Thing 5: 23 Things Professional Development

The Thing 5 CPD23 assignment is about engaging in reflective practice in relation to my participation in the 23 Things program.

 Recall
Blogging was Thing 1. When I first started blogging in 2005,  it was for my book club, a group of informal book lovers.  I thought that all of us would be writing the blog posts and posting comments but then I noticed I was the only one writing. Six years later, I am still writing and this has become my personal blog.  My mission has not changed.  The blog is about books, writers, book blogs and includes my personal book reviews. Occasionally I write about libraries and about money saving ideas. I decided not to start a new blog but to piggy back on this existing blog to participate in CPD23.

Thing 2 was a challenge.  I love to view blogs but I rarely post a comment.  One of the blogs I commented on was The London Librarian and it is still active. Now I am at Thing 5 and I am still browsing other blogs related to 23 Things and posting comments.

I explored Thing 3, considering my personal brand. I want to maintain some privacy so I limit personal pictures and personal information in the blogosphere.  My blog, my twitter, personal facebook page do not have my picture.  I am satisfied with the brand out there. 

I joined twitter on behalf of one of the social organizations I belong to so I did not open another account for Thing 4.  I did not register with Pushnote. I found another hesitant participant,  the Neon Librarian,  
who posted interesting (and greatly appreciated) comments on Pushnote.
Evaluation:
What did I learn?
Even before this project, I had explored other blogs to see what librarians were doing.  I must confess I find some librarian blogs intimidating.  They are so wonderful that I feel so inadequate.  I have learned that the social media landscape is getting wider and wider and I need to learn more and more.

What did I enjoy?
I enjoyed learning from the blogs and the tweets. It takes up much of my time to connect and post but I am learning.  I want to make note of Wendy's Blog for Learn with CDLC & 23 Things . It led me to reflect on CDLC's 10 Things.  Thing 10 is about Future Trends.

What (potential) impact could participation in CPD23 have on my job? I will be more ready and more competent in the work place when it comes to navigating social media.

Application: This is the What Next part of the reflection. I want to combine action and learning.  I have been applying my knowledge of social media in my community activities.  I want members of the organizations, to which I belong, to see me as the go-to-member, who happens to be an Information specialist, when it comes to communication as well as navigation of the social media. I am putting much more thought in how to apply new thinking about libraries into library orientation sessions at work.