Thing 9: Reflective Practice

With the objective of learning as much as possible, I tried to do all the 'Things' to date, and I have blogged about them all, and my varying degrees of success with each one, and posted examples of what I managed to produce with each blog post.

Description:
To follow is a list of 'Things' I have completed to date, the visual communication tools I used, and what I produced with each tool.
8 Oct. 2017: Thing 3: Flickr & Pixabay. I created accounts, uploaded a photo to Flickr, and selected a photo from Pixabay, both of which I added to the blog.
14 & 15 Oct. 2017: Thing 4: Ripl & Quick. I didn't manage to use Ripl due to the limitations of my old iPhone. I managed to use Quick to create a video of libraries I visited in Boston.
29 Oct. 2017: Thing 5: Powtoon & ScreenCastomatic. I used Powtoon to create a presentation of my 'Library Nerd Holiday' in Boston. I used Screencast-o-matic to produce a video of how to renew library books online using LibrariesIreland online catalogue via Wexford Libraries website.
1 Nov. 2017: Thing 6: Reflective Practice on things 3, 4 & 5 completed to apply for my Digital Communications Badge. (not received to date).
27 Feb. 2017: Thing 7: Online Exhibitions. I used blogger to create a basic online exhibition of Wexford Libraries online resources.
27 Feb. 2017: Thing 7.5: Digital Storytelling. I used Facebook story to create a digitally modified image of a "Wee Library" in Co. Donegal. I read about Instagram & Snapchat which were also covered in this thing, but I didn't sign up for these, nor use them, preferring to use the Facebook story feature as I'm already on Facebook.
19 Mar. 2017: Thing 8: Infographics: Piktochart & Canva. I used Canva to produce an infographic of a typical month's activity statistics (Gorey Library 2017).

Feelings
Thinking back over these things and reading back over my blog of how I found working on each thing, I have to admit that frustration was the most common emotion. I am not a very visual person in the real world and even less so in the virtual world. So these tasks were definitely focused on my two of my weak points, which was not a good combination. I encountered challenges, experienced frustration and impatience and achieved mixed success in using these tools. However, I persisted, and I managed to complete something on each thing.

Evaluation
Reviewing those 8 things, there are some that stand up to scrutiny better than others. Some I would be happy to use on our library Facebook page or even website or e-newsletter. Others were not of an adequate standard.
Good outputs: I would consider the Screencast-o-matic video on how to renew books online adequate to put on our facebook page or website, 'though it would benefit from being done again with a more upbeat tone of voice and some background music. It is workmanlike, and does the job, but it is boring. Personally I like my Powtoon presentation of 'Library Nerd Holiday Boston July 2017', it is bright, has an upbeat soundtrack, and I think there are interesting library photos, but I would judge it more appropriate for personal rather than professional use. My Canva infographic is something that I am happy with and plan to use again to promote monthly activity statistics in the library.
Poor outputs: The Quick video of the same library photos from Boston is unusable due to pixelation. I should have redone this, but considering the two nights I had already unsuccessfully devoted to this thing and my frustrations with Ripl and Quick, I decided to cut my losses and move on from this thing. My online exhibition of e-resources using blogger was also extremely basic, and not something that I imagine could be used. I did have a limited image bank for this task, but I also suffered from poor imagination and creativity in this thing.

Analysis
Given that I consider myself not to be a very visual person, and I haven't devoted time to my visual skills development in either the real or digital world, I think that this course was good to force me to use tools that I would not otherwise have used, and to try to develop some visual digital skills. I know that communicating visually is very important, particularly in promoting our library services and achievements in a professional, modern way, especially to corporate and younger audiences. When I review all the things together, I see that I have learned some useful skills, and now know of some useful, free and easy-to-use digital tools that I can use again, some more regularly (Canva, Powtoon) than others (Screencast-o-matic), to communicate visually & digitally.

Conclusion
I would have benefited from sticking to a stricter schedule on this course, as the cumulative learning curve would have accumulated a bit better, and I might have practiced the things in real world examples more. As it is, I completed things 3, 4, 5 & 6 between 8 October and 1 November 2017. Then there is a giant gap until I do thing 7 on 27 February 2018. That giant gap reflects how real life intervenes. My lovely father died on 22 November, and Rudaí 23 fell off my radar, as I struggled with my loss and grief. However, the importance of learning and persistence are some of the life lessons that my father taught me, and I'm determined to persist with this course, and to complete it and to improve myself.

Thosaigh mé an blag seo i nGaeilge, ach níor lean mé leis an seift sin. Níor éirigh liom an chéad suaitheantas digiteach a fháil, agus b'fhéidir gurb' í an Ghaeilge ba chúis le sin? Cé fios? Ach os rud é gur cúrsa cumarsaide, b'fhéidir gur fearr cloí leis an meán cumarsáid is mó atá á úsáid, an Bhéarla.