A New What?!

LJMU Tweetup

2011-03-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

For a while now (since last May to be exact) I've been thinking about the value of tweetups (read Twitter meetups) in the local community, and how I might transfer that to my work setting.

With 3000 staff across 50 buildings, and 25000 students Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has a community all of its own.

As a new member of staff last year, I found it incredibly difficult to meet colleagues outside of my range of 'normal' business, and having come from a campus based University I struggled with the nature of the multi-site beast.

Tweetups are an opportunity for people who are interested in, or engaged with Twitter to get together and have a chat. They are very informal events, some have entertainment and a bar, some don't. Some happen over a picnic, others in coffee shops - they are driven by the twitter community, for the twitter community (or those interested in getting involved). There is a very real value in taking virtual conversations into the real life world, and connections made online are strengthened by meeting face to face. There is no agenda.

I've noticed in the past year that there are many LJMU twitter accounts sprouting up, some personal, some professional, some used in teaching, some for marketing, and I've tried to follow anyone with LJMU in their bio so I can learn more about our place of work.

At a recent twitter training event run by Alex Spiers (@alextronic), there was a genuine feeling among participants that they wanted to know more from people who were already doing it, add that to the disparate nature of staff all over the City and I think we've got a demand.

So - LJMU Tweetup 1 (#LJMUTWUP) is born:

Where: Parr St Studio 2

When: Thursday April 7th, 4pm onwards

Who: Anyone who wants to come.
If you're on Twitter, great. If you're not, great.

RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/ljmutwup

Come and have a chat, meet like-minded souls and leave better connected.

I'll be there, will you?

Mandy AKA @m8nd1

Open Letter - Liverpool's digital community

2011-03-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

I write this letter to you, if you have ever attended, participated, contributed, organised or re-tweeted about any of the events that make up Liverpool's digital 'scene'.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being an active participant in our community and have taken on several roles during the last two years, leading, assisting and just plain turning up to a wide range of events. Those I haven't made it to physically I've championed and watched as they have grown and developed.
(Twestivals, tweet ups, ignite, social media cafe, TedX, mashed libraries, dev days, hacks and hackers, cathedral valley, oggcamps, how-why-diy, fabcamp, maker nights/hackspace, howduino, barcamp, geekup, Liverpool Wordpress Interest Group, Linux user group, have I missed any?)

Lately I've been thinking about where it's all going. Yeah, it's great that we get together often, drink coffee/beer and have amazing social events on where we also learn stuff but I've begin to wonder about the future and I find I'm asking myself a few questions;

What are we trying to do?
Have we got a goal?
How can we sustain this activity going forward?
Do we want to?

Given that I don't have all the answers I felt it would be timely to write my thoughts down and ask what you think.

I feel that as a community we have huge potential, that we can (and are already) doing great things - but with an agreed vision that gives clarity to us, and to our audiences we can achieve much more.

So - what can you do to help?

We (the collective organisers of said events) would like you to tell us what you think. We don't make you fill out evaluation forms every time we meet, and therefore we're working on a premise that you like what we're doing, but that may be a huge assumption. Huge.

If you could reply to this blog post (or any others that are saying the same thing) or tweet @livdigcom with answers to the following, we'd be very grateful:

1. What are we doing well that you'd like to see us continue with?

2. What should we stop doing, and why?

3. What should we start to do, and why?

4. How do you want to be involved? (Are you happy to turn up, speak, volunteer, lead?)

If you're responding about the general list of activities, great - if you're being a bit more specific about certain events, please let us know which ones.

This information will help us to consider the BIG questions up above, and think about where we go from here.

Thanks for listening,
Mandy Phillips @m8nd1 | Neil Morrin @defnetmedia | Adrian McEwen @amcewen | Dan Lynch @methoddan

Ella Wredenfors @runpaintrunrun | Andy Goodwin @franticuk | Andy Freeney @technofreen

Stu Robarts @sturobarts | John McKerrell @mcknut

Replies to @livdigcom if you're a person of not many words!

Local Benefits

2010-08-03T05:46:00.000-07:00

Not sure how this little wordle will resolve in this post but wanted to capture it - it's one of 20 slides that I'll be presenting against at this weeks Ignite Liverpool on Thursday night, 6-8pm at Static Gallery.

Find out more here: http://igniteliverpool.defnetmedia.com/

Liver and Mash - Top tips for organisers

2010-05-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

On Friday 14th May, there was a Mashed Libraries event in Liverpool. It was preceded by the first UK OCLC mashathon.

The event is well documented at the Liver and Mash blog, and through many tweets surrounding the event using the #mashliv hashtag. I'm not going to write here about 'what' happened, more 'how' it came about, things that I took away (from an organisers perspective) and what's likely to happen next.

I attended the Mash Oop North mashed libraries event in Huddersfield less than a year ago, and had followed Owen Stephen's journey through developing Mashed Libraries, in fact I think I was one of the first to put my name to the ning site but couldn't attend the inaugural event at Birkbeck, or Middlemash (first day of a new job).

There had been some conversations about having a North West mash up whilst I was still in post at Edge Hill, and it was something I was keen to do, however, moving jobs, moving house and other things made me put it to one side for a while.

The idea was raised again earlier this year by David Clay at Liverpool Uni who was keen to attend a mashup, and I felt the time was right to get something going.Taking Owen's idea as a starting point, and keen to do something with a bit of a twist, Liver and Mash started to come to fruition.

I've blogged before about 'doing things' as opposed to just 'talking about thing's', and putting this event together is a prime example. Being new in post gave me a bit of freedom in terms of starting to sell this idea to my peers and manager, who were happy for me to progress it.

