This is my first post as part of the #weeklyblogclub – a group of people working in local government and with voluntary organisations that have come together to blog (loosely) on similar topics and themes.
In case you’ve found me through the #weeklyblogclub then a bit of background. Until the end of March last year I worked at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) leading on their work in supporting voluntary organisations to use technology. When I was made redundant I decided to carry on in the same field as a freelancer.
As it’s my first proper day back at work in 2012 I wanted to think about how I might be using technology over the next 12 months, not the usual new year technology predictions, but how I think my personal technology use will evolve and change.
Community reporting
I’m lucky enough to do some work with People’s Voice Media and the fabulous network of community reporters. Seeing (and hearing and reading) their community reporting content always inspires me and makes me want to capture my own stories. I’ve now got a mobile phone that takes fairly decent photos and video so along with using Audioboo to capture audio I’ve got all of the technology in my pocket I need to be a community reporter.
Something I definitely want to capture are the stories from my fellow room guides at the National Trust property I volunteer at. I’m really keen to hear about what they get from being a volunteer and also capture some of their stories about the beautiful rooms we get to tell visitors about every weekend.
Collaborative tools
Now that I’m working with multiple organisations I need to be a bit cleverer in the way I share, collaborate and work on documents. I do it pretty well at the moment using free tools such as Google Docs and Dropbox but I’m sure there are ways of using them more effectively, meaning I’m making better use of my time. One of the areas I’d like to look at particularly is how I make better use of travelling time (except when I’m on my bike of course).
Location apps
I’m quite a fan of location services, particulary Foursquare, probably more because it feels like doing a big treasure hunt than for anything business related. One of the reasons I haven’t made more use of them in the past has been the rubbishness of my phone but now I have my new shiney I’m hoping I’ll be able to discover more new places – and people? – when I’m out and about.
So, that’s me. How do you think you’ll be using technology differently over the coming year?
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Interesting and well-written post, Louise!
I use WordPress and Posterous apps on my iPod Touch (when I can get wifi) so I can blog when I am out and about. I also use Evernote on it and my laptop (although not yet using that as much as I could), and you might find that useful for making notes about things.
Incidentally, I’ve been involved with creating online learning resources for heritage volunteers in the not-so-distant past. Working with volunteers in heritage can be very interesting.
Good luck in the new work.
That’s a really good point Janet about blogging apps – I use WordPress and Tumblr. I’ve got them on my phone but haven’t really used them much. Now I’ve got the inspiration of #weeklyblogclub I can start doing it on the move!
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Good stuff Louise. I can’t comment on blogging apps (I’ve just started using WordPress, but don’t have experience of anything else).
Like Janet I’m a fan of Evernote and have been using it for several years across a variety of platforms (including digital pen and handwriting apps which it copes with really well). I also like the fact that Evernote captures text within photos and makes it searchable which can be really handy.
Thanks for the comment Mark. I have used Evernote in the past but I don’t think I was really doing it well as I hear people using it for all sorts of amazing stuff. I should take another look.
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I love the idea of recording people’s stories.
I’ve also been thinking about recording fellow officers talking about their jobs to give a face to the faceless bureaucrat.
Oh yes Pete, you should definitely do that. I personally enjoy hearing personal stories a lot and it would really help to explain some of the challenges – and successes – that they face. It’s so easy to do now as well with just a mobile phone, record an audioboo or piece of film, and then you can collect them all in one place using something like Storify.
Nothing as up to the minute as you Louise, but having read four separate ‘work more efficiently in 2012′ pieces on LinkedIn that ALL mentioned time wasted on corporate email, I am going to focus on using non-email technology for commuincating this year: instant messaging, SMS, etc. Would like to make more use of workgroup software like Basecamp. We have MS Office Communicator licenses but its a battle trying to get people to use it instead of the monster that is Outlook.
BTE, Pete’s point is a great way to promote integrated fundraising – i.e. bringing the frontline stories into the message to donors with real immediacy
I know what you mean Charles about corporate email. I think partly it’s about learning to manage it yourself, so perhaps brining in an inbox zero/ GTD approach and setting aside specific times to check email but also encouraging others to think more carefully about how they use it. I know a number of orgs have started to use things like Yammer for their more informal communications – who wants tea? who’s going to this meeting? etc. Good luck!
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Interesting and well-written post, Louise!
I use WordPress and Posterous apps on my iPod Touch (when I can get wifi) so I can blog when I am out and about. I also use Evernote on it and my laptop (although not yet using that as much as I could), and you might find that useful for making notes about things.
Incidentally, I’ve been involved with creating online learning resources for heritage volunteers in the not-so-distant past. Working with volunteers in heritage can be very interesting.
Good luck in the new work.
+1
Thanks Barny, it seems like I should definitely check out Evernote again.
Hi Louise,
Great post, keep meaning to let you know. Personally, i am feeling more than a little overwhelmed by technology and social media at the moment.
So i think my priority, perhaps many people’s, will be to filter the noise and make sure i get to hear about what I’m most interested in. To this end i think new Twitter’s discover tab is going to be a boon in reworking some lists and having a spring clean on accounts I’m following.
And i’m liking new content curator apps @pinterest http://pinterest.com/ and @scoopit http://www.scoop.it And i am determined to make more of GooglePlus. Oh, and get back into blogging with a bit more focus. I just wish there were more hours in the day. That reminds me – I’m also using http://www.do.com to try and get more tasks done on time…!
Blimey, the more you guys write about the more I realise they should have been on my list!
I definitely agree with getting smarter about dealing with information. I’m planning on making more use of my time tweets (using Hootsuite) and setting aside specific times in the week that I do it rather than having Twitter on all of the time. I’ve also gone back to my RSS feeds and filtering those out more quickly than before. I should look at Pintrest. I’d like to try and capture more using either Scoopit or Storify.
Any yes, I really want to understand how Google + works this year!
As an aside I use http://www.rememberthemilk.com for my work management.
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