Reading the Mind - Britannica Blog
A-Z Indexes on Intranets from Intranet Benchmarking Forum - interesting, as I’m trying to redo one.
The National Archives wins award for digital preservation
Blues Name Generator via the Generator blog. Hours of fun.
Clever Uses For Dental Floss: Beyond Teeth
20 Icon & Graphics Generators - via Lo-Fi Librarian
Friday, September 28, 2007
Anonymity/Pseudonymity
Having read Meredith’s and the Annoyed Librarian’s recent posts regarding anonymity/pseudonymity I gave the issue some more thought. (This post started off as a comment on Meredith’s blog, but got a bit long and waffly).
I blog under a pseudonym (no, really!). When I started my blog, it just never occurred to me to use my real name. I spent about three minutes coming up with my pseudonym (Law Librarian was taken, so Lore Librarian it became - possibly helped along by my having recently watched a certain episode of Star Trek: TNG). I started the blog as a bit of an experiment, to try it out, see whether it was something I would find useful, and hadn’t really considered that other people might read it. And as it was signing up to something on the web, I just automatically used a pseudonym, which is normal for me. I don’t like to sign my name onto something without knowing exactly what it will lead to (and in fact have three other pseudonymous personas I have used in my life).
I haven’t discussed writing a blog with my employer. I don’t blog about my workplace (though posts do arise from things that happen in my workplace), and I don’t really feel it is relevant to my employer whether I blog or not. I don’t write my blog posts during work hours - I write them at lunchtimes, and before or after work. I don’t tell my employer about other extra-curricular activities. Using a pseudonym means there is no way (as far as I know) that anyone could connect the blog to the company I work for, so there is no reason for them to know. Also, I don’t necessarily want my blog to have an adverse affect on any future job I may apply for. (And considering the number of people who have been sacked for blogging, I think keeping a barrier between your blogging persona and your work persona is a pretty good idea).
I like being able to blog about whatever I want to. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged anything particularly contentious, but I’d like the freedom to be able to. Just because I blog pseudonymously doesn’t mean I don’t believe in what I am writing, or that I want to distance myself from it.
Pseudonymity is not a new thing - authors have been using pen-names for years, actors and musicians have stage names. So it seems odd that people have such a thing against pseudonymity in blogging. If I ever get my book (yes, yet another librarian writing a book) published, I may well do it under a pen name (though probably not Lore Librarian!).
I am sure that if people really wanted to they could work out who I was. There aren't that many Law Librarians who are blogging, even fewer doing so under a pseudonym, and lots of people know I have a blog, so it would just be a process of elimination. The people I work with could probably figure it out in about five seconds by looking at my Twitter account. I have recently admitted my identity to a few people, and do have to admit, this has made me feel a bit self-conscious about posting. I am endeavouring to overcome this feeling, and just get on with it.
I blog under a pseudonym (no, really!). When I started my blog, it just never occurred to me to use my real name. I spent about three minutes coming up with my pseudonym (Law Librarian was taken, so Lore Librarian it became - possibly helped along by my having recently watched a certain episode of Star Trek: TNG). I started the blog as a bit of an experiment, to try it out, see whether it was something I would find useful, and hadn’t really considered that other people might read it. And as it was signing up to something on the web, I just automatically used a pseudonym, which is normal for me. I don’t like to sign my name onto something without knowing exactly what it will lead to (and in fact have three other pseudonymous personas I have used in my life).
I haven’t discussed writing a blog with my employer. I don’t blog about my workplace (though posts do arise from things that happen in my workplace), and I don’t really feel it is relevant to my employer whether I blog or not. I don’t write my blog posts during work hours - I write them at lunchtimes, and before or after work. I don’t tell my employer about other extra-curricular activities. Using a pseudonym means there is no way (as far as I know) that anyone could connect the blog to the company I work for, so there is no reason for them to know. Also, I don’t necessarily want my blog to have an adverse affect on any future job I may apply for. (And considering the number of people who have been sacked for blogging, I think keeping a barrier between your blogging persona and your work persona is a pretty good idea).
I like being able to blog about whatever I want to. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged anything particularly contentious, but I’d like the freedom to be able to. Just because I blog pseudonymously doesn’t mean I don’t believe in what I am writing, or that I want to distance myself from it.
Pseudonymity is not a new thing - authors have been using pen-names for years, actors and musicians have stage names. So it seems odd that people have such a thing against pseudonymity in blogging. If I ever get my book (yes, yet another librarian writing a book) published, I may well do it under a pen name (though probably not Lore Librarian!).
