I read a post yesterday about how in Japan, rather than putting a whole URL on an advert, they tend to use a search box with key words in it, so that if you search for those terms, the product will come up. There is some interesting discussion in the comments about how this relates to Japanese culture in particular, with increased use of internet-through-mobiles, and the problems of turning Japanese characters into URLs, and things like that. But the thing that struck me most is how it really is a sign of the ways in which people use the internet are changing, and how ubiquitous search has become.

Since I’ve started using del.icio.us I’ve tended to shy away from bookmarking sites on my computer, particularly at home. I have a relatively large list of bookmarks at work, as they’re quite specific, but at home I don’t have a single site bookmarked. But this does mean that I use search a lot. And not for complicated things. Often, it’s for desperately simple things, to the point where I’m guilty of searching for ‘maps’ or ‘calendar’ so that I can get to the Google variants of both. And yes, I know that they’re linked just from the top of the Google homepage, but in Firefox it’s quicker for me to search for them – I don’t even have to open up a new tab. Searching is a whole lot quicker than opening up a new tab/window and typing in the tedious ‘doubleyoudoublyoudoublyoudot’ of a URL, and that’s when you actually remember the whole thing. I’ve taken to using search as a giant, distributed search engine – so long as I can more or less remember what I’m looking for, chances are I’ll be able to find it.

I think I like the move towards search-oriented, rather than url-oriented advertising. Who knows, it might even help people develop better searching habits? If they can’t find what they want on the first try, they might be moved to searching a better way. What are your thoughts?

It’s trainee season again, and if other firms are like mine, the library staff are busily arranging numerous training and induction sessions. As a result I find myself being asked to take training sessions.

I remember back in Uni, oral presentations were the worst. I hated practicing (still do) so I would only do one or two run throughs and hope for the best. And inevitably, the sessions usually went badly. I’d fumble and stutter and speak too fast or too quietly. Even presenting at a day long symposium in front of industry people (including people from Red Hat) I was so nervous that I skipped points, and put myself down.

I’ve had more experience now and I actually enjoy doing the training sessions. Quite often the sessions turn out to be fun, depending on the content and, of course, the audience. I love having groups that are really involved and willing to have discussions. But every so often I’ll get a really unresponsive group and it’s hard to keep positive and smiling when the people in front of you would obviously rather be somewhere else.

Some of the things I try to remember when I’m doing a session that’s not going as well as it could be are:

• stay calm and positive
• act like you’re having a conversation with one of the audience members rather than the whole group
• have a list of all the points you need to make in front of you, and if need be tick each one off as you go
• and no matter what, don’t say anything disparaging about yourself, or your department.

Mostly, I just try to remember that they don’t know what I’m telling them, and therefore I have the upper hand. That usually makes me feel a bit better about the whole situation!

Peter Bromberg of Library Garden recently posted a top ten list of articles on giving good presentations which is a post I’ve bookmarked and will be working my way through. And another post I’ll be working my way through is Stop Doing Sucky Presentations by Emily Clasper over at Library Revolution.

In the same vein Michael Stephens of Tame the Web has a good post – Ten Tips for Technology Training. Most of the tips aren’t relevant for my training sessions, but the first one has a good point – “Be ready to present just from your notes if all the tech fails.”

Oh and tip eight – Rehearse, but go with the flow.

We’re 1 today!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already. It’s been a fun ride, and thanks to both the blog and tools like Twitter and Facebook we’ve developed quite a network of friends.

Thanks everyone for sticking by us, and we’re looking forward to the next year!

I haven’t yet blogged about law.librarians, the newest experiment in group blogging from an international crew of law librarians, mostly, I think, because I’ve been spending so much time there!

It’s turning out to be a great community and resouce for everyone involved. Law.librarians is being used to share resources and links, both serious and not-so-serious, as well as becoming a place to ask community opinion on a question, to try and find a resources or just to chat with like-minded people.

As much as I like and enjoy using Twitter, I’m finding the ability to comment, and the better signal-to-noise ratio of law.librarians to be very appealing. If you haven’t gone to check it out yet, do drop by and have a look!