Riding Shotgun Down the Avalanche: Strategies for keeping current

posted by Carol Cooke @ 8:44 PM

Presented by: Roy Tennant

Summary: Keeping up with massive and rapid technological change can be daunting. What are some strategies that can be used to focus on important changes and opportunities while ignoring those that are less important? What sources and methods can be used to maximize the effectiveness of time spent keeping up? Answers to these questions and more will be covered in this program essential to our professional health and well-being.

My notes:

While I didn't blog Roy's keynote address I did attend and what he said made sense to me on so many levels. I am looking forward to this presentation to see what strategies I can learn to help me keep current.

The Presentation:

Current Awareness Resources & Tools

Professional journals (scanning) - good for thorough descriptions and opinion... not good for really current information and honest assessments

• e-mail TOC subscriptions
• if you don't have access to an article ... contact the author!

Professional Magazines (non-peer reviewed) - good for opinion and information on current projects ... not good for peer-review

• editorial tone varies
• a lot of content online for free

Current Awareness Newsletters - good for thumbnail summaries, keeping up with the literature ... not good for book reviews or comprehensive coverage

• (eg. Current Cites [note to self: sign up for this])

Mailing Lists and bulletin boards - good for quick answers, opinion sharing, discovering experts ... not good for learning a topic thoroughly

• get the digest version
• search the list archives

RSS & Blogs - low-overhead way to keep up with individuals you respect (additional features such as saved searches and news syndication) not good for long explanations

• experiment with different monitoring systems
• be selective about what you read

Roy Tennant mentions that his current favourite blog is Lorcan Dempsey's weblog.

Non-library magazines & journals - much of what impacts libraries appears in business and computer science publications first; good for early warning about technologies ... not good for the library spin

• low subscription cost
• by a copy from the news stand to see if it speaks to you

(eg. Business Week, Business 2.0, Fast Company, Communications of the ACM)

Conferences - good for up to the minute descriptions ... not good for thorough explanations

• sit in the back of the room and be ready to bail
• seek informal conversations
• ask questions

Courses or Workshops - good for thorough treatments ... not good for those who can't set aside the time.

• not all workshops are created equal (hands on can be important)

Site Visits - go to a site to see how something has been implemented; good for honest dialog, practical information ... not good for an overview to technology

• pick a peer institution

Chat rooms - good for gauging the pulse of our colleagues ... not good for large chunks of information

• there aren't many but they aren't difficult to start

Personal contacts - if you seen an interesting project send them an e-mail; good for the low down ... not good for detailed explanation

• don't afraid

Strategic Learning

• learn to surf - hit a web site and quickly assess what if offers for you
• skim - get the gist of what you're reading
• you will know where to spend more time

SIFT

Scan
Investigate
Filter - decide if will affect you now or later
Target - what is most important for you to pay attention to at that time

My notes: This speaks to me as I find a need to review lots of new technologies but I am having a difficult time trying to "filter" and "target". Perhaps if I keep "SIFT" in mind it will be easier for me to focus my efforts.

Techniques

• learn only what you need to get by
• learn when you have a problem to solve
• find a good reference book or web site
• find an experienced person and have them tell you only three things you need to know
• use what you learn or write it down

Your personal strategy

• there are many ways to keep current
• this will change over time
• find and hangout with others interested in the same thing

Final Advice

• learn as you breath
• use professional filters
• network
• learn by doing
• take the necessary time
• take responsibility for your learning

There is no way you keep up on everything. Become an expert on a particular field and then share it. Organize others to do the same.

My notes: I am already using a lot of the methods mentioned to keep current. I think though that I will try to pay closer attention to non-library magazines. I have noticed that I pick up some interesting ideas when looking at these.