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Val Skelton
I am the editor of Information Today, Europe. On the main site, we cover news and publish feature articles by information, research and knoweldge practitioners and thought leaders. On this blog, we aim to cover other topics of interest to our readers.
Homepage: http://www.infotodayeurope.com/
Posts by Val Skelton
Growing knowledge at the British Library
Jan 17th
Members of LIKE (London Information and Knowledge Exchange) attended a ‘private view’ of the Growing Knowledge exhibition at the British Library.
‘Growing Knowledge’ considers the future of research. The exhibition is, in fact, a learning space with multimedia research stations offering a selection of innovative research tools and technologies. The resources cover a range of subject areas, from astronomy to the biosciences and history to business studies. They reflect the growth of collaborative ventures (Galaxy Zoo for example, with its ‘citizen astronomers’) and new modes of communication (video journals and 3D imaging).
Visitors can provide feedback on their experience and the resources can also be accessed online. In addition, the researchers are hosting subject specific facilitated sessions to observe users and learn from their experiences.
This was my first LIKE event. Well organised, welcoming and well-attended, it won’t be my last!
January 2011 – learning and networking
Jan 6th
When you start to pay attention, you realise just how many amazing opportunities there are to learn from experts and network with our peers – often at a low cost, or as a perk of membership, or even free of charge. Having made learning and networking a key priority for 2011, I find I am already booked into four such events in January. Of course, I do benefit from being based in London, but I am still astonished at the choices available.
Here are the events I am scheduled to attend – (so far!):
13th January – LIKE (London Information and Knowledge Exchange) – a visit to the British Library’s Growing Knowledge exhibition
19th January – NetIKX meeting – a session entitled ‘Using social media to achieve organisational goals’
20th January – RSA The future of WikiLeaks
27th January – LIKE (London Information and Knowledge Exchange) – a session led by Hanna Kazerani on ‘Information black holes’
If you are planning to host – or attend – a professional development event in January, do let us know.
More networking in 2011
Jan 4th
Reading the papers over the new year, the general impression seemed to be that new year’s resolutions are not to be taken too seriously. I have already cast most of the papers into the recycling, but I have kept hold of the Guardian’s Weekend Magazine for Oliver Burkeman’s article (Abandon your resolutions)!
Burkeman recommends some ‘unplugged’ time as a way to regain the upper hand over our information sources. He is speaking of maybe one or two hours a day when we don’t feel compelled to check our feeds/blogs/facebook accounts etc. This concept was taken further by Susan Maushart in her gloriously titled Winter of our disconnect (currently book of the week on BBC Radio 4), who imposed six months of ‘techno silence’ on three teenagers. Ouch!
Meanwhile, Burkeman describes the increased interest in ‘self tracking’, using apps to measure anything from your daily water intake to the quality of your sleep. If nothing else, tracking enables us to benefit from the ‘Hawthorne Effect’ – the very act of monitoring something can influence a positive change in your behaviour.
My professional resolution this year is perfectly simple. I am resolved that in 2011 I will create more unplugged time to make better use of the networking opportunities available to me. After being taken to a great event by a friend in December, I have remembered once again the value of face-to-face conversations and interactions. I am already filling my diary with events and am really looking forward to meeting up with old colleagues and making new acquaintances. My first event, already booked, is the NetIKX meeting on 19th January at which Nicky Whitsted and Hazel Hall will discuss social media in the context of IM/KM policies and strategies. I’m really looking forward to it!
Technology predictions for 2011
Dec 29th
The BBC’s Peter Day interviews the technology commentator Mark Anderson about his predictions for technology in the year ahead, and reviews his predictions for 2010.
One of Anderson’s key predictions is that there will be a more conscious ‘split’ of content and technology. This will result in the separation of the ‘secure’ from the ‘open’. There will be greater understanding of the issues surrounding information security. CEOs and governments are beginning to comprehend the vulnerability of information and intellectual property. Organisations will need to consider and enable the physical disengagement of what Anderson calls their ‘crown jewels’ from the rest of their content in cloud environments. The smart telephone world will also split in half. ‘Social’ users are less concerned about putting their lives onto the net, whereas organisations will seek to protect high value content.
The ’golden age’ of microapps is over. 2011 will see increased levels and rates of charging as the market becomes more commercial.
Anderson also outlines why he considers Google as a company that has lost its way (“so much money and so little idea of how to spend it”). He considers Google an organisation that does not really know what business it is in.
Other predictions include the ‘mainstreaming’ of e-book readers and electric cars.
No doubt we will continue to be inundated with end of year reviews and new year predictions in the weeks ahead. Anderson’s has his own acronym to sum up 2011 “VEVEM – Very Exciting and Very Messy“.
