Waiting for a Doctor and Goulash.
For my ePortfolio and in order to graduate I have to write a variety of reports and reflections related to various Library activities I've done over the last three years. Todays entry is based on my time monitoring the John Oxley Libraries Blog.
State Library of QLD. John oxley Branch.
http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/
Monitored From January 2013-June 2013.
The John Oxley Library is the correct name for the building referred to by most people as the State Library of Queensland. The State Library is a bigger institution that just the single building on the bend of the river at Southbank, it comprises of several buildings and repositories around the state. It is responsible for helping to craft the policies and protocols of public libraries around the state and is connected to other state libraries throughout Australia and New Zealand through various programs and associations.
I elected to monitor the blog of this library for several months because I felt that as the leading library in Queensland it would provide a good example for me to observe and report on. The library puts out information very regularly on their blog site, with highly detailed reports on the history of the state and relates it to current displays and exhibitions being held in the John Oxley building at the time of posting as well as interesting historical titbits which may have been recently in the news due to an anniversary or recent related story. The John Oxley Library blog is very versed in the history and background of the state of Queensland and in particular parts of the history of Brisbane, the primary focus on nearly all entries relates to events from history or times of great social or political change. The posts went into great detail about the minutia of some events I was previously only aware of in general. The level of detail and research which goes into every post on the site displays a level of commitment to telling the unique history of the state and city that would be difficult to find elsewhere. Part of the reason I chose this blog to follow was that the history of Brisbane is of particular interest to me.
The blog entries helped me to personally understand the importance of saving the history of the state for future generations as well as the value of researching a topic and how plentiful the resources are if you know where to look. They were also used occasionally to promote upcoming events and displays at the John Oxley library. However the layout of the site, while interesting, did make it hard to read longer articles and posts, the site is set up horizontally instead of vertically, with posts forming separate columns across the page. While it was easy to read once you were used to it I felt that the columns could have been wider, they are on average 52 characters across, the average twitter Tweet is about 65 and has significantly less rows of content to read through.
It could be that the page was designed to work better on tablets or mobile devices than on regular computers such as mine as this format does seem to suit that environment very well. But this would raise another issue with regards to user interaction.
The major criticism I do have about the site is that while the content is excellent the participation by staff and the public is almost non-existent. While I commented on a variety of stories and posts made on the site I found that it was rare to get a reply aside from the occasional spambot. A part of this problem could be that the button to leave a comment is at the very bottom of the articles and buried within the various tags for each entry. While it wasn't invisible, for people reading the article the link to make a comment was close to it. If it were bolded in some manner and made more prominent it would likely attract more users. All of the posts on the blog do include a share button which isn't very prominent or obvious to readers(it is next to the authors name but not bolded or instantly notable) but it does allow you to share it via most forms of social media to your friends and family members who may share your interest in whichever topic you've selected. This tended to make participation and monitoring the blog a very solitary affair. I struggle to understand why a website might have such a poor set up for comments in this day and age.
It could be that the official website isn't considered as central a resource as the libraries other online resources, such as those found on Flickr(found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryqueensland/ ) which has a much more active community of users or its Twitter account which has at least one tweet sent out per day, usually to promote content from the various other blogs on the SLQ website.
The site and my use of it did show me a lot about presenting information for public consumption in an interesting way. It has also made me think about what I would want as a consumer of a website, being able to share content with my friends and other such options. I wasn't able to interact with many people on the site, which was a shame, but did find that few people who commented often had interesting things to say on the topic. Usually very long posts relating to their own experiences during the period mentioned in the post.
My Day.
I managed to waste most of today. I woke up at about 8am, made breakfast and then sent Matt on his way. I had a doctors appointment about my knee at Midday so I was originally going to ride my bike home, relax a bit there and then go to the doctors by car, but I felt really tired for some reason so I decided to instead go back to sleep until about 11am. Sleep was difficult because the next door neighbours were playing music, it wasn't very loud by my bedroom wall is right next to their house so all the bass from their music throbbed in my head which was annoying as hell. Making deep sleep pretty impossible.
By the time I was awake again it was almost too late to get to my house and drive to the Doctors so I rode as hard and fast as I could to get home. But by the time I got to Kenmore I realised I had the option of either going home and being late to the doctors OR riding onwards to the doctor and hoping I could find somewhere to lock up my bike.
