It's not what you know, it's who you know

My feelings towards Wikipedia veer from frustration to awe to downright indignation - often within the same minute. There's been a blog post forming in my mind for some time but the t'other half has gone and beaten me to it:

Epistemology Pt 1: How I co-founded DMA Design

And dammit...he's much more eloquent than I could ever hope to be!

Thank blogness it's Friday!

Well it would appear that - with no conscious planning on my part - Friday is to be blogging day. Yes, I know it's Monday, but I actually drafted this post on Friday. (see previous post about my attachment to pen and paper!). It makes sense really - the Friday afternoon train journey home feels like a natural time to be reflective.

Anyhoo...this week I have mostly been agreeing my high level work objectives and then breaking those down into discrete tasks. I've got as far as putting together a fairly comprehensive work plan for the next 12 months. It will never be a finished document - there will always be things that'll crop up unexpectedly that will have to be slotted in - but it gives me something to work to. And the process of putting the plan together has enabled me to think about priorities, dependencies, etc.

As for chartership...well I'm ashamed to say I've done nothing since my week of study leave. Maybe I should apply my planning skills to that particular project as well!

New Job - Week 1

I drafted this and the previous post on the train on the way back from Glasgow at the end of my first week as a 'Knowledge Management Officer'.

This week has been in turn exciting, confusing, challenging and exhausting as I've tried to get my head around what the job actually entails and also get to grips with a subject area that's pretty knew to me, ie Regeneration.

Regeneration is such a cross-cutting topic that it's going to be particularly difficult to determine what's out and what's in. But I'd have a cheek to call myself a librarian if I can't develop a strategy for that!

On the chartering front, I had intended to make some progress this week, but I don't think that's going to happen now.

The pen is mightier than the keyboard

It's a funny thing...well, it amuses me anyway...that geeky as I am, I still struggle with typing directly into the blog post box. I actually drafted this post in my notebook using one of those old fashioned writing sticks - with all the inherent inefficienies that implies. My thoughts seem to flow better on paper than if I'm trying to get words onto a computer screen. And it's way more aesthetically pleasing!

In fact, I'd probably do all of my writing longhand if I had the luxury of time!

Oh well, apparently Neal Stephenson's drafted Cryptonomicon using a fountain pen, so I'm in good company.

Chartering Week Round Up

So...last week didn't go entirely to plan. Accomplished a lot, but not as much as I'd hoped. As I'm starting a new job tomorrow it would have been nice to have had the thing done and dusted by this point.

I can't take any more study leave this year, but I am going to try to keep the momentum up and get the portfolio completed by the end of May. So, bye bye social life :-) Again.

CILIP has taken a lot of stick recently - if you're not aware of the Phil Bradley/Bob McKee spat*, where have you been??!!!! - but I still think chartership is worth pursuing.


* Seek enlightenment here:
Blog post from Bob McKee that kicked it all off
Phil Bradley's reposte
and the resultant CILIP 2.0 Open Session

Chartering - Day 5

Going to tackle the evaluative statement today.

The evaluative statement is the executive summary for the portfolio - and it needs to "show evidence of analysis, evaluation and review of your knowledge and experience" (Watson, 2008, p59). Easy peasy :-)



Watson, Margaret. 2008. Building Your Portfolio. The CILIP Guide. London: Facet Publishing.