#cpd23 Things 13 & 14

Thing 13: Google Docs, Wikis and Dropbox
I have a small amount of experience with Google Docs (Google Drive), having been involved in creating collaborative documents in public libraries, but at the moment I don't really have a use for it.  It is good to be aware of though, and as I have gmail I always have access to it if I need it.
One of the librarians in another school in my borough set up a wiki just for the group of us that attend the borough meetings, to share files and ideas, but we don't really use it very much.  I think school librarians tend to be so good at working alone that they forget that other people might have already done something that would make their life easier.  Things like wikis have made it much easier to support and share with one another so I'll make a concerted effort to use it a bit more next term.  Hopefully if I do then the others will too as there's no point just one person updating these things, otherwise it might as well just be on my own blog.
I looked at Dropbox and thought there's no point trying it out, but then it occured to me if I put my chartership folder in there I can add stuff at school or at home, genius!  So I've set that up on my laptop.  I doubt I'll be able to download it at school but I'll see what it is like going through the website next time I'm there.

Thing 14: Zotero//MendeleyCiteULike
I always quite enjoyed the pedantic nature of referencing when I was doing my BSc and MA and, not wanting to sound like a luddite, want to continue to do them manually with my chartership portfolio.  The only electronic tool I use, other than typing things up obviously, is Word's ability to insert footnotes into the appropriate pages.  I'm not sure it would be worth introducing 6th formers to zotero or mendeley as they don't need dozens of references yet and will forget about these things by the time they reach uni.  CiteULike could be useful to them if their teacher sets up an account and shares useful references with them along with me, but as the blog post says it is similar to delicious which I already point them towards.  I do teach them basic referencing skills and think it is best for them to do them the traditional way, to get a good understanding of their purpose and use, while they've not got pages of references to deal with as they will if they progress with education.

Two slightly uninspired responses from me, but just you wait for Thing 15 - it is turning into an essay!