Now I know that some people participating in BlogJune cycle but I don't know if anyone is aware that when you cycle somewhere for the first time you usually take longer than you would over the same distance otherwise. Because I didn't have far to go along Moggill road but I took way longer than I thought I would. I had to stick to the footpath pretty much the entire way, which doesn't help, because the road is just deadly. Literally, there is a white painted bicycle on the side of the road I had to go past which is a memorial for a person who died there a few years ago.
I got to the Doctors and had a ham and cheese danish at the bakery next door, ate about half of it before throwing the rest away because I thought I was in a hurry. I went into the doctors office and was told he was running about twenty minutes late. Twenty minutes turned into an hour in the end which was interminable considering that I could have ridden my bike home, had a shower and driven back in that time. Still I eventually got into the doctors office and he told me that my knee is probably just strained from something and I need to go easy on it. Which was good to hear. I'm probably going to have to have an easy game on Sunday as a result and go very softly Tomorrow night at Training. But once that's done I'm basically going into full monk mode(pretty much cloister myself in a library somewhere and write) and working on my ePortfolio.
I had to decided how I was going to get home, I figured I'd ride my bike to this hill near the Coles at Kenmore, then walk up the hill and ride down the other side more or less straight to my house. I was halfway to the hill when I saw my dads truck and he gave me a lift instead. Probably for the best.
I managed to go out and buy a new baking tray for Matts house as well as some Beetroot and Cucumber for dinner. Matt needs a roasting tray for his oven because I can't keep having to transport the tray from my mums house everytime I want to bake anything, its stupid and I finally got sick of it today. Once I got it I went home for a little bit, but didn't get anything of note done. I had to help my dad print up this document but he was out of ink, he and my mother both ran out of ink in their printers within a day of each other. Freaky. I couldn't go with him to buy a new cartridge so I told him where to go and left for Matts place, stopping on the way at the Chemist to pick up a prescription for some stuff for my face. I've something called Rosacea which flares up in wintertime and makes my face all red and splotchy, not a pretty look. And I'm going to a housewarming party on Saturday, where there will be girls, need to look my best.
I eventually got to Matts house and started to prep all the food for dinner, tonight was Goulash. The last time I tried to cook this recipe we didn't eat until almost 7:30 because I was slower than I thought in preparing it all. This time I got there about half an hour earlier and was still slower than I thought but I had it all in the over by about 4:45pm to serve at about 7pm. Which would only make it about half an hour later than I wanted it done by. So next time I cook this I'm going to go about an hour earlier and start preparing everything. Then, maybe, I'll be able to eat it on time. I wanted to have a salad with the meal and I'd read online about this simple recipe for a cucumber salad(Dry out the sliced cucumber in a bowl with some salt, add sour cream, pepper and paprika, it was amazingly good with the Goulash and Pasta) so I tried that out and it was really good in the end, I put too much pepper in because I wasn't paying attention, but the Paprika and the Salt with the Cucumber really did wonders.
After I put the Goulash into the oven in the new roasting tray(which didn't have a lid, the meal required a lit so I improvised on from a flat baking tray) we went for a walk and then came back I made up the pasta and the cucumber salad(I tried Steaming some Beetroot as well but it didn't taste very nice so I'm not going to try that again). Overall the meal was good. I think that if I had some better sour cream it might have been perfect, but that is a lesson for next time. Matt loves sour cream but he isn't meant to have much of it if any, so when I have it at his house I need to freeze it so he can't eat it(he used to leave fingermarks all in the butter and cream before we worked this out), which means when I want to use it I have to defrost it, which doesn't really make for a good sour cream, its too runny compared to the more solid stuff you can get.
We were meant to have some guest over for dinner, Matts former carer Michael and his wife, but she is still sick so I cooked enough food for five people and only three people were there to eat it. This meant that Matt had two helpings of it and seemed to like it. I had only a little bit more than the one helping myself. I got weighed at the doctors today and I wasn't happy with where I am right now(125.7kg is a scary big number, my ideal BMI is apparently 90kg at most). But skipping one meal isn't going to lose me weight, just make me hungrier.
After dinner I watched some TV but nothing really interested me. I fell asleep watching The Simpsons, which was weird for me. And then I tried to write this up. I stopped about half-way through to play some Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour. Which was great, I got the China Tank General and just Blitzed the map in a wave of death.