So, an event with no name, no budget, no venue, as yet no delegates but a seed of an idea, and a date.
Where do you go from there? Here's my step by step guide:

1. Find the good people:

You already know the people you work with who know what you're talking about, the ones who get passionate with you and let you rant and talk to them about the event and what you're trying to do. Don't necessarily limit the good people to those that work in your immediate circle, consider ex-colleagues, people you talk to on Twitter, people in your organisation who make an impact, friends who 'get it', local and regional networks and basically anyone who shows a real interest including your suppliers.

2. Be cheeky.

Once you've worked out what it is you're going to try and do, then be cheeky, push the boundaries, if you think you can get something, ask for double or even triple, drag your colleagues in to talk, use every contact you have available to you. If you're passionate about it, it becomes contagious. If you're enthused, so will they be.

3. Be specific.

What do you want? What kind of event should it be? What do you want people to get from it? What opportunities will you give people to get involved in organising/presenting/helping out? Putting on an unconference is a bit of a contradiction in terms. There is a 'lot' of organisation to make things happen as you want them to! In addition, don't settle for second best. If the venue isn't working for you, get somewhere else. You're the customer here!

4. Have fun.

If it ain't fun, then why are you doing it? Sure, there will be other outputs and benefits as an organiser. Your profile will be raised in the mashup community, in your own organisation and in the networks you use, you might write something up on it and share it with the wider profession. Leading an event certainly will not do your career any harm.

Leading an event will test many skills, problem solving, creativity, resilience, administration, multi-tasking, marketing, negotiation and presenting (even if it's just MC'ing the day). Everyone will look to you for guidance, before the event and on the day itself. Get plenty of sleep!

The OCLC collaboration presented itself as an opportunity which was too good to miss in terms of getting that level of expertise to the UK, but also added an extra element of working out communication methods across two time zones.

I was lucky in that I had a good network in Liverpool, primarily outside the University that I was able to call on to assist, but also that I had found a few good people on the inside.

The two day event would not have taken place with the support of Dave Pattern (who I harassed regularly using Twitter) and have only met in real life a handful of times, Owen Stephens who contributed ideas around potential sponsors, Andy Goodwin from LJMU's OpenLab who backed me completely, and was my right hand man for the whole event and Allison Cordner and Jason Taylor, also from OpenLab who looked after the administrative side of things.

I feel it went well, the feedback is extremely positive and there was a definite buzz around the events. The one downside of organising these things is that you don't get to speak to everyone that you want to, so if I missed you, sorry!

Settling in

2010-03-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Starting a new job, or starting out on your own, is a bit like opening a box of chocolates. You dive in, sometimes with the help of a map/menu (or an induction) and choose which bits to pick up first.

It might be that you go for the old favourites, the comfy slippers that you know and love, or in my case, the ones you've never tasted before.

The major reason for me taking my new job (see previous post) was that I wanted a challenge, and that is certainly what I've got.

So, who am I and what am I all about? A question I often ask myself.

By day, Liverpool John Moores University have my attention and loyalty. Every other minute of the day I move between mum (and other family roles), techie, organiser and chief schmoozer.

Taking on Twestival for it's first two iterations put me in touch with a great gang of Liverpool tweeps, who are incredibly supportive, welcoming and friendly and I try to put into the community what I get out.

I'm interested in doing things better (in all ways), it was called business process re-engineering when I studied. I really like doing that. I also like mashing stuff up, and playing with new toys and gadgets. I haven't programmed for a while, but know that I still could if I wanted to, and prefer human interaction than purely technical.

I love parties, socials, get togethers, getting people talking and thinking and creating original ideas. I don't like boundaries, so the fact that I work in a particular environment won't stop me from talking to any other area of the University, the City or the World!

I write this after a significant time away from blogging, twitter has become my first love for sharing and collaborating but sometimes you need a little more than 140. Just now and then.

Things that are going on for me right now include organising Mashed Libraries Liverpool (which needs a much more inventive name!), and the OCLC mashathon which is likely to precede it in May. I'm supporting a friend in organising Liverpool Twestival for the first time (liverpool.twestival.com) and considering getting involved with the geekup community.

So, all in all, life is good.

Projects that I'll be writing about soon will be (note to self):

RFID - how to use it to battle stock management problems
Mobile apps
Process review and culture change
Supplier relationships
Re-modelling higher ed websites (for support services)
Using social media to enhance professional relationships
Mashups and Mashathons
Going car-less
Setting up a digitisation suite and finding partners to work with
Organising events with no time and no budget

I love getting the train to work. Merseyrail is fab! (you can quote me).

Where to find more about me:

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/m8nd1

Twitter: http://twitter.com/m8nd1

Work: http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/lea/79449.htm

Twestival: liverpool.twestival.com

The final countdown

2009-11-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

In just about three weeks, I take up a new post at Liverpool John Moores University.

A real mix of emotions, thoughts and feelings are going on.

I'm very excited about the new job, and this role is a big step up for me so is going to be the challenge I've been looking for. I'm also a bit sad about leaving Edge Hill University and Learning Services, as I will have been there for nine years, in a variety of different roles and studied there too so it's a real home-from-home.

Edge Hill has seen massive change in the last few years, the growth has been phenomenal in terms of students numbers, but also facilities and resources. The campus is virtually unrecognisable with a new build every 12 months since I started. It's a beautiful campus and it has been a real pleasure to work there.

Many colleagues have become friends so despite moving on, I know it won't be long before I'm hearing all about the place again!

I'm looking forward to taking on management of some service areas that I haven't had before, working on the leadership team and of course, working in the lovely city of Liverpool. (amongst other things!).

Feeling mellow..

2009-03-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday was a great day.

I got to see two Universities in South Yorkshire, one because I'd tweeted with someone (@nethergreen) and one because I was offered an interview.

The contrast was pretty startling. Hallam was buzzing and vibrant, and the Adsetts Centre looked like it was doing a perfect job of welcoming students and getting them to behave whilst in there. A great mix of 'social learning' spaces, bookstock and technology.