I am sure that if people really wanted to they could work out who I was. There aren't that many Law Librarians who are blogging, even fewer doing so under a pseudonym, and lots of people know I have a blog, so it would just be a process of elimination. The people I work with could probably figure it out in about five seconds by looking at my Twitter account. I have recently admitted my identity to a few people, and do have to admit, this has made me feel a bit self-conscious about posting. I am endeavouring to overcome this feeling, and just get on with it.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Interesting things of the Week #12
Gorgeous libraries - found via Tom Roper
Semantic Web: Difficulties with the Classic Approach from Read/Write Web
Dilbert & Web 2.0
OPSI - improved access to legislation from Binary Law
Carnival of the Infosciences #79 at Libraryola
Flip - sort of pointless, but fun - from Phil Bradley's I Want To
Wasting time - facebook & other fallacies from Information Overlord
Terraminds from Lo-fi Librarian - handy.
Semantic Web: Difficulties with the Classic Approach from Read/Write Web
Dilbert & Web 2.0
OPSI - improved access to legislation from Binary Law
Carnival of the Infosciences #79 at Libraryola
Flip - sort of pointless, but fun - from Phil Bradley's I Want To
Wasting time - facebook & other fallacies from Information Overlord
Terraminds from Lo-fi Librarian - handy.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Lexis? Nexis?
Received a couple of emails last week to tell me that “In direct response to your feedback regarding our product names and how similar they are, we are re-branding our flagship News & Business service to Nexis UK.”
I am not too sure how this is meant to help. How is Nexis UK not similar to the other product names? I didn't have too many problems with News & Business, other than people occasionally confusing it with LNB (the legal platform). But now I am going to get confused with Nexis UK and Nexis.com (and what is the difference anyway?). Just like the confusion between Lexis.com and Lexis Professional (both of which get referred to as Lexis) (and again - what is the difference in content?). Why do Lexis insist on adding Lexis or Nexis or both to all of their products? It is so confusing that even they don't know which is which - I have resorted (following problems with people being assigned access to the wrong service) to referring to the different products by our different subscription codes.
I am not too sure how this is meant to help. How is Nexis UK not similar to the other product names? I didn't have too many problems with News & Business, other than people occasionally confusing it with LNB (the legal platform). But now I am going to get confused with Nexis UK and Nexis.com (and what is the difference anyway?). Just like the confusion between Lexis.com and Lexis Professional (both of which get referred to as Lexis) (and again - what is the difference in content?). Why do Lexis insist on adding Lexis or Nexis or both to all of their products? It is so confusing that even they don't know which is which - I have resorted (following problems with people being assigned access to the wrong service) to referring to the different products by our different subscription codes.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Word and other Office Shortcuts
I tend to use Word to write my posts, then copy and paste into Blogger. Unfortunately, Word is a bit annoying sometimes. It automatically does things I don’t want it to do, it is slow (and I have problems with my firm’s document management system as well, but I don’t want to get started on that). So I was interested to read Give Microsoft Word an Adrenalin Shot on the Makeuseof.com blog. Lots of handy hints on how to make it run faster - and nothing complicated either, just changing the Options (which makes me think I should check the Options I have set in other applications - just never thought of it before…)
Having read and implemented some of the tips, I then came across Zen and Computing’s post on how to remove all hyperlinks - which led me back to Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word, which has some more useful shortcuts on Word, and which in turn led me on to Microsoft’s own List of Keyboard shortcuts for Word 2002 and for Word 2003. And then onto a list of lists of keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft products.
I especially like:
Internet Explorer:
Add "www." to the beginning and ".com" to the end of the text typed in the Address bar > CTRL+ENTER
Select the text in the Address bar. > ALT+D
Excel:
Fill to the right. > CTRL+R
Enter the date. > CTRL+;
Insert blank cells. > CTRL+SHIFT+PLUS SIGN
Apply the Currency format with two decimal places> CTRL+SHIFT+$
Outlook:
Switch to Calendar > Ctrl+2
Add a flag to a message >Insert
Windows:
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. > ALT+ESC
Friday, September 07, 2007
Interesting things of the week #11
Interview with James Mullen on Information World Review - interesting to read (plus a mention of me - how exciting!)
Top 100 Sci-Fi books - found via Sites & Soundbites
Lazy Library - short books search engine - handy for when you want something light to carry on the train
My Little Pony generator - from the Generator Blog - either sweet or creepy - not quite sure. You can breed the things!
Bob Dylan message creator - another one from the Generator Blog
UK library blogs - why all the tumbleweeds? - Enquiring Minds want to know - good point.
No flip flops in the office: or, why business casual just don't work in a law firm - Enquiring Minds want to know
Top 100 Sci-Fi books - found via Sites & Soundbites
Lazy Library - short books search engine - handy for when you want something light to carry on the train
My Little Pony generator - from the Generator Blog - either sweet or creepy - not quite sure. You can breed the things!
Bob Dylan message creator - another one from the Generator Blog
UK library blogs - why all the tumbleweeds? - Enquiring Minds want to know - good point.
No flip flops in the office: or, why business casual just don't work in a law firm - Enquiring Minds want to know
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