Thing 4: Current Awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote

Regarding this task, I first of all have a confession: I am actually a bit of a Luddite. I have mixed feelings about the internet. I have a mobile phone which can't even take photographs, let alone enable me to go online. I am fairly suspicious of new technology. I often wish I could move to a little hut in the countryside with no internet connection.



That said, I do also like the internet a lot and am trying to embrace all it has to offer!

Twitter

Twitter is probably my favourite of the three. I like the social element mixed in with the keeping-up-to-date stuff. I enjoy the debate and conversation. It keeps things interesting.

I first joined Twitter in 2009 and didn't like it at all. I tended to tweet about really banal, boring stuff, or not bother at all because I had nothing of interest to say.

I then started following lots of craft-related people. I found that Twitter became a good way of finding out about craft fairs or other crafters in my local area. I started to see the point of it. I then started my MA last September, and again realised that Twitter could be a valuable source of Library information.

It's only really in the last 6 months that I've enjoyed Twitter. I don't have a Smartphone, which sometimes makes me feel like I'm missing out, but I think it's nice to be able to come away from the computer and switch off. I do find it quite overwhelming at times to keep up with things and the character-limit is frustrating at times, but I much prefer it to any other method of getting LIS-related news due to the potential for interaction.

RSS

Another confession: I have never used RSS feeds. There is no good reason for this, I have just never embraced them. I guess I quite like pottering around online when I have time or am in the mood, rather than having news come to me. However, I fear I am simply letting my luddite side win this argument, so I am going to give it a try! I have set up a feed as part of this activity and so far, so good.

Pushnote

I think that, out of the three, Pushnote is my least favourite. I think it would be better if I knew more people who use it, but at the moment not many do. I also use Internet Explorer at home (which my techie friends always tell me off for!) and it's not currently supported on this browser. I am not writing it off completely; I think it could be really good if enough people got involved, so I will probably check back every now and again.