Thoughts on #blogjune 2016

Well, how did it go?  On 1 June I blogged here about "to blog or not to blog" and I guess ultimately I couldn't stop myself.  Yes, I blogged every day for the month of June - to a greater or lesser degree.

My first and only post in Hecuba's story, i.e. here, was the one on 1 June. I did 8 blog-posts in the Librarian and the Kitchen, and then I did 21 quite short posts over at Hecuba's Reflections, my Tumblr blog.

So what does all this mean in the context of my reflections in January about blogging and generally about "web 2.0" stuff? I decided then in January not to set myself any blogging targets for 2016, but I know I felt that, if I were going to blog, it was likely to be on the Librarian and the Kitchen.  I also talked during #blog12daysxmas about my ongoing addiction to Flickr.

So this month confirmed all of that for me.  I didn't set out in June with any plan, and I didn't really know whether I would even try to complete #blogjune. But I did 8 posts on the Librarian and the Kitchen, bringing my ytd total of posts up to 26 - already more than double what I did last year. I am even wondering if in 2016 I will equal my all-time best for that blog in 2008 when I first set it up. A contributing factor to this has certainly been the current course I am doing on Futurelearn, a course which combines history with cooking and historical recipes to be played with. However, only three of the 8 were course-related.

Some people doing #blogjune, I think starting with @librarianidol, pointed to the value of #blogjune in giving a daily snapshot of life for a month. I thought about that, but knew really I didn't need that snapshot.  For years my daily snapshot has indeed been a snap, and posted there in Flickr's PAD for me to reflect on at month's end or year's end. And this is what my Tumblr posts reflected in #blogjune.  They were short comments focusing on a photo, mostly my PAD but not always. So most of my blogposts (21) were reflections on the photos that document my life.  I quite enjoyed doing it and it certainly wasn't a chore. But will I continue doing it?  I really doubt it. I'll probably just wait for another opportunity like #blog12daysxmas.

What #blogjune has also confirmed for me is that although I remain very interested in technology and could have blogged about many things (e.g.regular bulletins from the Webbys provide a wealth of new and innovative things to talk about) I no longer have the passion to write about technology. Part of this has to do with my interest having moved away from libraries where technology was and is a critical issue. But I wonder if it is just me, or whether those heady days of endless technological possibilities have now passed for those who remain connected to libraries?

To blog or not to blog #blogjune

That does appear indeed to be the question for me. I didn't do #blogjune last year as I was  overseas for the start of it but I had done it previously for what seems like forever.  And I still do #blog12daysxmas, though this year I was shocked by the minimal participation.  I like doing #blog12daysxmas as twelve days seems more manageable than 30, and also because it is a good opportunity to review one's digital presence over the preceding year.

And indeed I did review my blogging as part of the 2015/2016 #blog12daysxmas and concluded that I wasn't doing all that much.  You can read about the 2015 experience here and I won't repeat my reflections on it here. And the interesting thing for me with that post was the aftermath. I decided not to set any blogging targets for 2016: and then I did a flurry of blogging on my Librarian and the Kitchen site. Maybe all this proves is that not having targets provides freedom, as someone suggested to me earlier in the year.

And will I do #blogjune? Well, it is a good question.  I have a number of things I want to blog about and so maybe this is the opportunity? At any rate, I have left myself open to the opportunity by blogging today.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Old Greek technology Blogjune Day 21

Old Greek surface 52/26/3 #fp13 #surfaces 365/186 #2013PAD, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

This item definitely falls into the category of old technology.  My once beloved IBM Selectric has long since gone, sent to East Timor with a lot of other typewriters. But not the Greek golfballs. The raised surfaces of these golfballs were an innovation in their time and made the IBM Selectrics multilingual. I have these as artefacts now but once they were innovative and truly useful.

Electricity "smart" meter #blogjune Day 20

Electricity "smart" meter 52/25/2 #technology, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

I often reflect on the ubiquitous nature of technology and the influences of it on my life.  My new electricity "smart" meter has the potential to provide me with more information than I feel I would ever need about my electricity usage - but you never know.  There is even a QR code on it.  

