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Professional Development
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!
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?!).
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.
Win an iPad!
Nov 27th
If you are planning to visit the Exhibition hall at Online Information, don’t forget to visit Information Today on Stand 714. We will be delighted to meet you for a conversation and invite you to enter our prize draw to win an iPad.
Good luck!
Is it that time already?
Nov 23rd
There is just one week to go before the start of Online Information 2010. Over on our main site, Sara Batts has written about the best way to prepare to ensure you get the most out of this type of professional networking events. Her article is full of practical hints and tips.
Information Today will be exhibiting in the main Exhibitor Hall. Do stop by at Stand 714 and catch up with us if you are visiting the exhibition. We look forward to seeing you there.
An invitation to share book reviews
Nov 8th
Harvard Business Review said it presented ‘one of the breakthrough ideas for 2010′. The book Hacking Work is subtitled ‘breaking stupid rules for smart results’. The book suggests that breaking ‘silly edicts’ can lead to business success.
If you have read this book, (or another book that has really inspired you at work) please consider writing a review for other Information Today, Europe readers.
Please let us know if you are interested.
SLA Europe at Internet Librarian International
Oct 15th
After a full day on Wednesday, 13 October, conference delegates joined their SLA Europe colleagues for a drinks reception, sponsored by Infotrieve.
Some 60 people gathered for an evening of conversation about libraries, the information marketplace and future technologies. Here’s hoping SLA Europe will do the reception again next year.
Internet Librarian International 2010 – Programme Unveiled
Jun 18th
The conference programme for Internet Librarian International (London, 14 – 15 October) is now available.
Internet Librarian International is the innovation and technology conference for information professionals. Keynotes this year come from author Robert Rowland Smith and Hazel Hall of Edinburgh Napier University, who will explore the hidden potential of social media for information professionals and shares her tactics for exploiting social networks.
Over 50 speakers from around the world will present this year, representing a variety of industry sectors, including government, health, education, business and law.
Sessions include Relating value to price and budget, Monitoring and maximising organisational impact, Social and mobile tools, Hot topics in innovation and Digital services for customer satisfaction.
Members of CILIP, SLA Europe, and a number of other associations are all entitled to discounts on the delegate booking fee.
Further information, and download and view the programme here.
SLA Europe Invites Entries for Early Career Awards
Dec 10th
SLA Europe is inviting new information professionals to apply for an all-expenses paid trip to the 2010 SLA Conference, which will take place 13th-16th June in New Orleans, USA.
The deadline for applications is 31 January 2010, and winners will be notified in February.
Full details on eligibility rules and the application procedure are here.