Good times.
YouTube Clip of the day.
This season on Downton Abbey, the wizards finally get around to using their magic powers.
State Library of QLD. John oxley Branch.
http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/
Monitored From January 2013-June 2013.
The John Oxley Library is the correct name for the building referred to by most people as the State Library of Queensland. The State Library is a bigger institution that just the single building on the bend of the river at Southbank, it comprises of several buildings and repositories around the state. It is responsible for helping to craft the policies and protocols of public libraries around the state and is connected to other state libraries throughout Australia and New Zealand through various programs and associations.
I elected to monitor the blog of this library for several months because I felt that as the leading library in Queensland it would provide a good example for me to observe and report on. The library puts out information very regularly on their blog site, with highly detailed reports on the history of the state and relates it to current displays and exhibitions being held in the John Oxley building at the time of posting as well as interesting historical titbits which may have been recently in the news due to an anniversary or recent related story. The John Oxley Library blog is very versed in the history and background of the state of Queensland and in particular parts of the history of Brisbane, the primary focus on nearly all entries relates to events from history or times of great social or political change. The posts went into great detail about the minutia of some events I was previously only aware of in general. The level of detail and research which goes into every post on the site displays a level of commitment to telling the unique history of the state and city that would be difficult to find elsewhere. Part of the reason I chose this blog to follow was that the history of Brisbane is of particular interest to me.
The blog entries helped me to personally understand the importance of saving the history of the state for future generations as well as the value of researching a topic and how plentiful the resources are if you know where to look. They were also used occasionally to promote upcoming events and displays at the John Oxley library. However the layout of the site, while interesting, did make it hard to read longer articles and posts, the site is set up horizontally instead of vertically, with posts forming separate columns across the page. While it was easy to read once you were used to it I felt that the columns could have been wider, they are on average 52 characters across, the average twitter Tweet is about 65 and has significantly less rows of content to read through.
It could be that the page was designed to work better on tablets or mobile devices than on regular computers such as mine as this format does seem to suit that environment very well. But this would raise another issue with regards to user interaction.
The major criticism I do have about the site is that while the content is excellent the participation by staff and the public is almost non-existent. While I commented on a variety of stories and posts made on the site I found that it was rare to get a reply aside from the occasional spambot. A part of this problem could be that the button to leave a comment is at the very bottom of the articles and buried within the various tags for each entry. While it wasn't invisible, for people reading the article the link to make a comment was close to it. If it were bolded in some manner and made more prominent it would likely attract more users. All of the posts on the blog do include a share button which isn't very prominent or obvious to readers(it is next to the authors name but not bolded or instantly notable) but it does allow you to share it via most forms of social media to your friends and family members who may share your interest in whichever topic you've selected. This tended to make participation and monitoring the blog a very solitary affair. I struggle to understand why a website might have such a poor set up for comments in this day and age.
It could be that the official website isn't considered as central a resource as the libraries other online resources, such as those found on Flickr(found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryqueensland/ ) which has a much more active community of users or its Twitter account which has at least one tweet sent out per day, usually to promote content from the various other blogs on the SLQ website.
The site and my use of it did show me a lot about presenting information for public consumption in an interesting way. It has also made me think about what I would want as a consumer of a website, being able to share content with my friends and other such options. I wasn't able to interact with many people on the site, which was a shame, but did find that few people who commented often had interesting things to say on the topic. Usually very long posts relating to their own experiences during the period mentioned in the post.
My Day.
I managed to waste most of today. I woke up at about 8am, made breakfast and then sent Matt on his way. I had a doctors appointment about my knee at Midday so I was originally going to ride my bike home, relax a bit there and then go to the doctors by car, but I felt really tired for some reason so I decided to instead go back to sleep until about 11am. Sleep was difficult because the next door neighbours were playing music, it wasn't very loud by my bedroom wall is right next to their house so all the bass from their music throbbed in my head which was annoying as hell. Making deep sleep pretty impossible.
By the time I was awake again it was almost too late to get to my house and drive to the Doctors so I rode as hard and fast as I could to get home. But by the time I got to Kenmore I realised I had the option of either going home and being late to the doctors OR riding onwards to the doctor and hoping I could find somewhere to lock up my bike.
