Outside Lands San Francisco is a podcast related to the west side of San Francisco, the Sunset district, near Ocean Beach.  My dad, who is a native San Franciscan, told me about the podcast, and I am glad he did.  There are literally hundreds of podcasts, focusing on various elements of the district, all things that make me a little homesick, and also help remind me of what it was that I loved about living and being from there.
 
I listened to podcast #26, Oddities of the Avenues, which was about the buildings in the district that are somewhat of an anomaly, those that are differently structured, or larger, or are unique in some way.   I learned a lot about the region within the short 20 minutes that the podcast ran, and look forward to listening to some of the others.

At this point, the only thing that I have ready to share is a thesis I wrote in 2005, which I was able to find on WorldCat (!), but I couldn’t figure out how to link it to my Researchgate profile.  I did add some information to my RG profile, though I haven't completed it yet.  Since I am interested in working in the field of research, and support of researchers, I will need to get that populated entirely, so that I can locate some possible positions.
 
I don’t feel ready to have anything academic published, nor have I done that level of work in my LIS program thus far.  I will be creating a thesis for my MLIS, so that will be something to publish once I have decided on a topic and completed the writing.  The purpose of the publication of this item will be admission to a relevant PhD program and/or to secure a position in a special library, therefore the audience would be a selection team.  I’m looking into cultural programs related to art, so the thesis itself will be something about where art, culture, and information intersect.

I don’t give personal info to websites, and keep a gmail account (again with an alias) that I use to sign up for anything that is not official.  This keeps all my potential spam and unwanted email going to the same address, so I can look at infrequently and not miss anything important.
 
I don’t download any illegal music, movies, software, and I only connect to official wifi when outside of my home or the home of trusted friends and family.  I don’t respond to unwanted emails, and utilize a strong spam filter, so I hardly have to look at them at all.  Just once a day in case something has slipped in accidentally.
 
I use strong unique passwords for almost all sites, and I keep them in a password manager.  I recently did Tactical Tech’s Data Detox (highly recommended), which also changed my practices.  I started using Duck Duck Go, as a result, started to use a variety of blockers on my browsers.

I made my first Wikipedia edits!
 
This was an interesting endeavor, because I had to think to edit something about which I had a lot of knowledge.  I looked up County Community Schools, which took me to “Community Day Schools,” and of course, as per usual, there were errors in the description.  I made a couple of changes, and realized that there is not page for County Community Schools, so when I have more time, I will attend to the creation of this page.
 
I think it’s important to be knowledgeable about a subject before heading off to edit it in Wikipedia.  Of course, if there is no Wiki page for the item, it would be good to just make a starter page, so there is something that people can then add to.  Accuracy is important and I was happy to read that things have changed since Wikipedia’s incarnation, to include the immediacy of editing and changes to be quicker than I had previously known.  People all over the world will be looking to Wikipedia for quick information, if not more in-depth info.  If I were leading a course on wiki-editing, I would be sure to convey the importance of accuracy to my students.  However, one should not be timid when deciding whether or not to edit.  If you see something incorrect, you should fix it, provided you know the accurate information.

I’ve used Evernote in the past, but didn’t stick with it.  I don’t find the interface intuitive, and it’s a bit too busy in its layout.  I’m not sure what an equivalent would be, maybe Trello (?), but for now, I’m going to focus on Trello/Asana/etc. for my project management needs.  I feel that with Evernote, I’m just burying my information deeper into a system that’s not easy to access or use quickly.  For this thing, I’ve set up folders for job searches, and used the web-clipping tool.  This tool would actually come in handy for saving things, instead of using a bookmark, but when I downloaded “Pocket,”  I think that might actually work better.
 