Can’t wait!
‘Educated Change’ to build brands
Dec 17th
Kevin Bryant (@kbrantuk), of Educated Change, stepped in last night for a sick colleague to speak at a Chartered Management Institute professional networking event.
His theme was how organisations can use social media tools to enhance brand value. His organisation focuses on helping organisations make the changes that help them maximise social tools. The tools are a part of a move away from ‘command and control’ to ’collaboration and conversation’ and some organisations may find the changes more painful than others! But Kevin showed that even firms that might be considered ‘traditional and hierarchical’, for example, law firms, are using such tools as Twitter extremely effectively.
The tools can also help smaller organisations, ‘punch well above their weight’.
The key messages of the evening were:
- organisations should aim to get a balance between ‘listening’ and ‘broadcasting’
- the ROI is difficult to measure and will be medium to long term rather than delivering immediate results
- a certain level of ‘personal’ engagement is required – not just one single corporate voice
- appropriate use of the tools us ‘common sense’ but organisations can, if needed, develop social media guidelines for staff
There were plenty of questions from the audience and conversations continued over drinks and networking after the formal event ended. A really good evening!
Person of the year?
Dec 16th
Time Magazine has named Mark Zuckerberg as Person of the year, 2010.
Zuckerberg has, of course, had a box office hit biopic released this year, and the award acknowledges how Facebook has ‘transformed ‘the way we live our lives every day’.
Google and Yahoo announce 2010 top search terms
Dec 12th
Yahoo’s Year in Review reveals that the top 2010 search was for the BP oil spill. This is the only news event in the top ten, with the other places being taken by a mixture of media and pop icons (Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber) and technology (the iPhone is in sixth place). There are some interesting top tens on Yahoo’s Year in Review blog. In a top ten of US ‘obsessions’ the political movement the Tea Party appears in 8th place, one place behind bedbugs (with the iPhone taking the number one slot). Rather depressingly the top UK search terms were ‘lottery’ followed by ‘job centre’ and, in third place, ‘weather’.
Meanwhile, Google’s microsite Zeitgeist show the fast risers and fallers of 2010 (chatroulette and iPad are fast risers; swine flu and Susan Boyle are fast fallers). Google Zeitgeist also has regional results. ` In the UK, the general election dominates the top ten news searches. In France, Cheryl Cole is number seven in the fast rising people and Super Nanny is second. Justin Bieber seems as popular in Europe as he is in the States – he is a top people search in Sweden, France and Norway. The Google microsite has some interesting graphics. Using the timeline function, you can watch interest in, for example, the football World Cup, build up before and during the event.
Online 2010 – reviews
Dec 9th
A week on, the more reflective reviews of the Online Information Conference are starting to appear. These are fascinating of course, because everyone’s journey through a professional development or networking event will be subjective (not to mention their ‘real’ journeys and struggles to get to the physical event in the snow!). The differences in experience are even more obvious in a streamed conference. It’s impossible to attend all the sessions and the best you can do at the time is follow on Twitter and speak to attendees in coffee breaks and promise yourself to find a speaker’s presentation on SlideShare after the event.
Karen Blakeman has linked to her Online presentations on this blogpost. The LIS Research Coalition (the conference’s top tweeter) website reviews the conference and points out the inevitable. Online 2010 will forever be known as ‘The one when it snowed’. A review of the exhibition and some of the free seminars (written from a small business perspective) is available here. Tim Buckley Owen for Freepint focuses on social media. The conference exhibition is also mentioned in the gloriously named Go to Hellman blog, from a publishing/ebook perspective. Martin Belam blogged several articles about the conference, writing about linked data and putting it in a broader perspective here.
Our own review of the conference appears here (well I can’t NOT mention it can I?!).
Arts Council performs new role
Dec 9th
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) is scheduled to be wound up by March 2012. Some of its key responsibilities for libraries will be taken up by Arts Council England (ACE).
The Bookseller reports today that ACE has been tasked with the management of the Renaissance in the Regions programme (which supports regional museums) as well as the libraries improvement agenda. MLA and ACE will collaborate on these programmes until March 2012.
Forking out for charity
Dec 7th
Very many congratulations to the team at Sue Hill Recruitment (SHR). With the help of client contributions, almost £7,000 has been donated to charities that have a real resonance for SHR staff.
The breakfast and credit crunch lunch meetings are free for clients to attend but they are asked to make donations. (Writing from experience, the meetings offer excellent networking and learning opportunities and the food is always good!)
You can read more about the charities that benefitted from this generosity and effort here.
