Monday 20 June 2011

It's time for - cpd23

So, it's Monday 20th June 2011, and today sees the start of the online "training" cpd23!

It's fantastic to see so many people registered and interested in personal development.

In my opinion, cpd is genereally work-related, and is the way forward when looking towards promotion, but it's not just about collecting paper certificates! To get the most benefit from any cpd activity one must learn from it, take something away from it and apply it to one's own situation.

For me, though, cpd has been about widening my horizons generally, and learning about things that interest me, not just things that are relevant to my work. This blog post isn't intended to be a self-promotion, but some of the things I have learned over the years, including gaining a first certificate from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (basic knowledge about wine, wine production etc.), a diploma in feng shui, and an NVQ3 in Interior Design, none of which helped me one jot in my work, but have certainly kept my brain active, and my interests varied!

Today, however, we all use the web for a variety of reasons, whether they be for work, or play, and this cpd event represents for me a kind of cross-over between work and personal learning. I want to learn how to use the technologies that web 2.0 offers (like blogs, wikis, shared services like calendars, and social websites like Twitter and Facebook) as these things are useful for my work and also useful for my personal life.

The cpd23 programme looks as though it is going to give me some ideas on services to use and how I could use them, as well as, hopefully, connecting me with a group of like-minded folk.

This week, it's about creating and using a blog. I admit that when I first came across blogs I tried several (blogger, wordpress, posterous, tumblr), and evaluated them against certain criteria, before deciding which to use in earnest. I am hoping to learn a bit more about how to use blogs, especially things like how often to update (too often and I won't have time to delve too deeply into a subject and I won't give my readers (hellooooo - is there anyone out there reading this?!) time to digest what I've said), how to keep it relevant, and how to make sure I'm reaching those people that I think might be interested in what I have to say!

Anyway, time to get on with it! Good luck to everyone!

Lynne

6 comments:

  1. Hi Lynne,
    Awesome first post about the CPD23. I am a fellow blogger. I can't wait to dive into this programme. I'm sticking to my wordpress blog, although I am tempted into using my new genealogy post as a blog format. I'll definitely put you on my CPD23 radar. *smiles*

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  2. Hi Lynne - nice to see yet another cataloguer on here (and thanks for finding me in the first place!). Good luck with it all I shall look forward to keeping up with you.

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  3. Hi Lynne,
    I do am doing the CPD23 and am also a cataloger (US) and a manager but really am cataloger at heart. Continual learning is something that seems to spur those of us who like cataloging. I enjoyed reading your post and will look for others.

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  4. Hi variegatedstacks! Thanks for your comments. I've found cpd23 to be quite inspiring and I'm hoping I can keep up the momentum its created! I had a WordPress blog but prefer Blogger as it seems easier to me, although I've had such problems commenting and replying to comments on Blogger that I was almost tempted to revert to WordPress! Genealogy posting - tell me more - another interest we have in common!
    Good luck with cpd23.
    Lynne

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  6. Hello darksideofthecatalogue!
    I've been thrilled to find so many of us (cataloguers and Welsh) out there blogging! Now that I've downloaded chrome I seem to be able to reply to comments and make comments on blogger so there's no stopping me now! Good luck with cpd23! I shall be trying to keep up with al my new contacts - cataloguers must unite, as well as infiltrate all other areas of librarianship!
    Lynne

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