University of Sheffield was also buzzing and vibrant with RAG week in full progress, with the Western Bank library being a completely different kettle of fish. Still very busy, but a 1950's grade 2 listed building that couldn't have been more traditional if it tried.

The interview went very well, much better than I'd anticipated really, and I really enjoyed it. People often think I'm quite strange when I talk about enjoying normally stressful situations, but an interview is just like a bit of a big chat, and people are asking questions, like they're interested (even if they're not) so that's all good, right? They did a great job of giving me context about the role, what would be expected in the short term and longer term, and what the key priorities where before the interview started which was really good (and not often done).

I didn't get the job 'on this occasion' but did get some excellent feedback which was gratefully received, and I did make the panel think, which is always in my plan somewhere.

This was my first external interview in 10 years - wow. 10 years at Edge Hill College of Higher Education/University this year, blimey.

4 restructures, 3 name changes, 8 or 9 different roles in different teams and a library management system implementation.

Think it's time to do something different.

Creating a group of bloggers

2009-03-15T01:02:00.000-07:00

A group session was held yesterday, Friday 13th March (hope that isn’t a bad omen!) which brought together a group of volunteers from Learning Services at Edge Hill University (my department), who were interested in, wanted to know more about, thought they should be, or already were - blogging.

As the saying goes, one volunteer is worth a hundred pressed men so the group were engaged, interested, open and willing to find out more, regardless of past experience. Mike Nolan, Acting Head of Web Services and I delivered the workshop which discussed what is a blog?, why should we blog?, what kind of structure should a Learning Services blog take, and how would the blog fit into the wider University picture?

In just over an hour, the group watched the commoncraft guide to blogging, asked questions, wrote for some their first ever blog post, queried tags and categories and had many more questions than we could answer in this, what will turn out to be, part one.

I’m writing about it because I want to document the growth of the group, which will be evidenced by the posts that you see at Learning Service blog, and can’t be measured in the true sense, but which will be clear as the writers find their blogging voice, and possibly even a wider digital identity.

We’re going to meet again in three weeks, after the group have had a bit of practice in writing and posting, to further discuss how we move this project forward.

I should say that this is linked to the overhaul of Learning Services web presence that Martin Baxter, ICT and Media Resource Manager and I have been working on over the last 15 months with a cross service project group, and the blog posts will be directed (using categories) to the most relevant parts of the web site to ensure that the content of the blog, which will be varied, reaches the right audience.

Blogging as a profession

2009-03-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today, a group of colleagues met to discuss blogging. Some are experienced, some are complete novices but all had volunteered and so we had a common theme.

Linked to the redevelopment of the Learning Services web pages, I was keen that we started to take blogging seriously as a department, and wanted to display snippets from the latest blog posts to best sell

Thank you from Charity:Water

2009-03-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Amanda (via Liverpool Twestival) ,

I want to personally thank you for your recent donation to charity: water. Because of your generous gift we can provide clean and safe drinking water to 28 people in a developing nation for 20 years! Best of all, 100% of your donation will go toward building sustainable water solutions.

You will receive a formal tax receipt within two weeks of your gift. If you have questions or would like additional information, please feel free to contact our Director of Development, Carrie Sanders <carrie.sanders@charitywater.org>. She would be happy to help.

We are so grateful for your support.

Lightning Strikes in Milton Keynes

2009-03-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

Had a very enlightening visit to Lightning Source's plant in Milton Keynes this week. As a member of Coutt's Oasis Advisory Group (OAG) (Coutts are a library book/ebook supplier, not the financial whizzkids) we were due to meet, and Coutts are part of the much bigger company that is Ingram Industries, which includes Lightning Source.

The advisory group is a great idea, they are currently my only supplier that offer something like this, where they bring together 10 or so representatives from across the UK, twice a year to receive updates from Coutts, and to give feedback to the supplier on strategic direction of academic libraries, with relation to purchasing books and the like.

It's quite a complicated set up in terms of the different businesses that are working under the Ingram umbrella, and rather than try to explain it here in a somewhat confused way, feel free to go off and explore Ingram's web site!

So, how does Lightning Source impact on what I do at Edge Hill University?

I've been interested in Ingram for quite a while as there are some quite disparate things that I have responsibility for as part of my role. One is to buy books, ebooks, journals etc for the purpose of teaching, learning and research, which is to all intents and purposes, quite straightforward although constantly changing (library supply). The other is to consider how we supply our students with textbooks and other learner support material to purchase. (student supply)

The first links through Ingram as they have (and I might get this a bit wrong but the principle will be right) Core Source, and Vital Source. This part of the company builds relationships with publishers and takes from publishers e-copies of books which Ingram then re-sells via one of two routes. The first is MyiLibrary, which is their e-book platform, and which we at EHU use extensively, the second is Lightning Source, a print on demand service.

I heard James Gray speak at UKSG last year about the digital workflow involved in this process, and was very impressed at what was going on. Mr Ingram obviously had a very clear vision about what he wanted to do about digital publishing, and has delivered it in a very publisher focussed way.

This is jumping about a bit - hope you're still with me!

So, I love Ingram for getting me lots of ebooks for EHU students and staff, a platform in MyiLibrary that is relatively easy to use, and which has a growing selection of stock. Now, don't get me wrong - I don't hate books, in fact I love 'em, but e-books just have so many advantages in terms of access, and my ideal is to have both and offer our customers a choice wherever possible. The fact that Ingram are negotiating with publishers to get stock in e-format is just great, and they have such a powerful business model that they are likely to convince 'lots' of publishers to get on board with it.

Sticking with library supply still, the second element is delivered via Lightning Source, which is print on demand, or p.o.d. to those in the know.

Lightning Source is a service delivered through warehouses, currently one in the USA, one in Milton Keynes, that take orders direct from publishers for anything from one book, to 50,000 and print the books - on demand. It sounds like a very simple service, and it is, but it is just amazing, and will have a real impact on the way publishing will work in the future (not publishing as in writing, but distribution of stock).

