 6 - Sign up for Google Calendar and add it to your iGoogle page.
Week 4 (14 June)
• Thing 7 - Create a Twitter account and interact with other Cam23 ‘tweeple’.
• Thing 8 - Review your blog tags.
Week 5 (21 June)
• Thing 9 - Explore Flickr.
• Thing 10 - Using images and Flickr Creative Commons.
Week 6 (28 June)
• Thing 11 - Explore SlideShare.
• Thing 12 - Investigate Delicious.
Week 7 (05 July)
• Thing 13 - Reflection week. Think about what you’ve explored so far and the tools you may adopt.
Week 8 (12 July)
• Thing 14 - Explore LibraryThing.
• Thing 15 - Create a library or personal LibraryThing account.
Week 9 (19 July)
• Thing 16 - Explore library Facebook pages.
• Thing 17 - Using LinkedIn
Week 10 (26 July)
• Thing 18 - Explore Zotero and Mendeley.
• Thing 19 - Blog about using the Things for library marketing.
Week 11 (02 August)
• Thing 20 - Create a Google Document and share it.
• Thing 21 - Explore podcasting: YouTube, Audacity and iTunes.
Week 12 (09 August)
• Thing 22 - Explore and evaluate a selection of wikis.
• Thing 23 - Explore Wordle and blog about your Cam23 experience.