Pocket is a great way to capture all of those things that I come across when researching, but just don’t have the time to read at that moment. I want to read them, so I bookmark them, but then I never go back to the bookmarks, except to clean them out, and then sometimes those items aren’t relevant or pertinent anymore, so I just end up deleting them.  Pocket allows me to save those readings, thereby uncluttering my bookmarks toolbar and bookmarks folders, and puts them all into one easily accessible spot.  I also downloaded the Chrome extension, which makes saving the item even easier.
 
I poked around a bit on “don’t forget the Milk,” and I like the interface and its features a lot.  I especially like how everything is on one screen.  I’ve gotten used to using To-Doist, because it syncs with my i-devices, and so while I do appreciate all the DFtM has to offer, I’m going to stick with to-doist.  Plus, I have a premium membership, which allows me to color-code my projects, and sync my to do list with my calendar.  I can color code with DFtM, but not sync with iCal.

My last collaborative project was a combination of virtual and face-to-face.  My school colleague and I were hired by a client to do research work for his website.  I met virtually with my colleague and face-to-face with the client.
 
We meet weekly using Zoom, a skype-like interface which allowed recording and screen sharing. We organized and communicated our project in Asana instead of email, which was convenient because it focused the project into one container, that we would check-into when we were working on that element of our day.  We considered Trello and Slack, but went with Asana, because it offer a premium edition free for the duration of our project because we were students.  It had drawbacks, and I hope to be able to try-out Slack and Trello at some point.  Something that came to mind when I was working on the project was that because our LIS program is entirely online, that our University should offer some sort of Project Management software to every student – not only for personal organization and workflow, but because it would be super-useful for all of the virtual group projects we are asked to do.
 
My experience was 100% positive, but that was entirely due to my colleague.  She was conscientious, prompt, engaging, funny, and dependable.
 
I’ve used Doodle, which is awesome and such a relief if you’ve ever been victim of an email thread where everyone lists their availability and it goes back and forth for weeks.  It’s a dream come true for schedulers, admins, meeting organizers.
 
And as an expat, Skype is a lifesaver.  I Skype regularly with relatives, which makes them feel not so far away.  I keep my work and my personal-life separate, so it’s nice to have another option (Zoom) available.

I've had a LinkedIn account for a number of years.  I don't go on very much, and think of it more as a place to check into every week or so, to see who is posting what within the organizations I'm interested in, and would like to work for.  It's also a place for me to store my resume and current work information, though I also use this website for that.

I had never heard of ORCID before, but now I have my very own identifier.  Since I am interested in research and supporting those who are also doing research, I am thrilled to find an organization more aligned with the goals and principles of my future career.

Keeping the twitter professional-like.

I like my professional twitter feed, full of museums and non-profits, and cultural orgs, and libraries.  It's an escape into sanity.

The film's story is based on the life of Miguel Joaquín Eleizegui Arteaga, a man who was afflicted with gigantism and was known as the "Giant from Altzo."

The distributor, Gabarra Films, is a Bayonne-based company who, in partnership with the Basque Cultural Institute, released the film in 2017.  The distribution company's goal is to distribute two or three films a year; this is Gabarra Films' seventh release.

Shown: (1) Ticket Stub, paper, black and white; (1) 4-fold program, multi-color printing (blue, black, white, grey), Basque and French, (10) color photos.  This program and the below photographs were distributed to support the film's release on January 24th.

For Things 3, 4, and 5, I was asked to use tools that were new to me, or to look at familiar tools in a new way. I examined Flickr from the perspective of someone looking for a photo to fit a particular purpose, instead of as a user looking for a place to store her photos. I discovered that Google Images was a wealth of creative common photos, and that Pixabay is another viable option for finding photos that match up with one’s blogpost (et al) needs. Another new-to-me item is PhotoFunia, which I see as a useful tool for marketing, in-house sign-making, and clever postering. Finally, I did my first ever screencast, and surprisingly didn’t hate it. Screencast-o-matic could be useful for tutorial videos for library patrons, researchers, and staff, and as a MLIS student I can see how in my classes such as cataloging and classification, could use this tool as an effective method for teaching items such as Dewey, MARC, etc.

