Umbrella: The Most Wasteful Movie Corporation Ever

Umbrella: The Most Wasteful Movie Corporation Ever | Cracked.com

This is a great, fun post.


Ironically I read this post right in the middle of my visit to the Library Umbrella conference 2011...

New The Current State of Social Media – Stephen's Lighthouse

New The Current State of Social Media – Stephen's Lighthouse

A great info-graphic from Stephen's Lightouse. Check out the blog for loads of useful and fun facts and links.

If I were Google...

If I were Google...

I would forget trying to compete with Facebook in appealing to the "everyman" (and woman and child) and try and solve some of the real issues affecting information professional everyday.

Creating value would be my goal, giving access to scholarly articles via Google accounts (maybe via publisher deals, hello Springer, Elsevier etc etc), offering alerting services based on cluster searching (see f1000Medicine who offer this to their contributors, the one feature of the service I miss most from my time there and wish I could take with me).

Allow users to make a customisable "library" of all the pages they visit most often, and offer suggestions of other good information sources, make this an interactive dashboard where I can type in a Search term and see everything that my favorite pages offer. Like Reader for searching...

Solve my information overload and access issues, then Google you would be my hero.

So go on Google, stop messing around with social media and get back to your roots. Make my life easier.

23 Things for Professional Development: Thing 4: Current awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote

23 Things for Professional Development: Thing 4: Current awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote

I don't use Twitter. I tried, I really did, but found that as no one was following me it was a bit like sitting at home on the sofa talking to myself, and lets face it no one but cat loving spinsters like to admit to that kind of thing in public! I admit that it must be great if you can get into it, but so far, the enthusiasm has escaped me!

I use Reader. (n fact, I think I may be an addict). It has become a bit of a daily ritual to check in to my reader first thing in the morning and at lunch (and in my breaks and whenever I need some head space...). I love to see who is out there and what the hot topics in conversation are among those in the know.

On a more serious note I have found it an invaluable professional development tool. threads like techcrunch and techdirt haven't just allowed me to follow current events in my sphere of interest but have also allowed me to get exposure to a wide range of topics, which in real life would be nigh on impossible.

Using reader is really convenient and I like the customizability of the format (see all, see only new post etc) and I like how easy it is to add or remove content. Because I like my life by the KISS (Keep It Simple Spoopid!) rule.

The only thing I feel frustrated with is that it is hard to keep different areas of interest separate, so my Hecklerspray gets mixed up with my Phil Bradley (an association which I am sure he would be horrified by) and it would be "awesome" if Google could figure out a way to allow you to stratify your interest on reader (hey, here is a neat idea, how about circles, where you can select areas of interest or people so that your content is streamed.... oh...).

I haven't used pushnote before, I guess that it is becuase I am more of a follower than a content creator.


I tend to stick to some tried and tested websites which keep me interested too, so mumsnet, which believe it or not is a good source of news and views. Daily mash (because reading the newspapers gets me down and if I spot an interesting story here I can always look it up on t'interweb). 


I also, check on journal tocs and have various search alerts which send results direct to my inbox (from BioMedSearch), but these tend to be work related.

Hmmm, all of the above gets me thinking, is there such thing as an online introvert?

Mothering Sunday (And Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday,......

Being a mum is great. That is an important thing to note, because I forget that sometimes (ok, lots) and tend to get carried away moaning, but it is. It really is:

The funny thing is though that I have really struggled to adapt to begin a mum. Not in terms of caring for my son (yes, yes, shameless self praise, but it's true!). I could change nappies, feed and clothe him from the word go, I am not sure where I learn;t but I must have king of osmosed into me over the years.




No, what has been really tough has been adjusting mentally. I thought I was tough. Hah. I was wrong.I struggled, to be available at all times with no downtime, to have to be happy and cheerful and willing to play at the drop of a hat, to have endless energy for teaching words, numbers colors, to be interesting, but most of all I struggled to meet the expectations surrounding what kind of mother I will be from all my friends and family. I didn't want to let anyone down.




Slowly, I am coming to realize, that it is ok. I am in charge of my son and of my parenting, and so long as he gets the explanations he needs about why I am behaving the way I am and so long as I am really honest with him (about everything I can be, including the relationship between me and daddy) then I think we will be ok. Also, accepting that i am not perfect and i won't get everything right has been a big step forward.




I think the biggest eye opener has been though that I am not in an unusual position, I am having exactly (and by exactly I mean word for word the same) issues and thoughts that countless other mums have up and down the country, and across the world every damn day. so that is good. thanks to Mumsnet for the revelation. Every time I am sure that I am struggling with something so monumentally horrific that no one else would ever have to deal with the same combination of issues I am having right this moment, it turns out someone has been there and done just that before.




It has been a lifeline.

Average is no longer enough? Noted. Now let’s move on. « thewikiman

So, today I read this: Average is no longer enough? Noted. Now let’s move on. « thewikiman

Now, I really like the wikiman, smart and funny and a good read almost guaranteed.

However, I am worried. You see Average at the moment is about all I have time for, I mean don't get me wrong, I am doing my best, but juggling everything in life means I often don't get a spare minute to just... focus... and strive beyond average in one area.

I see this a lot, all over the literature; that to be really outstanding you need to put your head above the parapet and be noticed, have a great new idea, innovate like crazy or simply get noticed by becoming a really active member of the online community.