So, you go to your local bookshop or your favourite online retailer and order that book you really want or need - they don't have it in stock, what happens next? If the publisher has an agreement with Lightning Source, they can send through an order for 'a' copy and have it printed within a very short timeframe, Lightning Source can even post it directly out to the customer on the publishers behalf, cutting down that very important delivery time.

It is a very slick set up, and seeing the process from cover to cover was intriguing, and also offered up some ideas for further streamlining of our own library processes (which I'll write about another time!).

Impact on publishers has already been noted, with some removing their own warehouse facilities, and relying upon Lightning Source to do all printing, as printing to order means the publishers don't have to forecast on how many books they 'might' sell, but only print those that they have orders for.

Gap printing is also used, where publishers will order a 'normal' print run of 10,000 books but unexpected very high demand will ensure a sell out of that stock, using Lightning Source as a stop gap for actual orders allows publishers to set up a second print run without losing any custom in between. This was used to bring the Nobel Laureate titles to market.

From a student supply perspective, Lightning Source won't really help me, but it's database of electronic stock will, and I believe that a UK supplier now has access to that stock for retail purposes. One of the things I've been looking at over the last year is electronic course packs, and how we provide not ebooks to students, but echapters from relevant text books, and how we do that at a price that is reasonable, so a very different model to the library one where the library pays a fortune for all its staff and students to be able to get access, and one that puts the onus on students to purchase parts of books that will be extremely relevant to what they are studying.

The student supply model is related to the student support package that Edge Hill University offer to all full fee paying students, which won a Times Higher award a few years back.

Now, I want to go on but I'm going to stop there, and make a note to self to write in the future about emerging business models for ebooks and print (in that order) .

Organiser Survey

2009-02-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

I'm just filling in a form to go to @Amanda, Twestival organiser extraordinaire, and thought as I'm writing it once, I might as well record it here too (nb. My personal thoughts, not those of the wider team):

Press and web coverage:

Liverpool Daily Post:
http://www.ldpbusiness.co.uk/business-features/features/2009/01/29/twitterers-plan-lots-of-tweets-at-liverpool-twestival-96026-22806350/

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/01/27/city-twestival-for-twitters-64375-22785707/

Bootle Times:
http://www.bootletimes.co.uk/news/bootle-news/2009/01/27/bootle-users-invited-to-liverpool-s-first-twitter-event-97007-22792882/

Radio Merseyside:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00242hw/Claire_Hamilton_10_02_2009/

CityTalk Radio:
Pete Price show - Awaiting links
Simon O'Brien show - Awaiting links

Southport Visitor:
http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2009/01/27/festival-for-southport-twitter-users-101022-22792830/

Crosby Herald:
http://www.crosbyherald.co.uk/news/crosby-news/2009/01/27/crosby-twitter-users-invited-to-liverpool-twestival-event-68459-22792912/

Art in Liverpool blog:
http://www.artinliverpool.com/blog/2009/01/liverpool-twestival-twitter-festival-12-feb-09/ - Before
http://www.artinliverpool.com/blog/2009/02/liverpool-twestival-success/ - After

FACT blog:
http://blog.fact.co.uk/?p=866

Adventures in Open Source:
http://danlynch.org/blog/2009/02/liverpool-twestival/

Topix:
http://www.topix.com/uk-county/cheshire/2009/02/twitter-fans-join-liverpools-first-twestival

Click Liverpool:
http://www.clickliverpool.com/business/corporate-news/122581-liverpool-twitterati-looking-for-tweets-at-city-twestival.html

Liverpool.com:
http://www.liverpool.com/blogs/twitter-festival-at-leaf.html

P3dro's Blog:
http://www.p3dro.co.uk/?p=330

Links to pictures and videos of the event:

Echo TV:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNOhQDQYv2E

Flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/petecarr/sets/72157613706455215/ - Pete Carr
http://flickr.com/photos/mobilevirgin/sets/72157613708019869/ - Peter Goodbody
http://flickr.com/photos/matt_thomas/sets/72157613726923723/ - Matt Thomas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35379223@N06/tags/livtwest/ - Jennifer Welch

http://qik.com/video/1024493 - Alison Gow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN0PpbAjLFY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEcCq8oD71c&feature=related- Alison Gow

Additional comments/feedback:

Would have loved to have streamed live but faced some technical challenges because of the very short lead in time.

As organiser, seemed like it all went a bit crazy about 3 days before, and I wasn't able to keep up with everything that was going on - .fm, tshirts, streaming etc. (I know it was the first!)

Would love to do it again, with more time, more team members and some choices about making it local as well as global.

Wanted to link up to other cities doing events but again, maybe next time!

In your own words, what did this experience mean to you:

Organising Twestival was an amazing experience, from initial gathering of expressions of interest through to receiving fantastic positive feedback from all involved - it has been challenging, great fun, and helped the local Twitter community to really bond.

The support and generousity of twitter folk has been quite staggering in the current financial climate, and reinforced my feeling that communities really can change the world!

Highlights:

Music - the three bands we had were fantastic!
Getting wider community involved, giving work experience to students through School Audio Engineering that did our sound.
Meeting the faces behind the @twitter names!
Using Bubblino to blow bubbles whenever#livtwest was detected on a twitter feed.
Auctioning Liverpool prints, and Stephen Fry's socks!

Will we have another one?

I said yes.

But...

That's another post...!

Review of Liverpool Twestival - Part One

2009-02-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

I want to record what has been happening over the past few weeks, before I get onto reviewing what happened on Thursday night which is likely to be part two!

For a while now, my creative side has been itching to get out, and to some degree it can whilst at work, but not a lot. I had a feeling when thinking about New Year, and resolutions etc that this was going to be a 'big year' (as my friend Margie would say) and embraced that fact, making a decision that this was going to be the year of Yes. I even watched Jim Carrey in Yes Man over Christmas, which was reasonably good, and gave me more food for thought.