In my regular perusal of information-related websites, I’ve seen images that seem flat, or those that could appear attached to any other website on an unrelated topic, so it feels important to select just the right photo for the job, one that feels authentic and matches well with whatever it is that I am posting.  For my own posts, sometimes I end up using a photo I took myself. Instagram has given me a lot of practice in the photo/caption/mood arena. It’s difficult to describe exactly how to go about choosing the right photo, but for these Things, I tried on a couple before deciding, and it somehow seemed to internally sit better when I matched them with their posts. When looking for photos, and when searching generally now, I see how  important it is to be appropriately descriptive on the back end, so that users can type in what they are looking for, and have a better chance of that item showing up – whether or not they already know exactly what that thing is. Previously, it seemed as searchers we tried to use as few words as possible to get our desired results, but now with so much content available, the more words we use seems to get us closer to what we want.

Lastly, one of my personal goals is to improve my unrehearsed speaking ability. If I know something really well, it’s easier to speak on it, and now I want to work on becoming more clear and concise when I am speaking in an informal way, about lesser known professional topics. The screencast-o-matic was an eye-opener. I didn’t use as many “ums” and “uhs” as I thought I would, and I was relatively clear. The screeencast I posted was the second one, because the first didn’t use an external mike, and my voice wasn’t loud enough to hear the narration.  The most difficult part of the screencast was finding time when the house would be quiet enough for me to record, and finding something to record myself doing.

While the tools I used were new to me, I didn’t have much trouble figuring out how to use them, or for which uses they might be appropriate.  I am interested in what ways Librarians and information professionals have found these tools useful; I would love to see some examples.  In the future,  to remind myself that these tools are available I am bookmarking them in a "resources" folder on my browser, so I can look at the list and see if one of these new tools will help me mix it up a bit, and make the content of what I am doing more engaging for the person consuming it.

Looking forward to my next set of things.

This PhotoFunia will come in handy in the future, for marketing, fun in-house signage, however it also makes me think about how easy it could be to fake pretty much anything.  Book titles, political statements, etc.; it's getting harder to trust even what we see with our own eyes.

I posted a PhotoFunia related to privacy on my twitter account, because I'm currently learning more about privacy and data politics, and I think Libraries are going to be the free spaces where people can learn more about how to protect their data, and be more informed users of tech, both online and off and Librarians will be the people there to help them do it.

I found this lovely photo of an olive grove in the Creative Commons image bank, Pixabay.  I was looking for something fun, like creative representations of the number 23, but decided on something moody.  There were a lot of beautiful B&W photos of trees - they must be popular.  Then I headed over to Flickr, and made an account for my professional life, where I changed the header photo, and then looked around.  A lot has changed in the last 10 years at Flickr, there are a lot more snapshots than artistic photographs.  

Selecting a visual for a project, or post, that reflects the feeling or idea I'm trying to convey is an enjoyable process that allows me to be creative and also requires that I go through some trial and error.  Usually, I place the photo in, try some different placements within the post/project, and gauge what looks or feels best, where the photo can best match up with the text.  For the photo above, because of its panoramic-ness, it seemed better suited at the top, as an introduction, and I selected it because it is expansive, and has depth - I wonder what is beyond, and how far I might wander unimpeded if I were there.

In the description for Thing 2, there is a link to an article by Michael Stephens, the reason I am participating in Rudaí23.  I just finished up his HyperLinked Library course yesterday; it was phenomenal:  Mind-expanding, well-rounded, smart, real, engaging, and most of all fun.

I was able to see that there is the potential for a lot of social justice work in librarianship, something I was not aware of when I decided to pursue this path.  When I started, I had some specific ideas about where it would take me, and now, I see that there are a lot more options than I had thought initially.  I look forward to seeing how new information will guide my direction, career-wise.  Right now, I'm feeling rather excited.