And, of course, like all changes in technology it really changes work practices.  The old walking the streets reading meters roles are changing dramatically, in some cases not being required any more, or in other cases using handheld technology to read the meters as in the case of smart water meters.

1982 Infoserve manual #blogjune Day 19

1982 Infoserve manual 52/25/1 #fp13 #technology, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

Who remembers Libramatics?  I took this photo to post when I was gently taken to task by @petahopkins for throwing out old IT manuals and old copies of LASIE without taking notes or photos. Libramatics were cutting edge library technology in Melbourne in the 1970s and 1980s. They worked with us at Carringbush to produce the world's first computerized catalogue in Greek script  (and had a good go at Turkish as well). 

This is a page of a 1982 manual for coding community organizations in Infoserve, an automated community directory developed using Ausmarc fields.  It was very cool - on fiche of course.  Libramatics were great at stepping outside the box when ideas came up.  Peter Stansfield had the brilliant but simple idea that if we had Ausmarc tags set up for cataloguing why could we not use them for other sorts of databases, such as a community directory.  245 could as well be the title for a community organization as for a book.  And so the concept of Infoserve was born and Libramatics developed the coding for us.

So Peta, thanks for making me think about the importance of this manual in the development of library systems in Australia.  I haven't thrown this one out.

Cycling app #blogjune Day18

Cycling app 365/178 #2013PAD 52/25/3 #fp13 #technology, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

This is a flyer I noticed in Hawthorn Library for a free Cycling Map App for use in the City of Boroondara.  It  was good to see that the flyer also had QR codes both for loading the app from the App Store and for loading the map.

Sands & McDougalls to play with #blogjune Day 17

S&Ms to play with H365/175 #happy365, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

In most cases I feel that CD ROM technology is something that I have moved on from and was a passing phase.  But I still like using them for access to local history databases that are just not available online yet.  Let's face it, compared to wading through boxes of microfiche for family and local history searches, the CD ROM form of the Sands and McDougall Melbourne Directories is hi tech.  But I do hope the directories will also be available online one day soon.

Technology and Time-Keeping #blogjune Day 16

Wind-up Baby Ben clock 52/24/2 #fp13 #wind, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

The theme for my Flickr Friday photos this week is "Wind".   One of the photos I took for this was of my old wind-up Baby Ben clock.  It no longer works as the spring is broken.  But I like to have it as a decorative piece and a reminder of my past.   

Taking the photo really led me to reflect on the impact technology has on my use of time-keeping devices.  Once I had a wind-up clock and a wind up watch that I religiously wound up every night. Now although I have a couple of (battery operated) watches which I wear occasionally as jewellery I really rely on my iPhone or other devices for timekeeping when I am out and about.  In the house I have the time flashing at me in every room from devices, appliances and my desktop PC.

QR on construction site #blogjune Day 15

QR on construction site, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

Collingwood Town Hall is currently closed for renovation.  It was good to see that the City of Yarra used a QR code on the signage sending people around the corner to the temporary Customer Service Centre next to Collingwood Library. 

MMBW maps #blogjune Day 14

MMBW maps H365/163 #happy365, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

I LOVE that all the MMBW maps are digitized and available on the State Library of Victoria website.  That's Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works maps for you non Melbournians.  They were created over a number of years in the late 19th and 20th century as a precursor to sewering the city.  And they are provide me with many, many hours of amusement.  Thanks you, State Library of Victoria for completing this fabulous project.

Gertrude Street Fitzroy Instaweather #blogjune Day 13

Gertrude Street Fitzroy 365/164 #2013PAD H365/164 #happy365, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

Since I discovered Instaweather in #anz23mthings (or rather since I actually loaded the app as I had seen people using it before), I have been having fun playing with it and using different weather skins.  However, I do find that it is rather inaccurate in terms of the weather.  Does anyone know where it gets the data?  This day was decidedly colder than 13c at the time I was taking the photo and the temp given in my car confirmed this.  So it is a fun app to use but maybe not a very accurate one.