In fact, one of my resolutions was to get out more, at least once a month (posted here). Little did I know that rather than just 'getting out', before the end of Feb I'd be working with a few complete strangers to put on a party in Liverpool that would be one of 185 parties held in Cities across the world, to raise money for a very good cause - Charity:Water.

I just want to put this in context a little. I had thought about getting into Liverpool once a month to go to some gigs, having in the very far and distant past been a bit of a clubber rather than a live music person, that said - that alone would have been something very different for me.

To then volunteer (a first) to work with (not only work with, but lead) strangers that I had only previously conversed with online via Twitter, which would involve meeting up with more complete strangers was a bit random. Add to that the fact that we agreed to put on some live music, sort out an auction/raffle to raise money for charity and do quite a bit of media and PR coverage for the event - All Firsts - made it a little bit unbelievable.

Not that I'm averse to doing things for the first time you understand, I like to think of myself as innovative, and a bit quirky, but usually these things are done in quite a safe environment (i.e. work) and the one thing I love to do whatever time of day it is, is learn.

So, what have I learnt in the past month then?

Twitter is a remarkable platform for acquiring and building networks. I kinda knew this in theory, but I've seen so many examples of how powerful it is in the last few weeks that I'm qute staggered. In the words of a Stage 1 twitterer, I may be evangelising but I have strong evidence.

To be more open and trusting (within reason!) - Being cynical is so last year. I've taken my share of knocks throughout my life, and find it difficult to trust people beyond a certain level. Twestival has shown me how many good people there are out there, if only I would look for them, and the power of the community, which is hugely underestimated.

How to do a radio interview, by phone and in studio. Having appeared on CityTalk twice and the Radio Merseyside Drivetime show, I am in the words of @alisongow 'a seasoned pro'. Not sure I'd go that far, but I'll certainly know what to expect should I do it again. (It did remind me of the time I was a weather girl for Rock FM, back in the day!).
I prefer phone-in's, you can, and I did, do them in your jammies and slippers.

How to be filmed - I've now done a few pieces to camera because of this event, and whereas before I would have been so self conscious that I really would have preferred never to get in front of a camera, and have hidden behind several, focussing on the aims of the project allowed me to 'sell' the event, and hopefully come over quite calmly, rationally and not like a jibbering idiot. I'm not saying I want to watch it back, but it won't kill me.

To ask for more than I normally would - I'll say it again, I'm staggered by the generousity of the local Twitterati, and even those only slightly attached. For example, SAE sponsored the sound techs and equipment. This came about because I asked @paulnolan1980 to help (on @sicktrumpet's recommendation), not only did he help, he brought along another colleague, then we discussed having two students who would gain work experience in on the act too. Having had no experience, and no real idea of what kind of kit would be needed, Paul and Doug soon informed me that we were short of kit to the tune of about £300 (hire fees).

At this stage, I'd asked the bands to play, who were giving me requirements, we'd started publicity about the event and we working with a zero budget. Oo-er...

I, very cheekily, asked Paul and Doug to ask SAE for the equipment. They said the answer would be no. I departed from that meeting quite deflated, thinking that this might be the deal breaker. No equipment, no gig - not the end of the world I know, but not what we'd hoped for either.

Thankfully, SAE stepped in to save the day with most of the kit, and Edge Hill Uni kindly lent some too.

That I'm quite bored - and if I could fit all of this in, in 3 weeks then what else could I be doing in my spare time?

That I have confidence - I was waiting for someone to give it to me, those that know me will think i'm being melodramatic, thinking I had it all along, but I really didn't realise that I had. Well, I've found it now, and I'm not letting go of it.

I've been reminded that I love music and art, love socialising, love photography, love being challenged, love life and somewhere in the mix, most of that had got lost.

I'm sure there is much more, and I'm trying to document this as reminder to self. It has been an absolute blast. I know Andy Goodwin and Alison Gow don't think that they did very much in all of this, but you did guys, you played a huge part in it, as I couldn't have done it without you. And it is a lovely feeling to think that I made at least two new friends in all of the mayhem and madness! x

Images: Pete Carr and Jennifer Welch

Twitter and Twits

2009-02-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Image via CrunchBase

I've been meaning to get to the keys for a while now, but have been crazee busy organising Liverpool's first Twitter festival - or Twestival.

This week has seen quite a few firsts for me, from speaking to sound guys (i didn't have a clue!), to doing radio interviews, and responding to articles in the Independant (about Twitter) so thought I should just share some of that.

Before I made the opportunity to do so - Mike Nolan wrote a great piece on 'Has Twitter gone mainstream' which was going to be the crux of my piece - so go there and read it, and then my comments!

So many work related opportunites for using Twitter, so little time and as with anything, how we prove that this will add value, in order to release staffing to be able to support it upfront. And if we don't release staffing to support it, it'll be crap because it hasn't been supported! A vicious circle if ever there was one.

My beef with the piece in the Independant was first of all the title, 'You don't have to be a Twit but it helps' and secondly that the author seemingly fixated on one instance of how Twitter had been used, by one celebrity (@stephenfry) and discarded all of the 'good stuff' that goes on.

By good stuff, I mean the business networking, the social networking, the learning and teaching, the getting togethers to raise money for charity, the direct routes to people that you'd never have been able to access before... and the list goes on.

You can see my full ranty comment here. This article instigated quite a reaction from twitterers everywhere, and as some kindly pointed out to Terence, the article got a great deal of coverage because someone had linked to it on Twitter - had they not, I certainly would never had come across it.

Terence says "It is time to admit that computers, which have transformed and improved our lives in so many ways, are also doing terrible harm to much human interaction and thought. There are increasing numbers of people who find it easier to conduct friendships through Facebook than to leave their computer and spend time with real, flesh-and-blood friends. The fretful banality of round-the-clock texting and twittering is drowning out real communication and thought."

