Why blog?

I haven't blogged since 20th May 2011 ... that's almost 5 months. So why am I blogging now? And why am I blogging at all?

First question first ... why am I blogging now? I have time! I have had 2 weeks off work to move house ... this is the last day of my holiday (I don't count the coming weekend) ... all house stuff is done and I have a few quite minutes to stop and think (having taken some piccies first) ...

 Lovely house, just like I used to draw when little :)

 What would I do without my very handy Hodge?

 A gorgeous kitchen, inspiring me to cook more adventurous stuff (hopefully)

 A fab home office ... where I am sitting as I type now ;-)

... and I feel like sharing!

Which brings me to my second question ... why blog? Is it because you have something to share? Does it need to be something that others might want shared or does that matter? I love the freedom of a blog in that as a reader you can choose to read what you want and comment if you choose. As a blogger you can say what you want about whatever you want ... if it is a personal rather than a work related blog, that is ;) When I have time I love the process of putting thoughts into words and writing them down. I used to write for pleasure a lot when I was younger (stories mainly) but I never expected anyone to read them. They were for me. With blogging the 'edge' is that someone may read this and choose to comment on it. I like it! 

Much as I love tech, I think having 2 weeks off from using technology all day at work has done me the world of good.  Sky STILL haven't connected our broadband but a mobile dongle, netbook and good 3G on my phone have been more than enough for now! Looking forward to getting back to the tech, the Astutis crew and ERIC on Monday though :)



Off to enjoy the last hours of my holiday now, whilst also crossing my fingers for Wales tomorrow and dreaming of 8Mb plus broadband (when Sky eventually get it together). Who knows, that 8Mb might inspire more blogging too!

Digital eureka moments

Yesterday I had a lasting digital eureka moment ... or rather a moment when I said 'wow, I didn't know you could do that' and (crucially) think it will be something I will use (or say 'wow' about) again and again. 

Yesterday's 'moment' was realising that as well as calculating journey distance, time and route for you, Google Maps will also calculate how much that journey will cost you. I have just changed my car from petrol to diesel in an attempt to save on fuel costs and so knowing how much journeys cost me (about £6 back and for to work every day) is (I think) going to be fab!

My 'moment' set me thinking about all of the other truely digital eureka moments I have had, bearing in mind that until recently and for the last 3 years my job was all about looking for new digital stuff. The 'moments' I can remember and therefore the ones I think must have been truely 'moments' are:

• that you can ask an Adobe pdf to read to the text to you without any special software on your machine
• that can use Outlook as an aggregator for RSS feeds
• that Dropbox means I never need to use a memory key again
• that on a Mac you  have been able to take a snapshot of part of your desktop for ages (long before Windows created the Snipping Tool, that is)
• that my car key stores all data about my car and when I take it for a service all they have to do is scan my key to find out what I've been up to!

Thinking about these digital eureka moments then set me thinking of the opposite ... those digital 'moments' that I thought would be life changing (in a very small way of course) but have turned out not to be, so much so that I have reverted to the non-digital equivalents. Here are the few I came up with ...

• I prefer map reading to Sat Nav
• I prefer books to eBook readers
• I prefer puzzles (crosswords, etc) on paper to puzzles on my phone/PC
• I prefer talking face to face to talking via Skype or VC 
• I prefer using my mirrors to relying on parking sensors ;)

So much technology and so many potential uses ... but how many truly digital eureka moments are there really out there?

Less time for tech ...

... or am I changing the way I use tech? That is my blog ponderance for today :) I've neglected this space recently but I think it is all part of the 'change of job' phase I have been going through and that now I feel really settled in my new job I have time to reflect on all things digital again.

My last job (as eLearning Advisor for JISC RSC Wales) was all about tech and how it could be used to support teaching and learning, so I lived and breathed technology old and new every working hour and many others besides. My current job (Learning Designer for Astutis, health & safety training consultants) is all about learning and teaching and using tech to facilitate and support it. I use tech every day to do my job but I don't live and breathe it anymore and I am very happy to say that neither the tech or the work comes home with me, like it used to.


And so to my original question ... is it that I have less time for tech or just that I am changing the way I use it?

Before ... I tweeted loads every day and checked Twitter on a very regular basis


Now ... I check Twitter when I remember and tweet when I think I have something to tweet.

Before ... I used Dropbox to make sure I had access to my files regardless of which machine (work or home) I was working on


Now ...I use Dropbox with colleagues as a shared storage area.

Before ... I used Delicious to bookmark stuff that I might find of interest again


Now ...I used Delicious to store bookmarks for stuff that I come back to time and time again.

Before ...I used Outlook as my RSS feed aggregator and checked it regularly for new blog updates or news


Now ... I use Google Reader and check for blog updates when I have time. 