I am overwhelmed, I would love to tell my son to get his own dinner and ignore my other half for days on end (actually that right there was a lie, those things would be AWFUL), but I get the feeling that might be what it would take for me to really achieve the things I want to.

I hope that being average doesn't mean I am going to get ignored, you see I am pretty sure I have the potential to be much more than average (in fact I think everyone does, but that's a different story) it is just a case of allowing myself the freedom to take the risks associated with being more.

So, for the time being, a few months anyhow, average, although not good enough, is what I am happy to settle for, until I have some time to plan how I am going to find some time to push forward a bit more.

I am going to see the wikiman talking at CILIP in a couple of weeks, I might ask him how he finds  the time, but only if I get the time to talk...

Clearing my reader

I managed to clear my reader. Phew, albeit not such a major achievement but I feel a little like I have been at a conference .


I Had some research tasks to do so to keep focused I read a blog post ever hour or so and apart from SBM (huge amount of brain power needed to process these blog posts, well worth it if you have some time and a cup of tea! SBM)



I hear that cats are better than dogs, mainly because they are more attractive (The pioneer woman.com/blog). I am not sure I agree, after all the virtue of a good friend far outweigh an attractive one (or at least that's what I like to tell myself after my son has smeared toothpaste down my front just before I leave the house in the mornings).



I taped into Seth's blog and wondered if I will ever manage to find the focus to finish a task! When-is-it-due Setting Deadlines, for yourself, to push and motivate yourself, is all well and good, but, what if you struggle to motivate yourself to motivate? (I just read that back, it makes sense in my mind, but I am not so sure it does on paper, so sorry about that.)



But, as usual, the one that struck a chord was Penelope, Keys-to-getting-unlost, I often feel a bit lost in my day to day world, did I do it right, have I made the right choices? For example at my work I am one of the youngest (I know!) and I am in the minority in having a child. We women don't talk about having children (is it to avoid offending/upsetting those who don't) and often I find myself feeling pretty guilty about having to leave on the dot every day to pick my wee beastie up. I wish I could tell the world how much of a difference having a partner and child has made to my mental state, they are my grounding force and I can't help but feeling that if I had pursued money and career I would be missing something fundamental from my world.


That said I am looking forward to being comfortably lost in my forties and allowing my natural tendency to wander be free, instead of the daily grind of forcing myself to concentrate these days! (Oh, did I mention I do love my job, thought I had better re-iterate at this point, heh)




If you didn't understand the above mutterings of an unhinged mind it probably helps to follow the links first and then read the post.


So here's to you my little man. You are my anchor.

Getting Started

So, I have signed up to do this:CPD23 (Or 23 Things for Professional Development)

Which I stumbled upon on the web and decided it would be just the right motivator (read kick up the backside) to up my online presence.



So this is what I am about to do (please do scroll to the end if you just want to see what I have been reading this week!):

I am taking part in the course because... Well, actually I want to explore the world of blogging as so far twitter and face book have left me a bit cold. I happily admit to the fact that I am a control freak and both of those platforms are a little too open to interference for the likes of me (yes, yes I do know that you can comment below!).

I am hoping it will get me thinking in real terms about the opportunities out there for a nomadic wanderer like me as so far I can't claim to have put much career planning into every move I have made, just drifted between opportunities which look and sound interesting and suit my skills... I also want to learn as much as I can in as short a time as possible about my fellow information professionals.

note: at this point it is probably best to confess that I have no official information credentials, I don't have a library or information degree, I don't have a research background and I don't want to pursue these things either (I know, I know, my parents were just as disappointed in my lack of academic ambition as you probably are reading this, but I am a doer, and am convinced that education is not the means to an end in all cases). I am however an Information Officer and run a corporate Information Service for a fairly large company, and I really love it so hopefully I will be able to justify myself over the coming weeks.

I don't know what I am looking forward to (see above reference to nomadic state of  mind) but from passed experience it will be something I wasn't expecting to enjoy as much as I do. I would like to learn everything about blogging and ultimately entertain and amuse my readers (if I ever have any that is).

Oh, and I really, really want to get better at writing quickly and fluently without spelling errors, (but that's just between you and me right?)

Great, that seemed painless enough.

 So, here is my highlight of the days reading:

Penelope Trunk: How to spot a cheater 
First off, I have to say, I love the horse, I think I have a mini crush on Penelope and that I just love how neurotic and wrong her ideas are!

Penelope is one of my heroes and her blog is addictive reading for me. When it comes to wondering if an academic education is the only way to get ahead she was one of the people who validated the sneaking suspicion I have had about this since I was school aged. I really wonder some days if I had spent the three years I spend living life to the max at uni working then things might have turned out rather differently (and I would have a lot more money than I do by now!).

I wonder what things will be like in my Son's time and if I will actively encourage him to go to university (gasp), or indeed if a degree will still be considered a major player in the path to success, I suspect that it won't. I would like him to have a really (REALLY)  successful future and most of my motivations these days for finding out about career management and "the pathway to success" seems to stem from wanting to be able to give him the best advice when he comes asking (he is 2 right now, but pretty bright so I don't think this much forward planning is too exaggerated!).


Finally, I love how minds can connect across cultures because I am sure that if we had a lithe young twenty something living with us I would also be picking at the scab of my long suffering partners devotion and trying to catch him out with questions about whether he would fancy her if, for example, I were to die, or how about if I develop a horrific disfigurement, eh? huh, huh?

What that says about me I will leave up to you to decide.