Now I know that some people participating in BlogJune cycle but I don't know if anyone is aware that when you cycle somewhere for the first time you usually take longer than you would over the same distance otherwise. Because I didn't have far to go along Moggill road but I took way longer than I thought I would. I had to stick to the footpath pretty much the entire way, which doesn't help, because the road is just deadly. Literally, there is a white painted bicycle on the side of the road I had to go past which is a memorial for a person who died there a few years ago.
I got to the Doctors and had a ham and cheese danish at the bakery next door, ate about half of it before throwing the rest away because I thought I was in a hurry. I went into the doctors office and was told he was running about twenty minutes late. Twenty minutes turned into an hour in the end which was interminable considering that I could have ridden my bike home, had a shower and driven back in that time. Still I eventually got into the doctors office and he told me that my knee is probably just strained from something and I need to go easy on it. Which was good to hear. I'm probably going to have to have an easy game on Sunday as a result and go very softly Tomorrow night at Training. But once that's done I'm basically going into full monk mode(pretty much cloister myself in a library somewhere and write) and working on my ePortfolio.
I had to decided how I was going to get home, I figured I'd ride my bike to this hill near the Coles at Kenmore, then walk up the hill and ride down the other side more or less straight to my house. I was halfway to the hill when I saw my dads truck and he gave me a lift instead. Probably for the best.
I managed to go out and buy a new baking tray for Matts house as well as some Beetroot and Cucumber for dinner. Matt needs a roasting tray for his oven because I can't keep having to transport the tray from my mums house everytime I want to bake anything, its stupid and I finally got sick of it today. Once I got it I went home for a little bit, but didn't get anything of note done. I had to help my dad print up this document but he was out of ink, he and my mother both ran out of ink in their printers within a day of each other. Freaky. I couldn't go with him to buy a new cartridge so I told him where to go and left for Matts place, stopping on the way at the Chemist to pick up a prescription for some stuff for my face. I've something called Rosacea which flares up in wintertime and makes my face all red and splotchy, not a pretty look. And I'm going to a housewarming party on Saturday, where there will be girls, need to look my best.
I eventually got to Matts house and started to prep all the food for dinner, tonight was Goulash. The last time I tried to cook this recipe we didn't eat until almost 7:30 because I was slower than I thought in preparing it all. This time I got there about half an hour earlier and was still slower than I thought but I had it all in the over by about 4:45pm to serve at about 7pm. Which would only make it about half an hour later than I wanted it done by. So next time I cook this I'm going to go about an hour earlier and start preparing everything. Then, maybe, I'll be able to eat it on time. I wanted to have a salad with the meal and I'd read online about this simple recipe for a cucumber salad(Dry out the sliced cucumber in a bowl with some salt, add sour cream, pepper and paprika, it was amazingly good with the Goulash and Pasta) so I tried that out and it was really good in the end, I put too much pepper in because I wasn't paying attention, but the Paprika and the Salt with the Cucumber really did wonders.
After I put the Goulash into the oven in the new roasting tray(which didn't have a lid, the meal required a lit so I improvised on from a flat baking tray) we went for a walk and then came back I made up the pasta and the cucumber salad(I tried Steaming some Beetroot as well but it didn't taste very nice so I'm not going to try that again). Overall the meal was good. I think that if I had some better sour cream it might have been perfect, but that is a lesson for next time. Matt loves sour cream but he isn't meant to have much of it if any, so when I have it at his house I need to freeze it so he can't eat it(he used to leave fingermarks all in the butter and cream before we worked this out), which means when I want to use it I have to defrost it, which doesn't really make for a good sour cream, its too runny compared to the more solid stuff you can get.
We were meant to have some guest over for dinner, Matts former carer Michael and his wife, but she is still sick so I cooked enough food for five people and only three people were there to eat it. This meant that Matt had two helpings of it and seemed to like it. I had only a little bit more than the one helping myself. I got weighed at the doctors today and I wasn't happy with where I am right now(125.7kg is a scary big number, my ideal BMI is apparently 90kg at most). But skipping one meal isn't going to lose me weight, just make me hungrier.
After dinner I watched some TV but nothing really interested me. I fell asleep watching The Simpsons, which was weird for me. And then I tried to write this up. I stopped about half-way through to play some Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour. Which was great, I got the China Tank General and just Blitzed the map in a wave of death.
Good times.
YouTube Clip of the day.
This season on Downton Abbey, the wizards finally get around to using their magic powers.
Click to view