Before ... email, Skype and Google Docs were my main form of communication with colleagues


Now ... I talk to my colleagues :)






The nature and focus of my job has changed, which explains most of the above ... but so does the fact that now I work in the same office with my colleagues every day and don't need to use technology to communicate over even the simplest of things. 


Much as I love tech, I have to say that having had time to reflect on the changes that have been happening, although I sometimes miss being able to say that whilst 'playing' with tech I was really working, I am enjoying using tech with a genuine purpose ... to make my job easier and to create (hopefully) interactive and stimulating learning experiences.

Animated people

Yesterday I was reminded of a fab website aimed at changing the way we see disability. It combines some great animation (an adaptation of Aardman's Creature Comforts) with real people's stories and voices. Leonard Cheshire Disability's Creature Discomforts website is well worth a visit: www.creaturediscomforts.org

And if you think you already know all there is to know about disability then take the quiz and get the chance to view some funny outtakes :-)

I really like this idea of animating real people and thanks to the reminder of this website will be taking this into the eLearning course I am designing at the mo ... multimedia developer willing and able!

Census dilemma

I have just completed the 2011 Census questionnaire ... but I have to admit that I had a bit of a dilemma before doing it ... did I go for paper or for online? When I heard about a week ago that you could do the census online this time I was impressed and thought that would definitely be the best option for our household.  However, when the actual Census questionnaire booklet (x2 because we had the English and Welsh versions) dropped through the letterbox today I did have a more than momentary dilemma ...  should I still go online or should I just fill in the paper booklet by hand because otherwise the booklets would go straight in the recycling bin?

As the above indicates, I did eventually decide to go for the online version and I have to say that I was quite impressed at how painless it was ... it didn't take long ... it was logical and easy to understand ... I was able to go back and check an answer quickly ... I could have saved it and come back to it later. Nevertheless, I'm feeling a bit guilty about the 2 booklets (minus the front page with our details on it) that are now lying in the recycling bin - it feels like such a waste of paper :-( Why couldn't we have been given the option before the booklets were printed and posted as to whether we wanted to stick with paper or go online? Hopefully next time this will be an option ... and having thought about it, if they had asked for an email address from those who completed online this time, couldn't they have then emailed us all next time to ask if we wanted to complete online again ... ?

Connecting to the cloud

Yesterday I spotted the new 'Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office' plugin via the Google Docs' Blog. Having been a Google Doc user for a few years now and a Microsoft Office user for much longer than that I was immediately interested ... and after a bit of testing with my colleague Russell I have to say that we are both suitably impressed with what it can do ...





... or rather what you can do with it.

• Collaborate on a MS document (Word, Powerpoint or Excel) with a colleague, who could be on the other side of the world ... without having to leave the comfort of Microsoft Office! Note: you both need Windows, MS Office, the plugin and a Google account.
• Share a Microsoft Office document with any number of people from them to contribute to ... and you can see the contributions in the Document on your computer! Note: again you all need a Windows, MS Office, the plugin and a Google account.
• Enable any number of people to view your document online, whether they have Microsoft Office or not by using the Google Doc publish function.
• Work offline on a MS Office document that you are collaborating on so that when you connect to the internet the changes you have made can also be shared.

I kept a record of my Google Cloud Connect journey as a collaborative (with my other self) Word doc that I can share with you here via a published Google Doc: goo.gl/cCVO9


I love all things tech but know that many people don't, so as the video above, Russ and me all say, probably the best thing about Google Cloud Connect is that you can use the benefits of the cloud without really having to leave the comfort of Microsoft Office :-)

2 of (almost) everything

I haven't blogged for some time (head too full of finishing my current job and starting my new one I guess)but the whole idea of having 2 of everything (a work one and a personal one usually) has got me thinking and wondering if it is just me or if others like to keep their work/home life separate but are increasingly finding it all blurring because of technology?


I was thinking about the stuff I had 2 (or more) of ...

• Email accounts - work and home
• Blogs - a work blog and this one
• Twitter accounts - @HelenHRSc for work and @HelenAitch for home (or for after this job has finished)
• Dropboxes - a work/home one for me and a just work one
• Google Docs accounts - a home/work one and then a just work one
• Computers - a work laptop and netbook and a home iMac, Macbook and iPad (Apple mad husband!)
• Mobile phones - although I stopped using my work one agaes ago and chose to divert calls to my personal one because, unlike the other things I've mentioned, the real rather than virtual technology x 2 certainly weighs your handbag down ;-)

I wonder if it is because of the job I do ... or just because I like tech ... or because I like to try and fool myself that I keep work and home separate :-)


Oh well ... in 2 weeks time a lot of these will be no more and I will be back to just 1 of everything ... except for the Apples of course!