QR in Edinburgh Gardens #blogjune Day 12

QR in Edinburgh Gardens, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

I am constantly amazed at the places I find QR codes.  I found this one on a morning walk through Edinburgh Gardens in North Fitzroy.  I also love the Lort Smith Animal Hospital one that I often see on a bin in Darling Gardens, Clifton Hill.

When I was travelling in Greece, I snapped one on a tram stop and posted it to Flickr.  Next thing I knew I was being invited to join the Flickr QR codes in the wild group and post there.  Check it out if you are interested in the use of QR codes. 

A Reflection on #blogjune 2013 Post 22

Soooo tired 365/184 #2013PAD, a photo by Hecuba's Story on Flickr.

Well here I am nearly a week since the end of June finally reflecting on the failure that was my #blogjune.  But maybe with strict accuracy I should be fairer to myself and not say failure, but lack of complete success. Unlike the tired Xena above, I didn't spend June napping instead of blogjuning but here I am in July and for this blog, Hecuba's story, I only did eleven posts of the required 30 in June.  This was despite having mapped out and researched quite a few other posts including the two (or is it three?) posts/things I am behind with in #anz23mthings.

Oh dear!  Well maybe I just committed to more than I could achieve and should start thinking carefully about web 2.0 challenges I set myself. What are they and how am I going mid year?

I have two daily Flickr challenges (#2013PAD and #365happy) and two weekly Flickr challenges (#fp13 for both me and the Collingwood Historical Society). I am completely up to date in all four of them.  I should in all fairness admit here that another member of the Collingwood Historical Society helps with that Flickr #fp13 challenge. But still Big tick!

I signed up and committed to doing #anz23mthings and I was doing well until, well let's be frank about this, until I started doing #blogjune as well.  Or not keeping up with either of them.  However, I have been researching playing with apps and sites so it really isn't as bad as it looks. I will make a big effort and catch up with #anz23mthings by the end of next week.

 And #blogjune?  Well I committed to doing #blogjune for both this blog and for the Collingwood Historical Society blog. That meant 60 blogposts in the month of June.  I must have been mad.  By dint of a huge effort on 30 June (i.e. being tied to the computer for hours and doing 12 posts that day), I managed to complete #blogjune for the Collingwood Historical Society. Big tick! 

For this blog, I managed to complete eleven in June. This means that in June I competed a total of 41 blogposts.  So not so much failure as lack of complete success.  Earlier this morning I sat down to write this post as I was about to give up and say I had completed only eleven posts. But when I thought of the photos I had taken for posts and the drafts I had very loosely thought of, I flicked this post back into draft rather than publishing it and went back to review them.

Now hours later I am still sitting at my computer.  But I have published another ten #blogjune posts for better or for worse and I am feeling a lot better about #blogjune as this post will make post 22. I actually have scrappy notes about a few other posts too.  So maybe I will just try to finish the challenge even if I get it done by mid July.  And next year maybe I will think more carefully before I commit.

Why do we do it to ourselves? #blogjune Day 11

Why indeed do we do it to ourselves?  Early in June I raised in a comment to a post of @flexnib the question of why we set ourselves these challenges. I seem to be finding #blogjune particularly hard this year and I have been wondering why. This year for #blogjune I have set myself the task of doing 60 blogposts, 30 on this blog Hecuba's story, and 30 for the Collingwood Historical Society blog.

It didn't seem so hard last year, or have I forgotten?  Last year I did #blogjune for myself but rather than limiting myself to this blog which is about technology I scattered my posts over three of my blogs and talked about quite different things.  I created recipes and blogged about them, I read books and reviewed them, and I did posts on technology.  It was easier somehow to diversify.  We also did #blogjune in MPOW.  But we divided the 30 posts amongst three blogs and @tapsister developed a roster.  I was responsible for ensuring that the requisite number of posts were done on Telling Tales, the family and local history blog, but I sub-rostered some of that out to @bookwoman2000.

So this year I decided to stick to my technology blog and have a mini-challenge within a challenge. I think I decided this partly because of #anz23mthings.  And it's good.  It is causing me to thing about why I use apps and to talk about tech things. But it is harder, if I am honest with myself.  And Collingwood Historical Society?  So far I have done all the blogposts myself and there are certainly many things to post about.  But I think that I am going to ask for assistance - ask for topics people would like to see blogposts about, ask for people to write them! In fact that sounds like a good blogpost for today and won't require me to do the research I was going to do for a couple of others. I would really like more people engaging with the blog and this is one way to do it.