As you can imagine, this provoked quite a reaction including:

"Why do people like Terence always assume that online & offline friendships are mutually exclusive? I find Facebook *helps* my real life interactions - it's so much easier to organise stuff online than to rely on the old 'chinese whispers' messages which invariably end in miscommunication. Also, I have friends from all over the world that I have met while travelling - the internet allows us to keep up with each others' lives. Being able to talk with people on the other side of the world using the Internet is wonderful."

I feel particularly strongly about this - as increasingly in this very busy global world, applications such as facebook and twitter allow the beginning of a conversation, that might not ever take place 'in real life'. Certainly in my experience, I have got to know several distant colleagues through twitter, and in the absence of a direct relationship before, twitter has enhanced the real life experience.

In addition, and from a personal perspective, as a mum who spends many evenings home alone, using sites such as facebook and twitter allow me to continue conversations, not just with my 'real life' friends, but with a much wider audience. Being able to tap into knowledge that others have, and are willing to share, enhances many aspects of my life.

As with all technology - it won't work for everyone, and you do really need to stick at it and work out what you want from it, but Twitter works for me, and thousands upon thousands of others. And to finish, all I'll say is - don't knock it 'till you've tried it..

Twestival Fever

2009-01-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Things have been a little crazee this week. I've been having a fine old time getting involved with a very worthwhile project, and cause through one of my favourite web things, Twitter.com.

If you haven't heard of Twitter before, then you won't be alone (although it was featured on BBC News at Ten last night with regard to the Hudson River story). Twitter, by its own admission,"is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"

It's an interesting site to use, as the response to the question is limited to 140 characters, about the size of an SMS text message, and therefore makes you think quite carefully about what you're saying or responding to, and how you might want to say it.

As well as updating your status, additional features include following other people, and being followed. This might be based on your brief biography, links to your website or blog, or because you've said something relatively interesting that has resonated with fellow tweeple.

A whole new language is emerging; tweeple or tweeps(twitter people), tweetups (meet ups for tweeple), and now - the most exciting so far; twestivals (festivals for tweeple!).

I wouldn't like to hazard a guess at how many people are now using Twitter, but for those that are, it's a day in, day out part of their lives.

Earlier this week, I saw some updates about twestivals, which linked through to twestival.com and told a story about "a group of Twitterers based in London UK decided to organise an event where the local Twitter community could socialize offline; meet the faces behind the avatars, enjoy some entertainment, have a few drinks and tie this in with a food drive and fundraising effort for a local homeless charity."

Twestival was going to take this to a whole new level, by choosing a date - Thursday 12th Feb 2009, and by inviting cities all over the world to get involved in having local Twestivals, with the aim of raising as much money as possible for charity: water, a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.

Keen to get involved in this, I asked who was doing the Liverpool Twestival and got many replies saying 'yeah, I'd come' and 'yeah, I'll help' but none offering to take a lead. I thought long and hard about how much commitment this might take (considering I work full time, and have a demanding toddler and social life!) and then thought bugger it - this is the year of YES!

After replying to the volunteers, and pulling together a team, I registered Liverpool as a Twestival site! I am absolutely amazed and overwhelmed by the kind and giving nature of so many people who are offering to get involved/give time/do stuff to help and I know that this is going to be a wonderful event.

So, in about 25 days, the first ever Liverpool Twestival will be held.... Oh my word....

Birds Eye View of Edge Hill University

2008-10-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Narco for the tip to look at Live Maps - not something I'd ventured across before, and might even save us a few quid (we've just had a request to purchase some aerial photographs of the University).

This image shows the LRC (library) and how small it looks in comparison to our newest build, the Faculty of Health - kind of back a bit, SW and looking like a building site, which it was 2 years ago.

The most amazing thing about this image, is that it loooks very different to the college of higher education where I started my study almost 9 years ago! It's a very different place now, physically, organisationally and in terms of the size of student and staff, but still a very green, lush campus, and a great place to work.

Creating Business Models

2008-10-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Edge Hill University and Blackwell entered into a unique and very interesting business agreement last September (2007).

The University had introduced a very innovative bursary scheme, which offers all full fee paying students a £200 return, to be spent only on learning support materials. (It won the 2006 Times Higher Award for Outstanding Financial Student Support Package)

During the first year of the scheme, Learning Services attempted to support the purchase of text books and stationery through the help desk, putting a significant amount of pressure on an already stretched service.

In January 2007, I started to look around for a solution that would ease the pressure on the service and offer a professional retail experience for our students. In thinking about this, and discussion with colleagues, we decided that we needed both a virtual/online presence, in addition to a physical/store presence.

At that point, there didn't seem to be an awful lot of choice of booksellers that offered a dual option. A chance conversation with Matt at Blackwell BBS led to a recommendation to speak to the retail and online arms of Blackwell, as they seemed more able to offer a solution.

A rapid succession of meetings followed, with the design of a unique business model taking place. Blackwell's Online and Retail divisions were at that stage very separate and it seemed at times to be a 3 way conversation rather than a 2 way supplier/customer relationship but it all worked out in the end.

From initial meeting to go live was a period of 6 pretty intense weeks, this involved designing the shop area (luckily we were refurbishing the foyer area at the time!) and designing a bespoke online bookshop area for Edge Hill students and staff.

Launched in September 2007 the shops were a roaring success, an evaluation in November led to very positive comments from students who enjoyed the flexibility of ordering from home, and having items delivered, or browsing the campus shop. Interestingly, there was a 50/50 split in online and shop sales, and quite some competition!

