Monday 19 February 2007

Purpose of Sintoblog

Dear diary
A bit misty this morning so I made myself a bowl of porridge for breakfast.......

Well that's the problem with blogs. They are on-line diaries which are of interest to the writer but possibly of limited interest to everyone else. The Social Computing course has inspired me to set up Sintoblog - but what exactly would its value be to SINTO members?
I assume that people are not interested in what I had for breakfast and even an account of what I do at work is of very limited interest (except to my boss). You are all busy people with limited time to read my postings so what would be of interest and relevance to you?
I can think of two things. First it could be a source of information about SINTO events and activities - but we already have ways of keeping people informed of these (e.g. e-mails and the web site). On the whole I think that people want focused information about things of interest to them and not a general diary. On the other hand it might alert people to things they did not know about - the famous "unknown unknowns".

The second area is a forum for alerting people about general professional issues and developments and discussing their implications. This would be a CPD service and might be of interest to Chartership candidates and new professionals. In my role as SINTO director I possibly have a bit more time than most front-line librarians to read professional journals and news sources and to comment on them. Would that be of interest to SINTO members I wonder? The only way to find out is to try it.

Then there is my Wiki. That differs from the blog in that it can be organised by subject rather than a chronological diary. I don't just want to duplicate the web site so the issue is how to use the Web 2.0 aspects of a Wiki to give added value. My initial idea is that I will use it for the SINTO Groups and for follow-up to training events to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of information when people can not meet face-to-face.

The key is will people be bothered to read these new services on a regular basis and will they respond? Is there a SINTO community out there that is interested in sharing information?

Let me know what you think or I'll go back to describing my breakfasts.

Carl

3 comments:

Gill said...

We need more detail Carl - are you a milk and sugar man or golden syrup? My children's favourite is fried bacon bits with golden syrup - inspired by the dutch pancakes with 'spek and stroop' so I thought I would pass this culinary tip to SINTO members in time for Shrove Tuesday!

Enjoyed the course thanks.

ElegantSniff said...

Carl, I like the idea of a current awareness about journals. Could you also give a consortial view of library and information trends and new initiatives? I should think you have an excellent overview from knowing all the different sectors covered by SINTO members.

On the porridge - I agree with Gill that more detail is needed. What about salt rather than sugar?!

Stephanie

Carl said...

Oh dear, I seem to have started something with the porridge! It's all part of my weight-loss programme (don't say you haven't noticed!!)so its skimmed milk with a teaspoon of dark brown sugar or maple syrup. On cold days I like a drop of Scotch but that is an indulgence. I think I will give the bacon bits a miss but it sounds interesting.
Yes I am happy to offer current awareness and discussion of trends - just depends if anyone is interested in reading it.

Carl