But to return to the initial question? Why do we do it?  Each year I set myself annual challenges and I usually blog about them in the course of another challenge the #blog12daysxmas, both in retrospect and in prospect.  This year was no exception.   I have probably posted enough here about why I heart Flickr and it plays a big role in my challenges. But I had really intended to post today about another challenge I do most years and use technology to monitor.

Goodreads! Goodreads!  Yes, each year I set myself a challenge of the minimum number of books I want to read.  I started doing this a few years ago when I was worried that I wasn't reading and was losing my book knowledge.  Yes, the tech stuff was always there to overtake it.  I reviewed various online tools at the time and finally decided to go with Goodreads.

I am always modest in the goals I set myself as I don't want to set myself up for failure.  Nor do I want to make reading, something I have loved all my life, a chore that needs completing.  So this year I have set myself the modest goal of 52 titles in 2013.  One a week. So how easy is this?  I set myself an annual challenge of 52 books, I record everything I read on Goodreads. Wrong!  Goodreads apparently doesn't like me rereading titles and doesn't count them in the total for the challenge.  Me, I love rereading and relishing old favourites. But I have a way around this.  I register the books I read in 2013 on my "read in 2013" shelf.  I know that I have 53 books on that shelf currently and 7 of those are ones that are works in progress.  So according to my calculations I am well in advance of my challenge. Unfortunately Goodreads thinks I have read many fewer.

Does anyone know how I can get Goodreads to count my rereads as part of my annual reading challenge?  It probably doesn't matter much in the scheme of things but I wish I could do it. #firstworldproblems

Flickr Victorian Public Library Buildings Group #blogjune Day 10

And continuing right on with the "I heart Flickr" theme and in the interests of getting up to date with #blogjune today, this post is about another Flickr group that I coordinate.  So if you are not interested in Victorian hotels for their history, architecture, drinks, meals or music (and I believe there are some librarians who aren't), why not give the Victorian Public Library Buildings Group a go?   Many of you librarians in Victoria must visit public libraries or at least go past them, and I am sure that all interstate librarians visit or at least notice libraries when you visit Victoria.

So next time you are in (or passing) a public library in Victoria take out your phone or camera and take a photo.  Then add it to the Flickr Victorian Public Library Buildings Group. And while you are at it, why don't you go back through your old photos and see what ones you had taken of Victorian public libraries and add them? We would love to have them added to this group.

Flickr Victorian Hotels Group #blogjune Day 9

Have I mentioned before that I really heart Flickr?  I think you all may have got the message.   One of the groups that I coordinate on Flickr is the Victorian Hotels group.  The focus of this is hotels in the State of Victoria - not hotels with Victorian (as in the Queen) architecture or history.  So if you are ever passing by a hotel in Victoria or inside one, why not take a shot and head over to Flickr to add it to the Victorian Hotels group?

If you have the Flickr app on your iPhone you can take the photo using the app, edit it and upload it  to the group.  Unfortunately last I heard you couldn't do that with the android app.  Hopefully Flickr will be mending that.   You can, of course, add the group later within Flickr itself or one of the third party Flickr apps that allow editing.

Genius Scan+ #blogjune Day 8

One of my current favourite little apps is Genius Scan+ which I have on both my iPhone and iPad. Produced by @thegrizzlylabs this app allows me to scan documents as pdfs or JPGs, crop, add titles and tags to the document, merge several scans in to one document and then send by email or to Dropbox and the like.  I like to use the iPad app for bigger scans but I think as the camera is not as good as in the iPhone the quality is not as good.

I think this is a smart little app and one that I find so useful for local and family history. Or just some little piece of correspondence that I need to copy.  No more do I go to the flatbed scanner.  And the quick interface with Dropbox is great for me.

There is also a Genius Fax app which I have loaded but haven't used as I haven't wanted to fax anything since I loaded it.

Does anyone else out there use these apps?  And what do you think of them?