I've been meaning to put pen to paper for quite some time about our experience, and this does only just scrape the surface, but I've been thinking about it again recently as I'm involved in the inter-regional tender retail bookshop sub-group.(try saying that after a bevvy) The inter-regional tender brings together NOWAL (North West Academic Libraries), LUPC (London Universities Purchasing Consortium), SUPC (Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium), NEYAL (North East and Yorkshire Academic Libraries) and MUAL (Midlands Universities Academic Libraries). This group aims to use the purchasing power of all five consortia to gain better discounts and levels of service and deliver value for money.

The first meeting is tomorrow with representatives from Bournemouth, Bath, Newcastle and De Montford as well as Edge Hill. I'll post about progress (as much as I can).

REaD - Reading, Engagement and Development

2008-10-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

For a while now (a few years), I've been working on several projects based around reading/resource lists. Initially it was to consider how we do things at my place, and how we could improve the process from a staff point of view. That done, and a little more focussed, we changed the remit to look at the student experience of reading lists, and given the almighty call of 'not enough books on the library shelf' looked at ways we could improve their experience, in terms of search and retrieval, and access methods.

A lot of good work has been undertaken, a lot of relationships strengthened, and a whole new way of working has emerged. (It needed to, we couldn't go on the way we were).

The final phase of the project is to consider how we engage academic staff with reading lists, given that many take over a module/programme where reading lists are already in place, and they are quite often low down on the priority list for attention- especially if the one there does the job.

We are starting to deliver some CPD sessions this week to colleagues, giving opportunity for discussion around understanding of, and expectation of students and staff, strategies for consideration when developing a list and the technologies that are available to assist (or otherwise).

I'm really looking forward to it - Lindsey Martin, who is our E-Learning Strategy and Development Manager at Edge Hill University will be taking on the philosophical side of things, whilst I'll tackle the practical and organisational elements.

I reckon more work will come out of the discussions, an institutional proposal for 'Reading, Engagement and Development' is already on the cards so let's just see where this week takes us!

p.s. Thanks to Jackie Chelin for all her advice on 'Reading Strategies'. The work UWE has done has been instrumental in moving this project forward.

Writing a strategy for Web 2.0!

2008-10-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

A Web 2.0 Strategy - is that a contradiction in terms..? I've been working on a project to remodel our departmental web pages over the last 9 months, due for launch in January. Recent conversations with colleagues have led to requests that the new web site is 'web 2.0'. I have a bit of an issue with this in a few ways.

1. The fact that it is a corporate higher education site means it is pretty much by default web 1.0.
2. When colleagues are talking about web 2.0, they are talking about discussion boards, which isn't in the real sense web 2.0.
3. Most colleagues who are asking for this, seem to be using the latest buzz word, and haven't engaged with web 2.0 at all, yet are hoping that we as a service can understand it, and engage users with it.
4. Some colleagues think it is about particular apps, for example, we should have a facebook policy - so what happens when facebook is bought out or starts charging, or changes dramatically.

Shouldn't it be about why we are using these apps, what they can do for the teaching and learning experience of our students, how we engage communities, how we get feedback, how we watch what is being said about us etc etc....

As yet we don't have a web 2.0 strategy - do you? I get the feeling that by the time we've shared the understanding of what web 2.0 is and written one, we'll be very much into web 3, in which case this may be a pointless exercise!

I'm going to be doing some benchmarking to see if anyone else has one (maybe as a part of the overall web strategy), that I can look over, but I'd be very interested in your views, and what you might be doing at 'your place', HE or otherwise.

UK's best Universities

2008-09-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

A post inspired in part by Chris Keene's post at http://www.nostuff.org/words/2008/top-20-uk-universities/

Chris asks 'What are the top 20 Universities in the UK?'. (via Twitter)

Reading the comments is interesting, and I considered my answer, albeit briefly, before posting. You will notice that many of my top 20 are not Russell Group, not traditional red brick Uni's, but ex-poly's, mostly post 92.

My thinking around this was that I could only really comment on those Uni's that I'd had an interaction with professionally, either in my current role as Information Resources Manager, or in previous roles (LMS Project Manager, Learning Technologist). I don't really watch the league tables, as it is likely that our place will move up slightly but will never hit the top 10.

If I had answered with the Oxford's and Cambridge's of this world, I'd have been talking about perception, a wider perception than my own. The comment may come across as pretentious, or as a stand for the underdogs but it isn't intended to be either. And, it is such a broad question that I felt it would be useful to focus the attention - best for what?

On another point entirely, I'm meeting with Linda Rush tomorrow to discuss our new READ project, loosely based on something that UWE have been doing over the past few years. I'm really looking forward to this, and assisting in delivering a couple of professional development sessions for academic colleagues over the next couple of months.

Part of the initial discussion will be around the definition of academic reading, how we put reading lists together and what we mean by essential, desirable etc. The expectations of students and staff are key in understanding this, however are very rarely discussed at any level of study.

I'll keep you informed on progress!

Living it up in the smoke..

2008-09-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

I got talking to a couple of fella's on the train a few weeks ago. We were discussing the merits of finding a good hotel in London for pretty cheap, they were self employed, and I'm tight with the company's money! Now, I have stayed in London a few times, and have to say that it is usually a not very nice experience - lots of traffic noise, not great customer service, and hotels that are missing an 's' before the 't'.

One of these chaps suggested using Laterooms.com which I had heard of, divulging that they had had some great deals with 5* hotels for not a lot of dosh. I've been playing about tonight, trying to suss out a good hotel (a bit luxurious if I'm not in my own bed, and away from my family) that is handy for Euston station, University of London and Westminister Abbey that looks relatively safe for a lone female traveller. Having spent 2 hours faffing about, I'm still no better off, and am wondering if being conscientious really is worth it.

My payoff - should there be one, will be that I'll get a good expensive hotel, for a decent acceptable price for the company. So, my question to you is - Do you know the way to San Jose?, sorry - wrong question - Any good hotels in London near Euston??

p.s. I could crash at friends, but after a day's business meeting will really just want to chill and watch telly, and not make much effort to be sociable!