Games to play - or not #blogjune Day 7

I am not really a dedicated games player, online or elsewhere. I play the occasional spider solitaire on my phone or iTouch and have been known to play a few Zynga games on Facebook. I can get a bit obsessed with the latter but my interest in them ebbs and flows and at the moment they don't particularly interest me. Some of them I never liked at all (e.g. Farmville) and others that I enjoyed in the past (Yoville, Cityville and Castleville) have passed their use-by-date for me (and most others I suspect given the recent Zynga lay-offs).

So a couple of days ago when I was sitting near the local Post Office answering an email on my phone I was a bit surprised to be handed a flyer for a new app game, pokem. This was particularly so as my head was totally in the space of the email I was responding to - slowly I may say as I was trying to work out what to say. I was told using the game app would help my hand and eye coordination, help keep my mind alert, and speed up my ability to text!!  I think I was the one who sarcastically mentioned early onset dementia.  I have never been told I needed to speed up my texting!

Oh dear! Like many members of my family, I started going grey when I was in my 20s and I love silver and white hair.  But I do think people make all sorts of assumptions based on it. This episode reminded me of an experience at a library unconference a few years ago.  I was in a small group discussing local history/GPS/photos etc (basically the topic of #anz23mthing 5 but before its time obviously).  In response to something I raised, a young woman (who probably didn't know that I had put up this topic for discussion) suggested that if I joined Twitter I would get all my answers.  I thought one of my young staff whom I had bludgeoned (in the nicest possible way) into joining Twitter and was in the group was going to explode.  He still talks about the incident.

I had another experience last year on a tram in Melbourne. It was late one Friday or Saturday evening and I was tapping away on my phone, surrounded by a group of young men (slightly the worse for wear from alcohol) who started talking about Twitter.  I think it was pretty new to them.  The one sitting next to me turned and said smartly "Maybe this lady is tweeting".   I responded that of course I was on Twitter but I was currently doing some stuff on Flickr.  Well, that was a conversation stopper.

This wasn't the post I meant to write but it is how it emerged. The people who created the pokem app are young neighbours of mine and are trying to promote it.  I did download the app and try it. They say it is suitable for all ages and I think it probably is.  I think from trying it that my hand/eye coordination probably does need improving and that this app could help.  Try it and see if you want. But maybe also spend some time thinking about some of the issues I have raised here. I am thinking about them too.

Friday Photos #fp13 #blogjune Day 6

As many of you know, in 2013 I am taking part in three Flickr challenges.  I really like the discipline it gives me in terms of deadlines and the new eye it gives me for everything around me. Well in the case of this challenge it gives me a new eye every week!  The Friday Photos group challenge grew out of one of the photo a day challenges and is coordinated by @sarahgb from Wales and @csmramsden from Melbourne.  It was originally library people from the UK and Australia but recently it has become a bit more international and has people who aren't from libraries!



The game plan is that every Friday we are given a theme and within the next week we need to take and post three photos on the theme. Themes this year have included socks, water, information, faces, buttons, frames, sounds rain and many others.  We have 103 members.

If you are interested come on over to Flickr and join in.  We have lots of fun and lots of engagement.  I am always amazed at the creativity of people when they come up with ideas for the themes.

Moves app #blogjune Day 5

One of the things I really like about my iPhone is experimenting with different apps.  One of the apps that I have been using recently is the Moves app.  I am trying to monitor my exercise and I have never really found anything I like or anything I stick with. In particular I am trying to complete the notorious 10,000 steps a day.

But I do like Moves!  It documents all your movements in real time (when you are carrying your phone) and says whether you are walking, cycling or running. It also recognizes when you are moving on some form of transport and doesn't count that in the steps. It records your movements so you can look back, tells you each morning what you achieved the day before and gives you weekly totals and records etc.  I haven't used it for a mixture of activities so I am not sure how that works.  I have enough trouble walking most days.

As it uses GPS it documents where you have been and this means I have a record of how long it takes to walk to and from different places. It says it doesn't use battery while you are not moving but I do find it chews up the battery a bit.

Does anyone else out there use this app?  How do you find it?  Or are there other similar apps that you prefer?