A day in the life...

2008-07-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

An interesting challenge posed by Lauren's Blog. Write about what a librarian does in a typical day..

2 things before I start, there is no such thing as a typical day, and I think I may be the only non-librarian in my type of role in the whole of the UK (but willing to hear from anyone who thinks differently!).

I'm the Information Resources Manager at Edge Hill University, UK which is a similar role in lots of ways to a Technical Services Manager.

Today then, 8am start and checking any urgent emails whilst saying that I would clear my inbox (yeah right). Big project on the go in relation to reading lists, and a whole new acquisition workflow so looking for emails from two suppliers, as we're trying to match up the marc fields that we'll receive from one, with the LMS so that we won't have to manually input orders anymore - yay.. Deb in Inverness, Fiona in a very wet Ringwood.

Read the Governers report that landed on my desk before passing it to Ruth to catalogue and file, and discovered that EHU are planning to build student accommodation to the tune of 10 million squid, and some other things.

Went to see the Dean of our service to have a chat about some of the information in the Governors report, and digressed into Leadership courses, SMS enquiries, current projects and writing for research.

10am - attended staff development session on Infozone - an online induction that is supported by staff but stands alone should students need to refer back to it. Very interesting, and good to have time to look at it properly. Main things that came out of it was the need to have it aligned with the LS web pages, and that it probably needs a wider team to look after it. Very useful though..

Whilst in the session, was hunting for some further information on leadership courses as recommended by boss, and emailed for programme information for an April 09 intake.

Caught up with a project team member who can't make tomorrow's meeting, and had 5 minutes then back to the office.

Quick check of emails before heading off for lunch with colleague.

Back into it, and loaded some test bibliographic and order records to see what outcome would be. Fed back to both suppliers re: results. Not quite there yet, but I'm sure it only needs a little tweak.

Worked on a Library 2.0 presentation that I'm delivering next Monday, thought about a presentation that I'm delivering next Friday at our staff conference, created a document in Google docs gathering research on IM (Instant Messenger, and Interruption Management) and read a few articles.

Used spark chat tool with colleagues who are new to it, and passed on IM dictionaries relating to jargon and slang!

Discussed with a colleague the possibilities of using Google Scholar in our link resolver, and did a bit of digging in WorldCat - updated our profile and emailed for clarification on some things.

Emailed Sonya at LibraryThing in relation to getting an institutional account so that we can play at putting word clouds in the library catalogue.

Had a chat with a colleague looking at Google Analytics as part of the Walter project, and how we might use the stats. In addition, using the stats from both the web pages and the library catalogue could prove very interesting! Google showed that I accessed from Cork at the end of June !

Got a quote from Allwag for the LS merchandising, which I'll need to follow up tomorrow as it happens, and spoke to Angela to discuss/negotiate price decrease based on quantity ordering.

Wrote a team update and sent it to senior managers, the team and the IRD team for information.

Arranged a visit to Chester University to benchmark the fines payment product. Phew...

Checked on progress of receipt, sorted out a 'too much leave' issue, had discussion with colleagues about use of IM Spark and how it might work for the service.

Booked a day's leave for friday and arranged to meet a friend.

In between, facebooked a bit, twittered a bit, read my google reader and hotmail, received a pep talk from a trusted confidante, and that was about it which took me to a 5pm finish!

I'm sure there were other bits in there too, but hopefully you can see that it is anything but a 'typical' role (which is why i love it) , and books were never mentioned once !!

5. 10 Pick Georgia up.
5.50 Get home and make tea
6.30 Tidy up and play (one usually cancels other out!)
7.00 Bath time for Georgia
7.45 Bed time for Georgia
8.00 My time !!! Blogging, twittering, research, writing presentations (see library 2.0!), housework if i can't avoid it, and reading (currently Taleb's Black Swan, just started it)

Oh, and I might add - it was a 5.50am start this morning!

Only in Ireland

2008-06-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Have just returned from a 2 day business trip to Ireland, Cork to be precise. It was my first visit to the lovely Emerald Isle, and there were lots of other firsts, including trying a glass of guiness (and liking it), being guided to Murphy's (which is Corks own better version of Guiness) which is very nice, and being driven in a peugeot 107 (interesting!).

As it was work, there wasn't much time for looking around, however, we did manage some time in the city, a few hours getting to know UCC - University College Cork, and its art gallery and libraries. There just so happened to be an exhibition on the book, which was very interesting and gave me some good ideas as to what we might do with some of our stock from the LRC... library!

Stayed in a lovely hotel, the Lancaster Lodge, which I'd really recommend.

The Irish colleagues that we met were very friendly and really interested in what we were doing at Edge Hill, and some of them had even heard of us. One of the presentations led by Dr Philip Cohen was titled Learning Spaces, and it was nice to see half way through, that photographs of the ground floor learning space in the LRC appeared, and Philip talked about what Edge Hill had achieved on a limited budget and how great it was - yeay!

Some of the Irish Institutes (which formed a consortia to purchase Innovative) were doing some great things using RSS feeds, and librarything to form tag clouds in the library catalogue. Definatley something to take away and consider for EHU.

It was interesting that the programme was varied and covered issues such as Information Literacy, Leadership in Libraries and Customer Service. There was also opportunity for colleagues to get together and discuss in facilitated sessions, which are usually the most useful sessions.

Colleagues were keen to learn more about how EHU is utilising the library catalogue to develop online reading lists which encompass digital articles and chapters, books, journals, electronic resources and even past exam papers.

One of the really good things to come out of the visit is that the IIUG (Irish Innovative User Group) and the EIUG (European Innovative User Group) have started to have discussion about a joint EIIUG meeting in 2009, which should host up to 200 delegates. As a committee member of EIUG, this is something that I'd really welcome, and i'm sure would be beneficial to all concerned.